Polyface days---rant.....

sticky_burr · #**141** 12/03/11, 01:00 PM

just of curosity does he mention to emulate his results you need a "free" farm and make a quarter million in off farm job

i dont dislike the man i find some of his flowery words insightful indeed like being a nudist buddist in the market is just too weird for the market. raising market varieties in a better way will be better recieved than raising heritage breeds with little breast meat

willow_girl · #**142** 12/03/11, 01:16 PM

Farming is a business like any other. In order to stay in business, you have to produce something customers want and sell it at a price the market will bear. If demand isn't great enough or the price isn't enough to cover your costs, you won't be in business long. So, you either create demand, find more efficient/cheaper methods of production, or some combination thereof.

Another route I have seen some take is to find a wife who has a good job in town! Where I come from, all the dairy farmers marry schoolteachers, and there is a reason for that.

idigbeets · #**143** 12/03/11, 01:29 PM

Got any ideas on how to turn a 150 yards of compost materials without a bucket loader? Or better yet how to spread it easily on multiple acres without equipment?

Some equipment is necessary... especially when you're making a living (not just bartering and feeding oneself) off the land. I work hard every day, some tasks would be infinitely easier with a couple proper tools e.g. a bucket loader, or a windrow turner, or an industrial chipper....

Sure I can feed myself and those that depend on me with a small garden, orchard etc, but that still doesn't pay the light bill.

One can't deny the number of opportunities opened up for a farmer/homesteader with access to land, equipment etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Our Little Farm

You don't need a huge amount of land, or equipment to provide meat for your family and enough to barter with.

I know because I have done it.

If you want a business, scale down to what you have instead of wishing you had more. Rabbits, chickens, catfish farming if you have a pond, sheep if you have some acerage, pigs etc. All doable.

Think of how much you can save if you provide your family with your own meat...and then vegetables and fruit from a garden. It's huge.

Yes Joel had inherited land. So what? He has still had to work very hard from a very young age to make his farm what it is today. I do sense envy on this thread and am saddened by it. Just make do with what you have!

Look at Forerunner. He provides for his own family with his own sweat and hard work.

Our Little Farm · #**144** 12/03/11, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by idigbeets

Got any ideas on how to turn a 150 yards of compost materials without a bucket loader? Or better yet how to spread it easily on multiple acres without equipment?

Some equipment is necessary... especially when you're making a living (not just bartering and feeding oneself) off the land. I work hard every day, some tasks would be infinitely easier with a couple proper tools e.g. a bucket loader, or a windrow turner, or an industrial chipper....

Sure I can feed myself and those that depend on me with a small garden, orchard etc, but that still doesn't pay the light bill.

One can't deny the number of opportunities opened up for a farmer/homesteader with access to land, equipment etc.

Maybe so, but it can be done if you approach it the right way. Instead of wanting what the jones have, make do with what you do have. As for the light bill, if you raise the right animals, fruit etc, you can pay it with what you raise. I have.

Instead of having those large expensive items, some can be rented. If you have friends with them, they can be borrowed or you can exchange work. Another thing we have done.

You can control what needs to be done by not making projects too big that need these commercial items. Or plan them better to make them work.

Nette · #**145** 12/03/11, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by willow_girl

...Another route I have seen some take is to find a wife who has a good job in town! Where I come from, all the dairy farmers marry schoolteachers, and there is a reason for that.

They are very shrewd businessmen, those dairy farmers.

Mosherd1 · #**146** 12/03/11, 03:21 PM

One thing about Salatin being "given" his farm. He did have to buy out his siblings so he could own the farm himself, so it is not accurate that he was given his farm.

Our Little Farm · #**147** 12/03/11, 03:55 PM

Good point Mosherd1.

chamoisee · #**148** 12/03/11, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by idigbeets

The only rant I have against Joel (and he is honest about this) is that his success is partly due to the ownership of such a large tract of land that he had little debt on. Access to a lot of infrastructure etc, that would normally cost start up farmers a lot of cash now. E.g. from that link posted above about trampled bedding (the Amish have been doing this forever)

Quote:
For a ready source of superb bedding material, Joel Salatin makes green wood chips from his managed woodland, using an industrial-grade wood chipper. With his 2-ton dumptruck with 1.5-cubic-yard bed, 4-wheel-drive pickup truck, lowboy trailer and front-end loader, he also hauls in material from local horse stables, the city leaf dump and municipal tree-trimming stockpiles.

All that adds up to tens of thousands of dollars. Don't get me wrong, if I was part of a family farm or had access to that kind of equipment.... I could do a lot of fun things too.

And he probably didn't buy it all at once. My guess is that he started off with the pickup truck and gradually added other equipment as he could afford to.

The things he writes about in his book about being frugal, etc, lead me to believe that he has had personal experience with tight finances.

willow_girl · #**149** 12/03/11, 06:15 PM

Quote:

They are very shrewd businessmen, those dairy farmers.

There are no stupid dairy farmers left, IMO. They all were weeded out by low milk prices in the past decade!

Dairy farmers are incredibly frugal and resourceful. One farm that I tested used newspapers to clean their cows' udders prior to milking. The farmer I work for now easily is worth $1,000,000+, but still wears old, ripped-up insulated jeans that he patches with duct tape!