ram stud fee

[woodendchicks]

hi, well my first post of many i hope. i have a ram and have been asked by an acquaintance if i would consider running her ewes with him. what sort of fee per ewe would be acceptable? She would like to pay something but e are in the dark as to what is fair and reasonable.

[Inger]

Welcome to the forum Woodendchicks. I wouldn't mind knowing the answer as well.

[beedee]

How close is this person, and do you want to deal with them again..
Id go for the green $$ and either get a wether or two or maybe a ewe lamb.. or maybe a tractor hour.
Otherwise I guess you can ask what you like, not sure what a lamb for market would be, but I paid $20 per doe service fee for the off spring to maybe be worth about $50 at a year old if slaughtered or $25 if sold alive...
so the sky is the limit

[terralee]

I've just lent my old boy out for free (ram not hubby) he had finished his harem so I am sure he isn't too worried about the extras
Oh and welcome to LSB
Cheers

[Isla]

Originally Posted by woodendchicks

hi, well my first post of many i hope. i have a ram and have been asked by an acquaintance if i would consider running her ewes with him. what sort of fee per ewe would be acceptable? She would like to pay something but e are in the dark as to what is fair and reasonable.

Welcome. Is your ram particularly finely bred? If not I'd suggest the cost of delivery and you might wish to negotiate how you handle quarantine drenching prior to his return to you.

[hilldweller]

Mine's going off for a romp with some sexy hoggets for transport costs and some eggs and maybe something to put in the freezer Suits me well as I don't have a job for him this year but probably will next year, and of course he's absolutely delighted!

[LongRidge]

50c per ewe per week grazing for 54 days, plus $20 or so for drench for your ewes and ram when theirs have gone, plus a few dollars per ewe stud fees.

[Isla]

Might as well buy a ram.

I borrowed a finely-bred stud hogget ram (which is now in use within his home stud) for nix.

If it doesn't cost you anything to lend him out and the user isn't doing it on a commercial basis, why charge at all?

Oh, I see, on reading again, LR has read it as though the ewes are visiting the ram and I had assumed it the other way, that the ram was going to the ewes. Completely different scenarios.

[stripey]

Someone in our area is hiring rams out on a commercial basis, for $70 + GST, delivered and picked-up, regardless for how many ewes and what length of time.

[Kiwi303]

hmm... the phrasing of the original post suggests their ewes with your ram on your place. in which case I would suggest whatever is a suitable grazing rate per head per day for eatign your grass, and consider the ram service as a bonus :P

However if it's your ram with their ewes on their place, what do they have that you would like in barter terms? do they have a bumper crop of pumpkins and you have none but love pumpkin pie? or do they have a number of apple trees groaning under the weight of apples and you have a hankering for homebrew cider?
Just work somethign out that you're both happy with, the ram will be happy anyway

[Inger]

So doesn't anyone know of a $ per ewe rate for servicing?

We charge $50 per cow plus transport costs, for leasing out our bulls.

[kindajojo]

The question is how valuable is your ram /
What happens if he has an accident or is damaged(good way to lose friendship) arguing over tha one.
Who pays for any vet bills
Are you going to get a vet check after (if he catches something) then infects your flock.

[Ronney]

At a calculated guess, I would say that few people have any idea of the stud hireage because for most people it isn't worth the hassle. If the ram is a big time stud worth thousands of dollars the owner isn't going to lease him anyway, anything else is only the value of dog tucker.

I have a Romney ram here that will go as dog tucker because nobody wants him, I have just bought a Texal/Finn for $90.00 incl. GST which I will use for the next two seasons which gives some idea of the lack of value in rams.

Personally, I would let the acquaintance use him for the price of a weaned lamb, and on the understanding that if anything happens to him while in their care, they pay the dollar equivalent of what you think he was worth.
And don't forget that if he goes to their place, he's not eating grass on your place.

Cheers,
Ronnie

[4trees]

Hi, We went through this scenario a couple of years ago, 12 sheep brought to the property to go with the ram. They were dirty, daggy, and not the flashest on the planet. We had to isolate them to go with the ram, drench them when they arrived, and then when we were ready to send them back we couldn't get the owners to respond and ended up with them for nearly 5 months. So cover all your bases. Cheers.