Project Title:  Dairy Sheep Production Budget Spread Sheet  Round 1 (2003)        

Project Leader (s):  Don Schuster and Yves M. Berger

Project Collaborators: Tom Kiefer and the Wisconsin Dairy Sheep Co-op.

Project Category: Business Development    

Situation: It’s a small drop in the Wisconsin large milk pail, but the state’s sheep milk industry is getting bigger and better.  The sheep are producing more milk, farmers are learning how to handle the milk, and cheese makers are marketing some great sheep milk varieties.

This niche industry has grown by leaps and bounds since the mid-90s, which, not coincidentally, is when the UW-Madison established the nation’s first and only research programs in dairy sheep and sheep milk cheese.  The Wisconsin Sheep Dairy Cooperative (WSDC) expects to market about 420,000 pounds of sheep milk this year – eight times what they sold in 1996. WSDC is actually seeking more producers to respond to the ever higher demand for sheep milk.  They’ll earn about $60 per 100 pounds. The “Other Milk” Finds Its Niche, by Katie Weber for The College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Quarterly, winter 2002-2003.

• Dairy sheep producers will know more about their own production cost for their particular farm.
• Dairy sheep producers will have a clearer understanding of the economic benefits/down falls of their business.
• Will benefit potential new producers to test before they invest into the dairy sheep business.

Response: 

• Dairy Sheep budget has been developed and tested by producers
• Present at the August 2005, Wisconsin Dairy Sheep meeting.
• A CIAS has published the budget on its web site.

Results:On August 27th, 2005, I had the pleasure to present the Dairy Sheep Production Budget Spread Sheet to the members of the Dairy Sheep Co-op at the U.W. Spooner Ag. Research Station.  There were approximately 50 participants.  Of the 50 participants, about 80% of them were husbands and wife teams.

A survey was given at the end of my presentation with 18 participants filling it out.  N = 18

56% (10) of the participants were actually engaged in milking dairy sheep.  They averaged 160 sheep each with range of 30 to 300 dairy sheep.

Of  the 44% (8)of participants that were not milking sheep 33% (6) said that they would be in the dairy sheep business within 3 years.

When asked if they used any enterprise budget planning, 55% said that they did and 28% said that they use some from of enterprise budget tool.  When asked which tool they used, only three answer with 3 different answers, Quick books, AIMMS and their own spreadsheet.

When asked “what is the most important concept that you learn today?” they responded with the following: Great tool for bank, expansion, Budget to prove viability or lack there of, Do a budget plan, Ability to standardize means for calculating cost of production for milk, A plan that you can use., Make sure you think of every variable, Having a completed spreadsheet to work off of, Budget will answer many finance questions, Ease of use of Don's spreadsheet, Where to access this excel program, Meet Don and ask questions about the budget program., The availability of the spreadsheet tool, How to use a spread sheet and budget, We need a budget!!, Resources at the universities.

When asked “What suggestions do you have to help improve this program?” seven responded with varying answers.  Suggestions or a place to get some of the numbers or prices, ie land buildings, milk price, Hold workshop with DS coop to go cell by cell thru worksheet to explain financial jargon, More marketing-what to do with product, Ok, we have a budget, where do you go from there, good presentation on topic, Test it to running enterprises, More time to go in depth with example, One on one training with budget, Keep available to dairy sheep farmers.

The one thing the survey didn’t measure was the sincerity of the dairy sheep producers for how grateful they were that someone spent some time trying to help them.  The money used for this project will not help the masses, the dairy sheep numbers are very small but by doing projects like this, it gives the university a chance to show the public that we are not only here for the big farms.  By going to Spooner for just one day, it generated a lot of positive image for the University of Wisconsin.