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["Lynn Wigglesworth" <lynnw1366 AT hotmail.com>]

Bob; the first farm in the article may be small, but he thinks like 
agribiz....stuff the beefies full of expensive grain and sell at wholesale 
commodity proces.  My feed costs haven't gone up much in the 5 years I've 
been selling beef...grass costs me nothing to grow. Hay has gone up a bit, 
but I'm harvesting more of my own to make up for the price increase. I sell 
directly to the consumer, so I can charge whatever I want.

I was amused to read about the alpacas. When I was first looking into what 
animals to raise, cashmere goats were the big pyramid scheme. The only money 
to be made is selling the babies to other farmers.(think emus).  The market 
for any kind of fiber collapsed many years ago. You can still sell specialty 
fiber if you have it spun and dyed, but selling fleeces doesn't bring enough 
to cover the gas cost to take them to the wool pool.

Lynn Wigglesworth
Tioga Co. PA


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "bobf" <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>
To: <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Saturday, January 03, 2009 5:46 AM
Subject: [Homestead] Small farms Changing


> In this am Washington Post, an article 'not' about big ag, but about 
> regular small farms.  Soem stuff about USDA requirements like Lynn has 
> mentioned.  'has a couple of photo galleries at the link
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
> Old MacDonald Wouldn't Recognize This Farm
>
> Bitten by Livestock Market, Owners Test Other Moneymaking Ideas
>
>
> A Changing Farm
>
> Farmers across the country struggle to revamp their business as the 
> average cost of meat sinks below the climbing cost of raising an animal. 
> In St. Mary's County farmer Jim Moore decreases the number of cattle in 
> his heard and begins raising alpacas to sustain the crunch.
>
>
> By Jenna Johnson
>
> Washington Post Staff Writer
>
> Saturday, January 3, 2009; Page B01
>
> Jim Moore has slowly sold off the animals that once made up his St. Mary's 
> County farm. First went nearly all of his 30 hogs. Then, late last year, 
> he got rid of 17 of his 30 cows. In their place are more than two dozen 
> long-haired alpacas, reminders that difficult times have forced him and 
> other livestock producers to adapt.
>
> The alpacas eat less than traditional farm animals, and their 
> cashmere-like wool can be harvested without hauling them to a 
> slaughterhouse. Moore escorts them to dog-show-like conventions, where the 
> quality of their wool is judged.
>
> "Here I am, a big, burly farm boy, in the show ring with an alpaca," Moore 
> said. "I get razzed pretty good by my friends."
>
> The economy and other factors have forced many livestock producers to 
> virtually halt or dramatically refashion their operations. Nearly all of 
> the few dozen producers in Southern Maryland have cut the number of 
> animals they raise by at least half or gotten rid of their animals 
> altogether, agricultural officials said.
>
> Last year, feed prices shot up, mostly because of new demand for corn and 
> soybeans to produce ethanol. Record-high gas prices during the summer made 
> a trip to a slaughterhouse more expensive. Drought drove up the price of 
> hay and made it scarce until late summer.
>
> And after livestock producers invested more than usual in raising their 
> animals, they were met with lower-than-usual prices at market. Not wanting 
> to lose any more money, many turned their attention to other sources of 
> income: greenhouse-grown vegetables, grain, specialty animals such as 
> alpacas, agri-tourism or jobs off the farm.
>
> "It's economics 101," said Mike Russell, a St. Mary's soil conservation 
> engineer who works closely with farmers and livestock producers. "They 
> have no other choice. They weren't making any money. They are not out of 
> the business completely, but as the economy changes, they are cutting 
> back."
>
> It could be a while before the cost of raising animals evens out with the 
> income that can be made by selling them. Adding to the problem: The 
> recession has pushed many people to cut back on steak dinners, said Mike 
> Brannon, director of operations at Roseda Beef, based north of Baltimore. 
> Although Roseda did not cut back on production last year, the farm is 
> considering doing so in 2009.
>
>
> "Everyone wants bargains right now," Brannon said. "Anytime you see 
> something agricultural on sale, someone somewhere is losing money. And 
> it's usually the farmer."
>
> In recent years, demand for locally raised meat has grown, driven by meat 
> contamination scares, the trendiness of buying local and ethnic groups in 
> search of mutton and goat meat.
>
> "Plus, there's the taste," said Donna Sasscer, St. Mary's agriculture and 
> seafood development manager. "Once you've tasted local meat, you can taste 
> the difference."
>
> But the logistics and expenses involved in raising animals for slaughter 
> in Southern Maryland are daunting. Federal regulations require any meat 
> that is to be sold to be processed in a facility certified by the U.S. 
> Department of Agriculture. Maryland's few USDA-approved slaughterhouses 
> are in the northern part of the state, and some producers find it easier 
> to travel to Pennsylvania or Virginia.
>
>
>
> Producers who don't sell their meat to a wholesaler at the processing 
> plant must transport it back to their farm and store it until they can 
> sell it to a grocery store, restaurant or other buyer.
>
> Farmers sometimes attempt to sell an entire live animal directly to the 
> end consumer. The buyer is then responsible for having the animal 
> slaughtered and processed for personal use, losing the need for USDA 
> inspection and increasing the number of available slaughterhouses.
>
> But, not surprisingly, finding a buyer interested in purchasing an entire 
> cow -- or a group of friends willing to purchase one together -- is 
> difficult.
>
> "If a cow was just New York strips, we would have no problem," said 
> Brannon, whose company sells cuts to grocery stores, restaurants and 
> individuals. "Today's consumer wants to buy what they want to buy when 
> they want to buy it."
>
> For years, the Southern Maryland Agricultural Development Commission has 
> advocated for the creation of a USDA-certified processing plant in 
> Southern Maryland, perhaps even a mobile one that could travel from farm 
> to farm. But it has yet to find funding or adequate support for the 
> project.
>
> The commission had been slated to receive grant money from the Maryland 
> Cigarette Restitution Fund Program -- settlement money from tobacco 
> companies -- to help livestock producers with smaller aspects of their 
> operations, such as renting a refrigerator truck to haul meat. But that 
> money was cut late last year, and the grants were canceled, said Christine 
> L. Bergmark, the commission's director.
>
> Moore, the Bushwood resident now raising alpacas, said farmers have to 
> adapt to the market and select crops or animals that can make their farms 
> profitable.
>
> Moore also drives a dump truck and does excavation work, but he hopes that 
> someday he and his wife can cut back on their jobs off the farm and live 
> off money made selling alpaca fiber and baby alpacas to other farmers. 
> They also hope to attract more tourists and school groups to their farm, 
> an effort they began years ago.
>
>
> "We struggle every day to keep this farm going," he said. "I couldn't live 
> on the [income from the] farm alone. Would be nice, but can't. Not yet."
>
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/02/AR2009010202260.html
>
>
>
>
>
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