Marketability of Chickens/Pigs

[Andy Carson]

Here are a few somewhat disorganized thoughts that I wanted to share. I had origionally envisioned my farm with having a major thrust in selling snack foods (made from field crops I harvested) with a minor component being the sale of chickens and hogs that essentially ate the “leftovers” that didn’t sell. So far, I have had somewhat lukewarm interest in the snack foods, but I think I’ve already sold every I chicken I want to grow this year. This is despite the two facts that I don’t even have any chickens more than month old AND that I haven’t even been trying to sell them. People I know just come up to me and ask if I have chickens for sale and say they want some AND that they are willing to buy whenever they are ready!!! I am not planning on keeping pigs this year, but next year I will have some for sure. I wonder if they will be as popular? Perhaps the main trust of my buisness will be the sale of chickens and hogs, with a minor component being the snack foods. It’s a good thing that the crops I planned make good stock food and I can kinda play this by ear… I am curious if others have experienced this difference in enthusiasm for meat compared to other crops and what they have to say about it. Doing the math, it seems that one makes more money off the livestock (if sold directly to consumers) and it’s a fewer number of sales that would be necessary to more move a substantial amount of crop. It all depends on how much you can actually sell direct… Any thoughts and experiences out there?

[grey]

That’s great about the chickens! You must have customers that appreciate the value of real food. Many small chicken outfits (small outfit, not small chickens) throw in the towel when they try to market their product to people who usually buy their chicken for $5, hot and ready-to-eat at the grocery store deli. That sort of consumer sees any *raw* chicken as a value-removed product and want it priced accordingly.

[Lane Linnenkohl]

The response doesn’t surprise me. With all the attention on local, sustainable etc, the public are looking for sources. It’s easy to get into veggies, but meat producers are slow to catch on. So yeah, the interested public is looking for meat right now.

[sickle hocks]

I would be interested to hear how you are planning to value-add to your field crops and create your snack foods…i am imagining something seasoned and ready to eat??

There seems to be a real groundswell of horror and distaste towards industrial livestock production amongst many consumers. I wouldn’t try to compete with walmart mcmeat prices, those aren’t our customers anyway…a natural, humane product priced fairly will attract people who care about their food..

The downside with high maintenance livestock that I’m grappling with is that it gets so hard to get away from the farm for even a couple of days….ultimately i’m not sure i can make that lifestyle change…

[Does’ Leap]

Andy:

We raise a dozen hogs or so yearly. I sell about a quarter of them as “shares” where the customer buys a 30 lb box (roughly a quarter pig). The balance I sell in cuts at the farmer’s market. It has been profitable for us and pigs are easy. Keep in mind that pigs and chickens eat a lot of grain (yes, even if they are pastured). Conservatively, figure 1000 lbs grain / pig (180-200 lb hanging weight) and work your prices from there.

Last year I got licensed to make sausage here on the farm. I started selling frozen and grilled sausages at the Farmer’s Market and that has worked out well. Folks love the sausage and it is very profitable (albeit labor intensive) b/c a quarter of the sausage is fat – a throw away product (there is only so much lard a family can eat). I have also dabbled in chickens, but got tired of the processing. If you plan to process your chickens, I made a great chicken plucker (“whizbang plucker” – you can get plans on line). I am happy to share my numbers with you if you want to pm me.

George

[Andy Carson]

Sicklehocks,
I am planning on either roasting or frying several of my field crops, adding salt, and making packages to sell. Hard to know how well this is going to work until I try it. Sunflower seeds are pretty easy. Fried peas are also pretty easy, but although I like them alot it hard to know how well they will sell. Pumpkin seeds will require a little more work to clean the seed, but I think might sell well. I am going to try corn meal and corn nuts and see what there is interest in. I can’t resist growing corn for it’s all around versatility. Buckwheat honey from the bees isn’t really a snack food, but I feel pretty good about this selling anyway. This is my wife’s project, so I don’t count it in my labor, other than doing for lifting from time to time… I like the idea of adding value to the crops in some way of another as they sell for almost nothing unless you do something with them. It might end up being as much work to take care of the animals (who essentially process it for me) than to do it myself. I think I would rather do primarily snack foods anyway, but so much depends on what kind of yields I actually get.

George,
Thanks for the advice about the pigs. I actually grew up on a pig farm and probably have more experience with pigs than any other animal. Funny that I am coming back to them as (possibly) the last animal I will incorporate into my farm. I am definitely waiting until next year for them though, because, like you point out, hogs require some careful planning. I really need to know how much grain (esp corn) I will get and how much I have left over, as I am really not interested in buying grain to feed them. Right now, I think it would be best to keep a couple purebred sows of some heritage variety (I like Gloucester Old Spots), sell most of the piglets (hopefully easier b/c of the pedigree), eat the worst culls myself, and feed out a few (maybe 4?) each year to sell for meat. Kinda on the fence about keeping a boar, but I have a full year to make this decision… I’ll definitely be PMing you closer to the time I would be making pricing/strategy decisions with regard to the meat.

[dominiquer60]

Andy,
The snack idea sounds great. I know that if you lived here, both of our markets would most likely accept you in a heartbeat, especially since you grow your own ingredients. Most processed foods are put together locally using bought in ingredients from who knows where. The muesli, pancake mixes, candied nuts are all purchased ingredients and are thrown together in a fancy package. I hope that your products are a hit in your area.

Back in the late 90’s a few farmers started doing pasture poultry around here. Then an organization formed to educate people interested in these small poultry farms. The result was the saturation of chicken available at our better local markets, which resulted in the death of the organization. Many that do chicken around here also do vegetables. The very few meat only vendors that I know do a lot of meat (relatively speaking) and have one heck of a feed bill.

In my experience there is a little more to net from selling raw plants than animal protein, they just take a lot of feed and people are only willing to pay so much for high quality meat. And even if you grow your own feed like we do and you plan to, there is still little return. However we find that because we are the main egg vendor at our Saturday market, people like to grab what vegetables they need from us while they are waiting in line. In other words selling eggs is a huge help attracting people to buy veg as well. Your two could work out also, but banking on selling animal protein only gets tough. As always best of luck.
erika

[Andy Carson]

Erika,
thanks for the thoughts. Don’t misunderstand, I am not planning on giving up on the snacks concept. I just sometimes do calculations and get worried. God knows how much corn I’ll get off my acre, but even with a pretty modest 70 bushel per acre yield I will still end up with a couple tons. If I sell a 1 pound package of corn meal or corn nuts per minute, I will need to make 4000 sales and wait 67 hours to move this quantity. It’s the same story with the other crops (although the pattern is definately muted). Alternatively, I could make 4 sales if I feed out some hogs… I’ll know alot more after this year, I have plenty on my plate already. I like the chickens alot because they are so flexible in what they eat, are incredibly easy to take care of, and you can sell eggs of meat.

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