Grassfed Life: Recent Episodes
Diego Footer
Weekly insights for small farmers and aspiring farm based entrepreneurs who want to earn a living on the land doing something that they care about. A weekly show that tracks the farm season featuring two hosts: Darby Simpson and Diego Footer of Permaculture Voices. We focus on small family farming, grass based livestock, pastured poultry, grassfed beef, pastured pigs, farmsteading, farm sales and marketing, and work-life balance.
Melissa Ballard joins me to talk about how selling online has helped their business. She also discusses how she tells her farm story to build and deepen the relationship with her customers.
Follow Bluegrass Beef @bluegrassbeef
Want to learn more? My new book Ready Farmer One - The Farmers' Guide to Create, Design, and Market an Online Farm Store is finally out!!! Get it on Amazon.
The first two episodes of Carrot Cashflow will air here on Grassfed Life. You can listen to the rest of the episodes by subscribing to the podcast.
iTunes:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/welcome-to-carrot-cashflow-trailer/id1616506647?i=1000555599534
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/7yWbI4WFF0ZixQT8kEwukL?si=aa0dfe257c654e04
Farmer Jeremy Tolley discusses why they go above and beyond to service their farm customers. He shares the extra steps he takes to really make customers feel like they are getting something special. He shares how he built his customer base using the website NextDoor. You will also hear his thoughts on why these decided to start aggregating products from other farms.
Follow Red Thread Farm @redthreadfarm
Our new book Ready Farmer One - The Farmers' Guide to Create, Design, and Market an Online Farm Store comes out in April!
Make farming easier with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/
Follow Diego on IG https://instagram.com/diegofooter
Follow PaperpotCo on IG https://instagram.com/paperpot
The first two episodes of Carrot Cashflow will air here on Farm Small Farm Smart. You can listen to the rest of the episodes by subscribing to the podcast.
iTunes:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/welcome-to-carrot-cashflow-trailer/id1616506647?i=1000555599534
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/7yWbI4WFF0ZixQT8kEwukL?si=aa0dfe257c654e04
Farmer Vannah Roddy discusses the benefits of her weekly veggie box. It's a program that has been successful for her as a farmer while also being something that works for customers.
Follow Encompass Farm @encompassfarm
Our new book Ready Farmer One - The Farmers' Guide to Create, Design, and Market an Online Farm Store comes out in April!
Make farming easier with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/
Follow Diego on IG https://instagram.com/diegofooter
Follow PaperpotCo on IG https://instagram.com/paperpot
Darby shares his thoughts about free-ranging pastured poultry.
Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
Darby answers a question about raising cows or sheep when you don't have much land.
Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
Darby shares his thoughts on keeping a ram on the farm.
Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
Darby gives advice on farrowing pigs.
Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
Darby gives advice on selling from your farmstead (not homestead).
Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
Darby gives some suggestions on farming with 40 to 100 acres.
Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
Darby discusses his thoughts on farrowing pigs on farm.
Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
Darby answers about the viability of raising Kune Kune pigs.
Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
Darby answers about grazing cattle with the rule of thirds.
Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
Darby answers a question about which chicken tractor design is the best?
Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
Darby answers a question about which chicken tractor design is the best?
Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
Darby discusses pink eye and fly control for cows.
Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
Farmer Charles Mayfield talks about how he is turning some "waste" product on his farm into a shelf-stable, value-added product. Charles will talk about why he decided to pursue this product line and how he is building the brand. You can support Charles' Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/farrow/the-farrow-project
Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
or
https://www.grassfedlife.co
Regardless of what products you are farming, you must have a diversified marketing and business plan for your farm to be successful. Darby Simpson has developed from scratch a “real world”, successful direct marketing approach for his farm thru nearly 10 years of trial and error.
In his three hour workshop, he’ll cover all of the basics you will need to successfully sell your products for a profit. The marketing portion will focus on how to build a marketing list, marketing displays, free marketing tools, how to select a farmers market, customer interaction and education, income diversification, working with restaurants or health food stores and more. During the business planning session, he will deal with various business strategies, cash flow management, production cost analysis, economies of scale, setting retail and bulk program prices, tracking expenses, liability insurance, legal protection and more.
Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
or
https://www.grassfedlife.co
Darby discusses some of the different sales models that he has used on his farm throughout the years. He talks about how to market meat and communicate its value. We also discuss the nuances of customer communication.
Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
or
https://www.grassfedlife.co
Chris Kiesz of Yellow Hutch Farm in Minnesota joins us to talk about picking up jobs and moving 2000 miles across the country to start his farm. How he picked a new market, cash flowing beef, and creative ways to bundle beef.
Follow Chris at https://yellowhutchfarm.com/
Not sure where to start?
Want to take your farm to the next level?
Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
or visit https://www.grassfedlife.co
"How does a REKO-ring work?The ring is based on a closed Facebook group. The producer and consumer who want to take part apply for membership in the group he or she likes. Administrators, often a small group of consumers, approve the application from serious people and thereafter trade can begin. Normally delivery occurs every or every other week, depending on the size of the group. Delivery times are more often shorter than an hour, or producers congregate and the consumers can collect their orders from a number of producers at the same time. A producer writes a post about their product and availability on Facebook and the consumers make orders by comments directly under the post. The producers also write how they require payment." Source
You can connect or follow along with Buddha and Sofia of Los Perros Farm on Instagram @LosPerrosUrbanFarming and on the web at LosPerrosUrbanFarming.com. Check out their recently opened cafe @FlaxMalmo.
Not sure where to start?
Want to take your farm to the next level?
Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
or visit https://www.grassfedlife.co
Farmer Luke Groce discusses some of the different breeds he has tried on his farm in his open cell pastured poultry system.
Listen to more episodes with Luke Groce at https://grocefamilyfarm.com/pages/the-pasture-raised-podcast
Not sure where to start?
Want to take your farm to the next level?
Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
or visit https://www.grassfedlife.co
Today's episode is a replay of Luke Groce's new podcast The Pasture-Raised Podcast. Listen to more episodes at https://grocefamilyfarm.com/pages/the-pasture-raised-podcast
Not sure where to start?
Want to take your farm to the next level?
Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
or visit https://www.grassfedlife.co
How Fragile Is Your Business? Could it survive a recession? How long could you survive at 50% of your current sales? How much debt do you have? Today we look at questions you should be asking about the fragility of your business and some ideas on how to make those areas more anti-fragile.
Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
or visit https://www.grassfedlife.co
Farmer Debra Bruner joins us to talk about selling to restaurants, partnering with other farms, buying another farm's products, and designing a better website.
Connect with Debra on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/littlecowmountain/
Website: https://www.littlecowmountain.com/
Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
or visit https://www.grassfedlife.co
Darby discusses why good brooder management is so important for pastured poultry. Starting the chicks off to a good start in the brooder helps them excel in the field. Darby shares a lot of his tips and advice that he has learned over the years in this one.
Not sure where to start?
Want to take your farm to the next level?
Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
or visit https://www.grassfedlife.co
Darby discusses how to take advantage of the winter break to plan out your farm season so you can hit the ground running in the spring.
Interested in starting your own farm?
Not sure where to start?
Want to take your farm to the next level?
Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
or visit https://www.grassfedlife.co
Darby and I talk about his actual experience trying to set up several fiefdoms on his farm and managing one. Are they a great or terrible idea? Darby will share his thoughts on what worked, what didn't and what he wished he did better.
Interested in starting your own farm?
Not sure where to start?
Want to take your farm to the next level?
Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
Today I will be sharing some of what I learned as Javan and I each go through our top 5 lessons from 2019.
In total 10 simple ways of looking at life, approaching life, and thinking about life that can change your life tomorrow.
I look at a lot of these lessons as base principles in an approach to life that very much contradicts the status quo.
None of these lessons require any money or technology to implement. There are no tools or techniques here.
It's simply changing your approach.
Follow Javan:
https://allpointsdesign.ca/
https://allpointsdesign.ca/life-design/intro/
Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
Jason Contreras joins me to talk about his journey from working in an office in Southern California to battling cancer to moving across the country to homestead with his family in North Carolina. Jason's story is inspiring and goes to show that you never should give up.
Follow Jason: https://www.instagram.com/sowtheland
Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
This BEST OF episode is a replay of a previous episode of the Grassfed Life Podcast - https://apple.co/2m75EVG
Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
While American Guinea Hogs are suited to a wide variety of environments and will do better than most breeds on low-grade forage, they prefer lush pastures with clover along with access to minerals, kitchen scraps, quality hay in winter, clean water to drink, access to a muddy wallow, minimal shelter from precipitation and wind, dry bedding, and perhaps a small amount of grain. They thrive where ranging and grazing is a constant activity giving them plenty of exercise. They are minimal rooters when good grazing and adequate feed is available.
Learn more at https://www.grassfedlife.co
This BEST OF GFL episode is a replay of a previous episode.
Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
Ronan' story is so simple, so common, yet uniquely inspiring; IT IS GREAT.This is a real story from a real person. Starting with 75 chicks eight years ago and growing that to over 10,000 today. Going from the corporate world to full-time farmer; Ronan didn't start as a farmer, he became a farmer.In a world of negativity, there are a lot of people out there doing absolutely great things. People just like you. People that listen to this show. Ronan is one of them. These are the stories that inspire me to keep doing what I do and give me hope in a better future. The change is happening out there. You might not see it yet, but it's happening.
Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
Luke Groce and Darby discuss some of the changes that Luke has made on his farm in 2019 - why he made them, how they will affect the farm into the future, and how things continue to evolve.
Join Darby and Luke for the Advanced Livestock Marketing Workshop https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/p/advanced-livestock
Follow Luke:
http://www.GroceFamilyFarm.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grocefamilyfarm/
Interested in starting your own farm?
Not sure where to start?
Want to take your farm to the next level?
Check out some of the resources we have to offer at https://www.grassfedlife.co
Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
This BEST OF GFL episode is a replay of a previous episode.
Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
Luke Groce and I discuss what makes his small family farm work from grazing to economics.
