So this website was hacked again last week. I spent a lot of time working to get it fixed, and finally went to Fivver and hired an expert to fix it for me as I was incredibly busy doing some other things.

Here is what I learned from this experience;

• I need to have better security on my website
• I spent several hours working on fixing it, so I wouldn’t lose all the previous content again which was a huge waste of time.
• I am not an expert in this area
• I should have kept backups of all my articles on the website…..oops often handier to just write directly in the site.
• It is better and faster to hire an expert to help you with the problem, than stumbling and bumbling along to try and do it yourself.
• Not only was it financially better for me to hire this expert, but I found that I was able to do something else with my time, and make more money than it cost me to have the expert handle it.
• This was incredibly hard for me, and my personality to admit I needed someone else to do it.

So here is what you can take away from my crappy experience to help you get to your goals. I needed help, I was in over my head, and I had two choices at the point that I finally admitted defeat. I could wipe the whole thing start over with the design, and upload all of the articles again that I had, many of which I only had on the site…big no no to have no backup. The second choice was to admit I needed an expert to fix this and allow me to focus on other things.

Well I capitulated, and hired the expert and while he was busy doing his thing, took 3 days for him to completely fix it, I am not sure how many hours, but the price was very reasonable $16 I believe. I was able to do many other things in those 3 days that made way more money in the long run, and I am back up and running.

Sometimes we get in our own way. We spend so much time thinking about how to do things ourselves, to save the actual cash that we could hire someone else to do and actually make more money, or save money….I have tried to do things myself, that actually ended up costing me way more than I would have paid if I hired someone to do it.  For instance, if you need a hole dug on your farm for a pond let’s say…. you have a tractor with a loader, and a shovel so you figure…why would I pay Bob the guy down the road to dig my hole?? Well Bob could have dug your hole in maybe 3 hours with his backhoe, at a cost of around $300. You on the other hand have now spent 2 full days, and bent the axle on your tractor, while pulling it out of the hole where it slipped into while picking up that last bucket of dirt, and the repair is going to cost you $1300. See what I mean? Those two days could have been used for something productive at 1/4 the cost.

So here are a few things that I would recommend you talking to someone about that could save you literally thousands of dollars.

Farm operations….. If you are getting started, there is nothing like making sure you are not just hemorrhaging money for no reason. The guy at the farm store, or even  all those book writers, are not using your checkbook. You may not need things that they say you do, or you might need to diversify in order to make your balance sheet work the whole year through.

Mechanic…. if you are not a really knowledgeable mechanic, don’t try to fix things unless it is changing a battery or a tire. Many very expensive repairs could have been avoided if people had just let a professional do it the first time. This includes small engine repairs. I totally killed our riding lawnmower because I thought I could change the carburetor. I didn’t know how bad I would mess up the timing and everything else when I did. Things are not made the way they used to be when you just had to exchange parts. Now you have computer systems that are in everything.

Account/Financial advisor …. This person knows what you can and can’t deduct. It is better to know these things in advance. You want to be sure to work with someone that can help you make sure that you have the finances and time to make money instead of figuring out how to fix it on the other end.

There are many others, including marketing, and legal help.

It is so hard for me not to be able to do something, that if I have one thing that is often my nemesis ….it is that I try to do things myself instead of getting real, professional help to save me time and money.

 

This week I have been working crazily doing lots of research. I want to tackle something very wrong with our whole grocery marketing system. Prices continue to go up and never come back down. I am calling it the big grocery lie!

All producers understand that there are many different times when there are shortages of a farm commodity. We as small producers are extremely susceptible to these problems in our operations. We know that a hail can come through, or grasshoppers, or even limited amount of rain at critical times can all affect our crops. For some reason our tomatoes don’t set on until way late, reducing our overall yield and profit.

Well now let’s look at it on a broad scale. A few years( 2 to be exact) ago there was a cattle shortage this raised the price of beef by almost triple.  Last year the cattle market went down at the market, but….did meat go down in the grocery stores? Not much if any.  Some stores are making 800 to 1,000 percent profit on beef.  This is reprehensible! Not only does it affect the consumer and hurt their family budget and what they feed their family, but it also deeply affects the cattle market. Less people eating beef…..the price goes down because the supply goes up.

