Best animal to get into as business?

[exotica]

chicken would be a dream but i always saw them as a hobby are yours meat chickens?


was more thinking heratige turkey



I have chickens right now actually and a pair of geese they are very easy to care for but i didnt think it was posssible to make a living from them.

 

[boykin2010]

No, not meat chickens! These breeds are very very rare and are just for breeding stock. Some of the chickens I have, I am one of only 2 people in the entire US with them. Others are more popular but you still wouldn't want to eat a chicken that is worth that much.

Bred heritage turkeys for a while... Just got out of that business. They were fun for a while but they only lay eggs a small portion of the year unlike chickens. Plus they eat more

 

[exotica]

thanks i sent u a pvt message

 

[SheepGirl]

I will make $30/ewe this year selling commercial lambs & wool. That's with non-registered, crossbred stock. By 2015 I will be making $120/ewe by selling commercial lambs & wool. Click here to read my business plan & budgets.

Remember the economies of scale. If you can buy feed in bulk, do it. If you can buy hay in bulk, do it. If you can buy supplies you need in bulk, do it. Having more animals means you can make more money. If you pasture your animals, your feed is essentially free (with the exception of the mortgage & property taxes), so you can afford to have lower producing animals (which also means they need less feed inputs because their nutritional needs won't be high). IF you choose to dry lot your stock, you WILL need extremely high producing animals because you can't afford anything less, due to their feed inputs. High production stock will generally give you more babies, more lbs of product, and be more feed efficient (more product with less feed). Buy the best stock you can afford from reputable breeders with production data, regardless of what species you choose.

 

[exotica]

ty sheepgirl what does dry lotting stock mean?


Also is this what you do as a career? by yourself?

 

[SheepGirl]

Dry lot means a dirt pen (or it can even be concrete, gravel, etc), but YOU provide the feed to the animal. All of it--hay, grain, minerals. There is no grazing or foraging whatsoever.

You need to check your local laws to see if you need an AFO permit to dry lot stock.

Not really a 'career' but I raise my sheep as a business. My goal as a business is to make a profit. It's just me and my sheep living with my parents lol. (I'm 18.) But yes, I take care of them myself. My parents & brothers know NOTHING about sheep. Other than that they are cute and fluffy lol.

 

[exotica]

how do you bring your sheep indoors? and protect them form predators?

 

[SheepGirl]

My sheep just have an 8x8 shelter that is 4' tall. They barely use it. They use the shade it makes, though. But now that it's winter they are mainly found laying out in the sun.

And I do nothing for predator protection except we have a 4' high woven wire fence. No electric. We don't have bears, cougars, coyotes, etc as predators. The only potential predator we would have is our neighbor's pitbull. But they've been keeping a good eye on her since my sheep moved from my neighbor's farm to mine. Which I appreciate. She's also fat & old so even if she tried to come after my sheep I don't think she could because of the fence.

 

[goodolboy]

When it comes to sheep, you'll make your profit off the second lamb. The first lamb will only pay for the maintance of the ewe. If the ewe isn't producing twins, your not making money. I love raising sheep, but if they're not making you money, they're just pets. So a good culling program is also important to making money.

I read back in the post to buy the best you can afford. I agree completely. I didn't start that way, and I payed the price. Now we only have registered stock, and sell breeding stock. Much more profitable.

 

[20kidsonhill]

is start up usually about 100k? can one person u think do it themsleves? a dainty woman even? lol I was hoping for hardy strong animals. Highland and longhorns really appeal to me as well as some sheep.


I see what u guys mean registered stock kinda gives us the proof we have legit animals and will make it much more easy to sell as long as our animals are healthy of course.

THing about having registered stock is you are setting up your farm for a more diverse client base. You can sell the best of your stock, especially females, as replacement animals. The best males can be sold as breeding stock. THese will bring more money. The adults cost the same to feed all year, wether you are raising their offspring for meat or as quality registered animals. Most the males would be castrated and sold for meat and then females that have breed faults can also be sold for meat. by having better qualilty stock you will get a better price for them even when sold for meat.


I vote for sheep and a few cattle. In our area suffolk and hampshire purebred and crosses are pretty big business. They are meat sheep, but also are big at the fairs as show animals for 4H/FFA kids. Being a big sheep and more of a show sheep, they do require more feed.