Follow Luke:
http://www.GroceFamilyFarm.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grocefamilyfarm/
Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
This BEST OF GFL episode is a replay of a previous episode.
Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
Today we'll be going to Louisville, Kentucky to talk to farmer Luke Groce of Groce Family Farm.
Luke and his wife Katherine started their farming career in 2009 as a vegetable farm. An operation that had its successes and its failures.
As Luke said...
“I've got a few war stories from the deep trap of doing too many things at the beginning of farming a piece of land with no experience, and then not doing any of it well enough. After treading water, and trying to keep up with all of it for six years, I've decided that CSA farming is a team sport. And I can't be good at, and stay on top of, growing 30-40 things by myself (plus keep up with 40+ pigs). It’s a kind of humbling thing to say, ‘I can't do this well.’ “
It was through some of the failures and struggles with the vegetable operation that led Luke down the path of raising pigs. Another path that's full of war stories... having tried a bunch over the years from keeping pigs behind two strands of hot wire to experimenting with a unique bulk pork sales program, two things he will talk about today. Not everything has worked, but some of it has and he's learned along the way continuing to grow his pork operation.
The move to pork was one that might not have happened, but it did, and it was a move that he wouldn't regret because it was a move would bring his family together living on the farm, and one that would save his farm.
Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
This BEST OF GFL episode is a replay of a previous episode.
Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
Mark Shepard of Forest Agriculture Enterprises joins me to talk about the future of agriculture. Mark has a pretty clear view on how he thinks the future of agriculture could be.. restoration agriculture style farms dotting the landscape with animals roaming through grasslands dappled with trees, a perennial polyculture system that builds soil instead of destroying it, a system that sequesters carbon instead of volatilizing it, a system that utilizes all of the water that falls on a piece of land, a system restores the land, and importantly a system provides nutrient dense food on scale - bulk calories and makes money doing it allowing a farmer to earn a decent living in the process. These systems could restore the land and rural America. I think it is totally possible, and when you hear Mark speak I think you will feel the same way. This is the future of agriculture. This is probably one of those episodes that you will need to listen to a few times to get every little juicy nugget out of it. Whether you want to farm broadacre or not, this episode is busting at the seams with knowledge and wisdom.
Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
This BEST OF GFL episode is a replay of a previous episode.
Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
Running a profitable pig enterprise on just 1 acre, is it possible, and if so, what is possible? What’s that operation going to look like, what are the trade-offs and the costs, and how much could you make? It's an operation which could bring some nice cash flow into a homestead or diversify a farms revenue streams, and the time inputs and profits will surprise you. Because a lot is possible on just one acre.
Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
This BEST OF GFL episode is a replay of a previous episode.
Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
500 baby chicks have arrived at Darby's farm thus beginning the cycle of raising broilers for the season. With the chicks on farm, we will talk about what the next steps are.
We also discuss the importance of choosing the right hatcheries and breed. Not just to make sure that you receive quality birds, but also to make sure that you receive quality birds in the shortest shipping time possible.
Darby will talk about introducing the birds to pasture and how started with the Salatin style chicken tractor and then evolved away from that. And we talk about how Darby plans his successions of broilers.
There is a lot of good advice in this one for those just starting out and those with experience.
Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
This BEST OF GFL episode is a replay of a previous episode.
Darren Doherty of Heenan Doherty and Regrarians joins me from Australia to talk about the Regrarian philosophy that he has put together and how it can be used to regenerate landscapes and farming enterprises.The system deals with everything from the work done on the land to how you can synergistically stack multiple enterprises in the same system, and ultimately how to market and distribute those products to the people that actually want them. The system emphasizes participating in all 4 legs of the farm income stool - production, processing, marketing, and distribution. This allows you to be a market price setter, not a price receiver.
John Paul Smajda joins me to talk about how he increased sales at their farmers' market by over 300%. From display to customer interactions, to pricing, all of the tips in this one are practical ones anyone could implement.
Connect with John: smajda@mac.com
Learn more about the Grassfed Life Insider: https://www.grassfedlife.co/insider
Charles Mayfield talks about how he built and set up his buying club and how he interacts with his buying club members. Charles has built his farm on this sales model and it has been the primary income model for the farm since Day 1.
Follow Charles: https://www.instagram.com/mayfield.pasture
View the Grassfed Life Courses at https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
This BEST OF GFL episode is a replay of a previous episode.
Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
Will Harris III from White Oak Pastures joins me to talk about his inspirational journey of converting his one-time factory farm to a beyond organic farming operation that celebrates polyculture and closes the loop on wastes. His farm closes the loop on sustainability through rotational grazing, solar power, and the recycling of all of his various "wastes" from his animal operations. All of the wash water, bones, and other animals "wastes" end up back on the land, building the soil over time. Will's story is an inspiration and another example of what is right in modern-day agriculture.
Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
In Part 2 of this series farmer, Luke Groce talks about the results from selling turkeys by size category (not specific weight) last fall. He also covers taking deposits on orders and balancing cash flow. Luke discusses wholesaling turkeys and other strategies to move more product.
Follow Luke:
http://www.GroceFamilyFarm.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grocefamilyfarm/
View the Grassfed Life Courses athttps://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
Luke Groce talks raising turkeys in an open cell grazing system, selling turkeys in a different way, and what to do with turkeys you don't sell. Stay tuned next week for Part 2 of the mini-series when we follow up with Luke and see how it went.
Follow Luke:
http://www.GroceFamilyFarm.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grocefamilyfarm/
Get exclusive content each week with the Grassfed Life Insider.
Learn more at https://www.grassfedlife.co/insider
Depression is an issue that affects over 20 million Americans, and the farm space is not isolated from that. Today Farmer Chris Gilbert joins me to talk about the topic of depression and some of his experiences with depression.
Follow Chris:
https://www.instagram.com/gilbertsgrapesiowa/
Get exclusive content each week with the Grassfed Life Insider.
Learn more at https://www.grassfedlife.co/insider
Regardless of what products you are farming, you must have a diversified marketing and business plan for your farm to be successful. Darby Simpson has developed from scratch a “real world”, successful direct marketing approach for his farm thru nearly 10 years of trial and error.
In his three hour workshop, he’ll cover all of the basics you will need to successfully sell your products for a profit. The marketing portion will focus on how to build a marketing list, marketing displays, free marketing tools, how to select a farmers market, customer interaction and education, income diversification, working with restaurants or health food stores and more. During the business planning session, he will deal with various business strategies, cash flow management, production cost analysis, economies of scale, setting retail and bulk program prices, tracking expenses, liability insurance, legal protection and more.
See the full 3.5-hour presentation video and slides for the full presentation by becoming an Insider.
You'll also get exclusive content each week with the Grassfed Life Insider.
Learn more at https://www.grassfedlife.co/insider
Steve Gabriel, author of the book Silvopasture joins me to talk about all things silvopasture. Why you would want to do, why you wouldn't want to do it, and what's possible. Silvopasture has the potential to increase farm resilience by giving you forage when grasses are dormant and it may give you the ability to turn marginal land unsuitable for traditional pasture into a valuable food source.
Learn more about Steve, his online course and his book at:
http://www.silvopasturebook.com
Get exclusive content each week with the Grassfed Life Insider.
Learn more at https://www.grassfedlife.co/insider
Adam Trost joins us to talk about some of the challenges he is facing growing his farm business on the side. We cover topics such as building bulk sales programs, growing sales, and where to focus your efforts when you have limited time.
Learn more about Farmer Adam Trost at www.bentarrowacres.com
Get exclusive content each week with the Grassfed Life Insider.
Learn more at https://www.grassfedlife.co/insider
Gabe Brown joins me to talk cover crops, no-till, and building soil that can sustain lush pastures. All topics from his new book Dirt to Soil.
Connect with Gabe:
BrownsRanch.us
SoilHealthConsultants.com
Get exclusive content each week with the Grassfed Life Insider.
Learn more at https://www.grassfedlife.co/insider
Social Media: Learn practical tips to leverage this powerful and often misunderstood marketing tool with farmer Paul Greive of Primal Pastures. This talk will teach you to focus on generating farm revenue while avoiding the popularity contest trap.
Learn from Paul at the Growing Your Farm Business Mastermind Workshop - https://www.grassfedlife.co
Is it possible to make $10,000 in PROFIT raising pastured poultry on just 1 acre? Can you make $50 an hour raising pastured poultry? It's the topic of today's episode with farmer Darby Simpson.
Growing Your Farm Business Mastermind - March 22 & 23 at Primal Pastures - Learn More https://grassfedife.co
Become an Insider! Get even more as a Grassfed Life Insider.
Javan Bernakevitch and I talk about the need to decide what is truly important and why that, and only that, should be the focus in 2019. Connect with Javan: All Points Land Design: http://allpointsdesign.ca/ All Points Life Design: http://allpointsdesign.ca/life-design/intro/ My Podcasts: Farm Small, Farm Smart: http://bit.ly/2vMUDvX Grass Fed Life: http://bit.ly/2uOsLTH Voices of Change: http://bit.ly/2vrn81r Do The Work: https://apple.co/2ERsLHZ
My Audiobooks: The Market Gardener by JM Fortier: http://bit.ly/2uynxvU The Urban Farmer by Curtis Stone: http://bit.ly/2uynxvU
My Business: Paperpot Transplanter: http://www.paperpot.co
Support content I have created:http://www.permaculturevoices.com/support
Support while you shop at Amazon:http://amzn.to/2yu1zPj
Darby talks about changes he is making on the farm in 2019 and why he is making the changes. The underlying principle in this episode is - make sure that the business fits your lifestyle and context or the business will mess up your life.
Growing Your Farm Business Mastermind - March 22 & 23 at Primal Pastures - Learn More https://grassfedife.co
As you will hear from my guest today Paul Greive of Primal Pastures "One of the most important things about marketing is not convincing people your product is X, it's about finding people who actually want X." Therefore Primal Pasture’s sole job as marketers is to try to find and sell to the believers. The customers who value their product for what it is and are willing to pay for it. Over time they have learned that "It's a really sustainable model when you can start focusing on the customer and then you can figure out what products meet their needs and what your skills are to make those products.” It’s a key distinction that they have made for their brand, Primal Pastures and one that they have stuck too. Branding and marketing are just one of the topics that Paul Greive of Primal Pastures and I talk about today.
