tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35188043.post8520043450346749470..comments2023-11-07T06:51:41.301-06:00Comments on The Beginning Farmer: In Case You Didn't See...Ethan Bookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01333115493519268802noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35188043.post-37854964870204757792008-05-07T08:14:00.000-05:002008-05-07T08:14:00.000-05:00Value adding is always a good thing. The one hurd...Value adding is always a good thing. The one hurdle is that in ordered to selling a ready-to-eat product would require a certified kitchen (or access to one). On the flip side if you can process a certain amount of chickens on farm with out as much expense. <BR/><BR/>Of course you wouldn't have to raise as many chickens and you could grow/raise the other ingredients to have some more value added benefit. And, maybe it would pay back fairly quickly?Ethan Bookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01333115493519268802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35188043.post-71476145619449652322008-05-05T14:16:00.000-05:002008-05-05T14:16:00.000-05:00Ethan,(Back from vacation!) It's interesting that ...Ethan,<BR/><BR/>(Back from vacation!) It's interesting that you would post this right now. For my 40th birthday present, my wife took me to a local pastured poultry/salad bar beef operation to see it first hand. The couple running it were very successful, and were wonderfully enthusiastic about the possibilities. They were also raising thousands of birds, taking to a processing facility and marketing them directly. I'm halfway through Joel's "Pasturized Poultry Profits", and read across the chapter where he discusses processing them on-farm, and it gave me much to consider. When I started imagining slaughtering hundreds to chickens a month, the thing that struck me wasn't the act of killing the chickens...we owe it to our food to be involved in that part...but the numbers. A small, homestead that raises 20 or so broilers for themselves and a few to sell is one thing, but when you get into the processing of hundreds (or thousands?), it starts to feel like you're trying to imitate a factory. As in all cases, the idea behind raising chickens for food isn't a bad one..it's the scale that makes things turn evil. It got me thinking about raising fewer chickens and cooking them into some kind of ready-to-eat, value-added product instead of just selling them to people. I'm also interested in raising more heritage breeds to chickens, which goes against the "production by the numbers" game.<BR/>So, if you're going to be small, definitely process the broilers on the farm. You'll be more connected to your food, and really produce a quality product. If you're into producing thousands, you'll have to accept that one of these days, you could be reading about your farm in the news, as mass processing has problems.<BR/><BR/>-DaveAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01531837264842306078noreply@blogger.com