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 How freakish is that?
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Location: Oregon | kakbarrelracer - 2013-12-30 5:35 PM crapshooter - 2013-12-30 4:46 PM I think you have to find people willing to pay $6 a lb for organic chicken to make that kind of money. So you'd have to be close enough to a urban area to have a lot of rich yuppies. There are people around here selling 5 to 6 pound meat chickens for $20 apiece live. I was surprised to see them going for so much especially when they still need to be butchered.$25,000 in 6 months probably not realistic though. : )
Edited by crapshooter 2013-12-30 7:49 PM
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I Need a Xanax!
Posts: 2774
| moapajetrider - 2013-12-29 10:49 AM
Im getting involved in Icelandic sheep a milk, meat and fiber breed. I just reserved some ewe lambs and am on the hunt for the ram of their dreams lol.
I am doing a garden this year with some wild looking varietys (purple carrots, orange and stripped tomatos, purple and yellow watermelons, purple and white green beans) that I am going to offer in rope baskets for sale at some craft fairs or at a stand in town two weekends a month after harvest.
I have found a mill for the fiber, have three solid buyers for meat and am taking a cheese course in April... Kinda excited though since they are lambs I wont get to sell meat til 2015 or do the milk into yougurt/cheese/soap til then either. Also have a lady up the valley that felts so that maybe a buyer for wool. Plus, Im want to try weaving rugs and my own saddle blankets... We shall see. Kinda sounds fun though right. I am wanting to just have a few ewes though not a big flock. I hope by investing in really good stock I may be able to sell some of the best lambs as seed stock too.
Id like to get a Berkshire sow and AI for piglets to sell but hubby isnt totally on board yet.
I already have the coolest brown egg layers (golden sexlink) that I cant get enough eggs for folks.
Golly! You sound like an overachiever, lol. That's cool though. Good luck! |
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 Expert
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Location: iowa | i have raised a few pigs every year. never have a problem selling them to locals to butcher. but we never really make any money because we have to buy all the feed. same with our steers. and they are a bit of work. a girl who belongs to another forum im on has planted 2 or 3 acres of her acreage to lavender. not sure if that would grow where you are, but its got a big market apparently. she bought a still to make her own lavender oil also. her parents have been doing it for awhile now..they seem to be doing well with it..and bonus...it smells good!! |
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Expert
Posts: 1543
Location: MI | We've saved money on our livestock feed by pasturing them in the woods, or growing root crops and letting them forage them, or getting day old produce from the local grocery store. We also get waste milk from the local dairy farm. Every once in a while as a treat we'll get them some day old bread from the local bakery outlet too. But, the rotational grazing is pretty time intensive, I'd say. |
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Addicted to Baseball
Location: Where the stars at night are big and bright, TX | My mom is trying to talk us into putting our unused pastures in lavender.
Our kids also raise 4-H show chickens. Broilers are not favored here, so the local county clubs show dual purpose. Admitted with our numbers right now - 40-50 - we can spoil them and get them a great start with the livestock shows in mind. With their care I am able to sell these pre-laying pullets for $20 a piece. Big return on investment. We'll continue to grow that end of our interests. People buy our pullets, our eggs, both are wanted out here. Extra spending money for us. |
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I Need a Xanax!
Posts: 2774
| Tilt The Kilt - 2013-12-31 12:37 PM
My mom is trying to talk us into putting our unused pastures in lavender.
Our kids also raise 4-H show chickens. Broilers are not favored here, so the local county clubs show dual purpose. Admitted with our numbers right now - 40-50 - we can spoil them and get them a great start with the livestock shows in mind. With their care I am able to sell these pre-laying pullets for $20 a piece. Big return on investment. We'll continue to grow that end of our interests. People buy our pullets, our eggs, both are wanted out here. Extra spending money for us.
That's great! 4-H is a wonderful program for kids. I can't wait till mine are old enough for 4-H! |
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 Expert
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Location: Never in one place long | I vote raise your own pigs and steers for healthy food! Grow a big garden and feed them your vegtable scraps! My brother did this and just butchered the pigs out... the BEST tasting bacon with hardly any fat I've ever eaten!!! |
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Expert
Posts: 1432
Location: Never in one place long | I pay $13 for less than a pound of chicken at our local store because it's HEALTHY and locally vegetarian fed, it's worth it to me to pay a high price for better food, we eat less meat by far now but it's healthy meat, totally worth it knowing we're not eating modified fatty junk. |
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Addicted to Baseball
Location: Where the stars at night are big and bright, TX | Used2B - 2014-01-01 1:01 PM Tilt The Kilt - 2013-12-31 12:37 PM My mom is trying to talk us into putting our unused pastures in lavender.
Our kids also raise 4-H show chickens. Broilers are not favored here, so the local county clubs show dual purpose. Admitted with our numbers right now - 40-50 - we can spoil them and get them a great start with the livestock shows in mind. With their care I am able to sell these pre-laying pullets for $20 a piece. Big return on investment. We'll continue to grow that end of our interests. People buy our pullets, our eggs, both are wanted out here. Extra spending money for us. That's great! 4-H is a wonderful program for kids. I can't wait till mine are old enough for 4-H!