Growing Your Farm Business Mastermind - March 22 & 23 at Primal Pastures - Learn More https://grassfedife.co
Paul Greive of Primal Pastures will go into the details of how his family started their pastured poultry farm with no experience and less than $2,000 capital, and also discuss the Guerrilla marketing strategies have made Primal Pastures successful in California. Learn more in Paul's upcoming Growing Your Farm Business workshop: https://www.grassfedlife.co
Paul Greive, CPA, MBA ditched his desk job in 2013 and has generated more than $500,000 revenue in his first two years farming pastured livestock with a positive net income that supports two families.
Growing Your Farm Business Mastermind - March 22 & 23 at Primal Pastures - Learn More https://grassfedife.co
Watch Paul's presentation:
https://youtu.be/iR_LMvpyZW4
Today I am asking the question - Can you farm business scale enough to matter? If not, then why are you doing it or what can you change? Can the business scale, do you have a business or a job, and can your markets handle enough sales volume?
Growing Your Farm Business Mastermind - March 22 & 23 at Primal Pastures - Learn More https://grassfedlife.co/
Scott Hebert and I each talk about 5 of our favorite audiobooks - why we like them and why you might too! Happy New Years!
Connect with Scott:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flavourfulfarms
YouTube: https://bit.ly/2u3WxIW
Growing Your Farm Business Mastermind - March 22 & 23 at Primal Pastures - Learn More https://grassfedlife.co/
A review process for 2018 and tips on how to build off of success from 2018 to have your best year ever in 2019.
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it's not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that's right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you -https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe to the podcast: https://apple.co/2hayYod
Instagram: Follow Darby: http://bit.ly/2D6mlo7 Follow Diego: http://bit.ly/2B3vprJ
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/grassfedlifepodcast/
Darby and I each talk about 5 lessons that we learned in 2018 and how we are going to use those lessons to improve things next year.
Growing Your Farm Business Mastermind - March 22 & 23 at Primal Pastures - Learn More https://grassfedlife.co/
Charles Mayfield talks about different ideas to market and sell products. We also get into selling products online and how new products can help farm sales.
Follow Charles:
https://www.instagram.com/mayfield.pastures/
Get exclusive content each week with the Grassfed Life Insider.
Learn more at https://www.grassfedlife.co/insider
Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
Darby follows up on the pasture conversion that he started in fall 2017 talking about what he did, now it worked and how he has paid for it. From costs to seed types to grazing management - he covers it all.
Get exclusive content each week with the Grassfed Life Insider.
Learn more at https://www.grassfedlife.co/insider
Grassfed Life Courses:
https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses
Charles Mayfield talks about the importance of engaging with customers to build a long-term customer base. We also discuss different ideas on how to get new customers and making buying easier for customers.
Follow Charles:
https://www.instagram.com/mayfield.pastures/
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Happy Thanksgiving. In this fun episode, Darby and I talk about how board games are a great way to use your downtime and connect with others.
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Luke Groce talks raising turkeys in an open cell grazing system, selling turkeys in a different way, and what to do with turkeys you don't sell.
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Ben Grimes joins Darby and me to talk about what is really involved with on-farm poultry processing. We also introduce the new Pastured Poultry Processing Course: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/p/poultry-processing
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Charles Mayfield talks about how he can try to get the last bit of value from his aging layers, strategies for balancing cash flow and funding the farm from the outside.
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Darby and I go through planning a pastured poultry enterprise in Excel - including what costs are more important than others and how you use those costs to price your final product.
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Darby and I go discuss why it's so important to start planning your farm business off the farm. Don't blow up the rest of your life so your business can succeed.
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Kelly Bush joins me to follow up on last weeks episode with his radio ad results. He also discusses marketing his farm with Facebook ads and the trend towards meat subscription boxes.
Connect with Kelly - https://www.vancesmillfarms.com/
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Kelly Bush joins me to talk about his experience running a radio ad for his farm and bulk meat program.
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Farmer Charles Mayfield and I discuss the challenges of hiring for a growing business. How do you pay labor, how do you deal with hiring for only a few hours, and how do you keep the labor busy.
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Kelly Bush joins me to talk about funding his farms growth with his off farm job and grants. And why he is trying to go big with his farm versus keeping it small.
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Luke Groce and I discuss what makes his small family farm work from grazing to economics.
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Richard Perkins talks about his experiences managing his farms growth and the profitability of various on farm enterprises such as eggs and broilers.
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Website and Book: http://www.ridgedalepermaculture.com/
YouTube: https://bit.ly/2xBoQ3n
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Farmer Charles Mayfield joins Darby and me to talk about some of his challenges with maxing out his freezer space and what his options are.
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Darby and I discuss his process for converting an old row crop field on his farm over into some new perennial grazing land.
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Farmer Debra Bruner joins me to talk about her journey into farming and the successes and challenges that have come with it.
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Website: https://www.littlecowmountain.com/
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Farmer Charles Mayfield joins Darby and me to talk about some of his early season challenges with pastured poultry, specifically in the brooder.
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Darby and I discuss how his plans for pastured poultry have changed this year and how his new plan involves doing less batches, but making the same amount of money.
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Ben Grimes joins Darby and me to talk about how he changed around his farmers' market display and how it made a huge difference in his sales. He gives lots of tips and advice on what he did and why he think it worked.
Dawn Breaker Farms:
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Website: http://www.dawnbreakerfarms.com/
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John Suscovich talks farming reality - the challenges and the struggles. The importance of book keep and the numbers for decision making. And why it's important to stop and just take a break sometimes.
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Find John's Books at: http://www.farmmarketingsolutions.com
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Charles Mayfield joins Darby Simpson and me to talk about some of his recent challenges with pigs. Charles will also talk about how he has endured through those challenges.
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Patrick Leclerc joins Darby and me to talk about farming on the side and some of the challenges that he has faced transitioning into full time livestock farming near Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
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Darby and I discuss what it is like for him having a very rare 10 days away from the farm and what the farm lifestyle requires in the way of sacrifices.
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Greg Judy joins me to talk about turning his farm around from one that lost money to one that was very profitable.
Greg's Books: http://www.greenpasturesfarm.net/
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Charles Mayfield joins Darby Simpson and me to talk about some of the struggles and issues he is dealing with going into his second year of farming.
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Darby Simpson joins me to talk about how three critical questions every farm business owner needs to answer before they start their farm business.
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Darby joins me to talk about how critical it is to plan and schedule out your year now when it comes to infrastructure and processing.
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Author and goat and cheese expert Gianaclis Caldwell joins me to talk about the joys and challenges of raising goats on a small scale.
More on Gianaclis - https://gianacliscaldwell.com/
Holistic Goat Care by Gianaclis: http://amzn.to/2EesbaD
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Farmer Joel Salatin joins me to talk farm startup and his new book Your Successful Farm Business: http://amzn.to/2nk7a3S
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Farmer Darby Simpson and I discuss a new business venture that we are starting and some of the fears, worries, and challenges that come with it.
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Farmer Darby Simpson talks about why he might drop his pastured poultry enterprise this year despite it being profitable. After 10 years of moving chicken tractors, there's more to the story than just profits.
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Farmer Darby Simpson and I discuss what Darby would do differently if he started his farm over again knowing what he knows now.
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Farmer Darby Simpson and I discuss what the entrepreneurial lifestyle is really like. Darby gives some tips on how he's made time management a little easier with the ever present demands of livestock.
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The person buying Darby's turkeys isn't focused on the sticker - they have other reasons to buy a turkey from him, reasons that are strong enough for them to look past the price.
Reasons like being locally raised, being raised in better conditions, being raised by a farmer that they know, and them as a customer being able to support a farmer and a method of agriculture that they believe in, and one that's preciously opposite the methods being used by the Butterballs of the world.
It's these factors that have made growing turkeys an attractive niche business for Darby.
And it might be a business that fits you and your enterprise, especially if you already have an established customer base.
Think about that as we go through this episode, because today, it's a turkey day.
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Over the past few years I have interviewed over one hundred different farmers. During the course of our conversations I have noticed quite a few trends - some which lead to struggling farms and some which lead to successful farms. Today I am going to share 7 of the traits that I have noticed that successful farms and farmers exhibit. Regardless of whether you are a vegetable farmer or a livestock farmer, I think these traits are universal and apply across the board.
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Dan Ohmann is a homesteader who has recently started raising lamb on a homestead level, while dabbling in selling some of the finished product off farm to see what is possible. Today Dan discusses how that's working for him.
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Shawn and Beth Dougherty authors of The Independent Farmstead join me to talk about farmsteading, rotational grazing, and on farm water systems.
The Independent Farmstead
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Darby and I talk about the why, the pros and cons, and the basics of calving on farm.
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Greg Burns joins me to talk about what farmsteading has been like this past year touching on what's gone right and what hasn't.
Listen to the past episode with Greg - GFL48.
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Darby and I talk about the ins and outs of his bulk purchase program, and Darby fields questions from a prospective buyer.
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Lou Roman talks about his experience being diagnosed with cancer and starting a farm after he found out.
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Today I talk to first year farmer Charles Mayfield of Mayfield Pastures about how he's managing to balance life and business and a full time job with the part time job - farming.
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Today Darby Simpson and I will take a deeper look at poultry feed, current prices, current customer perceptions, and how that might change what Darby is doing on his farm.
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Darby and I talk about the trade-offs between what you want and what reality dictates. We go over ways to balance between your ideology, dream, and vision of a farm and what you can actually do.
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Five farmers talk about their experiences raising pastured poultry on small acreage.
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When it comes to buying a farm, how do you select the right one? Specifically the right one for you?
