Income Over Feed Cost of Fattening Lambs at Various Market Prices

Abstract

An economics experiment to study the values of Income over Feed Cost at various market prices of fattening sheep has been done at Sheep Experimental House of The Faculty of Animal Husbandry, UniversitasPadjadjaran. About 63 heads of Garut growing lambs were fattened for 90 days and fed by corn silage and concentrate. Feed consumption and average daily gain (ADG) were measured and Income over Feed Cost was analyzed at different selling prices: 40,000 IDR/kg live weight at general market, 60,000 IDR/ kg live weight at Aqiqah Market, and 80,000 IDR/kg live weight at Qurban Market. The result showed that ADG of lambs was 122 g/head/day resulting in selling prices of 4,882 IDR/head/day for general market, 7,323 IDR/head/day for Aqiqah market, and 9,764 IDR/head/day for Qurban market. If average feed cost was 3,508 IDR/head/day, its Income over Feed Cost was 1.374 IDR/head/day for general market, 3,825 IDR/head/day for Aqiqah market, and 6,256 IDR/head/day for Qurban market. At non-feed cost of 1,921 IDR, there was a potential loss of 547 IDR/head/day if selling price was only 40,000 IDR/kg live weight. Breakeven point could be reached at selling price of 44,500 IDR/kg live weight. It is concluded that fattened lambs is not profitably sold to general market but can be profitably sold to Aqiqah and Qurban markets.