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.

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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:

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Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/show/7yWbI4WFF0ZixQT8kEwukL?si=aa0dfe257c654e04

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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.

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Our new book Ready Farmer One - The Farmers' Guide to Create, Design, and Market an Online Farm Store comes out in April!

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Darby answers about the viability of raising Kune Kune pigs.

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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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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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Darby answers about grazing cattle with the rule of thirds.

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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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Darby answers a question about which chicken tractor design is the best?

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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?

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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.

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Darby answers a question about which chicken tractor design is the best?

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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.

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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 

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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.

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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.

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

Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod

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

Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod

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

Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX

Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod

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

Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod

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

Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod

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

Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod

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

Darby discusses pink eye and fly control for cows.

Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses:

https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses

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