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Don't have much land, not a problem, a lot is still possible. Recently Darby and I have gone through exactly what's possible on small land with pastured poultry and with pigs. Each of these episodes showed that individually each enterprise could generate some significant cash flow on just one acre, and stacking the enterprises turns up the returns even more. What if you had more than an acre? Or what if pigs or poultry weren't your thing? What's possible with cattle? In this episode Darby and I will examine what the numbers of a small scale cattle enterprise look like. We'll look at a few different scenarios ranging from 2.5 to 10 acres. On that amount of land the returns are significant, and once infrastructure is in place, the workload isn't. Today it's all about micro beef.
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Running a profitable pig enterprise on just 1 acre, is it possible, and if so, what is possible? What’s that operation going to look like, what are the trade-offs and the costs, and how much could you make? It's an operation which could bring some nice cash flow into a homestead or diversify a farms revenue streams, and the time inputs and profits will surprise you. Because a lot is possible on just one acre.
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Let's assume you have a fallow field or a meadow. How do you convert that to pasture? That's what this episode is all about. Assume that the fictional field is in the Midwest, it's 20 acres, and mostly herbaceous species.
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Today I am talking to a grazer, John Phelan, who’s been farming for over 40 years and lived on his farm for the better part of 60 years. During that time period politics changed, farming methods changed, the land changed and evolved with the methods, a family was raised, and disaster has struck. Over the last 40 years John’s seen it all including watching his land burn to the ground. It’s been a long road, but one that’s been worth it. It's a look back at a life of grazing with John Phelan.
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Running a profitable pastured poultry enterprise on just 1 acre, is it possible, and if so, what is possible? What’s that operation going to look like, what are the trade-offs and the costs? It's an operation which could bring some nice cash flow into a homestead or diversify a farms revenue streams, and the time inputs and profits will surprise you. Because a lot is possible on just one acre.
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One advantage of farming in a place where there's winter is winter. For many farmers winter means forced downtime, or at least, yeah it's cold and I'm tired. Given that many farmers take the winter off. Depending on your farm maybe that's totally off or maybe, that's just off with a dramatically reduced workload. It's downtime you can use for a variety of purposes... to rest, to relax, to get ahead on other projects, to do repairs or build out infrastructure, to take a trip, or to work.... for someone else. What, go to work for someone else off farm during your downtime? Yep. It is something which can give some optionality to your life and farm. You are trading some downtime for dollars; dollars which you can use to expand the farm, buy more animals, install more fence, go on a vacation or simply build up the savings account. All reasons why Darby spent his winter months commuting M-F to an office to do engineering work. In this episode, you'll hear why, and why it might actually be a good option for you and your farm.
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If you’re raising cattle then you’re likely holding them over at least one winter. For most of the country winter means no grass, so you're either stock piling forage over the summer or your feeding hay. Given these two choices, the choice for most people is feeding hay. Given that, where will your hay come from? Is it hay you are growing and producing on the farm, or are you buying it and bringing it on property? Depending on where you live, how much land you have access to, what equipment you own, and what type of friends you might have in the community - it depends. For Darby, he had the land and a friend with the equipment, so he decided to make his own hay on farm. It's a move which took some acreage out of row crops and put it into perennial pasture, something which the NRCS helped Darby to pay for. In this episode we'll get into how much the conversion costs, what the return has been like so far, and why and how did he did it.
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What if you didn’t have to wake up early every Saturday and load up and lug down to the farmers market. What if instead you could sleep in, at least till 5 versus 3. What would that be like? And what would sales, specifically your market streams have to look like to make that happen? You would have to be delivering your product off the farm to the customers or you could have the product deliver itself by having the customer come to you. That’s how farmer Michael Kovach of Walnut Hill Farm sells 95% of his product. He does in a 20ft by 10ft shed, ie the on farm store. It’s a model that’s worked really well for him despite his location, which isn’t exactly close to a major city at an hour away. Despite the distance customer come out once a week, usually to buy him out of his stock. How’s does it all work? Stay tuned to find out in this episode of Grass Fed Life with Micahel Kovach of Walnut Hill Farm.
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In this episode Darby talks about several new market streams he is adding to his farm business on top of the several market streams he already has. He isn't adding these market streams because he wants to, he's adding them because he has to. He is seeing his existing market streams start to top out, so if he wants to grow the farm he has to start selling his product to more customers versus selling more products to his existing customers. You'll learn about why he is doing this, and how he is approaching each of these market streams. This episode will help show that you probably shouldn't expect to find one market stream and just ride it. Instead it's likely going to take a variety of market streams to make you farm business work.
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What if you want to raise pastured poultry, but you don't have any grass? You have pasture, but it's not green, or the pasture is just an area outside. In many cases if it was cattle, you are feeding hay. But what do you do for poultry, because poultry don't eat hay. You use fodder. Or at least, that's one option. An option that my guest today, Tim Bork of the Brush Arbor Farmstead is a big fan of. Tim lives in Northern California and there are times of year when the grass instead green and parts of his property that are too shady to grow grass, so he grows his own, every 6 days, in the form of fodder. It's a feed supply that makes sense in Tim's context - it's green when pasture grass isn't, it's portable, nutrient dense, and it's cheaper than feed. In this episode Tim's going to talk about the numbers of fodder, call them fodder economics - what are the cost, what are the yields, and how much time is involved. He will also talk about why fodder. But before we get there we'll start with how Tim got started in farming and some of the challenges that he faced early on, especially around developing a customer base and accurately trying to predict and produce enough for that customer base. There was a lot of trial and error that went into it, and led him to develop a farmshare sales model, which is just as unique as his fodder system. His sales model's interesting, and his struggles are very real, and likely very common to many people listening to this show. Despite those struggles, the farming journey continues, and here's what it looks like today.
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About a year ago we published an episode titled - When Farming Sucks. In that intro to that episode I said... Farming 200 years ago and 2000 years ago was hard, just like it is today. Sure technology and innovation has made parts of the job easier, but at the core farmers today still worry about the same things farmers did 2000 years ago. Some things, and days are just going to suck. There's no way to avoid it. There's going to be hard times. Often we don't think about those hard times that might lay ahead when we decided to start down a certain path. Instead we just focus on what we want to focus on, and usually that's the pretty vision of the future... Something Darby cautioned against: If you have this idealistic utopian view of what farming is going to be in your head, reality is going to set in, and it's not going to live up to what you paint it to be in your head, and then you have a lot further to fall. It's been a year since Darby put out that warning, and a year later, the ever present suck factor of farming is still very real. Once again, if you romanticized farming before, well this episode is going to take that romantic vision and drag it through the mud a bit. While the farming lifestyle can be great, and while there are many more good days than bad days, the bad days, can be really bad. Today, we'll take a look at some of those bad days happening on the farm right now. The goal isn't to discourage you from wanting to do any of this. It is just to make sure that you think about what you are getting into, and show that while there are stormy days (literally), there's light after the storm.
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Last week Darby and I talked about fencing basics, think - How should you think about fencing in your context? Given that, depending on you and your situation, the best option might be to use portable electric fencing. If that's the case, then this episode is for you because today it’s all about portable electric fence. Stephanie Sexton, Product Manager at Premier 1 Supplies, joins me to talk about the ins and outs of electric fence for three specific farming scenarios - poultry, pigs, and market gardening. Stephanie has had years of experience working with product and helping farmers just like you select the right fence for their situation. Over that time, she's seen it all and her knowledge of the product is amazing. In this episode she talks about things like: How to select the right fence? Should you go with a temporary or semi-permanent setup? How to choose the correct energizer? How do you deal with vegetation and very dry or very wet condition? If you have questions about electro-net, then this is the episode for you. As we get into this episode you will realize there's a lot of details and specifics in this episode. Given that, don't worry about taking notes, because you can download a summary of the whole conversation in the show notes for Episode 58.
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During the workshops and via email, we've gotten a lot of questions on one subject which we have never really covered before, until today, fencing. If you have listened to the last 5 episodes on sheep, you will know that there are a lot of different opinions on fencing and a lot of different approaches to using those fencing systems. Today we will take a look at fencing from a 10,000 foot view discussing how to approach establishing permanent fence if you are a new farmer and/or are putting fence onto new land. What type of fence should you go with, and why? Should you install it yourself, or pay someone to do it. When you are starting out are a lot of scenarios which could play out when it comes to fence, and like most things on the farm it comes down to… What's your context? Where do you want to go with your farm? How much money and time do you have to spend? Once you know those then the specifics fall into place. Today’s episode will be a high level look at permanent fencing. Next week we'll have someone from Premier One on to talk specifically about the ins and outs of portable electronic fencing. Then, down the line we'll follow up on this subject with a more specific look at the hardware, materials, and specs that go into producing Darby's preferred type of fence - hi-tensile.
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Today's episode is the second pre-mortem of Darby evaluation the economics and mechanics of really taking on a grass fed lamb enterprise.
We'll call this episode the informed pre-mortem coming after the mini-series with three other grazers raising lamb.
A lot has changed in this last month. Like you Darby's learned a lot, or at least enough to ask the right questions now.
In this episode, Darby will share his current and update thoughts and concerns on raising lamb looking at current worries, things he was glad he heard now, and questions that he still needs answered.
He'll also look ahead to 2018 and talk about if lamb is a fit on his farm next year or not, and why.
Today it's a more informed look at starting a new enterprise…
Why I would or would not raise grassfed lamb - The Upside, The Downside, and the Risks - The Economics and Mechanics of Raising Grass Fed Lamb - Part 2.
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Today, let's start by going back go back in time to Eastern Europe in the 1980's. To a country that no longer exists.
It was a country where the economy was centrally planned
One where the prices of basic goods and services were set by central government planners
The German Democratic Republic, better known to us in the west as East Germany.
It was there at that time during that Cold War, when a young man fulfilled a boyhood fascination and became professional government registered shepherd.
It was job that would put that young man in charge of 1000 plus sheep at a time, having to move them from field to field; a task that may sound simple, but one that's enormously complex.
That's how my guest today, shepherd Ulf Kintzel got his start in shepherding.
In this episode, Ulf is going to share his 30 years of experience with sheep.
