| If you are sheep producer then part of your | | | | transportation costs because your sheep will be |
| operations includes putting your sheep for sale. | | | | picked-up on farm. There are many ways to market |
| Where and how do you put your sheep for sale? | | | | your sheep for direct sales from your farm: through |
| • Public auctions. | | | | word of mouth; by placing classified ads in |
| Putting your sheep for sale in public auction is | | | | newspapers; posting flyers prior to major holidays; |
| convenient and easy. There are regular weekly sales | | | | sending advertisements to magazines, newsletters, |
| and special dates when graded sales are held prior to | | | | TV and radio stations of ethnic groups; you can even |
| various religious holidays that observe the | | | | use the internet to sell your sheep; or hand out free |
| consumption of sheep. Moreover, putting your sheep | | | | samples at your local famer's market. |
| for sale in public auction means you get a prompt | | | | • Selling your sheep to meat processors. |
| payment. The disadvantage however, is that you | | | | The advantage of selling to a meat processor is that |
| cannot determine the selling price of your sheep prior | | | | you will know the price of your sheep before hand. |
| to the auction. This is because in public auctions, | | | | You can also expect this price to remain constant, |
| "price discovery" or the determination of the price of | | | | but you can also periodically renegotiate when |
| your sheep is based through demand and supply | | | | necessary. Nevertheless, in this kind of setup, you |
| factors. | | | | are required to produce a constant amount of sheep |
| • Direct sales to Ethnic/Religious groups. | | | | with a certain level of quality, periodically. |
| A majority and constant demand for sheep comes | | | | • Hiring a middle man or sales manager. |
| from Muslims, Jews and other ethnic/religious groups | | | | If you do not want to go through all the hassle of |
| that consume sheep as part of their religious | | | | putting your sheep for sale, you can hire a middle |
| observances such as the Ramadan and Passover. As | | | | man or sales manager who will do the job of finding |
| a producer, you can take advantage of this by selling | | | | you the most profitable way to sell your sheep-but |
| to these groups directly or through a middle man. | | | | of course with a commission as payment. |
| • Selling directly from your farm. | | | | As you can see, there are many venues and ways |
| The advantage of putting your sheep for sale | | | | on where and how to put your sheep for sale hence, |
| directly from your farm is that your profit margin is | | | | adding to the profitability of raising sheep. Just |
| greater. This is because you don't have to go | | | | remember to utilize all the information and possible |
| through a middle man who gets a percentage of | | | | options available in your area before choosing the |
| your income. Also, you will not be paying for | | | | method of sale that will give you the most profit. |