I read a statistic today that has me totally on fire with more determination than ever to get the word out, and to help small farmers succeed. That statistic was from American Farmland Trust. The statistic they posted on their website was that over 40 acres of U. S. farm and ranch land are lost every hour.

This loss is due to urban spreading, and development. I know this to be true, I watched Denver, Phoenix, and Las Vegas the last few years take more and more land and put houses, shopping centers, and other developments on any land they could. Much of this land was supremely fertile farm land.

I wondered why they didn’t build on the vast number of acres that were not suitable to farming, or ranching? Why did they have to build in these lush valleys where our food was grown?
This is why it is more important than ever to teach small landowners how to grow, and market food. This is why it is my main mission in life to help all small farm and ranch owners, to be able to produce in abundance each and every crop and commodity they can.

You see I have a dream, that through My Small Farm Expert, that we can build a network of small farms and production operations that will be able to feed everyone, without the harsh chemicals, and mass produced preservative added foods that we eat today. I would love to see small producers be able to sell their fresh, canned, frozen or dehydrated foods, and make a living doing it. My goal is….. through this network to be able to provide education, support, and financial backing to not only create on farm facilities that would help farmers, do more with what acres they currently have, but to expand on what they are presently producing to encompass more sustainability through shared, facilities.

It is not economical or even feasible for many small farms to have commercial kitchen facilities to be able to sell some of their produce, cheese, meat etc. However if there were facilities within 100 miles of every producer through out this country and others, where producers would be able to market their own brand, and be able to sell the food they wholesomely and economically produce to consumers, that are fed up with the amount of pesticides, herbicides, and preservatives, that are in our food.

I am on the board of a senior facility in our area, and we purchased some hot dog buns for a summer barbeque. Over 8 months later, I found a package of these buns on a shelf, behind some paper products. These buns were not moldy, they were not hard, they didn’t even smell bad or old. This is the kind of stuff we are putting in our bodies. We were not designed to have all of these chemicals in our bodies, we were designed to eat wholesome, food that was grown with love, and grace.

I am not against grocery stores, nor am I against all commercial fertilizers, and pesticides. What I am against is that the use of these has become standard, and way too much emphasis in farming is put on these. What I am against is adding so much junk in the canned, and packaged food we buy that it no longer has any food value, and is not only damaging our bodies, but our producers.

Rant over…but remember if you are a small farmer, or backyard gardener, my number one priority is making sure you have the necessasary tools to succeed, and become successful, and to thank you most of all for being a part of a very exciting, and needed supplier of our world’s food supply.
Please download this free partial list of 50 ways to diversify your operation. I would also like to invite you to listen to the video of my story, and learn how you can add 100K to your operation’s profit this year.

 

 

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.

 

First of all let me apologize for my long absence. I have spent much of the summer fighting fire, mostly in the North West. I signed on last year to be a wild land fire fighter, after a fire near our  property made me feel helpless because I just had to watch and not help.

When I was a kid, many, many years ago…. everyone in the area would go fight fire, bringing whatever tools and resources they could.  We would pack shovels, picks, gunny sacks, water and take off. The ladies in the area would get together to make lunches and food for the tired folks fighting the fire, and the object was to put it out asap.

When I moved back to the ranch in 2013 I learned very quickly that things in that arena had changed over the years of my absence. The volunteers were trained, and had red cards, the government became involved rather quickly if the fire was very large, and there was a different perspective in how the fires were fought.  This is mostly, not a bad thing. Firefighting has now more organization, and is much safer than it was 20 years ago. Resources are mobilized much faster, and with better equipment, and skill than we had years ago.

I was on 6 different fires this year, and of those six fires one stands out head and tails above the rest.  A local fire protection group was the lead agency along with a state forestry agency working along side to protect the landowners and get the fire put out. The whole fire was different right from the start. The landowner where the fire had started, called many of the resources, and the object was to get the fire out quickly, and save the timber which was a crop to these landowners. It was about protecting the homes, and lively hood of those in the area first and fire management second. I learned many things from this fire, from the people that lived in the area, and from the people I was working with. Our neighbors are still some of the most important people that we in any type of agricultural pursuit have to depend on.  It doesn’t matter what their political beliefs are, or their color, or what religion they are. They are our neighbors, and need help.  We are a nation of amazing people.

