Is Small-tailed Han sheep farming profitable? Analysis of farming benefits and profits

The Small-tailed Han sheep is the sheep breed with the highest reproduction rate in China, possessing farming advantages such as fast growth and development, early maturity, strong reproductive capacity, stable genetic performance, and strong adaptability. It has been designated by the state as a famous livestock breed of fine quality. It is not only one of the best projects for farmers to escape poverty and achieve prosperity, but also the most reliable project in the government's poverty alleviation work. Let's take a look below at whether Small-tailed Han sheep farming is profitable!

Is Small-tailed Han sheep farming profitable?

Small-tailed Han sheep farming is profitable. A 100-jin (50 kg) Small-tailed Han lamb currently sells for 1300-1500 yuan on the market. After deducting predictable and unpredictable expenses, 100 sheep can bring 130,000-150,000 yuan in pure profit per year. For lambs, the price per jin is above 12 yuan. If you buy a 50-jin lamb, it costs at least about 600 yuan, and 100 of them would cost 60,000 yuan. A lamb can reach 50 jin in at most 3 months, and generally only at 6-7 months can it come into heat and be bred. If bred, it takes another 5 months to give birth, and after the lamb is born, it takes 3 months to reach about 50 jin for sale. The average annual cost per sheep is 250 yuan. If one sells for 600 yuan, after deducting the annual cost of about 250 yuan, the profit per fattened Small-tailed Han sheep is about 350 yuan.

Small-tailed Han sheep farming costs and profits

Calculated on the basis of investing in raising 100 ewes, 3 births can be achieved within 2 years, with an average of 3 lambs per birth. Lambs are calculated at a male-to-female ratio of 1:1, and the average selling price is calculated at a value of 1000 yuan per sheep.

1. First-year investment costs

2. Second-year investment costs

3. Two-year investment returns

Small-tailed Han sheep feeding and management techniques

1. Timely castration: Lambs used for fattening should generally be castrated within 1-3 weeks. Castration at this time helps improve meat quality, making the meat tender, reducing mutton odor, and making the sheep docile and easier to manage, and they should fatten easily.

2. Early weaning: The traditional weaning time for Small-tailed Han sheep is mostly at 3-4 months of age. According to experiments, lambs weaned at 60 days and 90 days of age, when fattened under the same conditions to 6 months of age, had basically similar average body weights and average daily gains, with no significant difference. This shows that early weaning at 2 months of age is feasible. Weaning and fattening at 2 months of age helps ewes mate earlier, raising breeding sheep from 3 births in 2 years to 2 births per year, thereby increasing the reproduction rate, slaughter rate, and meat production of Small-tailed Han sheep.

3. Regular deworming: Fattening lambs should be dewormed once after weaning and once in early autumn. Commonly used deworming drugs include nitroxynil, bithionol, and albendazole, administered orally at 4 mg, 35-75 mg, and 2.5-3 mg per kg of body weight respectively.

4. Fine indoor feeding: Change from the traditional extensive feeding method to an indoor fine intensive fattening method, with a reasonable mix of roughage and concentrate, so that lambs can be marketed in about half a year, which can significantly improve economic benefits. Specifically, a mixed feed of 35% green hay, 37% corn stalk powder, 5% soybean cake, 4% cottonseed cake, and 14% corn can be used. For weaned lambs fattened to 5-6 months of age, the live weight can reach over 40 kg, with an average daily gain of over 200 g.

5. Feeding additives

① Feeding sheep fattening compound feed: This additive is composed of trace elements iron, copper, manganese, zinc, and selenium, rumen metabolism regulators, growth promoters, and substances that inhibit harmful microorganisms. It is suitable for fattening castrated lambs of the year and culled old sheep. Feeding this additive increased weight gain speed and feed conversion rate by 23.1% and 18.7% respectively.

② Adding monensin: Its function is to control and improve rumen fermentation efficiency, so as to increase weight gain speed and feed conversion rate. Experiments have shown that feeding monensin to indoor-raised Small-tailed Han sheep increased daily gain by about 35% compared with the control group, and increased feed conversion rate by 27%. For Small-tailed Han sheep, add 25-30 mg of monensin per kg of daily ration. In practical application, the appropriate amount should be determined according to the composition of the daily ration, and it should be evenly mixed into the feed. The initial amount can be lower, then gradually increased.

③ Adding urea phosphate: Its function is to supplement nitrogen and phosphorus for ruminants. It is a new type of non-protein nitrogen feed additive. Adding about 10 g of urea phosphate per sheep per day increased average daily gain by 26.7%.

④ Adding zinc bacitracin antibacterial growth promoter: Its function is beneficial to livestock and helps the digestion and absorption of nutrients in the intestinal tract, improves feed utilization, and increases body weight. For lambs, add 10-20 mg per kg of mixed feed and feed after mixing evenly in the feed.

6. Timely slaughter: Small-tailed Han sheep have strong early growth intensity and slower later growth. If meat lambs are raised to over 1 year of age before slaughter, feeding costs are high and fat deposition is greater. Therefore, the best marketing period for rapid fattening of lambs is at 5-6 months of age.