Risk mitigation in farming

PJ Mommsen, a freelance risk mitigation strategist, writes about how the inclusion of risk mitigation strategies and innovative solutions, in combination with the traditional value analysis of a defined element of production, can add new perspectives to farming operations, and specifically sheep production.

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In this third article of my series on the mitigation of risk in the farming of sheep, I will illustrate how the inclusion of risk mitigation strategies and innovative solutions, in combination with the traditional value analysis of a defined element of production, can work to add new perspectives to a farming operation.

The ‘X to Y teeth’ element of the value chain is where the critical and ‘profitable’ physical growth of a sheep occurs, with the animal moving from being a lamb (up to 12 months) to a yearling or juvenile (12 to 20 months), and then to a mature sheep at around 48 months. Up until this point, the farmer has had to carry all the costs associated with raising the animal.

Most farmers prefer to use the eruption of the animal’s teeth as an indication of its approximate age. The following guidelines are used:

At age 12 to 18 months, the milk teeth begin to fall out and are replaced by two permanent front incisors;

At about 24 months, two or more large front teeth appear, one on each side of the yearling teeth;

By 48 months (four years) of age, the sheep should have six permanent teeth;

By 60 months (five years), the animal should have a complete set of eight permanent front teeth. The sheep is now referred to as ‘full mouth’ (volbek). Adult sheep also have 24 back molars for chewing or grinding, six on each side of the upper and lower jaws;

After five or six years, the age of a sheep is judged by the amount of wear on its front teeth.