It's Time to Think Outside the Box

Yesterday I mentioned in my post, almost in passing, the importance of "thinking outside of the box". Well, it is fitting that I did because this afternoon I was checking out the New Farm front page again and I stumbled across this ARTICLE titled, "On the Plains, there’s room outside the box" by Pete Letheby. It is a short little OP/ED article that gives a short summary of what the Switzer family from Nebraska has done.

When Adam Switzer returned to the family ranch they thought that the conventional cattle ranching of the area wouldn't pay the bills like in the past. Long story short, they looked at their land and tried to think of ways that they could use it to work for them. While they still run a cattle operation on their ranch they have built added an extra source of income ... a source that has become their largest. What started out as a couple of cabins has turned into 70 lodging units that is often full. They realized that they had more than just acres of range for cattle, they also had things that others would come and enjoy. They had prairie chickens (people like to watch them), they had spring-fed streams for canoing, they had wide open spaces for horse riding, and they had hunting opportunities. They thought out of the box ... beyond what their neighbors were doing.

So, what other "outside of the box" opportunities are there out there for farmers to boost their income. Agri-tourism is something that has been thrown out there a lot, but there can only be so many B&B's on the farm ... hunting places are starting to pop up around our area, but they don't always mesh with a livestock operation if you have limited amounts of land ... grassfed beef/pork/poultry is something that is growing and I see that as a great thing ... I think that capitalizing on new ideas is going to be the key of successful small-scale farmers in the time to come. Yes, grassfed and naturally raised is here to stay, and allowing people to come to the farm and experience where their food comes from is great ... but, what else can we do?

That is one thing that I'm thinking about a lot these days. In any future farming venture we do I would like our pastured animals to be the centerpiece, but we are beginning to think of other ideas. Maybe we could add Christmas trees, not open to the public, but as a bonus opportunity for our customers. Possibly an Amish market ... more than just a farmers market, but a place where multiple Amish gather together to sell their goods. How about becoming a respected breeder of purebred cattle (that is one direction I would like to go)?

There are a lot of "outside the box" ideas out there that are being done and that haven't even been tried yet. It is time to be creative and build on those ideas! Do you have any ideas...?

More Thoughts on Pigs

This morning before I started work, I decided to do a little more research on hogs. I already knew that the tamworth is a good option for a pasture based operation, but I wondered what else was out there. I read about a couple of interesting breeds. The first one is the Ossabaw Island Pig (pictured). I came across this one because I decided to check out what pigs they raise at the Living History Farms, which is a living museum here in Iowa dedicated to farming and Iowa's history. The Ossabaws are related to some of the earliest pigs brought to America by the Spanish and probably came about as pigs escaped farms and became feral. The really interesting thing is that these pigs remained mostly isolated so they have many of the early traits that lend them to pasture living. You can read more about them by clicking on the link above.

The other breed I read about this morning is the Large Black. Like the name implies, these pigs are black. But while they are large, they really aren't big pigs like some of the modern breeds. They are known for their hardiness and good foraging abilities along with their tasty hams. (That is a good trait!) I came across this breed while searching for information on pastured pigs.

If you would like to watch a four minute video about Caw Caw Creek Farm, a well known pastured pig farm, just click on this LINK which will take you to an article and video from America's Heartland. It is an interesting video because this is a guy that does pretty well raising pastured pork and selling to individuals and restaurants. I'm not sure if I would use his feed mix though unless I thought it would make me the big bucks!

Tamworth Hogs

Even though Dexter Cattle are on the front of my mind I have also been thinking about hogs quite a bit lately because they have a much quicker turnaround than cattle. Oh ... and I really like pork! While we won't be adding hogs to the farm until we actually make it to a farm I would like to do some research so I had an idea of what I would like. Because of my love of history I like the idea of using heritage breeds, but the reality of it is that heritage breeds are actually usually more hardy than our modern breeds. And, hardiness is a great trait when you want your animals to forage and live on the pasture. I will do that with my cattle and I would do that with my hogs.

So, today I was doing a little research on Tamworths. Tamworths are medium sized hogs that originated in Ireland (same as Dexters oddly enough). They provide lean meat which is a plus for health conscience people like me (gotta love high cholesterol) and are know for their good nature and excellent mothering abilities. Another thing that I found in my research is that the don't root up the ground as much as other breeds which makes them great pasture animals. I also came across some great information about their ease of farrowing on the pasture.

My family has raised their fair share of hogs, but it was always in a conventional set up and it was never very fun. I am really interested to learn about raising hogs on pasture ... who knows it might actually make it enjoyable!

Here are few links on Tamworths that in checked out today.

#1: Kingbird Farm is located in New York state and the have a bunch of different organic operations going on. The neat picture of the Tamworths going out to pasture is from their farm.

#2: Foot Steps Farm is located in Connecticut and they raise and sell grass fed pork, chickens, and turkey. They have some great information on some "Heritage Breeds".

