Common Problems in Sheep Farming in 2018 and How Farmers Should Respond
Recently, sheep prices have been gradually rising, farmers are rubbing their hands in anticipation, and even many people who had been watching from the sidelines for the past few years are planning to enter the sheep farming industry. However, because the market is unstable, whether you can make money is not determined by a temporary market trend. So what problems will be encountered in sheep farming in 2018? How should farmers respond?
1. Technical and disease problems
Technology and disease will always be the number one obstacle for newcomers entering the industry, because once animals are kept in groups, they seem prone to disease, especially sheep, which are animals that like to live in groups. In addition, feeding and management require dedicated accumulation of experience, and doing a good job in feeding management and prevention is the first line of defense against disease. What differences will farming in 2018 have compared with before? Infectious diseases will be more frequent and more complex. The reasons are: the malignant infectious diseases that appeared in 2016 and 2017 have already left many farmers at a loss, and in addition, the rise in sheep prices in 2017 led to more frequent cross-regional transactions and wider disease transmission.
Therefore, if you are a beginner entering the farming industry, the best method is to first choose a farm for an internship for a period of time, accumulate some experience, and then start farming on your own. Farmers who do not have the conditions can choose to learn farming online.
2. Rising prices of breeding sheep
Rising prices of breeding sheep are inevitable, and farmers do not need to doubt this. But the advice the Sheep Farming Classroom gives everyone is: the stage of speculating in breeding sheep has already passed, and even if small-scale speculation in breeding sheep appears now, it will be difficult for it to gain momentum. Therefore, farmers must firmly remember two points: first, when buying breeding sheep, avoid entering the whirlpool of speculation; second, as much as possible buy breeding sheep sold by weight, not sold by head.
The consequence of buying breeding sheep at a high price is: it is difficult to recover the cost in a short time, which will inevitably cause a major drop in farming confidence. Sheep prices do not keep rising continuously or remain stable without falling. If your sheep-selling period happens to be the next trough period for sheep prices, then you will suffer a big loss.
3. Rising prices of feed and medicines
The environmental protection issues in 2017 cut down many raw material manufacturers, causing the prices of raw materials in most feed, veterinary drugs, and farming-related industries to rise, which directly led to increases in the prices of feed, veterinary drugs, building materials, and so on. Presumably everyone has already received price increase notices from salespeople for various products in their WeChat Moments, right? This is not only true for the farming industry; many other industries are the same, so if you want to raise sheep, you need to consider the risks well.