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For today's episode we are going over to the land of sheep, New Zealand to talk to small scale farmer and grazer Jodi Roebuck of Roebuck Farm.
Jodi has a unique story... he started out as a vegetable gardener vegetarian and somewhere along the way he took notice of the regenerative effect grazing animals can have on the landscape. With that seed planted he took some knowledge from Joel Salatin and grazing cattle to start grazing a small flock of sheep on his home farm.
Since then he's gone on to grow his flock to around 100 sheep which he now grazes on his home farm, and several leases in his area of Taranaki.
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Today's episode is the first of three straight episodes focusing solely on raising lamb.
For this episode we are going to go to rural Pennsylvania to talk to livestock farmer Kinley Coulter of Coulter Farms.
Like many of you, Kinley didn't come from a farming background, and he started farming without any previous farming experience.
He was working as an engineer in the 90s, then his wife had kids and they started a family. At that point they realized that they needed to change things in life, because their first priority was now raising kids.
With that in mind they bought a farm in Pennsylvania, and Kinley started his farming journey.
From the beginning the focus of their farm has been 100% grassfed and organic. They have raised lambs on pastured for over 10 years.
It's a journey that started out really easy with some beginners luck, and then got really rough when reality caught up with them.
Over the years they have a lost a lot of sheep along the way, but they have learned a lot, and now they aren't losing many sheep it all.
For them grassfed lamb is an enterprise that works, and after hearing this one, you may decide that it could also work for you.
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Raising grassfed lamb has been one of the most requested topics over the past 6 months.
Given that, and given Darby's interest in taking on a potential grassfed lamb enterprise today's episode and the next few are dedicated to raising lamb on pasture.
We'll start out this series with Darby going through what he currently knows about lamb, what his assumptions are, and what his concerns and worries are.
He'll talk about why he's interested in adding lamb to his farm, and what goes into a decision like this - adding a new species that you aren't that familiar with to your farm.
This is an enterprise that Darby is seriously looking to start on his farm, so this episode will be an inside look at what goes into a decision like this.
I will then follow up this episode with several interviews with some current grassfed sheep and lamb grazers - ones that do this for a living, and have done this for a living for a long time.
They'll fill in all the gaps and details that aren't in this episode. Then I will circle back with Darby and see if his thoughts have changed.
If you're playing a long at home, you can do the same.
You may be hearing lamb, and thinking lamb, I am not into raising lamb, this isn't relevant..
Hold up and give it a chance.
Don't worry. These shows will still be valuable. Over the next few episodes you'll learn about evaluating a business idea, low stress animal handling, building soil, rotational grazing pastures, building and establishing pastures, and marketing products. All concepts talked about in the context of lamb, but universally applicable to most other grazing animals.
Before we get into this one, take a sec to think about lamb in your context. Are you interested in raising them - why or why not? What factors would you consider when starting a new enterprise.
Then see how those questions might get answered and how those assumptions might change as we go through this series.
Keep in mind as we go through this episode today, this is Darby talking about what he knows now about lamb, knowing that it might be right and it might be wrong. Don't take anything in this episode as gospel when it comes to the mechanics of raising lamb.
Today it is Darby evaluating what he knows, doesn't know, and what he doesn't know that he doesn't know.
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In this episode we touch on a variety of topics from have a homestead milking cow, to rotational grazing and establishing a pasture, to what to look for when purchasing land.
Enjoy it - Beyond Homestead with farmers and authors of The Independent Farmstead Shawn and Beth Dougherty.
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Today we will be looking at what's involved with on farm processing from what's a typical day like to what equipment is needed to what are some of the advantages of processing on farm.
Overall, it's an in-depth look at on farm poultry processing from someone who does it, and does it really well.
I think it's safe to say that by the end of this episode you will either be saying nope, not for me, or I really see the benefit in this, where can I learn more... and that's the goal.
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Today we will take a look at part time farming, or farmsteading, looking at what's possible and how viable of an option it really is.
It's a model that fits nicely in between homesteading and full time farming. It's a model that might be more financially approachable now, it's a model that might not require radical lifestyle change, and it's a model that might pay you something to produce your own food.
And maybe best of all it's an option that gives you a lot of future options.
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Today we'll be going to Zanesville, OH to talk to farmer Greg Burns of Natures Image Farm.
Greg's journey began one day out of the blue, in a way that you wouldn't expect, and in a way that you could say was by the grace of god.
Imagine living the American dream.
Owning your own business, living in nice house in a subdivision with a well-kept yard, money to buy everything that you need and more. It's the good life.
Then one day you’re driving down the road on the Connecticut, New York border in your truck and suddenly everything changes in an instant.
It was in that instant where it all went wrong that sent Greg's truck airborne on the highway, tumbling in mid-air, slowing down time, and flashing his life before him. It was an instant that left him upside down on the road wondering if he was alive or dead.
It was an instant that left bystanders saying, I can't believe you are alive!
It was an instant the changed the course of life of Greg Burns.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
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Today we'll be going to Louisville, Kentucky to talk to farmer Luke Groce of Groce Family Farm.
Luke and his wife Katherine started their farming career in 2009 as a vegetable farm. An operation that had its successes and it's failures.
As Luke said...
“I've got a few war stories from the deep trap of doing too many things at the beginning of farming a piece of land with no experience, and then not doing any of it well enough. After treading water, and trying to keep up with all of it for six years, I've decided that CSA farming is a team sport. And I can't be good at, and stay on top of, growing 30-40 things by myself (plus keep up with 40+ pigs). It’s a kind of humbling thing to say, ‘I can't do this well.’ “
It was through some of the failures and struggles with the vegetable operation that led Luke down the path of raising pigs. Another path that's full of war stories... having tried a bunch over the years from keeping pigs behind two strands of hot wire to experimenting with a unique bulk pork sales program, two things he will talk about today. Not everything has worked, but some of it has and he's learned along the way continuing to grow his pork operation.
The move to pork was one that might not have happened, but it did, and it was a move that he wouldn't regret, because it was a move would bring his family together living on the farm, and one that would save his farm.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
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When it comes down to the changes there's three main areas that Darby would have handled differently – getting more startup capital, utilize USDA and NCRS financial services, and enterprise selection.
Even though he started with chickens, in hindsight his farming business, his life, and his marriage might have been better off if he had started with pigs.
If you are thinking about starting up a farm, transitioning over your farm, or making a big shift in your farm business, there's a lot of good advice and tips in this one.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
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With summer farmers markets starting around the county over the next couple of months it's time to start looking at the markets in your area, if you want to sell at farmers markets.
In last week’s episode which was effectively part 1 of this mini-series we took a look at how to select markets and what to do when you are apply markets. It involved casting a wide net and narrowing down your market choices to the ones that seemed like the best fit and the ones that would accept you.
Today in part 2 of the series we’ll move a little further ahead in time, to when you actually get accepted into a market, and we will take a look at some of the specifics that come into play with that.
Things like…
How to choose a farms market stall spot?
How to price cuts?
Two of many things that you might not think about when your applying to a market, but something that’s critical to think about once you are accepted.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
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With summer farmers markets starting around the county over the next couple of months it's time to start looking at the markets in your area, if you want to sell at farmers markets.
Today we'll look at two cases - return to the same farmers market and starting at a new market, and how would you approach the two different situations.
In both cases you need to advocate for yourself and talk about what benefit you are bringing to the market. At least when you are returning to a market, you are dealing with some knowns. When you venture out to a new market, it's a different story, you don't know what that market will be like.
Darby will discuss some ways to deal with those unknowns and what factors to consider. He’ll also get into...
How do you deal with a farmers market that only allows you to sell X?
What do you do if your market turns out to be terrible?
Both realities in a farmer’s world, and neither is an easy situation to deal with.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
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When you start a farm, what's one of the most important things that you need to do...
Hint… it’s not growing the food...
It's selling the food that you do grow.
I hear this time and time again from seasoned farmers, and I most recently heard it from a long time USDA loan agent when she said... "Growing is the easy part. In California we can grow almost any crop, the hard part is selling that crop."
Biology supports that. Plants and animals are genetically pre-programmed to grow and reproduce. As much as we think that we need to be involved, in a large way, we are just ushering along biology.
And for many people it's the growing of food or the raising of livestock that's the fun part. Not the selling or the marketing.
But without the selling and marketing and cash flow coming in, you're not a farmer, you are homesteader or a gardener, there's simply no business.
Given that it's critical to get some cash flow going right away when you start the business..
One way to do that, is to pre-sell some of your product, even before you raise it, through a CSA.
That's what we're talking about today..
Darby's going to be sharing his experiences and insights running a chicken CSA. It's a program that brings in a lot of cash early in the season when a lot of cash is going out of the business to pay expenses. Overall the program has worked well, and his business wouldn't be the same without it...
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
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Starting a Successful Farm on the Road - How Wilson Marsh of Whole Earth Farm built a customer base in a town of just 1700 people.
Today will be the first episode that steps away from Darby's farm, and takes a look at another farmer's story and what they are doing.
We'll be going down to South Texas to talk to Wilson Marsh of Whole Earth Farm.
While Wilson and his wife Kayla now seek to raising livestock humanely and go beyond organic, it wasn't always that way when it came to farming with Wilson. Because he grew up on a conventional farm with a family that farmed thousands of acres with chemicals.
It was a lifestyle that he hated as a kid, and it thought that he would ever come full circle back to farming as adult which he did, but in a very different way than his family did.
Because in the interim he found out about permaculture and regenerative agriculture and it was something that resonated with him. And the more he learned, the more he wanted to do, but initially there was one problem. He didn't have any land.
So he started on his families land developing his own pastured livestock enterprise on the side while working on the family farm during the day. While conventional agriculture wasn't something that he believed in, it was a means to an end, and end that we'll talk about today.
Starting a Successful Farm on the Road - How Wilson Marsh of Whole Earth Farm built a customer base in a town of just 1700 people.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
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Today we are going to take a look at a common fork in the road - chickens or pigs or both.
Chickens and pigs are the two common starter enterprises for people getting into livestock.
