With just a few acres...

[ChasingDreams]

To make income, what would you do? A family cow raising a beef cow is part of the plan ~ but something more consistant, and something to give any waste-milk to would be ideal. Pigs? Broilers?

As for gardening, I'm not much of a green thumb... I'd much rather work with animals. Thanks!

[RichieC]

Originally Posted by ChasingDreams

To make income, what would you do? A family cow raising a beef cow is part of the plan ~ but something more consistant, and something to give any waste-milk to would be ideal. Pigs? Broilers?

As for gardening, I'm not much of a green thumb... I'd much rather work with animals. Thanks!

Quail. Though they wouldn't do much for your excess milk.

If you have oak woods, shiitake mushrooms.

[Windy in Kansas]

Is there a market for rabbits in your area? They would drink excess milk.
Chickens will also drink milk or eat whey. Eggs, broilers.

I think that pigs require a bit of experience to get really good meat from them but they would be thrilled with the excess milk.

Your gardening may just need some patience and experience. We were all at a learning point at some time in our lives. The reason I say that is that I believe gardening to market has some good return if you can produce quality produce.

[Shirley]

Give excess milk to pigs, they love it! And/or raise calves.

[vallyfarm]

Raising ANY large critter on little land would be tricky. It costs just as much to bale 1 acre of hay as 20. The tractor, haybine, rake, etc. all cost as much. If you like the animals, think about meat goats. They take up a lot less room. If you have the market near most any large city, the people that want them will seek YOU out. Ducks, chickens, etc are easy too. It really depends what you calla few acres. Around here that is about 5, go out to the mid west and a few acres is only 500. Mike

[sammyd]

pigs or calves would benefit more from the excess milk of a family cow.
With only a couple of acres free you don't have much extra to use for profit making once you count in your milk cow and your beefer.
I'd try feeding out a couple of feeder pigs for the freezer and forget about making a profit.
Unless you want to build housing for the calves and buy in your forage, a couple of acres won't allow consistent profit feeding out calves.
5 or 10 acres and you might have something.

[Beeman]

Originally Posted by ChasingDreams

To make income, what would you do? A family cow raising a beef cow is part of the plan ~ but something more consistant, and something to give any waste-milk to would be ideal. Pigs? Broilers?

As for gardening, I'm not much of a green thumb... I'd much rather work with animals. Thanks!

Just a "few" acres? No idea how many or what type of land it is. I don't think the best pasture in the world if only a few acres would support a dairy cow and a beef. Also rermember it will take hay and feed to overwinter them. Pigs are great but too close to the house or your neighbor is not a good place for pigs and their aroma. Chickens is without a doubt the best place for anyone to start and go from there.

[Callieslamb]

How about berries? Small berry crops don't take much space but bring high prices at farmer's markets. They also don't take much "gardening" skills and need minimal tending. Strawberries, IMO, need more care than others. Raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, etc are easy to grow and need much less care than my easy-care chickens.

Just a thought.

[damoc]

chickens seem like the best small acreage animal except i think for bees because the bees have the ability to forage far afield but can also cause problems for neighbors if they are close.aquaculture may also be a good
choice if you have a good supply of cheap water.

look into permaculture which is basically multiple sytems/crops designed and working together for maximun yields from multiple sources.instead of just 1
cash crop or product that you have to ship to market like chicken eggs
you would have many and market them if possible from home without the cost
of shipment and packaging or consume directly to save purchase.shipment
and packaging will take the profit out of any small business especially when
having to compete with large chemical and fossil fuel using companies using horrible methods of production like feed lots


Right now I have bees,chickens and a small pond with fish as well as garden
and some young fruit trees.

here are some products and services that could be sold, offered or consumed with these small animals

beeswax,candles,honey,pollen,propolis,soaps,wine,c reams and other health
products,pollination services,queen bees,bee swarms,chicken eggs,free range
chicken meat,feathers,chicken poop fertaliser,fresh/live fish, insect controll,
weed controll, royall jelly,live chickens.

this is without consideration to all the plants and plant products that can and do benefit from these small animals.

[sros990]

Click here for some great ideas from Oregon State University.

Steve

[missysid]

Great website sros990 thanks for posting it.

[Jim S.]

Originally Posted by ChasingDreams

To make income, what would you do? A family cow raising a beef cow is part of the plan ~ but something more consistant, and something to give any waste-milk to would be ideal. Pigs? Broilers?

As for gardening, I'm not much of a green thumb... I'd much rather work with animals. Thanks!

