Lamb Slaughter - The Numbers Are In

It turned into an ok day today. The sun was out and the highs got into the 50's most of the little bit of snow we got yesterday melted away and didn't make the ground much more wet than it was. In fact to date we are running behind on moisture once again for the year so I am starting to get a bit concerned although the ground is still damp.

I went and cut another load of wood today but before that it was time to pick up the meat we were having processed. The wife called and told the processors how she wanted it cut up and packaged so I have no idea how much of all the different cuts we got but it came up to 97 pounds worth from the two lambs.

Ya know the guy at the processing plant mentioned that my dear wife had asked him not to slaughter one of the lambs but that he had told her it was already too late. I wonder if she was planning on sneaking up there and putting that lamb in her car and making a break for it or something?

Anyway the total out of pocket expenditure comes out to $170.00 processing and I am estimating about another $50.00 for feed, fuel, water etc. in keeping them the entire year. This comes out to about $2.26 a pound for raising your own and not getting my hands bloody. Which are the numbers I am most worried about.

These lambs actually belonged to my Step-Father so we had to pay him the market value for them which added to the bill but I am not really interested in that as I am really only worried what our bottom line will be once our ewes start having their own lambs. Even with what we paid though the total comes out to only $3.56 per pound so it was still a huge savings over buying lamb at the store. Of course we wouldn't be buying expensive lamb if we didn't have our own slaughtered so that starts to get into the realm of a government accounting type of affair. Still $3.56 per pound beats the hell out of most all meat prices I can think of except maybe bottom line hamburger.

Again the costs are low due to producing our own hay. I believe the average grain weight is about 1 cup per day per lamb and I really just guesstimated how many cups of feed are in a 50 pound bag. There was worming meds, ear tag, tail docking and castration which we did ourselves. Whatever small amount of fuel costs that were associated with these two animals hay consumption and water usage.  I guess I could tack on land taxes and maybe a time value but you all get the idea.

Had I butchered them myself the price would have come way down but paying $85.00 per head for someone else to do that deed is money well spent in my book thank you very much. I'll be honest I am hoping even in a  grid down barter economy I can trade out of most of the butchering duties. It has never been something I enjoyed doing and I am now old enough my parents can't make me so NAH. I still go down and help with the deer butchering every Fall that's enough for me.

SO all in all I am happy with the outcome and pretty jazzed that even with paying the processing fee it came out so economical. Next year we will be slaughtering our own lambs maybe...

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!