There's a lot of similarities... they both have a relatively low cost to start up, you don't need a lot of land, the time commitment isn't huge, and they are scalable.
And there are a lot of differences - infrastructure, feed, processors, market perception, and price points of the finished products.
Both enterprises make a lot of sense for a beginning farmer, or for an existing farmer ad an add on enterprise. But it's the subtle differences and how those differences fit your context, your life, and your land which make all the difference, often times leading to a clear choices.
Given these subtle differences, if you are starting out, how do you choose?
That's what we will explore today, with Darby going through a consultation with person interested in farming.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
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Darby and I are going to start the year out by taking on the topic – If You Want to Farm in 2017, Do This…
I think today's episode can go behind those of you that want to start farming in 2017, I think these ideas also work for anyone look to change the direction of their farm, improve their farm, or add an enterprise onto their farm.
This is the time of year a lot of people use for planning, so we'll give you six different things that you can start doing now to get better prepared for later in the year.
If you are thinking about a change in 2017 whether major or minor, start planning out that change now, and stay tuned to find out how.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
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If you want to do this you aren't getting any younger and you probably already know enough to start now.
As listener Zach said...
"One big lesson I learned early on. Education is important, but actually doing the work and experimenting with new products, markets, and techniques is what helps you learn and improve over time. You need education to help you generate ideas and learn new concepts, but you need actual real world experience to be successful. There's no way to learn your way to success. You can only work your way to success. "
For those of you currently farming, best of luck in 2017 on the continuum of your farming journey.
And if you are thinking about farming in 2017, but are on the fence, here are five reasons why you might want to start.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
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Today Darby and I will take a look back at his season on the farm looking at what went well, what didn't and some lessons learned.
Because despite 10 years of trial and error and farming experience, not everything always goes as planned.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
If you are value adding your meat product via a processing by having them make something like sausage or bacon, then you might be more tied to that particular process than you think.
Depending on how that entity makes that product and what they put in it, it creates a specific flavor profile. A flavor profile that your customer base likely associates with you and your farm.
But that flavor profile isn't coming just from you.
What happens then if that other piece of the puzzle goes away?
How do you then replicate that same product using another entity?
If the success of a particular product is in part based on an entity that isn't you, what do you do?
If the product changes, what will your customers think? Will they notice? Maybe, maybe not?
But it's something to think about, and it's the topic of today's show.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
Farming is one of those careers that are more than a career. It's a lifestyle. A lifestyle in every sense of the world.
Because for a big part of the year your life will be the farm.
Extreme work hours and murderous weeks are pretty much universally synonymous with farming.
During parts of the season it's not uncommon to work 12, 15, or 18 hour days, putting in those types of days back to back.
The work becomes everything during those periods and it is a long, long cycle of do this then this then this then this, then when you are tired and cranky, do more, and more.
It's those periods of the farm season that put you to the max and test your commitment to this lifestyle.
Fortunately those periods are just that, periods or snapshots in time. They are temporary.
They are hell weeks, not hell months or hell years. And if you can push through those hard times you are rewarded later on in the year by the exact opposite. Call them heaven weeks where the workload is extremely minimal and many tasks and projects are now optional, not required. It's the off-season.
For Darby, that off-season begins with the arrival of Thanksgiving.
And that's where we pick up today's show.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
If you are thinking about transitioning from a career in one field to a career as a part-time or full-time farming, you need to be careful in this stage. The obvious reality is that you get infinitely many chances to make a business work, but the not-so-obvious reality is that everyone gets infinite changes, and most people will only use one.
Their shot misses, it doesn't work, and it’s over. They never get back up for whatever reasons - emotional, family, financial, emotional. The goal of this episode is to help you become resilient enough not to blow yourself up taking those shots by taking some time on the front end to think through it and plan.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
The person buying Darby's turkeys isn't focused on the sticker - they have other reasons to buy a turkey from him, reasons that are strong enough for them to look past the price.
Reasons like being locally raised, being raised in better conditions, being raised by a farmer that they know, and them as a customer being able to support a farmer and a method of agriculture that they believe in, and one that's preciously opposite the methods being used by the Butterballs of the world.
It's these factors that have made growing turkeys an attractive niche business for Darby.
And it might be a business that fits you and your enterprise, especially if you already have an established customer base.
Think about that as we go through this episode, because today, it's a turkey day.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
Set yourself up for success from Day 1 by putting in place a plan that has a chance of success in reality. There's some danger in putting in a plan that's too aggressive up front, because what happens on the back end when you don't meet your own level of expectations, unrealistic or not? Not a situation that you want to be in.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
When it comes to a small scale livestock operation, there are two main choices that stick out when it comes to selecting starter enterprises: pastured poultry and pigs.
This season we have discussed each of them in depth, looking at the nuts and bolts and pros and cons of these enterprises.
And if I had to guess, I would assume that most people getting into small scale livestock start with poultry.
But that might not always be the best option. In many cases raising pigs may be a better option given your market and your competitors in the area.
Part of making at that assessment comes to looking at the potential numbers for each of the enterprises.
So far we have done that with poultry, but not pigs, at least not until today.
If you go way back to episodes 8, 9, and 10 we talked a lot about the methodology of raising pigs in the woods.
We covered a lot of the management, the infrastructure and equipment that use to execute a successful and profitable pig enterprise, now let's see how that all works out in reality when it comes to the numbers.
What types of costs are involved?
And how profitable is a small scale pig enterprise?
Those are just some of the topics that we cover in today's episode, Part 4 in the series How to Raise Pigs Regeneratively in the Woods.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
What you will hear today, is an episode that I published about a year ago with Darby. It's an interview talking about his transition into farming and his farm beginnings.
If you think you may have heard this interview before, then you probably right. It was published as one of the founders’ stories last year before PV3.
Given the timing I think that re-airing this interview makes a lot of sense. There's a lot of stuff in this interview that we haven't covered in GFL before. And it should help fill in some of the gaps regarding his early days in farm and how he transitioned from nonfarm to full time farmer. It also goes to show that the Darby that you hear today, wasn't always this way, like everyone, he too had to start at the beginning without any experience or knowing exactly what he was doing...
I think that makes Darby's story relatable and applicable to many people listening to this show.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
Believe it or not, not all surprises on the farm are bad surprises.
Not every surprise is a baby calf dying, turkeys arriving days early, and having a car crash through your fence on Christmas Day setting off a chain of events that has your cattle and thousands of dollars heading towards the highway.
Some surprises are actually good surprises.... and recently Darby got one of those.
It came out of the blue, and it's a good one.
What is it, and how is he dealing with it.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
At any given time, in any place, in any area of business, there is usually an established set of businesses operating in that geographic area.
If you are new to that area and/or if you want to start a business in that area, how do you compete?
Think about farming. There are a lot of conventional and better than conventional producers of poultry, pork, and beef in many of the markets around the US and Canada.
If you want to get into one of those markets, how do you deal with the competition?
On one hand they are competition. On the other hand they are comrades, other small scale farmers, in the battle against big ag. And in some ways, the total market would be stronger if more locals were supporting more local farms.
It's competition versus co-opetition.
Directly competing in a battle to the death versus competing on more friendly terms knowing that the real battle is the little farms versus the mega industrialized farm complex.
As a new farmer you have to walk this line carefully.
If you are new farmer, then you could benefit from a lot of your competitors knowledge - knowledge about the market, the local climate, local processors and suppliers, knowledge about the livestock, knowledge about the local grasses. Despite being your competitor they know a lot that you would benefit from knowing, while at the same time, being your direction competition.
When you start farming or start farming in a new area, how do you compete and deal with the competition?
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
Today's episode is Part Two of our series on pasture.
In this episode Darby will go into detail with a plan that converts conventional row crop into perennial pasture,dealing with invasive weed pressure, and practical considerations for establishing new pasture. Things like should you mow long grass, why or why not, and when could you graze cattle on a new pasture, and even chickens.
There's a lot of practical advice in this one. Hopefully some of this advice can help you get establish more pasture or improve the quality of your pasture.
Because more grass, means more animals, and no extra land needed.
It's like getting another farm for free.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
When you have an animal that eats grass, then you as a farmer have a big advantage.
Grass is free. You don't have to buy it, and depending on where you live you might not have to water it.
So your input costs on your end product, are low.
But not all grass is created equal. If you don't have a lot of grass or grass year round, then you might find yourself in a situation where you need to purchase hay, which drives input costs up.
It's in your interest to have the healthiest most productive pastures as possible. As a farmer, you are both a manager of the animals and the grass to help avoid this problem.
It's practices like mob grazing that lead to improved soils which can sustain more life, for longer.
Poor practices can lead to the degradation of land, and conversely good practices can lead to a dramatic improvement in the land, soil, and pasture.
And improvements can be truly dramatic.
Take someone like Greg Judy for example. Greg grazes using planned high density grazing. Putting a lot of animal weight on a small piece of land for a short period of time.
Since adopting that system his grazing ratio has changed from 4.5 acres per animal unit (AU=1,000 lb.) to 2.2 acres per AU and forage production has doubled. Judy is using the extra forage to expand his cow herd for a grass-fed beef business, and he has added 300 head of hair sheep. Judy manages the livestock on 900 acres (300 acres owned and 600 acres leased.) “This reduction in grazing acres per AU is like having another 600-acre farm, and we don’t even have to pay additional land taxes. In our area, 600 acres is worth $1.8 million,” Judy says.
More grass, means more animals, and no extra land needed.
As Greg said, it's like getting another farm for free.
It's all about building soil and that's the focus of today's episode, the first in a multi-part episode series on building pasture.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
What do you do if you have one view of agriculture, and your family has a different view of agriculture?
And what do you do if your family owns land and farms on that land in a way that's different than the way that you would farm?
How do you navigate that situation?
On one hand you have a big asset at an arms length. The asset being potential land to farm. On the other hand, you realize that farming on that land in way that you believe is right might directly contradict the method of farming on that land currently.
Not an easy situation to navigate and one that we will be discussing today.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
So far this season we have covered everything from pastured poultry to pigs to cattle to sales and marketing.
