rodrod5 - 11/16/2018 15:21

this is the opinion of someone that has only been tangentially involved in the type of agriculture that is mostly discussed on this forum so keep that in mind

it is my opinion that you need to concentrate on the sheep and goat market for a number of reasons:

1. Australia seems to be much more advanced in sheep and goat management and seems to do it on a scale that is much closer to what pork or poultry would be here in the USA

2. sheep and goats are always said to be more profitable (or losing less) even when cattle are down

3. there are very few equipment companies that make stuff for sheep and goats in the USA Vs cattle or row cropping

4, cattle (excluding dairy of course) is not close to being "integrated" here in the USA and I for one hope it stays that way to a degree and sheep and goats IMO seem to be even less organized than cattle......but it is my opinion that sheep and goats would be easier to integrate than cattle in the USA and if that happens I believe it will be a very rapid movement that would allow someone with knowledge of how it has been done other places to make good money

5. I believe that even with some integration in sheep and goats there will also be a corresponding movement where people with "acres" or "ranchettes" and "hobby farms" suddenly find themselves in a position to need to make better income off of their small acreage and in doing so many of them will not want to or be able to do the work themselves and I think the end result will be that "custom operators" move in and place animals (IMO mostly sheep and goats because of size) onto those small acreages in exchange for a small lease payment and that opens up the opportunity for a large amount of sheep and goat management equipment especially equipment that has an ease of transport and or is suited to service (and probably monitor) a set flock size and that allows for an "extended" period between replenishment (say 3 to 5 days) so the "custom operator" has a weekly schedule where they "touch" 5 or 6 flocks a day several days a week probably in conjunction with a larger flock they have on their main base of operations