Cotswold Organic Lamb
...contract sheparding to reduce fixed costs
This is a new business bringing together three sheep farming businesses as a private company limited by shares.
The business was set up to reduce the production costs for organic lamb and to better utilise the marginal land on the three holdings. The company is now also jointly marketing all organic lambs produced by the company.
The new company does not own any sheep but hires them from each of the company shareholders along with the grass keep required for the 2,000 strong breeding ewe flock. The company managed to secure the working capital facility on the value of the seasonal lamb crop as the business had no other assets to put up as collateral.
The group received support from the South West Rural Enterprise Gateway Programme which facilitated company set up and provided access to advice on trade mark registration.
Key Learning Points
The three holdings are geographically close which is necessary for this collaboration to work.
Bringing together sheep flocks causes difficulties in terms of sheep identification which should be considered in conjunction with Defra.
Bringing the three businesses together to focus on organic lamb production has allowed the three businesses to share ideas on a whole range of different topics and is leading to significant collaboration between the businesses.
The three businesses concerned have complementary objectives which have been clearly identified by the individual businesses.
Budgets for this year indicate that the three businesses will become more financially viable through the development of this joint venture.
Share to Farm DVD clips have been produced by The Fred Production Company Ltd.
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