I have seen this happen with coffee, corn, and often different types of fresh vegetables and fruits. The price jumps up and never really goes back down when the supply is again plentiful.

I am so excited about the farm fresh program I am working on with some really awesome people.  This program will not only pay a fair and above market price for your small farm grown food, but it will address and help so many people be able to afford wholesome, and fresh food like beef.

If you are looking for a better way to market your produce, livestock or any other value added product then you need to go to Raise Grow Liv and  fill out the survey. We want to know every concern, problem, and need you have and make sure that we have every opportunity to address that during the planning and implementation stage.  We are working 12 to 16 hours a day to make sure we have a better marketing platform for you as a producer.

If you are reading this as a consumer please go to the link and also fill out the survey. It is important to have every side of this project covered.

So we have been talking about value added marketing for the last few months.  There are many great, tried and true ideas to market your products, however….. they all take time away from your operation, your mind off of your production, and a hefty chunk out of your bottom line.

I want to introduce you today to a process that is so awesome I am recommending it to many of my clients, and heck I am totally on board myself.  If I can sell my lambs, cattle and everything I make at home for more money than trudging to the farmers market twice a week….woot! WOOT!!

That means at least two days a week, sometimes more depending on where I plan on selling….I can instead stay home and make more product, and take care of building my empire.  This not only saves me hundreds of hours by the time summer is over, but gas, wear and tear on my body and my vehicle with all the loading, toting and packing.

I don’t have to pay booth rent, I don’t have to sit for endless hours in the hot sun with only a few people roaming about. I don’t have to ruin product in a freak wind, or thunduerstorm. I don’t have to have too much product that will go to waste, or two little and bemoan my bad luck that the sheep got out and instead of spending an extra 2 hours harvesting or baking the night before, I was rounding up the errant sheep and fixing the fence.

No this is something that is amazing, and easy and will have you humming all day long around your garden patch.

You know me I am going to keep you in suspense a bit longer….I have some serious questions to ask you, or rather you read them to yourself.

Do you want to be able to grow your farm business?

Do you want to be able to be your own boss full time?

Would you like to produce enough to supply your bank account?

Would you like to have a clear idea of how much you should grow or raise to not be wasted, and earn a profit on each crop?

Conversely would you like your banker to take you seriously enough to loan you the money for that new greenhouse, water line or a few more head of cows?

These are all problems facing most small farm or ranch businesses. Not quite big enough to be full time, not quite small enough that it counts as a second job.  Financial institutions call you a hobby and can’t really see the balance sheets adding up.

You know ( or should know if you have been paying attention) what your operation costs to produce what you are currently, marketing.

You know what amount would be possible to grow if only you could market everything you grow.

Well here is what I am talking about…..finally.

A farm to table company is looking for small farmers to contract with them for a reasonable price…which is based on area and region.

They will pay a fair market price…not farmers market price but above what your cost of production is. They will work with you so that you can increase your production which will lower your cost of production.

You will know how much of each crop you can sell each month.

You will know how much you will be getting for your produce in advance of the delivery.

You will be paid each week following delivery.

You will deliver or make arrangements for delivery once a week within 100 miles of your farm. It will take about 3 hours of your time.

You can up your production or offer more produce as you are able to provide it.

This company cares about seeing that you the producer is taken care of right.

Oh and did I mention there is a profit sharing plan? The more you produce the more you make on the monthly profit share.

Interested?

Then don’t wait go  and fill out the survey information and someone will get in touch with you.Go Here Now!

 I am so excited about this opportunity. They are expanding as fast as they can due to the demand,  and may not quite be available in your area but they are planning to be in most areas of the US and Canada by November of 2017. Get signed up and your name on the list to be a preferred producer.

Below is a list of products they are looking for. If you have or can grow more than one, that is a bonus and sustainability for you.

