How profitable is raising Dorper sheep in confinement?

The Dorper sheep is a meat sheep breed from South Africa, with characteristics such as early maturity, fast growth and development, strong feed intake capacity, strong adaptability and obvious meat-type traits, making it quite popular with farmers. So exactly how much profit is there in raising 100 Dorper sheep in confinement for a year?

Feed cost

① Dorper crossbred lambs aged 1-4 months are fed an average of 0.35 kg of lamb feed per day (40 kg of lamb feed in total over 4 months), 30 kg of forage (high-quality dry forage such as peanut vines), and the total feed cost for a lamb over 4 months is 120 yuan/lamb.

② The annual cost for an adult ewe is 400 yuan.

③ The feeding cost for one ewe producing 3 crossbred lambs per year is: 400 yuan + 120 yuan * 3 lambs = 760 yuan.

Gross profit and net profit

① After crossing with a Dorper ram, the gross profit per Han sheep: in August 2009 the live weight price of Dorper crossbred lambs was 8 yuan/jin, an 80-jin crossbred lamb at slaughter can sell for 640 yuan/head, and one Han sheep can produce 3 Dorper crossbred lambs per year, giving a gross profit of 1920 yuan.

② After crossing with a Dorper ram, the net profit per Han sheep = 1920 yuan — 760 yuan = 1160 yuan.

③ 1 Dorper ram crossed with 30 Han ewes gives a total net profit of = 1160 yuan * 30 head = 34800 yuan.

The combined advantages of “breed + nutrition + disease prevention”

① Dorper crossbred offspring can be sent to slaughter 4-5 months earlier, saving labor.

② Each Dorper crossbred offspring can sell for 160 yuan more, and with 1 Dorper ram mated to 30 Han sheep, producing 90 lambs per year, income can be increased by 14400 yuan.

③ Foundation ewes lose less body condition and can be used for more years.

④ Remember: breed + nutrition + disease prevention == profit.