Farmers, Ex-Farmers, Country People - appreciate your opinions

[Liz CA]

Ds (with some help from his parents) wants to sell organically raised Fryers.

We have the land and the experience with chickens although have never raised them for food before.

 

Has anybody been down this road or know someone who has?

We are still in the beginning stages of researching and every morsel of information is welcome! We are checking with our AG Extension office.

Words of wisdom from experience? Book suggestions? Websites?

 

Thank you!

 

:001_smile:

[Margaret in GA]

Yes, you must buy this book if you want to make money with free range chickens:

 

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=joel+salatin+pastured

 

We have it, we've raised our own using his method and I can easily see making money doing it.

 

Good Luck!

Margaret

[Adrianne]

but I think it is a great idea and wish you the best of luck!

[cjzimmer1]

I haven't done it personally but my dad did when I was a kid. Since we were in the country and other critters were around, we always locked them up at night. I spent many hours over the years chasing birds (they also raised, geese, ducks, and turkeys) back into their building - especially right before approaching storms.

 

Ours were free range during the day but they got corn for their night feeding. My grandpa was friends with all the local produce managers and outdated produce was also fed to the birds (of course that wouldn't work to keep the organic label) but it did help keep the cost down since the managers were just throwing the stuff away anyways.

 

By the way, as far as pricing, here I know one person sells theirs for $3.25 a pound at the farmers market, organic but not certified since their grain supplier is not certified organic.

 

Stephanie

[Colleen]

Ds (with some help from his parents) wants to sell organically raised Fryers. We have the land and the experience with chickens although have never raised them for food before.

 

Great idea! Has he made some contacts as far as buyers are concerned? Is there someone local who will do the butchering ~ or does he (gulp!) plan to tackle that himself? I've not read Salatin's book (recommended below by Margaret), but I'll bet that's a great resource; I'm going to check it out myself. As far as feed is concerned, consider feeding them sprouted grain; it'll likely cost less than organic corn, and it can contribute to faster growth. Aside from your ag extension agent, any local 4H poultry groups can be good resources, too.

[Liz CA]

Yes, you must buy this book if you want to make money with free range chickens:

 

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=joel+salatin+pastured

 

We have it, we've raised our own using his method and I can easily see making money doing it.

 

Good Luck!

Margaret

 

Thank you! I have read another of Salatin's books but will look for this one at the library! I really like his approach.

[Liz CA]

 

Great idea! Has he made some contacts as far as buyers are concerned? Is there someone local who will do the butchering ~ or does he (gulp!) plan to tackle that himself? I've not read Salatin's book (recommended below by Margaret), but I'll bet that's a great resource; I'm going to check it out myself. As far as feed is concerned, consider feeding them sprouted grain; it'll likely cost less than organic corn, and it can contribute to faster growth. Aside from your ag extension agent, any local 4H poultry groups can be good resources, too.

 

We have not contacted buyers yet but I need to tackle that with my next trip into town. We are focusing on what it takes to become organically certified. So far, I have learned that one can become certified by different agencies. I'd be interested in getting your opinion on that since you produce an organic product.

 

We are in CA, don't know if it would differ significantly from WA guidelines or are they the same nationwide?

I did read about the sprouted grain, that should not be a problem since I buy all kinds of grain at the local co-op (organic) and have sprouted it myself. If this is not allowed, I will get them directly from the co-op.

 

As far as the butchering goes, thank God there is someone who will do this. He does butchering for 4-H as well as has "facilitated our market hog's transition into piggy heaven". I have to find out what his fee is.

 

Lot's of work left to do.

 

:001_smile:

[Colleen]

We are focusing on what it takes to become organically certified. So far, I have learned that one can become certified by different agencies.

 

Right, there are an array of different organizations, accredited by the USDA, through which one can become certified organic. The paperwork and price can vary from one organization to another. A good many WA organic producers, for example, are certified by Oregon Tilth rather than the Washington Dept of Ag for that very reason.

 

Unless your son is quite serious about becoming very involved in this endeavour, I'd think twice about seeking certification. It's an involved process, and it's not cheap. Have you reviewed this fact sheet? http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELDEV3004346&acct=nopgeninfo If not, it may help you decide whether certification is the right avenue for you.

[Heather in the Kootenays]

Using certified food might make your birds prohibitively expensive. We use non medicated feed coupled with lots of outdoor grazing time which gives us great tasting chicken for way less money than the certified would be.

[Doran]

Salatin's book is a terrific resource as is APPPA.

 

Another great place for him to begin his (and your) research is this discussion group on Yahoo.

 

I would caution you, as did Colleen, against working toward the organic certification just now. Depending on how many birds you plan to raise each year, you may find the paperwork to be daunting and the cost prohibitive in comparison to the returns you'll be getting. Even Salatin is not certified organic! In all our years at the farm, we were never certified, but people knew that we raised our products that way, so it did not matter to us. We were too small to justify the record keeping and fees involved with certification. Seek, instead, a grain farmer who can provide you with feed that is grown from non-gmo grains, if possible (harder and harder to do that nowadays). As for sprouting grains, I think you may find that to be time and management intensive as well as you would not be able to use a gravity feeder with anything other than dry grain. But, that's a topic worth investigating on the forum above.

 

Above all, it's important to realize that raising animals requires a lot of work and all that work has to be factored into the cost of your finished product. Paying for processing is another big cost - one that we found too high to make it worthwhile. So, we processed our own birds (Ours went for stewing hens, so not the same as what you're doing. I never did meat birds, per se.). Not as gruesome as you might imagine, imho. You may want to go that route for the first batch or two, but rethink down the road. Basically, your son will need to trim his operation to include only the bare essentials in order to have a market bird that actually makes him any money.

 

Finally, I might suggest that he seek out another grower in the area to act as a mentor to him. I learned more from other farmers in my years than I did from any books because there's always something that isn't addressed between the pages of a book, no matter how well it's written. And, you can't diagnose poultry problems on a discussion forum. Having a live human in his company could prove invaluable.

 

Best of luck!