God’s builtin design for multiplication in creation is astounding! We see it in the seed, the egg, and our animals on the farm. Join me today as we discuss one of our most prolific multipliers the St. Croix sheep!

In today’s video, I’m running the numbers starting with an initial, modest investment of 3 ewes and 1 ram. Watch and see what their compounding on grass alone can do!

As mentioned, we’re assuming our real world average lambing rate over 5 years at 1.39 lambs per ewe. Yes, this is our actual rate. We’re also assuming the sex of each lamb born is split 50/50, as this is consistently close to what we see every Spring. The hay price used is our current real world price of $100/ton.

In the “how much land does it take” section, I’m using our numbers here on the farm in our specific LOCATION and CONTEXT, which is about 1 animal unit per acre for setstock grazing and twice that number of animals when rotating. Please note: These numbers are for OUR LOCATION. Please do not message me from Antarctica this summer asking why your 3,400 head of sheep aren’t productive! Reach out to YOUR local extension office and/or a local farmer to accurately determine your land’s carrying capacity upfront!

Also worth noting Some producers have reported lambing three times in two years, meaning these numbers could be even higher. Personally, I prefer NOT to run my ewes that hard.

For further reading: https://extension.psu.edu/doesyourf...