Sheep or cattle? Let’s hear from the pros and cons, huh

Sheep and cows are familiar to me. I used to keep cattle at home, but now I keep sheep. By comparing my own breeding experience, I came to the conclusion that sheep farming is less laborious and less risky than cattle farming. The specific reasons are as follows!

Partition from a region. On prairies or open plains, captive breeding: Keeping sheep saves effort. Cows seldom get sick. Vaccinate against foot and mouth disease once a year. Sheep need to be vaccinated every year, which is a hassle.

In terms of economic benefits, however, sheep are more beneficial than cattle. Cattle are expensive and slow to feed. It is beneficial for dairy cows to breed one breed each year. One ewe can breed from one to four sheep twice a year, which can grow quickly and reduce farmers’ costs. Mutton is more expensive than beef in the market.

Whether raising cattle or sheep, it is recommended to develop on a small scale and gradually before fully mastering the habits and feeding techniques of cattle and sheep. If it is free range, it is better to raise both cattle and sheep. Sheep like to follow cows when they eat grass. As soon as the cow comes back, the sheep will go home with the cow and will not get lost. The great advantage of free range is that cattle and sheep rarely get sick. In this way, we can kill two birds with one stone and income will be guaranteed and greatly increased.

There are more sheep than cattle in the mountains, which are natural pastures. Farmers usually use free range. They first kept the sheep in their house for a while, and then drove them to the hills. Often, they don’t need to take care of them at all. Industrious people occasionally visit, while lazy people basically don’t care. When necessary, the sheep will be driven home, and the income is very good.

The price of a calf ranges from 2,000 to 3,000 yuan, while the price of a lamb ranges from 300 to 400 yuan. At this price, a cow can buy nine sheep; If the market price of beef is about 45 yuan per catty, then the selling price will be 30 yuan per catty, while the market price of mutton is about 20 yuan to 40 yuan. The market growth is relatively large, so the price should also be more than 20 yuan, but the difference is very large.

Feeding costs. Cattle are much more expensive than sheep. Despite the size of the cow, it represents a large amount of food. Raising a cow costs at least 3,000 yuan, while raising a sheep costs no more than 200 yuan. If inventory is implemented, the cost will be lower.

Management Although cattle are also docile, for sheep, which are more docile, sheep and cattle are relatively easy to manage. But personally, I think sheep are easier to manage than cattle. First of all, sheep can be kept, which shows that there are many things in management that are less important, while cattle are different and few people keep them.

The market. While mutton is popular in winter, it is sold off-season in other seasons, so the winter of the year is the season for mutton sales, which is different for beef. It’s very popular all year round. Now there are too many sheep and too few cows. The market is like this. Scarcity is more expensive. Of course, the market for beef will be bigger than lamb.

In terms of the growth cycle, the benefits of raising sheep are generally seen within one year. Six to eight months of age, back in a month or two after the basic breeding. Lambs can be produced within five months of breeding, and each ewe can produce three lambs a year. Lambs grow fast and can be sold in four to five months. In addition, lamb feed for the first two months is negligible, lamb consumption for the next three months is not much, and it takes up to a year before and after breeding.

It takes at least 2-3 years to raise your own cattle, with only one calf per year. If a calf over 12 months old is introduced, it can return for another two to three months to breed. After breeding, there will be nearly 10 months to calve and not be released until 18 months of age. It takes about three years before and after, and nearly a year even when calves are introduced for simple fattening,

Although both cattle and sheep are herbivores, cattle and sheep differ greatly in their range of feed choices. In contrast, cattle are more selective than sheep, so cattle have less variety of feed than sheep. For this reason, sheep are also called “hundred grass sheep”, which means that sheep have a wider source of feed than cattle.

Both cattle and sheep can be kept in captivity or naturally grazed. In captivity, sheep are more demanding of enclosures than cattle. In addition, the pen not only requires moisture from the top of the head, but also ensures a warm winter and cool summer. It is much less resistant to heat and cold than a cow. Feed must be fed frequently, not all at once. Otherwise, after saliva contamination, sheep will not eat and waste feed, which must cost a lot of manpower.

Cows are different. Although cattle are more selective in their feed than sheep, they are fans of spartina. However, rice is widely grown in rural areas, which only discovered the use value of straw. In addition, straw can not only produce meat and dairy products for human beings through the abdomen, but also use cattle to produce a large amount of cow manure organic fertilizer, which indirectly reduces the capital investment of purchasing fertilizer in the process of agricultural production.

Generally speaking, whether you raise sheep or cattle, as long as you raise them well, you will make money. However, no matter which one you want to cultivate, you should first consider your own abilities and actual situation, and judge which one is suitable for your actual situation.

Don’t blindly follow the trend, others make money to follow the trend, early accumulation of experience and lessons, slowly develop. For friends who want to reproduce, few people have money and they can’t afford to fail, so you should be steady, step by step, and believe that you will always make a difference.