Saturday, May 9, 2009  Weird farm economics  I started farming
to raise food for friends and family, but the land I purchased
was near a highway -- very visible to 55,000 cars a day. I knew
that there was a chance that I'd sell things, and had worked out
a basic plan to sell dressed pastured poultry, even to the point
of buying a professional plucker and teaching myself to process
birds and practicing on roosters purchased at auction.  So now,
three years later, I'm at a point where most of my 12 acres are
used in one way or another, and I'm pretty much at the stocking
capacity of my little farm. 60 pigs of various sizes, 450
chickens, 300 turkeys. I produce between 20 and 30 piglets a
month, between 300 and 500 turkey poults a month, and roughly
200 chickens a month.  This month is the first month that the
farm is operating at an operational profit. That is, my costs
are less than my proceeds but I'm at a deficit if I figure in
the money invested so far. When I was penciling out the basic
plan for the farm I