Starting A Hair Sheep Business On 200 Acres - Hair Sheep Finance Report

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]Hey everyone, welcome back to Seven Sheepardd's Farm. Today we're going to take you through a financial portion of our business. As you guys know, we run a large operation on a rental farm, and this isn't just a hobby for us. This isn't just something we do for fun. This is our full-time job. This is our main uh source of income. And so we just kind of wanted to talk to you guys today about what it would cost if you wanted to start a sheep farm from nothing. Um, and what expenses you would have and what it would cost and when you could expect a return on that investment. So we kind of have some numbers to go through with you guys today. So we're going to talk to you about that now.

[00:00:43]Okay. So we started this YouTube channel to inform others, give information that we know about sheep farming, to inspire others, to get encourage others um about sheep farming. So we we would like to kind of take a step back from just showing what we do every day uh to talk to you guys about some more in-depth things that we do on the farm. So that's kind of what we're going to go over today. So the scenario that we are going over today would be on 200 acres. So what it would cost you to get started with a flock of sheep on 200 acres. So we're going to go through that now.

[00:01:19]>> Yeah. So we did kind of 200 acres.

[00:01:21]That's what we own on um actual owned land and the rest of the sheep are on rented land. But so we own 200 acres and then uh so we think we can run 400 sheep on our 200 acres. That's here in mid Missouri. So, obviously that's going to differ depending on where you're at in the country, but that's, you know, the middle of Missouri, we can run that many. Um, so if you had 400 U's and they average $300 a U, you're talking $120,000 to stock that farm fully. So, $120,000 for the use and then obviously you're going to have to have some rams to breed those. So, we had 13 rams. It's we came out to basically 30 uh used per ram. So end up being 13 rams that you need. And when we bought them it was $350 for a ram. So that's a total of uh $4,550 right there. So and then so that's a fully stocked 200 acre farm in mid Missouri for sheep. So I guess the total there is aboutund basically $125,000 for the just for the livestock. Okay. So some of the supplies that you would need to start your own sheep farm on pasture rotationally grazing them through the growing season like we do would be some reels, some electric fence reels. Uh about we would we would start with like four of those for 200 acres. We would start with about 100 fence post. Uh the step-in O'Brien post. We would start with one dog feeder, a portable dog feeder that we made. Um, a mineral feeder and an ATV. So, those are just kind of like essentials that we that we think that you would need to to start a farm and be successful with sheep.

[00:03:10]>> Yeah, that's kind of your bare bones what you're going to need if you're going to start intensive grazing your sheep around your farm. So, um, all those expenses we had figured in about $3,310 for all that. And that's like a, you know, secondhand ETV. That's not buying anything brand new except for, you know, the reels and the wire and stuff. So, >> um, and then also to to get your farm started, um, we would suggest buying two trained guardian dogs. Two good, well-trained guardian dogs. And we value those at $2,000 a piece for a mature trained sheep guardian dog. So that would be another $4,000 in your startup cost for your sheep operation.

[00:03:56]So then you come to your actual expenses as the sheep are going to go trampling by. But um so you get your yearly expenses. know for mineral, hay, feed, vet bills, gas, uh dog food. Those are kind of like your main expenses. We're not factoring in electric, rent, your farm payment, you know, any any kind of those expenses are like just to keep your your animals alive type of expenses. And then obviously like gas and stuff to keep, you know, to check them and put up fences and things. So, we have figured on right around $45 ahead for that. And that's that's actually buying the hay and feeding them in the winter time for like 120 days. So, um yeah, about $45 per head. So, then now to kind of go into the more interesting part of what it's going to cost you to get this sheep farm up and running. um total cost and then what kind of return on your investment you're going to get in year one. So >> so you have 400 sheep or 400 use that you bought and we're expecting 1.5% lamming percentage. So you're going to get 600 wean lambs basically out of those 400 use. So, if you had 600 lambs and like the market this year, um, we kind of figured the average was around $200 per lamb if you hit the market pretty decent. So, if anybody watched our last video, we did not hit the market great. But if you sold it when we like to sell um on a typical year, $200 uh per lamb is, you know, what you can kind of expect. So you're looking at $120,000 right there on, you know, year per year is what you're gonna bring in.

[00:05:58]So, and then you have your total expenses for year 1, which was $149,860.

[00:06:06]So pushing $150,000.

[00:06:09]So you're still after year one, after you sold all your you have them all year, you breed them, you have your lambs, you sell the lambs, you're still in the whole $29,860.

[00:06:20]But you have 400 use and you have all your rams already. So you're ready to make money that second year. So most of your expenses are out of the way, you know, after that first year. You just have to keep maintaining your flock and keep them alive, keep them fed, keep them healthy. And so that's when year two comes in and you can actually start to make some money. So um year two we're looking at $18,000 flat, you know, expenses. That was the $45 per U. So at 400 U's. So if your expenses are $18,000, you're making another $120,000 uh by selling all your lambs. So uh you're already at $102,000 in profit for year two. Now you can take off, you know, the 29,000. you're still in the hole uh from year one, but for for year two, year three, year four, you're going to be making right at $100,000, $102,000.

[00:07:19]So, um which is really good money. I mean, as long as the market holds out, that's what it was, you know, this year, you could make that kind of money. So, >> yeah. And all indications show that the sheep market is going to be really good for a while. So for years to come. So because we only apparently we only produce like 20% of the sheep that we consume in the United States.

[00:07:46]80% of it's imported. So you know if supply and demand means anything then the sheep market should stay high.

