need help starting with income producing animals

[lonelyfarmgirl]

wasn't sure of an appropriate title, but here is the question.

If one had say 20 acres of good river bottom pasture to use, what would be the best animal or plant to get that would make money the fastest?
what would be the investment associated with your suggestion?
It would not neccessarily have to be the most money, just the fastest turnover.

[Boleyz]

Marijuana... :baby04:

I dunno...20 acres ain't gonna produce much...maybe some cattle?

[Goose]

Joel Salatin claims 1200-1500 per acre gross with pastured poultry. See www.polyfacefarms.com

[Mike in Ohio]

lonelyfarmgirl,

I think it would be hard for anyone to give reasonable comments without knowing more about the land. What exposure does it have and what kind of light? How many hours a day (If it is bottom land and the land rises steeply/high not to far away then it might not get as much light).

What is the soil like (ph)? What crops, if any, were raised there before?

Does the land flood and if so, how often? How does it drain? I've seen bottom land that drains well and other that is always swamplike.

What about water? Can you draw water from the river using a pump? Do you have a spring or well or county water?

Apart from figuring what to produce you need to figure out where your markets are. That probably has as much impact on your choice as the land itself. Is your potential market local, will you haul yourself or can you ship? Do you plan to sell Fresh or will you do any processing yourself (Added value)? What about your personal preferences? A lot of crops will take a fair amount of work....what are you willing to do?

Can you do something that involves agro-tourism? I know some folks that have a farm they call the pumpkin patch. They have trails through the fields that people can drive along to pick their own. These folks charge $2 a pumpkin (up until this past year they charged $1 per pumpkin). They do pretty well and have a nice set up.

There's a lot of factors to consider. With the little information you provided, if you have water I'd suggest looking at row crops (truck farm) of some sort. If you get it right you can make quite a bit per acre.

Mike

Don't know what would make the most money but do know what would make some money. That would be just about any grass grazing animal such as cattle, goats, sheep, etc.

What I would probably do with it is to divide the field in half and place some young heifers, goat kids or lambs in one half. When the grass gets ate down pretty good then graze them in the second half. Keep switching back and forth in the field throughout the summer. Buy weinning age stock in the early spring when the grass starts growing and then sell out in late fall when the grass starts dying out. You will definitely make some money. I've done this with goat kids and have doubled my money on them.

[Lynne]

Pigs or broilers would give you a fast turnover. They can be kept in a smaller area and the bottom land prone to flooding could be cut for hay to sell.

[southerngurl]

If you have good drainage, I would put some of it to use growing herbs (rosemary, sage, thyme, oregano, basil, etc) and sell at the farmer's market.

In the fall, baby salad greens.

[uncle Will in In.]

I'd cash rent it to a local farmer for around $150 per acre, and collect half the rent the first of April, and the second half the first of November. Fastest turnover with the least investment I know of. Works for me.

[lonelyfarmgirl]

in answer to the questions, I dont know about light, there is water avaliable.
what I do know is the soil and pasture green is good. it has been fallow for a few years. no chemicals, etc...
havent seen it with my own eyes. I will be doing all the work.
my experience lies with chickens, rabbits, and crops, but will have someone nearby who makes a living off alpaca. she has plenty of livestock knowledge.
she told me the pasture is good to excellent.

If this resource comes avaliable to me in the next, say month or so, I need to turn over money as fast as possible in order to meet needs with as minimal investment as possible.

thinking of free range turkeys, or horse boarding. looking for other ideas.
things that are long term will be started, but I need some immediate ideas.
could you include time frames possibly?

[chicamarun]

Broiler chickens - 8 weeks or so. But you need to know your market to see if you will make money at it. Turkeys are longer (June - November).

Feeder goats.... feeder lambs.... finish off by being grassfed which can bring a premium - same with beef.... but again this all depends on if you have a market and a way to get rid of the meat.

We do broilers - 150 at a time and started the season last week. We sell them for $4/pound - our market allows us to do that. I know others doing the same thing getting $2.50/pound which would not be worth the time for me. But it's a faster money maker than the lambs and beef - both of which we do and market as grassfed.

Learn your market before diving into something Figure out HOW MUCH you need to make to pay for the investment and then find something you like - because honestly no matter what is "quick" if you don't like it to start with - then you will hate it and dread doing it soon enough.