Mine finally were old enough last year and another this fall. We have been getting some grief for choosing chickens when everyone else has something on the hoof but knowing at these ages this project would be part mine, I wanted some replacement laying hens so I thought this would be a good way to get into it for them and get a few more of my own at the same time. I'm not into goats at all, didn't have the barn situation/set up ready in time for a pig, and opinions from others were they were too small yet to show lambs their first year and we'll wait until jr. high or HS for cattle on the advice of the agent. Truly getting something worth going to the majors in Texas with will cost you 5 digits. A friend of ours raises show goats known to perform well in the majors, and theirs cost about 20k.  CHICKENS IT IS!! lol Then when I saw the prices paid at the majors for a pen of chickens (3 to a pen), I'd be happy to stick with poultry for their 4H careers, better return on investment. |
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Expert
Posts: 1561
| For those that like to raise or grow your own food and make homemade foods from scratch here is a great little site for that. If you enjoy the site I encourage you to register to help him out, he is a great guy.
http://thehomesteadingboards.com/ |
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I Need a Xanax!
Posts: 2774
| bump....because this is a great thread!
Edited by Used2B 2014-01-30 4:20 PM
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I Need a Xanax!
Posts: 2774
| bump |
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Pig-Bear Dog Lover
| I'm not sure if this has been brought up or not, what about breeding puppies? Some dog breeds bring over 1,000 a pup, IF you decide to breed a working type dog they are tax exempt and you do not have to report anything. It'll be an investment initially, but very well could make some money at it. |
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  Twin Sister to Queen Boobie
Posts: 13315
Location: East Tennessee but who knows?! | Anyone do hydroponic growing? Im wanting to save up some money and get into it and grow enough for our horses and to sell, and maybe grow some othere stuff like lettuce, etc. Got the idea from a farming equipment catalog I get. |
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I Really Love Jeans
Posts: 3173
Location: North Dakota | Breed llamas! Those things are expensive and don't require much work! Get some females and a male and you will make what renting the pasture will bring easily and you will not have to deal with boarders who don't pay and disrespect your property!!!! |
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Tried and True
Posts: 21185
Location: Where I am happiest | I wouldnt get into breeding any animals. To labor intensive and the over head is attrocious making a very low return.
Christmas Tree's is a VERY lucrative venture, low work load and the return per acre is astonishing. |
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 Expert
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Location: Central Texas | Fairweather - 2014-01-31 9:34 AM Anyone do hydroponic growing? Im wanting to save up some money and get into it and grow enough for our horses and to sell, and maybe grow some othere stuff like lettuce, etc. Got the idea from a farming equipment catalog I get.
I have a friend that has a huge aquaponics set up. She is a professional chef and uses what she grows in her business. The start up costs can be pretty big to get the system set up correctly. |
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 Dr. Ebay
Posts: 8507
Location: Land Of Oz | If you aren't really really rural, a U-Pick would probably go over really well. Even if people aren't interested in coming to you, you can sell produce at Farmer's Markets. You can also make and sell canned good items/jellies etc. Check with laws in your state of course. I planted some small dwarf variety fruit trees that will produce much faster than the big fruit trees. I'm planting full size also but those will take longer. Each year I'm adding more fruit trees, blackberries, raspberries and blueberries which eventually I hope to incorporate into the Pick-Your-Own. Blackberries sell for $$$! I'd like to add some pecan trees as well. That's something that will take a lot longer to establish.
Although we don't have small acreage, most of what I'd like to do will probably take less than 10 acres to do:
A pick your own garden. I have a greenhouse so I will start seeds in a few weeks to give them a head start and put them in the ground in April weather pending. You could definitely do this, there are lots of shorter season vegetables out there and if you built a big enough greenhouse it wouldn't be too big of an issue to get them bigger before you plant outside. You'd be amazed at just how much food you can grow in a small area especially if you go vertical with a lot of things. You can get away with planting tomatoes every 2' as long as you can provide ample water/nutrition.
I plan on doing a mini rotational chicken grazing system. I'm going to fence off multiple 4 yard units with a roosting house in the middle and plant forage chickens like to eat. As long as I can keep it watered it should keep growing. This will eliminate the need for buying grain. Keeping a compost pile in each will also provide you with free fertilizer for your garden/worms bugs chikens like to eat. In Kansas, I can legally process/sell off the farm 1000 chickens a year without having to be USDA inspected. Another point is to hatch your own chicks. Then you aren't out the cost of of buying the chicks. I'm planning on using Delaware and/or New Hampshire reds. They are dual purpose chickens that are pretty early maturing. Cornish cross, although they grow super fast, just won't work for foraging.
I'm going to purchase a Jersey milk cow. I might put 2-3 calves on her and milk her as I need to/want to. I can make my own butter, sour cream, etc., sell raw milk, make soaps. The milk can also be fed to the pigs/chickens and used on the garden.
I'm going to get a sow and boar Berkshire (old lines not show) and raise pigs. Like an above poster said, they won't stink if you feed them/raise them in a pasture setting. I can feed the pigs from the garden & milk from the cow.
I think there are tons of opportunities for a turn-key small acreage operation. Yes, most is labor intensive and requires some startup $$. I think the sky's the limit though!
Edited by Jinx 2014-01-31 11:26 AM
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Dr. Ebay
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Location: Land Of Oz | GraciousLegacy - 2014-01-31 11:01 AM Fairweather - 2014-01-31 9:34 AM Anyone do hydroponic growing? Im wanting to save up some money and get into it and grow enough for our horses and to sell, and maybe grow some othere stuff like lettuce, etc. Got the idea from a farming equipment catalog I get. I have a friend that has a huge aquaponics set up. She is a professional chef and uses what she grows in her business. The start up costs can be pretty big to get the system set up correctly.
It doesn't have to be expensive at all. There are many 'cheap' ideas on You Tube and the net.  |
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Dr. Ebay
Posts: 8507
Location: Land Of Oz | Another idea is raising meat rabbits. Rabbits reproduce at insanely fast rates and you can use the manure straight on your garden! Also, you could do Angora rabbits, card the fur and sell it.
Edited by Jinx 2014-01-31 11:10 AM
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