[00:07:54]>> Yeah. And 200 I feel like is a pretty conservative number too on what we're we're going to make. That's not too much and it's not too little. Um that's just kind of a conservative number. Some years you might make $250. Some years you might make $150, but 200 was just a nice middle road conservative number of kind of what they were bringing this year. So anyways, um obviously this is just kind of like your bare bones getting started. You know, we didn't include a truck and trailer. We didn't include anything fancy because you don't need anything fancy. If we didn't have a truck and trailer, we could get by without that. We hire someone to deliver our lambs to the uh sail barn. We haul our feed in the back of my van. So, that's not something that we thought was essential. Now, a four-wheeler to get around on the farm if you're going to be um rotationally grazing them. We did think that that was essential, but like our son just bought a four-wheeler for $1,000 and it gets him everywhere he needs to go. He can put a fence with it.

[00:08:51]And so, you can buy, you know, you you can buy basic equipment that you need for for these numbers. This is just real life um realistic numbers >> to get a a farm started if if that was in someone's plan to start somewhere from from nothing. Now, like we said, that is meaning that your fences are done. That's not including your labor cost and things like that, but we can't give like every scenario possible. of these are just you just kind of have to take these basic numbers um and in and this example and use your own numbers um to find out what works best for you, >> right? If you have to put up all the fence on this farm or if you're renting a farm, you have to, you know, add all the rental cost in and um if you're going to pay somebody to put up all your, you know, if it doesn't have fence, you got to pay somebody to put up all your fence. You have to figure that in for yourself. There's so many there's 100 different variables. So, this is just your basic, you know, this is what could you could do um with a 200 acre farm. And also with selling them, like Courtney said, we're we're planning on selling for $200 a piece. That was to the sail barn. So, if you have a really good flock and you want to start selling, you know, outright to like, you know, you lambs to people, you can get $300 for those um pretty easily. And that's also one other thing that's kind of a caveat is that's not factoring in replacement use and things like that.

[00:10:15]But like I said, we're trying to keep this as basic, you know, as possible.

[00:10:18]But you better figure on replacing at least probably 15% of your flock, you know, from old age after you get this thing rolling every year. So you can just factor that in as well. But you also have cola used to sell. So, without getting too far into the weeds, this is this is kind of your basic, you know, uh like I said, yeah, without getting too far off track and getting into every minute little detail, this is kind of what you can expect um if you're going to run 400 years on a farm.

[00:10:46]>> Yeah. And if you have like more specific questions for us, drop it down in the comments below or send us a message um through like our Facebook page and we'd be happy to answer questions that anybody has. But like we said, we just thought that uh to answer some most generic questions, we would just kind of put out um anformational video like this as far as sheep finances to show you that that you can make money uh running sheep. Uh it's not a it's not a difficult task to uh farm sheep. We really enjoy it. We love doing it full-time. We love doing it on the scale that we do it. Um, and so like I said, we just make these videos to help others, to give other people ideas, and to just encourage people that farming is possible even at a young age. So >> that's right.

[00:11:36]>> Anyways, if you enjoy this video or if you enjoy watching sheep videos or even if you just find these videos entertaining, just it would help us if you liked and subscribed to our channel just so that we can continue putting out content like this for you guys. We really enjoy making the videos and we enjoy looking back at them uh at our old videos just already to see our journey where we started 6 months ago to where we are now. So, it's been fun. Um anyways, I think that sums it up for this week. We're going to take you on a tour of the next 700 acres of barebone.

[00:12:15]Uh it's kind of a mess over there, but we're going to take you guys on a little tour of that in another video in the future in in the near future and show you uh the big project we're getting started on.

[00:12:28]>> Yeah. So, >> it's going to be a big one.

[00:12:30]>> The rental farm we had art we fenced off 700 acres. We're we're tidying up that.

[00:12:34]It's pretty well done. Um I wish we were halfway done with the So, the other side there's another side of this farm. It's also just a little over 700 acres and we haven't even started on it yet. So, it's completely just, you know, made up for cows at this point. So, we have to sheep proof that entire side of the farm and uh yeah, we'll take you along on that that journey. I wish it was half I was expecting it to be farther along than what it is, but we're just getting going on it. So, we'll show you kind of like a complete how we how we start this process of fencing a place like this and uh try to show you more of uh you know how we get that 700 acres going and hopefully here in a few months we'll have sheep over there.

[00:13:22]>> Yeah, we saved the worst for last, I guess you could say, cuz that side of the farm it it barely held cattle. So, it we we do have a lot of work cut out for us over there, but we're hoping to show you guys the most efficient way and the cheapest way to get that sheet proof as fast as possible because, you know, we've learned a lot along the way. So, anyway, >> the process is keep it keeps evolving.

[00:13:44]So, as we fence stuff off, then we get new ideas and then we find cheaper and better ways to put up the fence. So there's definitely even from last year when we started fencing this side of the farm, uh we've changed a lot of things and then uh prices have gone up on when we thought we had something figured out and the price quadruples. So we find another way to do it. So um anyway, we'll take you along on that journey and we'll be starting that hopefully in the next week >> now that we're done lamming. We we really we were planning on getting this started about a month ago, but then lamming just kind of took more time. you know, it took more time to move the sheep and took more time to check them a few times a day, but now they're definitely more where we can just kind of leave them sit for a couple days at a time and it doesn't take nearly the amount of time to move them. So, anyways, all right. Well, we'll catch you in a future video, but thanks for following along on this financial video.

[00:14:38]And if you have any more questions, leave a comment down below and we'll see you next time. Thanks for following along on Seven Sheepardd's Farm.

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