What is working for you?

Pastured broilers make us the most money. They paid for all of our feed plus some. I had several customers for vegetables, but the drought killed us this year. We'll try again next year. The folks here in Raleigh want lettuce, unusual tomatoes, and broccoli. We're hoping to try again next year. The garden feeds us. I haven't been to the grocery store in so long that I was stunned by the prices at Costco.

We plan to add cows next year. Maybe Dexters so that I can handle them better while hubby travels. There seems to be a market from them and I have several folks who have expressed interest in beef. We'll take pre-orders and raise based on the orders.

I really think that since everything is paid for and we are debt free that we can make a meager living from the chickens, veggies and beef next year. We won't be rich. We won't be traveling, but we'll be at home in the country. We'll see!!

What has worked:
- Honeybees (selling honey and selling bees, plus you can get into pollination, though we aren't doing that).
- Shiitake mushrooms. If interested, run a search on shiitakes and you'll get a description of our method that is in a thread in the garden forum.
- Selling spring vegetables and plants.

What hasn't worked:
- Selling vegetables after spring, because processing our honey and putting up enough food for the winter takes every bit of our time. I wasted a lot of seed and effort in the garden this year because I thought we'd be able to do it all. We couldn't, and I now accept that August-September is sourwood season and I will not be doing anything except extracting honey, selling honey, and canning/drying/freezing. Our early honey flow was curtailed this year because a freeze killed off the poplar blooms, but I may also discover that as we get more hives, I won't be doing much vegetable selling at all, because late spring may be out, too.

Can you tell us why your goats didn't work? It seems they are pretty popular these days, but we are thinking about getting out of them.

As long as we are talking about failures, make sure you give everything an honest try before throwing it out. You probably need to try it at least 3 years. Our drought was so hard on everything this year I am throwing out all data for this year, and just taking away some emergency drought procedures for in the future. A good friend was just about to give up on rabbits after three years when his market finally opened up. Now he is cruising along.

Goats! If you don't know what your doing you can easily lose money on goats. I had a friend who purchase a lot of goats and kept them for about 3 years. At the end he just about broke even on them. Many died of deseases and worms. Neighborhood dogs killed a few and was out a lot of feed money through the winters. Only about half the offsprings lived and the other half replaced what he would lose throughout the year. So by the end he sold out and came out about even.

I on the other hand I have made quit a markup on my goats. I haven't done it in a couple of years but I would buy several wienning age kids in early spring and feed them on brush all summer long and into fall. When fall arrives I sell out and by then the kids have doubled in size and bring twice as much money. So, I would double my money and wouldn't be out any on feed since they ate brush.

A few years ago on a news station they was reporting about this man who would use his goats to work for the city. The city would hire him and his goats to go clear out brushy areas throughout the city. Everymorning this man would open the door to his cattle trailer and all his goats would run inside, ready to go to work. The dogs would jump in the back of the truck and off they all go for a days work. They drive up to a problem area such as a creek bridge where the brush has grown up and the man would release the goats to start eating all they wanted. He would control them with the dogs to keep them in one area at a time so they would eat everything there and to keep them out of the roadway. By the time the day was over the goats had done a much better job and cheaper then hiring people to do the work. Then they would all load back up and head for home.

A job well done for the city, goats fed, and the man made a profit for the day.

Goats are not doing well because I have yet to build a goat proof fence. Our goats can climb or jump a 4 to 5 ft fence, although I might have it figured out now for the adult goats. So many people do goats here, the market is really saturated. I am spending way too much time in them for very little in return.

Pigs on the other hand... We are considering do sows and farrowing. We did want to do one more batch of feeders pigs just to get the experience with pigs, but we cannot find any, and neither can the 4-h kids. There really is a market here for it.

We just started with bottle calves. I would really like to get a jersey cow and make her a nurse cow, the worry with calves is rather extreme. We'll be raising them to butcher.

Mushrooms is something my dh has wanted to do.

I've always wanted to do honey, but I am allergic to bee stings. I'm hoping one of the kids will be interested someday. Until then I am bartering eggs for honey.

Thanks so much everyone for sharing your experiences.

We have dairy goats...6-7 milkers. We raise a bottle calf or two. We've done pigs (even free orphan ones on goats milk like calves). We have laying hens. Peking ducks now that were free as ducklings(4ducks and a drake). We've done broilers. For us the goats are the key to everything, but we did get a 6 foot fence when we bought the place. I can and freeze surplus milk for when a freebie pig or cheap calf comes along. We sell and barter alot of our eggs/meat.

I dont make any money but I can say that my gardens produce well from the good poo-poo and my freezers are full of meat that wont be recalled. Feed is getting pricey but the grocery store is not only pricey but could be dangerous to your health! And as more folks figure that out, the better my excess critters will sell.

For free this year...3 piglets(a breeding trio), a breeding trio of guineas, 10 ducks, 4 rabbits, 15 chickens and cheap dairy bull calves. Helps the bottom line.

There are countless means of generating income in Wisconsin, moreso in Northern Wisconsin where there are millions of acres of public land. Harvesting wild ginseng. Harvesting balsam boughs to be used in wreath production. Harvesting wild rice. Butchering deer. Harvesting beavers/muskrats. Selling firewood. Building rustic furniture. The list goes on & on.

An aquaintance I know sells goats milk. Don't know if she is under the radar or if goats milk is exempt from regulations.

I know of a hog farmer in SW Wisconsin that took advantage of his location. He purchased the farm in 1980, when interest rates were 20%. He had his farm paid off in 10 years. How? The local cheese plant produced whey as a by product. He was able to get the whey delivered to his farm (free) and his pigs always had plenty of whey to devour. Yes, they still needed some grain, but the whey was essentially free food. It was like the whey was a miracle food for pigs as they grew by leaps & bounds.

Many of these things are not easy. If it were, everyone would be doing it. Some things require permits/licenses. It is a sign of the times.

LOL...that's the average length of ownership for a goat herd -- 3 years. I like to pick up those goats, then, for cheap. There are far too many hucksters in the biz, who are interested in parting newbies from their money. And there are far too many newbies who think more money = good herds. I cannot believe how much many people have in their goats - and nearly to a one, they will tell you they are making money! LOL.

"If you don't know what your doing" ... that is exactly right, and not just with goats. The strangest phenomenon about the "if you don't know what you're doing" set is, they seem to PREFER taking "advice" from the heavy marketers who have a vested self-interest in parting them from their money. Meanwhile, there are people, often right next door or in the local area, with vast experience over many years, all of which is discounted by the neophyte who is new to the country. It's like rejecting a glass of water in the desert!

My advice to anyone trying to start out in a farming endeavor of ANY kind is to listen to your neighbors and relatives who farm FIRST, and treat anything said to you by someone trying to sell you something with suspicion. Not all of them are hucksters, but you need to be critical about whether what they say and offer will PAY in your operation.

__________________
Jim Steele
Sweetpea Farms
"To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing." -- Robert Gates

You might want to browse through this thread..

http://homesteadingtoday.com/showthread.php?t=197350