Friday, December 17, 2010

Sheep prices at Hoards Station

We took the last of our ram lambs in to Hoards Station livestock auction last Tuesday, the 13th December. The prices were about $2 a pound live weight for 85 lb lambs.
The last sale before Xmas is usually the best of the year, but there were hardly any people there as the weather was cold, windy and snowy, and the usual farmer's market was closed for that reason.
We have been debating with some of our fellow sheep farmers whether it is better to ship lambs to Cookstown north of Toronto. It is a bigger market and the prices are a little better, but is it worth the $7 or so for trucking and then there is shrinkage- loss of weight due to lack of food and water during transportation and waiting to be sold.