A cow is not feasable to make money on small acres, nor are pigs or other large farm animals. They'd be Ok to go in your own freezer. With a beef calf, I'd try to split it with another family. Half a steer is quite a lot of beef.

With small acres, for cash income you'd do better with laying hens (sell free range eggs and the meat), rabbits, and perhaps meat goats (depending on your local population). I like the quail idea. If you can get it going, it would be good. Then sell them to hunters here for $3.50 each. You also could go into the pickeld egg biz (hen and quail). There was a man here who did that for years, stocked a bunch of stores all over with them, He recently died, and I have tried to buy up as many jars of his quail eggs as I can find. Mmmm!

[Beeman]

Originally Posted by ChasingDreams

To make income, what would you do? A family cow raising a beef cow is part of the plan ~ but something more consistant, and something to give any waste-milk to would be ideal. Pigs? Broilers?

As for gardening, I'm not much of a green thumb... I'd much rather work with animals. Thanks!

I just reread your post and now understand less of what you're asking. Are you wanting to raise animals for income or are you wanting to make an income from your place while you raise animals for you to eat/milk?

[ChasingDreams]

Originally Posted by Beeman

I just reread your post and now understand less of what you're asking. Are you wanting to raise animals for income or are you wanting to make an income from your place while you raise animals for you to eat/milk?

The latter ~ I know well that I can't make an income off of cows on 3 acres of available pasture. That's just for us. Just looking for other ideas to help supplement the income and pay for homestead wishes

[Beeman]

Originally Posted by ChasingDreams

The latter ~ I know well that I can't make an income off of cows on 3 acres of available pasture. That's just for us. Just looking for other ideas to help supplement the income and pay for homestead wishes

I don't think cows in the plural is a reality on 3 acres. You could buy a steer in spring and slaughter it in the fall, your acreage should support that. To keep a cow year round would wear out your land pretty quick, especially in either dry or wet weather and over the winter.
A home based business not in agriculture would be your best bet. I have no idea what to recommend to someone without knowing a lot about them. the best advice is don't spend money right from the start in hopes of making money, it usually doesn't work out real well.

[brreitsma]

I haven't experimented and tried a certain idea yet because the oppurtunity is not there. I have the CD-Rom series by Kurt Saxon and on one of the discs is plans for a seed starting and growing layer box. I think it comes to 5 by 5 square and six feet high or something and a person is supposed to be able to consistantly grow enough in it for I think it is 20 head of cows.

[Terri]

How close are you to a place that slaughters rabbits? Delivery costs can eat up the profit!

[keltink]

Shiitakes and bees (either for honey, or selling splits).
NC has strong extension service help in both areas - Google, you'll see what I mean, particularly in the bee area. One of the best states in the nation that way, in my humble opinion (check out the NC Beekeepers Association, too, and I bet whatever county you are in has a beekeepers club of its own).
Otherwise, PM me and I'll be glad to offer what help I can, we do both
mushrooms and a honeybee business, plus other odds and ends to make ends meet. Shiitakes are easier than what you'll read online, by the way. Just get the spore inoculated into logs, you'll get shiitakes if you moisten the logs occasionally, and at the right time.

[KayJay]

IMO chickens would be your best bet. I've got layers and am trying out crossing my own meat chickens by crossing a meat rooster over my layer hens, that way I still have the egg output without having to have a zillion different breeds of chickens. Haven't hatched any yet to see how the chicks will grow out, but I'm thinking they'll do pretty well. I feed all my extra goat milk to the chickens, as well as any scrap we have from the kitchen. They also lightly till and fertilize my gardens when not in use.

[QuiltingLady2]

If you are talking about making money. Lots of great ideas out there for that. Look at your area of course and what the market will support. Farmers markets and nitch growing. Where are the empty slots etc.

As to keeping the family and adding animals. We would love to add a calf to finish off during the summer. Have never done it though and we are looking at the cost etc. If it pens out next year we will do it. Otherwise we'll just continue to buy from the neighbor who gives us a good deal on a finished cow. With the much larger garden we are growing they might take some veggie boxes in trade to down the cost of the meat.

Pigs - That's a big job. And lots of knowlege is needed at least from what I've read.

Chickens - We are going to get these for eggs and meat. First eggs. None of use has killed or feathered a bird. Brother has and laughs at our poor ablilities. I'm sure he'll get a kick out of showing us how-to. Cheap entertainment he says. lol

Garden will be much, much larger. We are adding lots of berries and fruit to can and spread around the family unit. Should be good for all of us.

Lots of sweat equity, good for the soul.