Does breeding animals make money
Living on a working homestead is rewarding in itself. However, producing an income from that hard work is a whole other level of awesome! The thing is, the goods that you are producing to keep your family fed and healthy are the same things everyone else is buying to feed their family.
The majority of the people I know would rather buy goods from a local source, rather than from a big boxed store. Lets face it, commercially grown chicken is about as nasty and cruel as it gets. Because of that, locally raised, grown eggs and meat birds are a high dollar item.
Raising chickens for eggs is incredibly rewarding. Raising meat birds is a short and sweet, yet fowl smelling, en-devour. While I personally prefer to raise heritage breed chickens for meat, such as the Buckeye, the sale price per pound is the same but the cost to raise them is greater. Sell Milk and 4. Milking twice a day in the heat and cold is hard work. But your efforts will be rewarded with more then enough milk for your own family and those looking for delicious raw milk.
There are legalities in selling raw milk and strict government regulations a herdsman must follow. Any farm with over three cows in lactation at a time will be classified as a commercial dairy. While I personally am not ready to jump into the commercial world, my three ladies keep our fridge with more then enough milk and plenty for me to sell and pay for my cows. Once a month the State of Idaho comes out and test my milk for sale.
Likewise, if I have any butter, yogurt or cheese for sale, they will test that as well and send a sample to the state department of agriculture for analysis. If going through the hassles of state and licenses is not your thing, developing a Herd Share is right up your alley, you can keep 7 cows in lactation varies by state and the customer must pick up the milk at your farm. Grass-fed beef is expensive. But oh so worth it.
Raising steers for meat is an excellent way to make use of those spring time bull calves. Grass-fed beef takes a bit longer, as does raising dairy steers for the freezer. Keep this in mind when your calculating dates. Keeping a bull to bred your cows is an easy way to acquire calves. If you have several cows that need to be bred, having a bull around will insure that their heat cycle is not missed.
And if your like me, the use of artificial hormones is out of the question. Cows can have silent heat, which is just that, silent, making it difficult for the herdsman to verify if its time to be bred.
Once your homestead cows are bred for the season, rent out the bull to other local farms that are looking for a good, proven bull. Not bad considering someone else is feeding and housing your bull for you. I typically keep my bull until around two years of age.
How To Keep Livestock And Make Money - Hobby Farms
Meat rabbits are at high demand right now but like most most backyard specialties, the demand is higher then the suppliers.
Keeping a large supply of does is a necessity for continual production. Thankfully, rarely do you need more then one buck, who needs to stay housed separately. Rabbits can have kits per litter and because rabbits are induced ovulators, a rabbit can be re-bred within minutes after giving birth. The Californian Breed is a great dual purpose meat and fur rabbit and make excellent mothers. Rabbit pelts are also a good sell. While some people are looking for pelts to learn how to tan, others are looking for them for crafts and fine goods, such as hats and coats.
Got extra rabbit poop? Rabbit poop is one of the best manures for the organic garden. Backyard gardeners love this nitrogen and phosphorous rich fertilizer and are willing to pay good money for it. You can sell manure in its whole form, as is, or make a highly potent manure tea.
One doe and her kits can produce up to 1 ton of manure per year. Small farms are excellent for raising sheep. Ewes typically throw one to three lambs per year, helping to increase your profits. Sheeps biggest expense is their food.
Finding a reliable local farmer or feed dealer is the key to maintaining profits and raising sheep. Beautiful fuzzy delicious lamb. Raising lambs for meat is also niche market, why? Lambs are fun to raise and carry a excellent feed to meat ratio. Lambs are butchered at months.
Depending on the breed, calculate and plan on selling your lambs for market in the spring. Quality lambs are in high demand and often lamb prices are at a high during this time.
This little piggy went to the market… Pigs are fun, intelligent animals that thrive on table scrapes and garden waste. While these animals can be housed in a a small pen, the will thrive in pasture with lush grass and brush to root around in.
While everyone knows that pigs are excellent at rooting around, very few calculate the price of this free garden service.
If you put pigs in the garden after harvest, the pigs will no-doubt clean up the fallen fruits and vegetables, mean while, helping you fertilize and cultivate, for free. People with dairy allergies and digestives issues will go far and wide for some good tasting fresh goat milk. Goat milks distinct taste has earned its prized roll in delicacy shops and bistros and for a pretty penny.
Homemade goats milk soap is a hard to find commodity. Much like the milk itself, goat milk soap is praised for its anti-allergen and organic effects. Making soap takes education and patience but well worth with. I can honestly say that I have never ate goat meat.
Some people love it. Some people, not so much.
