[Jacob-list] My own survey

[Jacobflock at aol.com]

Fred Horak here.

We have about 70 ewes, 21 rams and about 24 lambs.  Of the, say 90, adults, 
say 20 are part of our experiemnt with Texas A&M for the lysosomal disease; 
leaving 70 Jacobs.  Of the 70, approximately 50 are double registered, 20 
JSBA registered are being JSC registered.

Our flock objective is primarily conservation and to us the registration is a 
"deposit" in a genetic bank book rather than a proof of prettiness.  Not 
everyone has this as a primary flock objective and not everyone considers the 
registry as a genetic map.

We sell lambs from 200-250...some we will not sell period.  Horn, sex, color 
ratio, registry are not particularly germaine.  Depending on the breeding, we 
will sell adult proven producers for 200-350.  We will not sell to a party we 
suspect will use it for a canned hunt...big in TX.  We do not sell to 
"exotic" breeders, we avoid speculative "brokers"..the buyer who turns around 
to sell a "rare" breed.  We do try to sell proven Jacobs as a "flock" of 
recommended sire and dams to people who will raise them for the breed itself. 
 We often give preference and make discounts to parties we think will be 
responsible.

The guidelines for "cost"...cost to us? or cost to the buyer? do vary.  Our 
costs for keeping a large flock last year were very heavy....haven't done 
taxes yet....might be $100/Jacob.  We had some high hay costs because of 
drought...we had one ewe run up a $500 bill.   The cost to the buyer can run 
up passed on (1) pedigree, (2) fleece, (3) color, (4) horn set...and perhaps 
in that order.

We sell culls for $50 to the ethnic market.  We had a "visitor" ask if we 
could sell him 5 sheep a week between like mid February and mid March.  We 
didn't have a single sheep to sell.  We do not take any Jacobs to the sale 
barn.  I do take about 20% of the lamb crop...in the past this has been 
10-12/year ...to a private slaughter house.  We generally keep one lamb and 
give the rest to a Plano food pantry that has freezer capacity.  

Cost to raise and price to sell is probably very local.  TX is highly 
commercial and the going rate for a sheep is 45-50; a sheep is a sheep is a 
sheep.  TX is not especially conservation oriented; it just has to be big.  
Our best outlet for fleeces has been a Waco, TX fiber store.  The owner buys 
15-25 Jacob fleeces.

This is a quickie before chores.  Hope it helps.  Fred