We've covered a lot, from the basics to the specifics. And based on the feedback it's be helpful.
Also, along the along the way we have received a lot of great questions from you all.
Questions like - How do I go about selling chickens to customers and not worry about people trying to sue me should they get sick from one of my birds?
Today we will answer that questions, and many others spanning topics such as freezer inventory management, thoughts on the American Guinea Hog, and poultry feed management.
This episode is an episode, designed by you, the listeners.
If you have sent in one of you questions in the past, thanks, this episode is dedicated to you.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
Last we we heard from Brandy Simpson, Darby's wife, on what starting a farm was like on the other side, the non-entrepreneur side, the spouse side.
Today we'll continue to round out that view, because this week Brandy is back, and joined by Darby, as they talk more about startup, their relationship, and holding it all together.
How did they both handle money being tight, and set expectations. And what was the key to making it all work.
There's a lot in here, enjoy this one, part two of the mini-series focusing on startup and relationships.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
Today's episode is a special one. It is part one of a mini-series focusing on farm start up, but from the other side- not the side of the farmer, instead from the side of the farmer's wife.
It’s a conversation with Darby's wife Brandy and what it was like to be the farmer's wife and transition into farming in that role, as a mom of two young kids, and as someone who viewed their future not on a farm.
Think of Brandy as an avatar - the generic universal representation of the farmer's wife. As you listen to this episode, think about what she is saying, and think about what the other person in your life might say or be thinking.
Have you thought about that? Because you really need to.
As you will here in this episode a farming future wasn't the future that Brandy had envisioned for their family, and I think it's safe to say that it wasn't even in the proximity of the expected future.
And then one day it happened, the idea came up...
If we go back to when Darby started farming, it was at a time when he was up to his eyeballs in stress and frustration over his current job. And he needed a change, a change that was going to happen through farming. But he hadn't told his wife yet about what he was thinking of doing. What was she going to think?
In a lot of stories you only get one side of the story. The side coming from the person that had the idea, and made it happen.
But that all doesn't happen in a vacuum, there are always other people involved.
In this case, Darby had a wife and two very young kids. He wanted to farm, she didn't.
It was his dream, not hers.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
Today we are still talking about pastured poultry, but we will look at it from a different viewpoint... the viewpoint of why pastured poultry might not be a good fit for your and your operation.
We will explore that view by looking at eight negatives associated with pastured poultry and how you might be able to overcome those negatives.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
This episode is a special episode that addresses a question submitted to us by listener Ben Grimes of Dawnbreaker Farms.
Ben's question was a simple one, but the answer wasn't simple or straightforward. Like many things when it comes to farming there's a lot of nuance and variability involved.
Given that this episode is effectively two parts.
Part one is Ben's questions along with an interview with Ben help add some supporting details and context.
Part Two is Darby's answer to that question.
If you are listening to this the first time, then it makes sense to listen to the hole episode chronologically.
If you are coming back to this episode for a second time, and you just want to hear how Darby would tackle Ben's question, then you can skip ahead to 41:00.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
Today's show is Part 2 of our series on cattle.
This episode is all about the ins and outs of stockers, cattle that you purchase, raise on farm and sell.
It's a great operation for a beginner and one way of raising cattle that is very different from a cow/calf operation where you breed and raise your own cattle on farm to sell.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
Let's say you start raising chickens on grass, pastured poultry.
You're rotating the chickens around your land and as you do that the chickens leave behind nitrogen rich fertilizer packets at every stop.
Something that the grass will respond to but growing, a lot...
The more that you do this, the more grass that you grow. Now you are stuck with a lot of grass, and it's getting to the point where the grass is too tall for the chickens...
You have a grass problem.
How do you manage that grass?
You can mow it. That's one solution. Not everyone's favorite solution, but an effective solution that for sure works. But mowing grass is a cost tat the end of the day.
You can't mow it and sell the mower. You burn fuel and need to put new fuel in it next time. It's simple a tool that you put inputs into to manage pasture.
On a long term resiliency and fragility scale a mower based system is fragile, it's a problem.
What if you take that problem, a too much grass problem and turn it into a solution.
Maybe, or you get an animal to mow it for you... specifically a ruminant like a cow.
Today Darby lays out the basics of what raising on cattle on grass is really like.
He discusses his cattle operation, how he selected his breeds, what advice he would suggest for beginners, and how much land you actually need to raise cattle. And it may surprise you, because it's probably not as much as you think.
Let's start at the beginning and talk about how Darby got started with cattle in the first place.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
Think about your life and your work situation. Is it one that consumes a huge majority of your time? And is that by choice or because that’s just the way that it’s always been.
If you don’t like it, you can always change it. That’s what this episode is about, designing a life that works for you.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
If you listened to last week's episode it was all about brooder management.
Managing the chicks from when they arrive on the farm until they reach about three weeks of age when it's time to go out onto pasture.
Today's episode picks up right where that one left off.
We talk all about transitioning birds to pasture, and then managing the new birds on pasture.
There's a lot of practical and immediately applicable advice in this one.
And this one also finishes up our series of shows on pastured poultry management. We've now covered all the way from choosing a hatchery to getting the finished birds processed.
Today's show ties up some of the loose ends at the tail end of the process, it's all about transitioning the chicks from the brooder to the pasture.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
Today's episode is all about the ins and outs of brooder management taking you from the time when the baby chicks arrive in the farm in the mail to the day when they are transitioned out to pasture.
In this episode we cover feed, environment, and setup of Darby's brooder.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
To start the show we'll go to an email that I recently received from one of you listening to the show...
"Hi Diego I hope everything is going good for you in sunny California! I ordered 110 Cornish Cross chicks today. I am so excited to finally get my feet wet and stop analysis paralysis. I have made two hoop house style tractors out of cattle panels. I have located a non-GMO organic feed supplier. And I have set a date with a state inspected processor! Thank you so much for all your inspiration. Please pass on my thanks to Darby as well."
Given that this person is just starting out, what should they focus on their first year?
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
Today is the 4th of July. A day when America celebrates and commemorates its independence.
It’s a national holiday, which means that for many American workers today is a calendared day off from work.
A day that you can always look ahead to and say, "I have a long weekend for the 4th, let’s go then."
For most, not all, most workers today is a money in the bank holiday. Along with Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, and a few others, it’s one of the bonus days off for Americans each year.
It’s holidays like this that many people plan vacations and other life dreams around.
But isn’t that a little sad. Having to compartmentalize all of your recreational time into the time off that your company gives you and the days that the government mandates. All of that work away from home for a paycheck, and a limited amount of time to actually use that paycheck with your family. It isn’t how most people would choose to live their lives, but it is how most people have accepted living their lives.
If you are in that boat and your not happy with it, what if you could try to create a work scenario that is more aligned with how you want to live your life.
Instead of cramming all of your recreational and family time into weekends and three weeks a year, what if you could spread that time out over the whole year. Each day having the ability to do whatever that you want to do most.
Not all day every day, but part of every day.
That doesn’t mean that you don’t have to work. But you could do the work on your terms, in your preferred location, and on your schedule. Effectively making every day a working holiday.
Being a self employed farmer is one way to do that.
Today on the 4th of July, Darby, a self employed farmer will talk about living each day as a holiday, and Declaring Independence in Your Own Life, From What Society Tells You It Has to Be.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
Many farmers like Darby work at least 60 hours per week - that's 7 days a week, from May through September.
That's a lot of hours. It's much higher average workload during that time specific time frame than your average American.
But we can't just focus on those numbers, because there's more to the story.
Think about the off season. For many farmers the workload is seasonal. They spend a lot of time working in the summer and a lot of time not working in the winter.
That brings the year round average of total hours worked down, probably closer to the national average for the average Joe American work.
But there's a difference between the two workers, the average entrepreneur and farmer own is also working for themselves. Their efforts are directly going towards something more than just money, they are building a business. It's not just putting hours in for dollars; it's also getting something that has the potential to have more longevity than they have. Both in the near term and the long term as equity is built in the business and a business can often work 24/7 for a long time, effectively working when you can't. Meaning as the business owner you leveraged your hours now for longer term gain.
Another factor to consider is - where are those hours spent? If you are farmer then they are probably spent on farm which means on your land where you live.
You are spending a lot of hours working around your house. You aren't leaving each day to go to work, other than walking out the door. There's no commute. Which means you are around your family and any down time like breaks and lunch can be spent with them, or however you see fit. A far cry from the more family isolated hours of the average American worker.
There's more to the hours worked per week, than just the hours worked per week. This is important to understand if you are thinking about getting into farming and these long summer work hours are scaring you. You need to look deeper; you need to look at where those hours of work are taking place and what those hours of working are going towards.
Because what on the surface appears to be insane hours, how insane is it really?
And at the end of the day is the average American worker the one who’s really putting in the insane hours week after week, year after year?
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
We will start by going back in time by 8 weeks to April 22. That will be our starting point, Day 0 for the new chicks arriving on the farm.
Delivered via mail, the newborn chicks start out their life on the farm in the comfort of the brooder. There they enjoy the warmth of an electric light as the play in wood shavings all day while they eat, gain weight and feather out.
As we move ahead to Day 20, the chicks aren't as fragile as they once were, and they are now started to get crowded in their brooder. That means that it's time to move out, and the chicks head out to pasture where they touch grass for the first time, spending their first night in the open air under the protection of a chicken tractor.
The chicks will spend the next 35 days here, each day getting moved to a fresh patch of pasture, leaving their nutrient rich manure behind.
It's now late spring or summer, and despite their growth some will die along the way from the damp, the heat or the raccoon that got a little too close.
The others will grow bigger and bigger eating bugs, grass, and the grain that you the farmer provides them each day.
When the chicks are around 8 and half weeks old they will have converted all that food into body mass and each bird will weigh around 6.5 lbs.
It's a pretty fast weight gain, in a pretty short amount of time - it's what the Cornish Cross were breed for.
Now at just over 2 months old, the chickens live in the field, and their life in general, is almost over.