They will need products year round, so if you are lucky enough to live in an area where you can grow year round, or have a greenhouse, aquaponic set up or are thinking about it be sure to list that in the comments. The more information you give….the better for your business.

• All Classes of meat
• Beef
• Grassfed Beef
• Pork
• Chicken
• Lamb
• Goat

Dairy Products

• Milk
• Cheese
• Butter

Eggs

Fresh Produce

Every vegetable and lots of them

Breads

Cakes

Wines

Preserves & Jellies

Sauces and Marinades

Dog Food or Biscuits

Absolutely any food stuff that you can make safely for re-sale.  They are working to find commercial kitchens in most areas that will allow you to rent and prepare safe wholesome food.

No Preservatives…. They want fresh wholesome food, that can be delivered on a weekly basis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is that time of year when the weather is warming up enough that you get the itch to be outside and growing things. I think it is a part of us to want to grow our food. This year I want you to think about what value added gardening can do for your bottom line.

Many of us start our own seeds and grow them to a seedling and plant in our gardens. What if you planted twice or three times what you need, and sell the rest at either a stand or online?  This would right away make you start out in the black on your gardening project.  The income off of these starter plants would perhaps pay for your water costs for the summer, or even some supplies to enlarge your own garden area.

Starter plants, or seedlings are traditionally grown in large greenhouse operations, then packed, and shipped to stores and taken care of by people who don’t really care if the live or thrive.  Your seedlings grown with care and sold locally are already hardened to your area, are not shocked and will be healthier and sturdier for your clients. The best thing that can happen is you get orders for the next year, and the worst is that you may have to find some extra space in your garden to put the extra plants you don’t sell.  No loss really as you will have more for the farmers market.

When you are planting your seedlings for your garden, don’t forget flowers. Annuals are a real seller. You can make some planters up and not only sell the plants but you may be able to sell baskets, or planters with the plants in them. This is an an opportunity that many miss. There is a small window in many areas for this to be valuable to a producer. You need to have things ready by Mothers day, and will have a few weeks to sell your plants after that but not long.

If you have a hoop house, greenhouse, or raised beds with hoops you will be able to put your cool season plants out much sooner, and get them going so you are first to market. Things like cabbage, lettuce, radishes, carrots and even tomatoes do well in raised beds with a hoop over them.  Wouldn’t it be nice to be selling some produce in June, not to mention eating some yummy food then.

There are many different ways to make your space more efficient, and productive. We will be discussing some of these in upcoming posts, but today I want to get back to seedlings.

Even if you don’t have a greenhouse, or money for small pots etc, you can still grow amazing seedlings.  You know those tray’s that have a black bottom and a clear top that you purchase your bakery goods in? Those are amazing little greenhouses, that fit right in a window.  You can broadcast seed in these little numbers and then transplant to small pots or six packs when you have seedlings. This will allow you to germinate seedlings in an efficient way that you can make the most of your space. When the seedlings are up and ready to transplant about 2 weeks you can then move them to a covered area outside.  This will allow you to start them in a controlled, and warm area in your home or garage, and be ready to cash in as the season progresses.

You can order some baskets, or other small containers online, and in small quantities that will allow you to make some money and not have to order thousands at a time.

Every step you do from seedlings, to six packs, to a 4 inch pot, to a gallon container you are value adding. Keep in mind that you must include your costs in your prices.  This includes your electricity, water and soil costs.

You could easily take 80 cents worth of seedlings plant in a $2.50 basket and in a few weeks sell for $8-$15.  This is a good investment in value added marketing.  When you have a consumer ready product, that is attractive, and good quality you will always make money. Baskets are not much more expensive than 4 inch pots and the sale is much bigger.

 

 

 

Value Added Marketing Sheep 3

This is the last in our Value Added Marketing sheep series.  We are going to talk about value added marketing wool products.

This is one of my favorite topics, and I tend to ramble about wool. I am an accomplished hand spinner, and wool hoarder, as my husband often tells me. I love wool. I love that there are so many different natural colors, textures, grades and so much you can do with it.

