If you are planning on raising meat birds or starting some layer chicks this Spring, now is the time to be planning and getting things in motion. When buying chicks, you have a couple of options – buying direct from the hatchery or pick up birds from a local farm store. When you order direct…
One of my largest frustrations in starting our farming enterprise has been that of figuring out what equipment works and doesn’t work. The wrong selection ends up costing you time, mental health and most importantly money. And trust me, I’ve made my fair share of poor choices. Anytime you can learn from someone who “has…
My initial experiences with farming over the past 12 seasons can be summed up pretty easily. Not knowing anything about farming back in 2004 when I first began researching some potential enterprises to begin, in everything I read I was looking for a “how to” manual. In short, nearly everything I’ve started on our farm…
A question I routinely get asked is what is the best breed of pig to raise on pasture (or in our case in the forest)? If you have never raised pigs before, this is my answer to that question: If they have four legs, a tail and two ears they qualify and that is the…
One of the things I most enjoy about being self employed in my niche of farming is the seasonal aspect of it all. Because we live in the Midwest, we have a true winter and as such our poultry production takes place from the beginning of April with our meat chickens and runs thru late…