[Ole Man Legrand]

Are you close to a large population of a city. If so think about boarding horses. It sure works for me.If you need information, just send me a PM and I will send you tons of information. Good Luck. Jay

[melina]

Boarding horses is a double-edged sword. When I did it, the left-open gates, broken equipment, spoiled brats, and liability wasn't worth it.
Twenty acres is more than enough to have a great pastured poultry operation. Get Joel Salatin's book, but be prepared to WORK. His ideas are great, but they aren't for arm-chair farmers. He shows you how it's possible, but makes it clear it's a lifestyle, it's a lifetime committment, and it's work.
Personally, I'd get Boer and Boer cross goats, invest in a good Boer buck and a good fence, and do some rotation with chickens following the goats in the pasture.

[fantasymaker]

BIG BIG QUESTION! FLOODING
Does it ALL flood? How long is it flooded at a time? Most animals wont tread water long.
Does it flood often? Most crops wont sell if they have been underwater.
Will you live there?
What is your investment return situation? Do you just need to repay your seed or stock money this year or do you need to make a living this week?
Sell hay?
Raise veggies.
Camp ground?
add stock and veggies and call it old McDonalds camp ground
Put the campers to work charge them for "Classes" and get PAID LABOR!

[bill not in oh]

Hi A...

I believe Mike and Dana hit on the key to making your decision - identify your market(s). Pastured chickens is probably the fastest livestock turnover and you have options on raising them in tractors or free range (if you can train those Livestock Guardian Rabbits to kill coyotes and raccoons LOL). Meat goats and lambs IF you can find the market and are willing and able to build the fences. Folks with Middle Eastern or Hispanic heritages seek these out, but aren't the only folks you can sell 'em to.

Mike mentioned another aspect that I believe is critical - value added. He and I actually discussed the importance of this aspect this past weekend. Herbs and cut flowers are HUGE - again if you have the market for them. There's a couple near me that have quite a few acres that he farms commercially and she plants high-value crops (pumpkins, gourds, decorative corn, some veggies like cukes, squash and peppers) but told me that most of what she plants is more or less a 'loss leader' for her cut flower business. She sells some beautiful wreaths from some of the things she harvests and adds value to her gourds by making the larger ones into birdhouses, ladles and other things. She also adds value to some of her harvest by making them into 'horn of plenty' type of table centerpieces. You get the idea...

Hope it works out for you..

[lonelyfarmgirl]

sorry, forgot to say something about the market, and yes, I will live there.
the place is 20 minutes from bloomington (Indiana University), and 1.5 hrs from Indianapolis. the market is huge, diverse, and percentage wise, nearly untouched.

certain products will be started (not sure what yet) to bring money later, but what I am after is money now.
If this all pans out (I will know within a month), I will have a window of maybe 3 months, then I need to be bringing in something. at the bare minimum enough to pay the rent.
time isnt a huge deal. I will be able to give 5 full days a week, and evenings on the 2 other days, then as money starts coming in, I will be able to give 6 full days. I am not afraid, and capable of hard work.

I will have to ask about flooding, that one I dont know.

campground is not an option. this isn't for sharing.

I am glad you jumped in chicamarun. I'll be getting with you.
also you jay, thanks

[chicamarun]

I agree with the value added stuff - this year I am working on my kitchen getting certified so that I can turn 8 pound of tomatoes ($16) into about $40 worth of spaghetti sauce. That is SO worth it

Are you planning on doing some farmer's markets in the area? How are you planning on marketing?

[fantasymaker]

Whats the rent? Is there a house on it that is included in the rent?

[DocM]

It takes money to make money. Nobody makes money the first year. Or the second. You will have equipment costs, the costs of buying the livestock, or equipment to process a crop, or an outlay of money to have someone else do it, feed/tack, vet bills, fencing... You'll need to verse yourself in the language of tax - because one sure way to lose money on a small farm is to deny yourself the benefit of a farm loss on your taxes in the years when you do not make a profit - which will be most years.

[fantasymaker]

Lonelyfarmgirl.
I think you need to take the "veggegrower short course" LOL read all his posts!

[Country Doc]

Just a word about goats vs cows as meat not dairy
Cows
easier to fence
probably easier to market
pretty tough to kill if right breed
not enough land for an efficient cow calf operation

goats
cheaper to buy a goat
eats brush also, so if rough land cleans it up
can run a full herd of goats on 20acres including billy
don't need big working pens like cattle if you are fairly strong and healthy

A lot of this depends on access to markets. YOU HAVE TO KNOW IF IT FLOODS.
Neighbors can tell you. Also look at the brush and fences in the bottom, if there are branches in the tree that don't belong to the tree, watch out.