10 things you need to know about Profitable Sheep Production
1. You need to compare self replacing female based enterprises and find what is profitable. Would it be a Wool by micron OR Dual Purpose sheep OR Meat sheep OR Cattle OR Goats. Lamb has been the consistent winner in this comparison for over two decades. Next is large dual purpose breeds then Wool then cattle then goats.

2. Having you found the most profitable enterprise you need to allocate more acres to it.

3. It costs money to make money and so you should not cut costs until you have done 1 and 2 above.

4. You need to maximise the number of kilograms turned off whether it is wool, wool and meat or meat alone. If you did 1 and 2 correctly you are then able to indirectly influence price by choosing the right kg to turn off.

5. For example did you know that due to meat price rises following the sheep cull in 1992 all Merino producers are now under performing Meat Producers and that wool has now become a by product of merino sheep?

6. That the introduction of polyoestic African sheep breeds in the late 90’s has made it possible for ewes to have at least 2 lambs per year? At a nominal $100/lamb a merino ewe has to grow 3 high priced fleeces, plus a surplus lamb sales a year to match them.

7. That the key to high sheep profits is high conception rates, not high wool cuts or high wool prices.

8. One of the extra costs associated with improved profits is better nutrition. It pays to feed profitable sheep. We can now explore the possibilities of moving sheep back onto grain country replacing crops with forages, onto irrigation maybe even sheds.

9. That flies and lice are no longer diseases of economic importance but infectious pathological diseases, Brucellosis, worms, dogs, footrot, and OJD are.

10. That the duration and timing of joining are of critical importance to profitability.