I will be the first to admit, I know next to nothing about logging, and forestry.  I am very keen to learn however as I have seen what lack of a healthy management and stewardship plan means to our forests, and our environment.  I have seen the photos, and read the stories of what was happening to our forests and land in the later part of the last century, in regards to clear cutting and over logging.  I also have seen the problems and hurdles of what not doing any type of cutting and a management style completely opposite of that has done to our forests. I think that we as people need to be calm and work with our neighbors and manage not only our government land but all land in a way that is beneficial to the stewardship principals that we have been entrusted with while our time on earth.

We have a tendency to go far to one end or the other of the spectrum in what we believe, when a more centrist view sometimes allows us to do a much better job.  It doesn’t matter if we are talking about management of our public lands, or our own farm, we need to listen and research all of the information out there and see what will work best not only for our profitability but for the land we steward.

For instance if you are looking at ways to deal with weeds on your small farm, you probably have either a spray and kill all attitude or a only natural, and organic belief. Neither of these are bad per say but…..what if you first look at your problems in a non biased way and think about the best and most efficient way to deal with the greatest of these first. You must not only look at your belief system but the financial, and most beneficial way to get to the result you are wanting in the best way for the land.  You may need to use some type of chemical to combat the atrocious weeds that have been allowed to dwell on your land for years before you owned it.  Adversely you may need to take into account waterways, and irrigation and not spray chemical on areas that could possibly contaminate water systems, or your neighbors crops.

This approach to many things in our lives right now, and I believe should be taken into consideration when dealing with any issue. Seeing both sides of problems, and solutions could not only solve many problems in an expedient and more fiscally responsible way, but also work to bridge gaps and make a better steward of the earth for all of our neighbors and mankind.  It doesn’t matter if you are talking about a farm, an orginization, a business, or even a church. Compromise and allowing the strengths of each element of solving a collective problem excel is the path to victory.

 

 

This year on “Woman’s Day”…women all over the country took a day off and marched in the streets. They were protesting that President Trump does not listen to women. Strange because I think his brilliant wife who is very accomplished in her own right, and his daughter have his ear probably more than any other advisors.

They say it is about gender inequality but is it really?

I was raised with the knowledge, and I am a firm believer that women are special. We are not only strong in our daily lives but we are often the strength of a family. We support our husbands, children both financially, physically, spiritually, and with our all of our heart. We have attributes that make us so special that we women …and only women can give birth. Without us the population on this planet is doomed.

I have never understood this whining about equality. It may be because I grew up in the Equality state (Wyoming) or that I was raised on a ranch where I had way more equality than I wanted most often. I equally got the night shift to check heifers, or had to open the gate if I was sitting by the passenger door of the pickup, or worked my butt of in the hay field, just the same as my brothers.

I have never been paid less than a man for the same job. I don’t know anyone that is paid less than a male counterpart. This again I believe is a coastal issue, and is not found in the heartland.

I am so tired of hearing about all these issues people have over, gender, race and age.  You are who you are and you should be judged by your accomplishments and your moral character.  If you strive to work hard, and be a good person by treating others fairly then you have done your part.

I can’t see that any amount of marching, whining, or protesting will really make others see you for who you are. However if you work harder than anyone in your department, or office and you treat your family and co-workers with respect and kindness…… well you figure it out.

Women that I have known in my life, and that were role models for me are strong and giving women. They could work in the fields alongside their husbands and family, and make the flakiest pie crusts for supper and are the glue that holds the family together in any and all times of heartbreak or crisis.  They not only worked harder than most men outside but generally were almost singularly tasked to keep the house, do the laundry and fix the meals their families enjoyed, and were the spiritual stewards of their family.