#3: This Site is an overview of the Tamworth breed from Oklahoma State University. Just some good basic information.

Iowa Family Farm Featured in Stockman Grass Farmer

I'm going to be signing up for a subscription to The Stockman Grass Farmer magazine soon, so I was searching some the articles featured on their website and I came across this article titled, "Iowa farm family converting from crops to pasture based enterprises" by editor Allan Nation. It is a pretty good read about a family farm that converted from conventional Iowa farming to pastured sows, grass finished beef, and lambs.

The interesting thing is that it was a plan of conversion that they were slowly working on until their area suffered from a drought and another grass finisher was looking to unload some steers because of his suffering pastures. It didn't take them long to realize they could put those steers out on the green corn that the family had (which was certified organic). Long story short ... they are now doing something different than their neighbors and they are succeeding!

Click on the link above to read this great article and leave a comment if you would like.

Quality Pasture :: Chapter 7 Book Report

Yesterday I finished chapter seven, 'The Competitive Edge -- MIG', in Allan Nation's book "Quality Pasture". I found this chapter very interesting and informative and will probably have to reread it multiple times so I can digest all the great stuff! I'll just run down some of the highlights of this chapter.

Mr. Nation begins the chapter talking about some of the benefits of Management Intensive Grazing. Of course one of the biggest benefits is the higher stocking rate and pasture gain that you can get from having a MIG system in place. But, he also quoted Keith Milligan, of New Zealand, on his list of benefits. Mr. Milligan adds that MIG produces, "a better return on total investment, a lower labor input, a general conservation of the environment, and a much increased sense of peace of mind for the grazier." I think everyone will find these benefits appealing! Just so you know the experts believe MIG could raise your per acre production by 20% to 40% or higher if you can be flexible with your stocking rates according to the season.


He mentions some of the critical things for MIG: subdividing you pastures by geography, having access to clean water, using portable electric fencing, stockpiling forages for late fall/winter/early spring grazing, and spring pasture management to reduce damage to the pastures. He admits that this is a very rough and quick overview of MIG, but it is a great starting point to some of the more technical aspects. I think one of the things I learned in this chapter is that MIG is more than just moving your cows from chunk of grass to chunk of grass.

I'll leave you with this little chart from page 128 of Mr. Nation's book Quality Pasture. This list gives some different enterprises and average returns per acre. Very interesting stuff and made me think about my possible center piece operation.

Goats :: $50-200
Beef cow/calf :: $50-200
Pigs :: $150
Beef stocker :: $150+
Beef finishing :: $200+
Ewe lamb :: $400+
Dairy sheep :: $500+
Lamb finishing :: $1000+
Dairy beef :: $1000+
Pastured poultry--
eggs :: $30-50
meat :: $1000+
Seasonal grass dairy :: $900-2000

So, there is some food for thought! I do like the last three sentences of the chapter, "As Burt Smith said, 'The best way to learn to swim is to get in the water and start splashing around. Nobody ever learned to swim by just reading a book about it.' Are you reading to make some waves?"

Hmm... am I ready to make some waves? I think I am, but what will my next step be?

"There Is No Money In Farming"

Those were the words I heard from someone the other day. As far as I know this person has never farmed a day in his life and his family really hasn't been in farming either, other than living in agricultural areas. The interesting this is that they went on to say, "unless you have a lot of land and money to begin with." If someone said this to me about other areas of work I would probably believe them and just move on. But, I think there is money in farming. Not from a get rich standpoint, but from an enough to be comfortable with standpoint, and I think there is enough enjoyment for a person with my personality to make farming worthwhile.

So, is it true that, "there is no money in farming?" Well, yes and no. There may be no money in conventional Iowa farming, but what if you are unconventional ... what if you think differently ... what if ...

Edit: Bill reminded me, in the comments, of THIS POST from Homesteading Today about different money making opportunities on the farm. It is a great post full of ideas, facts/figures, and so much more. If this topic interests you then you need to read the posts. Thanks Bill!

Practical Farmers of Iowa

I've had a link to the Practical Farmers of Iowa website over on the links menu on the right for a while now, but I just wanted to point out this great organization. The tag line for their vision statement say, "Healthy Food, Diverse Farms, Vibrant Communities." (check out their entire vision statement by clicking on the quote) The 'Wild Country Ranching' field day I attended earlier this year was supported by the PFI as well as the Farm Crawl that I will be attending on October, 7th. They host field days with a wide range of topics all over the state of Iowa and are a source of so much good on-farm research and information.

The Practical Farmers of Iowa was birthed from the farm crisis that crippled the Midwest in the 1980's. According to their website in the eighties, "Evidence of the negative ecological consequences of current farming practices was mounting; the collapse of commodity prices called into question the economic sustainability of agriculture; and the demise of thousands of farms was draining the vitality of rural communities." The PFI is helping farmers in Iowa connect with each other to share ideas, success, and marketing ideas. I encourage everyone to check them out.

Practical Farmers of Iowa Website