Pastured Poultry Profits

A proven production model is described, which is capable of producing an income from a small acreage of equal or superior to that of off-farm jobs.

Have you ever desired, deep within your soul, to make a comfortable full-time living from a farming enterprise? Too often people dare not even vocalize this desire because it seems absurd. It's like thinking the unthinkable. After all, the farm population is dwindling. It takes too much capital to start. The pay is too low. The working conditions are dusty, smelly and noisy: not the place to raise a family. This is all true, and more, for most farmers. But for farm entrepreneurs, the opportunities for a farm family business have never been greater. The aging farm population is creating cavernous niches begging to be filled by creative visionaries who will go in dynamic new directions. As the industrial agriculture complex crumbles and our culture clambers for clean food, the countryside beckons anew with profitable farming opportunities. While this book can be helpful to all farmers, it targets the wannabes, the folks who actually entertain notions of living, loving and learning on a piece of land. Anyone willing to dance with such a dream should be able to assess its assets and liabilities; its fantasies and realities. "Is it really possible for me?" is the burning question this book addresses.

Polyface Farms in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley is famous for low-cost, bootstrap mobile, multifunctional, environmentally friendly, scalable livestock infrastructure. After years of being asked for shelter blueprints, we have accumulated our signature designs into a comprehensive, easy to follow how-to manual full of tips, tricks, and a half century of the lessons we learned through trial and error.

Twenty years ago Joel Salatin wrote You Can Farm, which has launched thousands of farm entrepreneurs around the world. With another 20 years of experience under his belt, bringing him to the half-century mark as a full-time farmer, he decided to build on that foundation with a sequel, a graduate level curriculum. Everyone who reads and enjoys that previous work will benefit from this additional information. In those 20 years, Polyface Farm progressed from a small family operation to a 20-person, 6,000-customer, 50-restaurant business, all without sales targets, government grants, or an off-farm nest egg. As a germination tray for new farmers ready to take over the 50 percent of America's agricultural equity that will become available over the next two decades, Polyface Farm in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley stands as a beacon of hope in a food and farming system floundering in dysfunction: toxicity, pathogenicity, nutrient deficiency, bankruptcy, geezers, and erosion. Speaking into that fear and confusion, Salatin offers a pathway to success, with production, profit, and pleasure thrown in for good measure.

An accessible, practical resource for pasture-based rabbit production-complete with rabbit husbandry basics, enterprise budgets, and guidelines for growing, processing and selling rabbits commercially. In recent years, there has been talk in the food world that rabbits make more sense than chicken. In a country with a $41 billion broiler chicken industry, this might seem like a pretty bold statement, but it’s hardly unsubstantiated. And yet while media has been abuzz about the supposed super protein, very few farmers are stepping up to meet the rapidly increasing interest in sustainably raised rabbit meat. This is partly due to the lack of available resources in the field of rabbit husbandry. Raising Pastured Rabbits for Meat is the first book to address the growing trend of ecological rabbit husbandry for the beginning to market-scale farmer. Inspired by Daniel Salatin, who has long been considered the pioneer in integrated rabbit farming, Nichki Carangelo proves that a viable pasture-based rabbitry is not only possible and user-friendly, it’s also profitable. In Carangelo’s approach, happy, healthy rabbits are seasonally raised outside on pasture, using a pasture and wire hybrid system that promotes natural behaviors and a diverse diet, while effectively managing the associated risks. Raising Pastured Rabbits for Meat offers valuable information on how farmers can build their own rabbit enterprise from scratch and includes tips on breed selection, breeding techniques, nutrition guidelines, record keeping tools, slaughtering and butchering instructions, marketing advice, and enterprise guides to help farmers plan for profitability. This is an essential guide for anyone interested in integrating rabbits onto a diversified farm or homestead.

Inside these pages, you will find step-by-step instructions for a mobile broiler chicken shelter for pastured poultry that is used by farmers and homesteaders all over the country. Raising chickens on grass provides them with a healthy lifestyle and a delicious flavor. You can raise just enough of them to feed your family or scale up to include pastured poultry as a profitable part of your farm business. John Suscovich has raised thousands of chickens using these mobile shelters, a main enterprise on his farm in Connecticut. These chicken tractors were created using the best elements from other designs. They are easy to move and provide a good life for the chickens. With a little bit of creativity, they can also be modified for seasonal egg-layer housing, rabbits, ducks and forts for your kids. Not only does this book contain the plans and supply list to build your first chicken tractor, but it gives you some insight into how to use it and what mindset you should have if you are to become a happy and successful farmer. John also walks you through the light carpentry skills you need to build these chicken tractors and teaches you the most commonly used knots on a farm. You may learn these skills for this project, but you'll be able to apply them on your farm for years to come.

The aging farmer phenomenon is new and presents both unprecedented crisis and opportunity. Opening his heart and life, Joel Salatin uses his Polyface Farm experience to encouraged multi-generational farm relationships and germinate a new generation of young farmers.

From Christian libertarian farmer Joel Salatin, a clarion call to readers to honor the animals and the land, and produce food based on spiritual principles. What on earth is THE MARVELOUS PIGNESS OF PIGS? It's an inspiring call to action for people of faith . . . a heartfelt plea to heed the Bible's guidance . . . . It's an important and thought-provoking explanation of how by simply appreciating the marvelous pigness of pigs, we are celebrating the Glory of God. As a man of deep faith and student of the Bible, and as a respected and successful ecological family farmer, Joel Salatin knows that God created heaven and earth and meant for all living organisms to be true to their nature and their endowed holy purpose. He intended for us to respect and care for His gift of creation, not to ravage and mistreat it for our own pleasure or wealth. The example that inspires the book's title explains what Salatin means: when huge corporate farms confine pigs in cramped and dark pens, inject them with antibiotics and feed them herbicide-saturated food simply to increase profits, they are not respecting them as a creation of God or allowing them to express even their most rudimentary uniqueness - that special role that is part of His design. Every living organism has a God-given uniqueness to its life that must be honored and respected, and too often that is not happening today. Salatin shows us the long overlooked ethics and instructions in the Bible for how to eat, how to shop, how to think about how we farm and feed the world. Through scripture and Biblical stories, he shows us why it's more vital than ever to look to the good book rather than corporate America when feeding the country and your family. Salatin makes a compelling case for Christian stewardship of the earth and how it relates to every action we take regarding our food. He also opens our eyes to a common misconception many Christians may have about environmentalism: it's not a bad thing, and definitely not just the province of secular liberals; it's really a very good thing, part of heeding God's Word. With warmth and with humor, but with no less piercing criticism of the industrial food complex, Salatin brings readers on a fascinating journey of farming, food and faith. Readers will not say grace over their plates the same way ever again.