Hi from Boston

[Doug M]

Hi my name is doug, Im a chicken guy from Boston. I started raising chickens about 2 years ago and fell in love with raising animals. I want to run my own farm one day and so I thought I could use BYC and BHY to help me learn about the profession. Currently I do not have the capital to pursue my farm but until then I will just research and save. If theres anyone on here willing to talk to me about tips for a starter I would love to hear from you! My goals are to have my own farm preferably not in new england because I can't stand the winter anymore. I want to raise cows and chickens. I would be interested in growing crops but that's a different topic.

 

[B&B Happy goats]

Hello Doug from Florida, ....welcome to BYH ...As a former New Englander myself...can't say I blame you for wanting out of ice, snow, cold grey skys....this site is full of information, cool people who are willing to answer questions and very friendly. ..so

 

[Latestarter]

Greetings and welcome to BYH Doug, from NE TX! So glad you joined us. When you say run your own farm, are you meaning as a way of life? to make a living off of? Starting out as a hobby farmer can help you learn the ropes while being a little easier on the wallet. I think the biggest expense you're going to have to handle is the purchase of the land to do the farming on... But most folks on here are enablers, so we'll cheer you on regardless There's a wealth of info, knowledge and experience shared in the multitude of threads (on both sites). Browse around and see what interesting stuff you can find. You'll get to "meet" folks at the same time. By all means post away when the desire strikes you, especially if you have questions (provide as much detail/info as possible and pictures truly help)... With all the great folks here, generally someone will respond in no time at all. Oh, and we all love pics, so post them anytime you feel the need! Please make yourself at home!

PLEASE put at least your general location in your profile. It could be very important if/when you ask for or offer help or advice. You know, climate issues and such. I recommend at least your state as most folks won't be able to figure out where if you put anything more specific (county, town, street, etc) by itself. Old folks like me will never remember from this post & look there first. To add it, mouse hover over Account top right and a drop down will appear. Click on Personal Details and scan down. You'll see the spot for Location. Then go to the bottom and save changes. Thanks! Hope you enjoy the site!

 

[Baymule]

Howdy to you, Doug M glad you joined the site. I was a member here for 5 years before we moved and I got my sheep. This is a great place to study, read old posts, there is LOTS of information in them. I chose sheep, specifically hair sheep, after doing my due diligence. I am not dedicated enough to milk every day, so didn't want dairy goats or cows. LOL I wanted small livestock I could easily handle, so chose sheep. We also raise feeder pigs yearly, usually selling most of them and keeping one or a half for ourselves. We have chickens and horses, 2 Great Pyrenees and 1 black Labrador/Great Dane cross 6 month old puppy. We live on 8 acres and are having a blast.

We have a 100'x70' garden and I am a member on theeasygarden.com sister site to BYH. I am Baymule on all the sites, BYH, BYC(not active anymore) SS and TEG.

What is your current living situation? Apartment, house, do you have a yard? We will gladly help you out all we can. Come on over to the dark side! BWA-HA-HA-HA!!!!

 

[RollingAcres]

Hi Doug M, welcome to BYH! This is a great place to learn about raising animals. I hear you on the cold winters here in the Northeast.

 

[Doug M]

Greetings and welcome to BYH Doug, from NE TX! So glad you joined us. When you say run your own farm, are you meaning as a way of life? to make a living off of? Starting out as a hobby farmer can help you learn the ropes while being a little easier on the wallet. I think the biggest expense you're going to have to handle is the purchase of the land to do the farming on... But most folks on here are enablers, so we'll cheer you on regardless There's a wealth of info, knowledge and experience shared in the multitude of threads (on both sites). Browse around and see what interesting stuff you can find. You'll get to "meet" folks at the same time. By all means post away when the desire strikes you, especially if you have questions (provide as much detail/info as possible and pictures truly help)... With all the great folks here, generally someone will respond in no time at all. Oh, and we all love pics, so post them anytime you feel the need! Please make yourself at home!

PLEASE put at least your general location in your profile. It could be very important if/when you ask for or offer help or advice. You know, climate issues and such. I recommend at least your state as most folks won't be able to figure out where if you put anything more specific (county, town, street, etc) by itself. Old folks like me will never remember from this post & look there first. To add it, mouse hover over Account top right and a drop down will appear. Click on Personal Details and scan down. You'll see the spot for Location. Then go to the bottom and save changes. Thanks! Hope you enjoy the site!

My goal is to make it my job but first I have to build up my savings so I can buy land. Currently where I am now I can't do it as a hobby so my plan is to move somewhere else and start the farm there.

 

[Doug M]

Howdy to you, Doug M glad you joined the site. I was a member here for 5 years before we moved and I got my sheep. This is a great place to study, read old posts, there is LOTS of information in them. I chose sheep, specifically hair sheep, after doing my due diligence. I am not dedicated enough to milk every day, so didn't want dairy goats or cows. LOL I wanted small livestock I could easily handle, so chose sheep. We also raise feeder pigs yearly, usually selling most of them and keeping one or a half for ourselves. We have chickens and horses, 2 Great Pyrenees and 1 black Labrador/Great Dane cross 6 month old puppy. We live on 8 acres and are having a blast.

We have a 100'x70' garden and I am a member on theeasygarden.com sister site to BYH. I am Baymule on all the sites, BYH, BYC(not active anymore) SS and TEG.

What is your current living situation? Apartment, house, do you have a yard? We will gladly help you out all we can. Come on over to the dark side! BWA-HA-HA-HA!!!!

Im at my parents place currently so I can't buy anything beyond the 8 chickens I have now. I really wish I could visit someones farm from here and see how they do things.

 

[Baymule]

You will need to identify your market and what product or products you can raise, pricing, profit and who buys it. You may find the perfect farm, but there may not be a readily available market. What do you want to raise? Where are you looking for land?

There is so much to consider in the field of agriculture. Do you have another career/job? You will have to raise capital and will probably need to keep working in order to meet expenses until your farm income can cover the expenses.

 

[Goat Whisperer]

Hi Doug, welcome to BYH!

We raise dairy goats, this is our main focus right now (we use the milking for drinking, cheese, & soap) We show our goats also.

We also raised kilo meat goats. They are currently on a long term lease due to time constraints.

In the past, before we were really “in” dairy goats, we raised poultry. We bred 17 different verities of chickens along with turkeys and geese. We had extremely rare chickens, along with the common breeds. We would also raise our own chickens every year for meat. To to the limitations of our land and time we scaled back. Sold most of the poultry (we had hundreds). We still have our cabinet incubator, in the future we would like to start doing more with the poultry.


When you get your farm, go SLOW. This is something I tell many people, though many do not take it to heart. So many get excited, caught up in the idea of “farming” and go too fast. Start with one type of animal at a time. Learn about those animals. Learn the care. Lean the management. I’ve seen many get goats, sheep, pigs, cows, all in a very short period. They may have read, but reading does not compare to actually doing the real thing. These people then get overwhelmed, don’t have proper facilities and learn the hard way of “farming” and get burnt out. Know your limitations!