If this is not equality then I don’t know what is.  So if these whiney women, are feeling so oppressed then they need to stay busier. Get out and work in the yard, volunteer or learn a new skill. Stop worrying about something that you shouldn’t want to change. You are a woman you are strong, and can do many special things that make you revered in many cultures including our agricultural culture.

I really think it boils down to one thing….people always think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence.  I am so proud to be a woman, and a rancher. I am proud to be a part of growing food for people in this country, and I am proud to take care of my family. Oh ya I also volunteer several days a month and still find time to work on this project and joined our rural fire department and plan on spending a good deal of my summer fighting fires wherever I am needed.

So stop whining, and marching and better yourself and the rest will fall in line.

 

 

I hope that you are enjoying the Value Added  series as much as I am enjoying writing it.

Today we are going to look into value adding cattle. I was born and raised on a cattle ranch. This is a subject that I have spent years trying to figure out how to make a bit more money doing.  We in the cattle industry have always had to depend on the market. We don’t get a choice on what we get for our livestock sales after spending a whole year dumping money into our livestock operation.

It has been a standard joke that most people that ranch have to have a side job to pay for their ranching habit. It is very true however,  not just a joke.  Cattle ranchers are subject to mother nature, the futures traders, import export policy, not to mention pests, disease, and public fear mongering.

Most ranchers have one shot at selling their calves. Things can go horribly wrong, or they can be great at the market. Much of it depends on what is going on with politicians, how other crops are growing and the weather. If there is a drought in one area of the country it can affect prices in others. If the US has decided to import copious amounts of beef from Brazil, Australia, Canada or other countries it can severely impact cattle prices and the ranchers yearly income.

Most ranchers don’t get paid on a monthly basis. They spend money for feed, veterinary expenses, irrigation water, machinery, land payments, interest, and more 354 days a year depending on the 1 day a year they sell their calves, or yearlings and hope to make a bit of a profit.

It is no wonder that less young people in every generation are choosing to stay on the family ranch. It is a very hard life, ranchers work every day of the year. There are no 9-5 hours or every weekend off. They enjoy the time they have away from the ranch as much as they cherish every day they get to live the life they love.

Stepping off of my soap box now.  It is with some consternation to me to try and figure ways to value add to cattle ranching. The most visible way is to sell meat.

You can cut out the middleman, and sell Organic, or Grass Fed beef to the public.  This comes with it’s own set of problems to overcome, but you can do it. 

I like my meat to be finished personally. This takes a lot of grain to get that meat to a nice marble. However you can still sell Organic meat which will add value.  Grass fed beef can be organic as well but it is always going to me more lean and less tender and juicy.  If it is important for you to have very lean meat then this might be the way for you to go.

The grass fed  and organic meat I have seen online ranges from $12 -$30 a lb.  That is much more than the $ 1.15 -$1.25 per lb. you would receive if you sold that animal live. However you have to remember if you are selling meat you will loose about 60% or more depending on  the weight of your animal in hide, hooves,  offal and bones if you are selling most cuts without a bone.

You also have packaging and marketing costs. You can make some good money doing this, but you have to plan and check out all of the laws in your state, regarding selling meat.

You will have to have your meat inspected before you can sell it. So you must have it slaughtered at a facility with a State or USDA inspector. This will also raise your costs as you may have to travel long distances to find a facility that complies. Some states have laws that you only need to have a state inspector to sell within your state’s jurisdiction. Please be sure to find out all the laws and rules of selling meat in your state.

Another good way to sell your beef is to sell it live on the hoof, and let the person buying it pay for the slaughter costs and be responsible for it. They would not have to have it inspected for their own use, unless they were a restaurant or some other type of food service or institution. You can ask a premium price (more than you would get at a sale barn) and not have to worry about storing the meat.

Hope this gives you some ideas, and you find a way to market your beef that value adds. Please let us know how you are marketing and any ideas you have to help America’s Small Farmers Value Add. 

 

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.

 

 

 

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.

Coming this summer!

We will be having a small farm workshop at our ranch in Wyoming check back for dates coming soon.

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