Net $25,000 in 6 months on 20 acres
Joel Salatin
334pp
This book, along with Salad Bar Beef, lays out the details of what Joel Salatin has learned about successful small scale farming. It will teach you how to make money raising chickens on pasture in portable, bottomless pens. It will teach you about the benefits of pasture, choosing a breed, starting chicks, pen and pasture details, processing, common problems, marketing, and more.
Following is the book's introduction, by Allan Nation, editor of Stockman Grass Farmer magazine:
In this book a proven production model is described, which is capable of producing an income from a small acreage equal or superior to that of most off-farm jobs. It is capable of producing a very high quality of life, as anyone who has ever visited Joel and Teresa's farm can attest.
As much as I admire Joel Salatin's agricultural engineering abilities, I admire even more his steadfast refusal to compromise his family's quality of life. Probably the greatest lesson we can learn from Joel's success is that if we produce a high enough quality product, the marketplace will bend and adapt itself to meet our needs, wants, and desires. We just need to have faith and stand our ground.
This production model should be viewed as a whole. All of the recommendations contained in this book are the result of many years of costly trial and error, and should not be dismissed lightly in your initial efforts. This model will not return the same dollars if it is done on a non-seasonal basis, or if the chickens are sold in any method other than live and direct. Most of the disappointments with pastured poultry have come from people who thought they could come up with an "easier" production or marketing model than Joel is using.
As Joel points out, you should start off producing no more chickens than you and your family can consume, until you are sure you can produce a superior product. The first person you have to sell on your chicken is you. Your best advertising will be the exceptional taste of your chicken. Give some to your friends and neighbors, and let your business grow slowly from word of mouth referrals. Start small and give yourself plenty of time to see if pastured poultry truly fits your needs and lifestyle before investing a lot of capital.
Due to the necessity to condition the pasture for the chickens and to rotate the land where the chickens are grazed, this production model is best used in combination with some form of ruminant livestock production. In addition to poultry, Joel also sells excellent grass-fed beef.
All of us interested in seeing an American rural revival should thank Joel and Teresa Salatin for going to the effort and expense to share their experiences and recommendations for pastured poultry with us.
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