Top Performing Flocks Show the Way Ahead
04/10/05

For the second year in a row, top-performing English flocks in both the lowlands and the Less Favoured Areas made a useful profit on every ewe after excluding subsidy payments, reveal the latest enterprise costings from the English Beef and Lamb Executive (EBLEX).

In so doing, they confirmed the viability of many enterprises in the post-subsidy world and underlined the critical importance of maximising both the number of lambs reared per ewe and the proportion of the annual crop sold for slaughter rather than as stores.

While the 2004/5 costings show top third lowland flocks achieving a similar net margin per ewe excluding subsidies to the previous year, they highlight a marked year-on-year improvement in the profitability of top third LFA flocks. To such an extent, indeed, that they actually out-performed their lowland counterparts.

The reasons behind this were largely down to the prices achieved for breeding sheep from LFA flocks. These were returning on average an extra £10 per costed ewe compared to the previous year and making £4 per costed ewe more than the top third  lowland flocks.

As in 2003/4, the top third flocks of both types produced significantly higher lamb outputs at lower overall costs than the average enterprises to generate £24-25/head higher net margins excluding subsidies. They did this primarily by rearing more lambs per 100 ewes and selling higher proportions of their crop for slaughter.

The top-performing 2004/5 LFA flocks, for instance, reared 151 lambs per 100 ewes as against the 129 lambs of the average enterprise. At no extra feeding cost, they then sold 58% of their lambs for slaughter and only 23% as stores compared to the average flock's 40% and 36% respectively.

While the number of lambs reared per 100 ewes remained similar to the previous year, the top-performing LFA flocks owe the bulk of their significantly improved year-on-year profitability  to a substantial increase in the proportion of lambs sold for slaughter - 58% instead of 51% in 2003/4 - and reduction in those sold as stores - from 38% in 2003/4 to the current 23%.

EBLEX Top Third Performing English Ewe Flock Enterprise Costings (2004/5 vs 2003/4)

* Excludes the value of unpaid family labour

According to EBLEX, these costings once again underline the vital importance for producers to know and understand their costs of production.

D-Day for British Lamb in France