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We are doing the same here as well. I do have a small work force of
kids here, including three boys who can out work me any day. I also want
to see if older strains of wheat are tolerable for my gluten intolerant
folks here. I'm selling eggs for $4/doz. but at that price I'm really just
doing folks a favor. I do not come out ahead after buying feed.
Local Whole Foods, Sprouts and Vitamin Cottage are selling their "organic" eggs
for that price and sometimes a bit more.
Barb
Colorado
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2011 11:19
AM
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Chicken
feed - growing grains for
We're looking at growing our own grains this year too, for the same
reasons. Past experimentation has shown that we can grow pretty much any
of the small grains quite well, but harvest has been a PAIN. I'm
looking for equipment that can do a nice job harvesting something between 1/2
acre and several acres; not many combines in our neck of the woods. Best
solution I've found so far has been either the John Deere 12a or All Crop pull
behind combines. Neither of which are available locally but various
online equipment supply networks could ship to me if we have enough
$$$$. What I'd really like to find is something that will hook up to my
BCS that I can use. Harvesting by hand gets old really fast, no matter
what Gene Logsdon says. Or maybe that's why traditional farms had 12
kids.
Kathryn Kerby (no two-legged kids to draft into service)
frogchorusfarm.com
Snohomish, WA
In a message dated 1/12/2011 8:59:25 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,
elderberrywine4u AT yahoo.com writes:
I agree! The increasing price of feed is really
putting a kink in my plans for raising chickens this year. I
talked it over with my mentor (Dad) who agreed I should grow my own
feed. (I think he was just waiting for me to come to that
conclusion on my own. Old farmers! Gotta love 'em.)
Anyway, I am going to till an additional acre, split it into 4
sections and plant Indian corn, hard red spring wheat, barley, and
oats. In a different part of the garden I'm going to plant
another 1/4 acre of forage beets. That should make more than
enough feed to winter over my small flock. I don't think
growing your own feed is the hard part though -- it's how to properly
store it so it doesn't go bad before you get to use it. I'm
still working on that part. BTW, I'm also working on building a
1 acre hops yard and I've found that chickens love eating hops!
We are very rural and economically depressed here. I sell my
non-medicated, non-GMO feed eggs for $2.50 a dozen from my
farm and already the stores are selling factory farmed eggs for
at least that. I think people better get to know their farmers
real quick.
Joyce Paski
Swamp Creek Farm, Zone
3
http://www.swampcreekfarm.blogspot.com
--- On Wed,
1/12/11, Joan Vibert <joan AT windwalker-farm.com>
wrote:
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