how many dogs do u need/have the work for?

I stay at or near 12 dogs at my house pretty much year round. At any given time I have 4-5 grown dogs, 2-4 started dogs and 4 or so pups. I try to keep as many as I can out of each litter so that I can pick the best / my favorite over time and eventually whittle down to just the best out of each litter. its a constant revolving door. For instance, my smoke x bonnie pups (just turned 7mths) hit the ground last august, I kept all 4 until my accident, got rid of all but one due to my accident but had it not happened I would have kept all of them. Got all 3 males back after the wreck and picked my favorite...... gave the close 2nd runner up to a good buddy and the 3rd to a young guy right down the road from me. Fast forward to the 4 taz x lucy females I picked up a little while back, (just turned 5 mths of age) I kept 4 and have worked them on mock hunts and in the pen a 1/2 dozen times (enough times for me to see who the best is overall) I am keeping my pick out of the 4 and am passing the others along. I have 2 pups coming shortly and 2 more directly behind those as well as a whole litter on the way. I will continue to do what I have been and keep as many young dogs as I feel I can handle and work in order to pick the best of the best out of each group and whittle down the rest, some that I feel will make dogs will go to friends and the rest.......well I don't think I need to elaborate on the rest.

As far as answering your question directly, I don't NEED any of them, I work in a refinery for a living and do not require dogs to help me earn my living so I really don't NEED any but I feel like I can Successfully work 6-8 grown dogs, the kicker is that I am always trying to improve my dogs therefore I try to keep a revolving door rotation with pups, weeding out the weakest links and keeping the absolute best I can. Hope that makes sense lol.