Everybody knows goats love to eat things, especially weeds. Please note, price depend on land, distance and terrain.
Keeping bees is a simple way to earn extra homestead income. Raw honey is praised for its anti-allergen properties.
People with strong seasonal allergies can consume 1 tablespoon of raw honey per day for relief. Others who want a natural alternative to sugar, use honey in their everyday cooking. The world needs more honey bees. Trading pollination of crop, for honey. While most backyard farmers keep beehives for their own garden and orchard pollination, renting is always an option.
I love honey comb. I love it specifically at my favorite restaurant paired with a delicate Gorgonzola or Cambozola cheese. However, more and more homesteaders are beginning to see the value in honey comb and have started to offer it at local farmers market. The IRS offers numerous amounts of tax breaks for farmers and ranchers.
Animal, like cattle, come with inherited cost, e. All these things are deductible. Set your prices comparable yet, strive for a higher market. Saying that it should be cheaper because I lack the commercial overhead.
Most "lucrative" breeding business? - Dendroboard
Actually, its anything but. Our animals are well loved and well treated and worth every penny. How to write a farm business plan. GOV Farm Tax Breaks. Raising Pigs for FREE — My Healthy Greeen Family. Scary Rabbit Math In order for me to continue my blogging fun, I often use Affiliate links.
By clicking and purchasing through my affiliate links, you are helping me to maintain this site. Thank you for your support. Canning , DIY Naturally , Homesteading Tagged With: So many cool ways to make a buck. Gonna definitely pin this post! Great article, raising rabbits can be intense and rewarding at the same time.
I have been experimenting with free range rabbits lately and its working out great. They seem so happy out digging and playing. They enjoy fresh greens all day long. Once in a while they will put their nest in the garage and I get to play with the babies which is fun too. I just stumbled across your website. I have been looking for homesteading information for some time now, because I knew there was a way to make money while homesteading selling the eggs etc.
Your website is going on my favorites bar so I can come look often.
Selective breeding - Wikipedia
I stumbled across this post this morning while doing some homesteading research and have spent the last couples hours reading different posts your website — love it! I You mention being from Idaho and the 3 lactating cows small herdsman dairy license. I am also from Idaho and am wondering where I find information on those sorts of laws?
We plan to take this process slow, like you mention in your 1st year homesteading post, but I am so worried about income taxes and things like the 3 lactating cow laws, I am having a difficult time moving forward with the small farm dream we have had for several years most of which was on this property. Any information you could send my way would be amazing. This is an awesome article and an awesome blog. Thanks so much for taking the time to help and supply us with information.
Well sited article indeed, farming is a wonderful way to keep you smilling any yet making profit with fun environment of livestock. Well sited article indeed, farming is a wonderful way to keep you smilling and yet making profit with fun environment of livestock. They tend to marble out and gain weight better than their American breed counterparts.
We did an impromptu study last summer in which we grilled some steaks from our grass fed steer and some from a traditional feedlot steer, and most of our neighbors preferred the grass fed beef! If you really want to get fancy, there are some ranchers out here in Northwest Texas that are even adding Wagyu bulls to their herd to up the flavor of their grass fed steers.
Two, from a veterinary standpoint, please make sure people know the health risks from standing and using a leased bull. Bulls should be tested and quarantined between farms to prevent the spread of venereal and respiratory disease. Thank you for assembling this info. I am trying to learn what, if any of these options, might be right for us. You offer a number of new options I had not considered. It is a delight to read to-the-point, factual material in one spot.
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Sell Eggs Lets face it, commercially grown chicken is about as nasty and cruel as it gets. Meat Birds Raising meat birds is a short and sweet, yet fowl smelling, en-devour. Beef Grass-fed beef is expensive. Bull service Keeping a bull to bred your cows is an easy way to acquire calves.
Pelts Rabbit pelts are also a good sell. Manure Got extra rabbit poop? Rototill While everyone knows that pigs are excellent at rooting around, very few calculate the price of this free garden service.
Soap Homemade goats milk soap is a hard to find commodity. Honey Keeping bees is a simple way to earn extra homestead income. Honey Comb I love honey comb. Yes, bees are considered livestock. Tax Breaks The IRS offers numerous amounts of tax breaks for farmers and ranchers.
For more homesteading, check out these posts. Canning Homemade Tomato Soup. Setting emotional boundaries on the Homestead. Love the article, but a couple of technical comments. Great article with some great ideas! Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. My Go-To Homesteading Books. Essential Oils On The Farm. About Katie I'm Katie. Follow me on Twitter My Tweets. Meta Log in Entries RSS Comments RSS WordPress.