As I said before I am a spinner so I have been value adding wool for a very long time. I also have felted many projects, and on top of that have sold fleeces and fiber for many years.  I knit so I know what I like, and have also tried to weave but do not have the patience that takes.

So let’s start from the beginning before I start just rambling.

As we discussed in the first article in this series Value Added Marketing Sheep 1 wool sheep are bred for their fleeces. Some are bred for ultra-fine garment wool like Merino and Rambouillet sheep. Some are bred for their fleece length like Lincoln or Leicester. Some sheep are bred for no wool, these are often called hair sheep like Barbados, or Katahdins.

First we are going to talk about the fine wool sheep and value adding to this wonderfully soft, naturally wicking, warm fiber. You may remember that scratchy wool blanket your grandma had, wool is not naturally scratchy. Those blankets are commercially made and the cleaning process crushes a lot of the debris in the wool and it is spun into the fiber. This is important to you because it will be very important to keep your sheep as free of hay, grass and other debris as you can.  This can mean anything from making sure your hay is put out in small feeders on the ground then turning the sheep in, to making sure you clean all the burrs and weeds that may get in the wool out of your pastures.

Wool has been one of nature’s wonders to man for centuries. Sheep were shorn or combed and this warm fiber was made into clothing for warmth. Today we have many, many different fibers that are made into clothing most are man-made. The most used natural fibers are, cotton, flax, and wool. Wool is the warmest of the three and has been used for shelter and clothing since early biblical times.

Since we are talking about value adding you need to find out what your breed of sheep’s wool is most used for. If you don’t know you need to have your wool graded and find out if it is course or fine.

Fine wool fleeces have lots of grease. This grease is called lanolin which you will need to wash out of the fleece very carefully. You can save the lanolin when you wash your fleeces to make wonderful natural hand cream. However to have enough to make a product you will need many fleeces. You can purchase lanolin and make a product that will market very well with your other wool products if you so desire, but I digress.

 

The steps to value adding your fleeces are below. You will need to decide how many steps you want to take.  You have value added if you do more than just selling it right after shearing.

• Shearing – Getting a good professional shearer is very important. Second cuts shorten the fibers and are your enemy.
• Sorting – It is important no matter what type of sheep or wool you have that you take the time to pull all the tags (large poop balls) off of the fleece, and sort the finer yearling fleeces from the older courser ewe fleeces.
• Skirting /Grading – First you will need to pull off the wool around the back end, and the hairy part on the legs. If you used a good shearer they will have probably already pulled the belly off. These pieces are useable but are of a different grade, and most likely to have debris in it. Then you will need to break the fleeces into groups of at least two. The finer micron fleeces and the courser fleeces. I generally sort into three groups but this is your choice. If you only have 3 sheep and they are similar in fleece then you can skip this step.
• Washing – I would recommend that you send your fleece to a professional carding operation to have your fleeced washed if you have never worked with fiber. However if you want to save yourself some money, and you have the knowledge or are willing to do some learning then you can do the first wash to get out much of the grease and dirt before you send it away to have it professionally carded. If you want to card it yourself you will need to wash it at least twice if it is fine wool. CAUTION learn about washing wool first you can felt it and ruin the whole lot if you don’t know what you are doing.
• Carding- You can send your fleeces to a professional carder, or purchase a drum carder and card your own wool. If you spin yourself you can even spin the wool in the grease. However I really would recommend that you wash it and card it first to be sure you are getting a good clean yarn. The carding process takes the washed fleece and fluffs it up and combs it so that it is going the same direction. This aids in making sure your yarn is soft and even.
• Blending- One hundred percent wool is wonderful and a supple yarn without blending with any other fibers. However if you want to add some mylar, or blend with alpaca, silk, or some other fiber for a project, then this is a good place to blend.  You can also blend after you dye your fiber if you choose to dye it, or just keep it natural anything is alright it is your product.
• Dyeing—I love to dye fiber. I have done natural plant made dyes, I have used commercial wool dyes, and I have used kool-aid to dye wool. All of these work very well. I would however not recommend using RIT Dye as it is not as dye fast as wool dye. Follow the directions and make sure you use the same temperature water through every process.
• Spinning – This is my favorite part. I can lose myself during a spinning project. I have several fleeces right now and am very excited to get started cleaning and spinning them. Depending how busy I am sometimes I have professionally carded roving and other times I use my own carder.  If you are spinning to weave the yarn you will spin with courser fiber, and less twist. If you are spinning fine wool you will need more twist, and a finer thread. This is something that you can learn on your own, or sign up for our Sheep to Garment workshop this summer.
• Knitting/Weaving/Crocheting– I am not a weaver. I however have worked at a loom during a class many years ago. I enjoyed the process very much, but I really enjoy knitting so I personally went that direction for my yarns.  I also crochet. If you have never used handspun yarn you are in for a treat. It is the most wonderful yarn, and is scrumptious to work with.

