Sheep Farm Feasibility Study in Saudi Arabia: Build Your Own

A feasibility study for a sheep project in Saudi Arabia has five parts: capital (animals, pens, equipment), running costs led by feed, revenue (lambs per ewe × survival × sale weight × price per kg), break-even, and a sensitivity analysis. Sheep farming can be profitable, but the margin is very sensitive to feed cost, lambs per ewe and mortality.

Ready-made feasibility studies with shiny numbers are easy to find online, and most fit neither your region, your feed prices nor your market. It is better to build your own using the method below and fill it with real quotes. If you have not yet chosen your farm model, breed and site, start with our guide to starting a sheep farm in Saudi Arabia, then come back to the numbers.

Cost components: capital and running costs

Capital (paid once):

• Animals: ewes and rams, plus transport, a vet check and quarantine at purchase.
• Pens, shade and fencing: separate pens for ewes, lambs, rams and isolation, with enough shade for the heat.
• Equipment: feeders, water troughs, a water tank, a scale and identification tools.
• Land: counted as yearly rent if leased, or noted separately if owned.

Running costs (per year):

• Feed: barley, alfalfa, Rhodes grass hay, concentrates and minerals. It is usually the largest line on farms that buy most of their feed.
• Labour: wages, housing and food.
• Vet care: vaccinations following your vet and the ministry schedule, treatments and checks.
• Water, power, fuel and maintenance.
• Transport and market fees.
• Depreciation: a yearly share of the value of pens and equipment, because they do not last forever.

The revenue model: the equation that runs the project

A breeding flock earns mainly from lambs, calculated like this:

1. Lambs born = number of ewes × average lambs per ewe per year.
2. Lambs surviving to sale = lambs born × survival rate.
3. Lambs sold = surviving lambs − ewe lambs kept as replacements.
4. Lamb revenue = lambs sold × sale weight in kg × price per kg.
5. Add revenue from cull ewes.

Every term in this equation depends on your management: twins, mortality, growth speed and sale timing. That is why two farms with the same head count and breed can earn very different results.

A complete illustrative example: 100 ewes and 3 rams

Illustrative example only. Every price and rate below is an assumption to show the method, not a market price. Replace them with real quotes from your region.

Net profit in this example is about 10,130 SAR a year, roughly 5.4% on capital, before land and the owner's own time. Just as important: the first lambs are sold about a year after the rams go in (about 147 days of pregnancy, then months of growth), so you need extra cash to carry running costs until the first sale, which in this example could approach a full year of running costs.

Break-even and sensitivity analysis

Break-even is the price or volume at which revenue equals cost. In the example, lambs must bring in 150,250 − 13,500 = 136,750 SAR. Spread over 102 lambs at 40 kg (4,080 kg), the break-even price is about 33.5 SAR per kg, or about 95 lambs sold at 1,440 SAR each.

A sensitivity analysis changes one factor at a time and keeps the rest fixed, to show where the risk lies:

The lesson is clear: feed 20% dearer, survival 10 points lower or a price per kg 10% lower is enough to turn profit into loss, while more twins or seasonal selling multiply it. Combine just two improvements, feed 10% cheaper and 1.5 lambs per ewe, and net profit in the example rises to about 42,800 SAR, with capital paid back in about 4.4 years instead of more than 18 years in the base case.

Is sheep farming profitable in Saudi Arabia?

It can be, but profit does not come from head count alone; it comes from managing the lines in the tables above. The main levers:

• Feed cost: buying in volume, good storage to cut waste, and a balanced ration. See how to reduce feed costs.
• Lambs per ewe: feeding before mating, ram selection, and culling ewes that rarely lamb.
• Mortality: every lamb lost carries its mother's cost for the whole year. Read the real cost of livestock mortality.
• Sale timing: selling for Ramadan and Eid al-Adha rather than under pressure after the seasons.
• Labour: with good organisation one worker can handle more head, spreading the wage over more animals.

From a study on paper to real numbers in Throf

A feasibility study is an estimate before you start; what matters afterwards is comparing the assumptions with reality month by month. In Throf you record expenses and sales and see net profit and cost per head, follow feed stock in kg, and track births, twins and deaths, so you know whether you really reached 1.3 lambs per ewe. If the project has partners, the investors and partners module shows ownership percentages and profit shares. To work out your cost per head with your own numbers now, use the cost per head calculator.