Because that day has arrived; it's now time to process the birds - taking that living breathing chicken, and converting it into food for humans.
When the birds reach this stage of their life you as the farmer have a couple options for processing them.
One is to process the birds on farm.
The other is taking the birds to a local processor.
That's how Darby processes his birds, and today we'll pick our story right here at this stage. We'll zoom in on the day before, the day of, and the day after processing his birds. You'll get an inside look at everything that takes place between the chickens last hours on pasture to their return back to the farm as sellable meat in shrink wrapped bags.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
How do you communicate your message, the one that your customers want to hear, at a farmers market?
Two ways: when you tell a customer face to face and with signage that you display.
But not just any signs.
As advertising legend David Ogilvy said, advertising isn't art, it's there to sell product.
Given that, make sure that your signs that are clear, understandable, and easy to read from near, and afar.
The whole goal of signage is to get people to come over to your booth and talk to you so you can then tell them your story.
The sign doesn't sell the product, you do. The function of the sign is to get people to stop and talk to you.
And if people can't read your sign then they probably won't stop to get the rest of your story.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
Over the last few episodes we have talked about raising pork.
Today we will be shifting that conversation over to cover what do you do with that pig once it has been raised.
The obvious answer is you take it to a butcher who processes it down into various cuts.
But this is where the questions come into play.
What cuts should have the butcher break down the pig into?
Should keep those cuts as cuts or turn that meat into value added product like sausage?
Should you always process pigs into the same cuts, or does your market demand different cuts at different times through the year?
And then how do you take into account the on the land management to ensure that you have enough pigs ready at different times of year to maintain demand for the individual cuts.
Are you confused yet?
It gets complex pretty quickly.
In this episode, we'll dig into some of the different cuts of pork, and Darby’s rationale for selling which ones, when. And this episode should help you balance what you are doing on the land with balance what you need to keep in the freezer.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
Today we are continuing on with Part 2 in the mini-series on raising pigs on a sustainability minded family farm.
This episode is all about equipment and infrastructure.
Some things to think about before we get into this episode...
Where are you starting from and where do you want to go?
Depending on where you are starting from, and what you are starting with, that can really dictate what types of equipment and infrastructure you start raising pigs with.
Similarly you need to know where you want to go with pigs. Is your foray into pigs experimental or is it something that you are for sure committed to from the long term? The answer to that question will dictate how much money you put into infrastructure and how permanent that infrastructure is.
Do you own land or do you lease land? Do you have a wooded area or just pasture?
These are all considerations that you need to think about when you start planning and designing your small scale pig operation.
On other thing to think about is how much labor to have at your disposal? As we go through this episode keep in mind that Darby has a labor force of one, himself. So everything on his farm is geared towards making the job easier, faster, and more efficient so just one person can manage it. If he had staff, some of these systems might be setup differently.
Remember context is very important here. Where are you starting from, what are you starting with, and where do you want go?
There is no cookie cutter solution to any of this.
Knowing that, we will take this topic on and today we will cover all of the basics that you need to get started with pigs literally form the ground up covering fencing, feeders, and waterers.
We will also talk about and compare a starter setup with a more permanent setup.
If you want to raise pigs, then this episode is all about what you need to buy to do it.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
Today we will take a realistic look at how Darby raises his pigs on his farm and why.
We will place a lot of emphasis on his context and how that directly ties to why he does what he does. As you will hear it's a balancing act. It's a constant balance between his moral compass and watching his wallet. Another way of saying that is there is always a more regenerative way of doing things, but they come at a cost. And things need to be financially sustainable in addition to being sustainable on the land. At its simplest for Darby this means putting pigs where they excel, and that's in the woods.
We will discuss the nuts and bolts of raising pigs in the wood, and we will also look at other alternative methods of raising pigs and Darby will share his thoughts on those from both a management and an economic standpoint.
If I had to boil it all down ahead of time, it all comes down to finding the intersection of what's best for you as a farmer, what's best for the land, and what's best for the pig.
You'll hear how finding that balance isn't always easy.
But despite the challenges of trying to be perfect, you will see how the system that Darby has setup is leaps and bounds ahead of the baseline, the CAFOs.
As Joel Salatin says, "The problem is that modern American CAFO's are where amoral science and pure capitalism take you, and it's far away from nurturing and caretaking."
With the CAFO system and $100M pigs being raised this way each year. It's hard to conceive of a scenario where this situation changes. The numbers are too big, the grasp is too tight.
So if we want to see change, it's going to start here, with the people listening to this show. Change is going to start with you. It's going to start with the small farmer that have committed to doing things differently.
Today you will hear about one of those small farms, that's finding a balance between an entrepreneurial and capitalist business and one that nurtures and honors the pigness of the pig.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
When you can get a $5 cooked and ready to eat chicken at Costco, how many consumers are going to pay $40 for the same amount of product, uncooked.
Not many.
In a world where we are still trying to get the public to accept the $20 chicken, the $40 chicken is insanity.
Given that, let’s work with what we have. Let’s run with the $20 chicken and be OK with it.
Let’s use what we have as a starting point to get to more regenerative future. And let’s taper our visions back to meet the customer who will ultimately be the one to cash flow that long term vision.
Let me repeat that. We are the ones that need to back off. We are the ones that need to go meet the customer if we want to start in business long enough to have the customer start meeting us.
As Darby will say in this episode, if the customer won’t support our moral compass then we need to back off a bit until they will.
That can be a hard pill for some people to swallow. But it’s the reality of the world that we live in. It’s a long game. The food system didn’t get messed up overnight and we aren’t going to fix it overnight. And we have to survive now, today, in order to make it to tomorrow and the long term vision that we want to see.
Surviving today means selling what the customer wants and will pay for, today. That means start by building solid foundations of a good business first - meaning build a customer base, start generating cash flow, and starting building trust and relationships with your customers.
As that trust grows you can learn more about what those customers want, create that in a way that matches up with your ideology, and lead them a little ways down the field. And it is those steps that slowly move agriculture in the direction that you want it to go in.
Darby has a great analogy for this. Farmers have a big rope. And they are slowly pulling the customers forward towards the manifestation of the prefect regenerative farm. It’s a constant pull and constant progress has been made. We are further along than we were 20 years ago, and 20 years from now we will be further along than today, but that’s only going to happen if we are still in business tomorrow, and the key to that is selling the customer what they want and will pay for today.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
If you romanticized farming before, well this episode is going to take that romantic vision and drag it through the mud a bit.
The goal isn't to discourage you from wanting to do any of this. It’s just to make sure that you think about what you are getting into.
Because while the life style can be great. And while there are many more good days than bad days. The bad days, can be really bad. And just to make things easy the bad days show up at the most inopportune times - Christmas, birthdays, late a night, when you are tight on cash, when you already have your plate full.
In today's episode we are going to take a realistic look at the times when farming isn't so great. The days when farming sucks. Because those days do exist, so let's not pretend that they don't.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
"I am looking into starting my farming business soon, in nearly such a manner as you did Darby, while working a full time job in the city. I plan to start with chickens and have a few questions....
Did you start out processing your own birds?
I ask because I live in Georgia and there is a 1000 bird limit per year before you have to go through an inspected slaughter house.
While I don't plan to start out with 1000 birds per year, i was curious if it is worth purchasing the processing equipment to only be forced to use a slaughter house if my sales grow greater than 1000 in a few years."
That's an email question that one of you send in... and that's what we will be talking about in this episode - processing poultry.
In today's episode we will talk about
How if Darby process his birds on farm or off farm and why?
We will talk about the importance of knowing what your state regulations are.
And we'll look at selling whole chickens versus cuts.
Today, it's 10 years of Darby's experience with processing condensed down into an hour.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
Darby has been at one particular farmers market for the past six years, but this year he is changing things and not returning to that market due to low sales.
In today's episode we will talk about what he looked for in a new market, and how evaluated a new market.
Darby will also talk about some of the differences between getting into weekend markets versus weekday markets, what his thoughts are on being one of many meat vendors at a market, the time required to get established at a market, and a lot more.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
500 baby chicks have arrived at Darby's farm thus beginning the cycle of raising broilers for the season. With the chicks on farm we will talk about what the next steps are.
We also discuss the importance of choosing the right hatcheries and breed. Not just to make sure that you receive quality birds, but also to make sure that you receive quality birds in the shortest shipping time possible.
Darby will talk about introducing the birds to pasture and how started with the Salatin style chicken tractor and then evolved away from that. And we talk about how Darby plans his successions of broilers.
There is a lot of good advice in this one for those just starting out and those with experience.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
Darby has 500 baby chicks arriving at the farm next week. We talk about what he has to do to prepare for that.
He is upgrading his in field feeding system, find out how and why.
And Darby gives advice on starting out with grazing cattle.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod
This podcast 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 assets its assets and liabilities its fantasies and realities. "Is it really possible for me?" is the burning question this podcast addresses.
And this isn't just one episode that I talking about here. It's a season.
I am going to follow pastured livestock farmer Darby Simpson through a full farm season to show what farming on pasture is really like.
If you are listening to this and asking yourself is farming really possible for me?
Then stay tuned because that question will be answered over the course of a season by someone who grew up being told that it wasn't possible, and later circled back into farming with no experience.
Darby Simpson is someone who transitioned into farming on a part time basis while working full time in an unrelated field. Putting in well over 50 hours each week as an engineer and spending a couple hours each day in the car commuting back and forth. But despite those long hours, he started his farm, on the side. He did it while raising a young family, and keeping his sanity in the process. He did it by working hard and smart. And he did it in a very approachable way. He started his farming operation with only $500. With that $500 he bought 50 broilers and some equipment and he was on his way to farming full time. The first 50 sold and he never looked back.
$500 in initial expenses started farming on the side, while working full time, and with a young family. A very relatable and applicable situation to many people listening to this show. If you are contemplating that jump into farming and making that dream a reality, but you feel like life is standing in the way, here is someone who's done it with life in the way.
READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?
The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it’s not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that’s right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com
Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry
Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX
Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod