TBF 039 :: How Long Until Full-Time Farming, Farm Updates, and a Hard Lesson Learned

How long will it be until I am able to be a full-time farmer without the need of any off-farm income? That is a question that I have heard quite a few times in the past five years of being a beginning farmer and writing and talking about it on-line. It is a very valid question though, and even one that I have thought about a lot during this farming journey. There are two important things to think about though when you are looking at that question though I believe. First of all I think it is important to realize that a majority of farmers in the United States have off-farm income, and secondly sometimes people who want to be farmers don't always want to quit their job in town. That is the case with me at this point in my life. I very much enjoy my work in town and it is something I could see myself doing for a very long time, but that doesn't mean that I don't think we could make the farm go full-time. There are some limiting factors to think about though ...

• Mortgages can be killer and be something that holds you back from farming full-time.
• There are a lot of expenses that are variable depending on your family situation. For example in our family health insurance is a huge expense ... bigger than the mortgage!
• How much capital do you have to spend and live off of until the farm starts making money. You know the old adage ... you gotta spend money to make money.
• And on, and on, and on!

On today's episode I take some time to answer a listener e-mail all about that question ... How long until I become a full-time farmer. I do my best to answer the question, but in the end it seems like a non-answer. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject. If you were starting from zero how long do you think it would take you to get to full-time?

Links Mentioned in This Episode ...

• Pigs Raised by Paul Willis for Niman Ranch (one of the Niman Ranch founders)
• TBF Episode 37 :: Alternative Feed For Pigs
• TBF Episode 23 :: Beginning Farmer Equipment List
• Joel Salatin on making $60,000 on 20 rented acres for pigs
• Watch the documentary "American Meat" for free this week only!

If you have an input on the topic be sure to leave a comment below or send us an e-mail.

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn. If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five start rating and review (by clicking the link or the image on the right). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show!

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with The Beginning Farmer and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ... 

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

TBF Show 039 :: Play in a New Window | Right Click to Download

**Special Note :: A few users are experiencing issues downloading the show on iTunes. If you have any experience with podcasts and how they can play nicely with iTunes I would love some suggestions.**

(if you are interested in the music in this episode check out my brother's record label, Historic Records) 

TBF 038 :: Farm Marketing Diversification, The Traveling Farmer, and a Hard Lesson Learned

Diversification is one of this "big words" when it comes to the small-scale farming community. On our farm we raise pigs, chickens, cattle, sheep, and rabbits on the pastures and in the woodlots. Part of the reason we raise such a diverse amount of livestock is because it is just plain fun, but it also because there are benefits for our farm and land by being diversified. The animals work together and compliment each other in a way that build organic matter in the soil, helps with parasite control in the livestock, helps increase the fertility of our pastures and woodlots, and they even help us manage our woodlots and control erosion! That is not the only type of diversification on our farm ... lately I have been thinking a lot about diversifying our marketing in order to help the farm grow and protect our farm from little hiccups that may occur along the way.

Right now the Downtown Des Moines Farmers' Market and our whole/half hog sale are absolutely the top of our marketing outlets, but as we slowly grow our farm we are finding and researching different places and ways to sell our pork, poultry, and lamb. Of course we have a new Meat CSA that will begin in January, but there are also a couple of other ideas that may become part of our marketing toolbox.

Links Mentioned in This Episode ...

• Niman Ranch
• Raising Pigs for Niman Ranch (Protocols)
• A Video About Paul Willis (one of the Niman Ranch founders)

If you have an input on the topic be sure to leave a comment below or send us an e-mail.

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn. If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five start rating and review (by clicking the link or the image on the right). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show!

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with The Beginning Farmer and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ... 

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

TBF Show 038 :: Play in a New Window | Right Click to Download

**Special Note :: A few users are experiencing issues downloading the show on iTunes. If you have any experience with podcasts and how they can play nicely with iTunes I would love some suggestions.**

(if you are interested in the music in this episode check out my brother's record label, Historic Records) 

TBF 037 :: Alternative Feed For Pigs, Hoop House News, and a Hard Lesson Learned

Food, water, shelter ... those are all pretty important things when it comes to raising animals (or people for that matter), and they are also things that I talk about a lot on the podcast. But, it seems like the most expensive and difficult to figure out sometimes is feed ... especially when it comes to pigs on my farm! There is always a struggle to get the feeders set so that the pigs have to work just hard enough to get feed, but not too hard. There is the question of how much feed value they are getting from the pastures and woodlot. And, of course there is always the question of organic ... non-GMO ... or conventional feeds. With all that in mind I'm also always looking for ways to get the feed costs down and keep the efficiencies of raising our pigs up ... it is a fine line.

That is why the e-mail I received from Claudia about organic and alternative feeds for pigs caused me to think about so many different things. Questions like these have been running through my head all week ...

• How can I switch over to organic feed and keep my costs down? 
• What plants should I be planting in my pig paddocks?
• Is non-GMO most important for me now ... or organic ... or a certain price point and doing the best that I can with the feed?
• Should organic feeds cost as much as they do?
• Why am I so confused!?!

Claudia posed a great question, and while I do have a lot of thoughts on the subject I'm not sure if I have a lot of answers. Because of that I'm including some great links below to articles and research reports about a wide variety of hog feed alternatives. In fact I saw one even mentioned potato chips ... I would strongly disagree with that option though!

Alternative Pig Feed Links ...

• Feeding Trial: Succotash Swine from Practical Farmers of Iowa
• Alfalfa as a Feed Supplement for Finishing Hogs from Practical Farmers of Iowa
• Barley Versus Corn Based Hog Rations from Practical Farmers of Iowa
• Barley-Based Hog Ration vs. a Corn Based Ration from Practical Farmers of Iowa
• The Natural Farmer "Hog Production Alternatives"
• Alternative Feed Ingredients for Swine Rations
• Designing Feeding Programs for Natural and Organic Pork Production
• Small Scale Pastured Hog Production from GrassWorks

If you have an input on the topic be sure to leave a comment below or send us an e-mail.

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn. If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five start rating and review (by clicking the link or the image on the right). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show!

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with The Beginning Farmer and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ... 

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

TBF Show 037 :: Play in a New Window | Right Click to Download

**Special Note :: A few users are experiencing issues downloading the show on iTunes. If you have any experience with podcasts and how they can play nicely with iTunes I would love some suggestions.**

(if you are interested in the music in this episode check out my brother's record label, Historic Records) 

TBF 036 :: Listener Questions, Farm Updates, and a Hard Lesson Learned

Projects have slowed down a little bit lately on the farm because of a some rain lately, but that doesn't mean that we haven't be getting a lot accomplished! This past weekend we held our first ever on farm class and it was a day that we enjoyed very much. I am very passionate about the farm and about the values we have that impact how we run the farm so it is always great to share some of that passion. Hopefully those that were able to come and enjoy the day were able to get a "peak behind the curtain" of life on Crooked Gap Farm. We tried hard to give a realistic picture of the decisions that we have to make and the ups and downs of starting a farm business from scratch. I will say though that we were very much blessed by those that came and learned a lot from everyones experiences that will help our farm going forward. Stay tuned because I think there will be more farm classes in the future!

On today's episode I wanted to take some time to answer some listener questions that have been coming in lately. Here are the topics that I will be talking about ...

• Breeding and raising Katahdin sheep
• Selecting beef breeds for a grassfed farm
• And, a question about our house

Links and Books mentioned in this episode (some of the links are affiliate links) ...

• Salad Bar Beef by Joel Salatin
• Grass-Fed Cattle: How to Produce and Market Natural Beef by Julius Ruechel
• Comeback Farms by Greg Judy
• No Risk Ranching by Greg Judy
• Acres USA Magazine
• Graze Magazine
• Crooked Gap Farm Hoop House Project

If you have an input on the topic be sure to leave a comment below or send us an e-mail.

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn. If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five start rating and review (by clicking the link or the image on the right). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show!

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with The Beginning Farmer and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ... 

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

TBF Show 036 :: Play in a New Window | Right Click to Download

**Special Note :: A few users are experiencing issues downloading the show on iTunes. If you have any experience with podcasts and how they can play nicely with iTunes I would love some suggestions.**

(if you are interested in the music in this episode check out my brother's record label, Historic Records)