I think your approach makes a lot more sense. At every stage in our farming history, we have done things that seemed cutting-edge genius at the time and now look foolish through the lens of history. Sometimes those underperformers have something great to offer, like natural resistance to diseases that only later develop commercial importance. And sometimes, we just don’t do our due diligence as an industry before making sweeping changes, like dry-lotting cattle without testing resulting nutrient values.

I don’t think thoughtful development of a flock or herd transforms a producer into a researcher. Small producers can’t compete directly with the big systematized guys. We have to do things better, or else we’ll have to compete with the big guys without the benefits of scale.

Re: Income replacement, I tend to think about retirement more than most. At some point, continuing a high income is unlikely at best. Savings and social security become the income replacement, and they don’t return much. Farm income looks paltry compared to high-skill wage, but it’s a different story compared to retirement income sources. It’s a form of diversification. If you look at the early returns on most rental properties, they don’t look like much, either, but slow growth has its advantages.

I keep pretty careful accounting records, and even with a small flock and with me often prioritizing time over cost and scope in the triple constraint, they still offer a supplemental income. And that’s even with still being in an investment and growth stage, where the majority of my flock isn’t yet in full swing.

I’m not a big “quit my job and borrow a bunch of money to start a business” kind of person, so I’ll just keep growing it gradually. I will have the option at some point to make it a full time endeavor if I wish, though certainly I don’t expect it to ever match my wages earned in engineering. I know at that time, I could switch some control points in my budget, like cut my own hay, once I had the time, which would make the venture much more profitable that it can be with me working full time.

You’re right, I’d need a lot more sheep to pay for the barn, but the barn has other uses, we didn’t build it primarily for sheep. And the depreciation on buildings is long. The investment in fencing and other equipment is fairly minimal, the payoff on that stuff is only a few years. I do track it all, down to the penny, have a business plan and a ten-year forecast, and file a schedule F. So at least in the eyes of the IRS, I am indeed a commercial endeavor.

I do now submit liver samples to a lab at least yearly, and that has been very enlightening- the results were not at all what I expected based on the tests of my soil and forage. It goes to show that minerals binding with each other is a very complex equation indeed. Since that time, I’ve adjusted my mineral mix every year, and I feel I’m getting closer and closer to optimal, and I feel I’m seeing the benefits in hoof health, which was my primary goal. But it’s a long experiment. I’m still feeding a lot of copper, but had backed it down from some higher levels I was feeding previously, and last year was the first time some of my lab results came back too low in copper. So, it’s proof that you can’t just go by general recommendations; that for whatever various factors, my sheep need more copper than is typical for most, and every farm and sheep breed combination is unique.

The Veterinary Handbook for Sheep Farmers is good to have too. Lately I’ve been referencing the online version of Sheep & Goat Medicine by Pugh- I intend to buy it, as it seems like an even better reference. And, lastly, the American Sheep Industry Association has a great reference called the Sheep Production Handbook. The last 3 are expensive books, but I find that since vets know less and less about sheep, and fewer vets are available to do farm calls, we really need to know a lot ourselves and have good reference materials on hand to look things up.

And then, of course, there is always the Internet! Susan Schoenian has written an amazing amount on her Sheep 101 and 201 series websites. Those are always a very reliable reference.