Posted by JoshuaGA on March 18, 2008 at 18:37:05 from (74.244.197.228):
In Reply to: Starting small posted by E.B. Haymakin' on March 18, 2008 at 08:45:29:
I don't see how to be a small farm in the commodies market, but then again I don't see how people farm anymore. There are too many costs to make a decent living. The key to me is you must be your own salesman. ON PAPER AS A ROUGH ESTIMATE I can make money off a 475 acre farm, BUT we already own 240 acres, and I'm basing it on doing direct marketing. I mean, if you wanted to farm 160 acres, you would either have to be a contract producer or else be direct market your products. As thers have said, a niche market. To make money, you could sell organic pork, or free range eggs, or grassfed beef or raw milk or goat cheese or breeding stock sheep. The possibilities are endless. To me, I think a good farm should have a mix of products to offer. Around here, every farm grows peanuts, cotton, and cattle. We grew peanuts, cotton, a few cows, and hogs. Hogs were our living. They were needed, we were wanted. Then came the 98 crash and we lost hogs and nearly lost everything. We struggled, and except for my sister, we all worked to try to make it. Me and dad worked for a neighbor at $6-7 apiece plus mom working in the scool system. 240 acres and we couldn't make a go of it. Now we have chicken houses and do some farming on the side, but we do much more observation. We see what works, what doesn't, what isn't worth the effort, and what should be done. If you really want to farm small, you need to farm smart. I ain't trying to scare you, but an honest opinion now can save some woe later. I sincerely hope this helps to some degree.
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Today's Featured Article - Old Time Threshing - by Anthony West. A lovely harvest evening late September 1947, I was a school boy, like all school boys I loved harvest time. The golden corn ripens well and early, the stoking, stacking,.... the drawing in with the tractors and trailers and a few buck rakes thrown in, and possibly a heavy horse. It would be a great day for the collies and the terrier dogs, rats and mice would be at the bottom of the stacks so the dogs, would have a busy time hunting and killing, all the corn was gathered and ricked in what we c
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