So all of the steps above are all value adding to the price of your fleece.  Now let us take an average fleece of about 8 lbs., and see how much we can make it worth.

 

Using a Rambouillet fleece below I will give you an example of value added prices from the web. These are only suggested, and your fleece prices will depend on several of the factors we talked about above. Example:

 

 

So you will need to figure how far you want to go with value adding. You also need to keep in mind the estimates above are constantly changing, and are the gross prices. No expenses, for cleaning, time or products were taken out of the prices received.

Hope this article will give you some ideas of how you can make sheep a part of your Small Farm. You can do many things to Value Add to your Sheep Program.

I am very excited to be starting this second in a series of 3 value added sheep articles, especially this time of year. Value Added Sheep Part 1 can be found here. Many producers are getting ready to start their lambing, and in fact a friend of mine has several lambs on the ground.

I want to focus on value adding to the meat breeds and my own experience, and ideas for you to be able to market your small farm sheep in the way that will make you the most money for your operation.

First of all in small operations where you can easily see every single animal on a daily basis the first thing you should look into is becoming a Certified Organic, or an organically raised flock. This will let you add dollars automatically to your product and  market your meat and meat products in a different way.  Every way is good but why not do away with any chemicals you are now using. There are many different herbs and ways to deal with many health issues without chemicals.

Secondly you should find out what your state regulations are on selling meat and the inspection process you will need to go through. Some states require only that you have the animal butchered in a facility that has a federal or state inspector present.  Some states may have other permitting requirements, or registries.

You then need to plan on how to have lambs ready either on a seasonal schedule, or on a year round basis. This will require you to do some research and implement a birthing and feeding program. The standard rate of gain for lambs is .6 to .8 lb. per day.  The weight you want to target with your lamb is 100-140 lbs according to this PDF from;

University of Wisconsin Extension. 

Gestation of sheep is 5 months give or take a couple of days. Then it will take approximately 6 more months to fatten them to butcher age. So to have lambs ready for an April Easter market you will need to breed them in May of the previous year.  They will lamb in October, and be ready in April.  This means that you will have to feed them heavier during the winter if you live in a cold climate, which will raise your feed costs of a spring butcher lamb compared to a fall butcher lamb. However the market price will easily cover that cost.

The final part of marketing your meat is to find customers. This can be as easy as posting ads on an ad board online like craigslist, or a Facebook you will need to check their regulations again.  You should start a Facebook page and you can also pay a small fee to make sure people in your area are seeing your ad.

Go to farmers markets, and put out flyers. You can also contact resturants in your area and see if you can sell direct to them.

You are now on your way to selling direct farm to table and not only cutting out the middle man but delivering a quality healthy product to consumers that are looking for healthy meat that they know where it comes from.

We are starting our value added marketing series with sheep.  Sheep and wool are an agricultural product dating back to early biblical times.  In fact one of my favorite bible verses is

Proverbs 31:13  She looks for wool and flax And works with her hands in delight.

Sheep come in many different flavors a friend of mine used to say. There are over one thousand sheep breeds worldwide. You must first know what your goals are then you can pick your sheep breed. For instance if you are breeding the sheep for primarily meat you would want a very different type of sheep than if you were wanting to sell fine micron fleeces as your primary marketing goal.

There are basically three types of sheep because generally there are only three harvestable products on a sheep, wool types, meat types and milk types. There are a few breeds that fall into two categories like Columbia, which if selected carefully can have large carcasses but fine wool.

Meat sheep are selected and bred for large meaty hind quarters and overall body muscling. One of the prominent breeds for meat are Suffolks. They are a black open faced  (no wool on face) Sheep that has a very meaty carcass and a medium wool micron 25- 33. The lambs grow very fast and are marketable earlier than many other breeds. This is very good if you have limited pasture or feed. The dorper sheep has become quite a popular meat sheep in the US in the last few years.

Meat sheep like, Hampshires, Suffolks, Border Listers, Targhee, and Corridale, commonly found in the US have courser fiber. These sheep produce a lighter fleece than fine wool sheep but there are more pounds of meat on them.  Generally speaking the wool from these breeds is more suited to rug wool, or weaving and is too scratchy for garment wool. The price of the wool from these breeds would also be lower because of the micron.

Meat breeds like Dorper, Wiltshire Horn, Katadin, Barbados, American Blackbelly  are considered hair sheep and have no shearable fleece but instead shed in the spring. They have a guard hair and short fiber that will just fall off.  If you don’t want the hassle of shearing in the spring but would like to raise meat these might be the breeds for you.

If you are breeding for wool you will need to understand both the American, English and micron classifications. You will also need to understand what makes a valuable fleece and how to care for your sheep to maintain a highly desirable fleece condition.

Before I list some breeds, remember the wool grade is individually assessed, just because you have Merino sheep, depending on their diet, age and other factors their wool could be assessed as medium instead of fine. A southdown due to breeding and selection may have fine fiber even though it is not really classed in the fine fiber breeds. I have placed them in a chart but remember individual animals from one class to another.

This PDF from Montana State University has a great chart check it out here.

The most prized fiber sheep is the merino. The fleeces can be from 10 – 22 micron and it is a very fine garment fiber and desired worldwide. However the Rambouillet is the American standard of fine wooled sheep. Other fine wooled sheep in the US are Columbia, American Cormo, Merino, Debouillet, Panama and some cross breeds.

The milk breeds of sheep are East Friesian and Lacaune in the US. Sheep milk is very high in Protein and Fat. Most of the sheep milk imported and used in the US is in the form of cheese. Feta, Ricotta and other soft cheeses can be made with sheep milk, and yogurt and Ice Cream as well are popular ways to use sheep milk. Sheep have been milked since biblical times and this is a great way to value add to your sheep program.

So be sure to do a bit of research and choose the right breed of sheep for your farm. It is easy to see a cute lamb and buy it but if you are planning on knitting a sweater from the wool …you will want to wear Merino rather than Suffolk.

 

 

 

 

 

Another year has come and gone. The agricultural community has taken many hits over the last few years in regulations, bad press and declining producers.

Personally I have been very busy but have really declined in my goals of posting on this site. I have set some new and very exciting goals for myself, and my operation.

One of my biggest goals is to be able to work with producers and find a way for them to market their small farm products in an efficient and equitable way direct to consumers. I need your help and input to make this happen. I have recently been involved in a conversation with a group  of alpaca producers. Their problems, and desires for their  product to become a profitable and streamlined marketed commodity is something that small farm producers  all over this country are struggling with.

We don’t all have the time for value added processes to turn our raw product into something that will be marketable. We also don’t have enough product generally to compete with big agricultural farms or ranches.

This is my goal for 2017.  I plan on posting in this website on a more consistent basis, and I will be working to find solutions for farmers and ranchers around this great land. It is my hope that this new administration that has certainly said the word agriculture and recognizes that the regulations that have been imposed on us are hurting our industry, will find some solutions to help all of us.

The temperature here is 30 degrees and the wind is only blowing about 15mph a big change from the 60+  mph over the last week we have had to deal with.

Keep warm