Drought, high feed costs hurting sheep ranchers

SEVERANCE – John Bartmann is facing some of the toughest times he’s seen in sheep ranching.

A sheep rancher near Severance in Weld County, Bartmann has cut his flock of 2,000 by a third while losing more than $80 for every lamb he sells.

“It’s something like a perfect storm to get us where we are today,” Bartmann said. “What the drought did is it exaggerated things.”

Beyond drought, consolidation of the sheep-packing business, increased feed costs and plummeting lamb prices have created hardship among sheep ranchers across Northern Colorado. The situation has deteriorated so much for ranchers that the federal government is…