He Scaled His Farm Back and Doubled Profits (Wild Harmony Farm)
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- Опубликовано: 27 июн 2024
- Ben has found the sweet spot for regenerative farming. When he was told to diversify to make profits, he became burnt out and ready to throw in then towel. But he didn't want to quit so he found what wasn't working and cut it out. He made his way down from 12 species to 2. Focusing on only pigs and cattle has allowed him to find revolutionary ways of raising these animals for more profit with less work.
Wild Harmony Farm
Exeter, Rhode Island
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This guy has got his operation fine tuned. There’s a lot to learn here. I’ll be watching again.
He really does!!! I’m so glad you enjoyed our conversation!!
He struck a chord with the diversification comment - something always suffers when you have too many irons in the fire. I learned, and am still learning, this. Interesting operation - I like how he has his pigs set up. Good interview! Well done!
Absolutely!!! My jaw was dropped most of our visit! He has some amazing ideas!
@@BreakingNewRoots What I find so interesting in this and quite a few others is what folks gross earnings are...when I convert currency, it is really surprising and somewhat concerning. Different scope I guess.
@@dhansonranch on really? Discerning how?? Are you saying it’s higher than you expect or lower?
@@BreakingNewRoots Way higher. If you convert the 500000 to CDN, that is $684,600. I just bought a half a cow and I paid 4.50 CDN (3.29 USD) a pound plus cutting and wrapping. The half was 350 pounds. So at 700 pounds hanging weight, to generate that kind of income, a person would need to raise 217 head of cattle. Granted there is more money to be made by doing value added. But even if a person were to charge double what live weight price is at moment (1.94 USD x 2 =3.88 USD or 5.31 CDN) to live weight of my animal (700 hanging = 1160 live weight), generating 6160 CDN, a person would still need to raise 111 head throughout the year. There is absolutely a number of factors at play, but that kind of income being generated makes me scratch my head - there must be something I am missing. Been wondering this for a while now. I am not discrediting what is being shared, just attempting to figure it out as it applies here. I still maintain there is great information being shared.
@@dhansonranch oh interesting.
Sounds like Joel Salatin's information on farming this way is really spreading. He has been doing this for many years. Love it
Oh yes!! A lot of farmers we visit say they learned about Joel and took it from there. I love how everyone then puts their own spin on it depending on what their specific farm needs.
@@BreakingNewRoots I love it too.
Wow I grew up in Exeter🤯 so glad something so awesome is going on there
I love it! Silvo pasture is incredibly under rated and the US has so much potential with silvo pasture farms. Not enough people in the US (especially the world as a whole) don't know enough about regenerative ag practices. More people need properties with some land so they can participate, especially in the current world we now live in!
Absolutely!! ❤️
I can’t believe how much gold is in this video when it comes to pigs.
I’m amazed and absolutely going to do the pinwheel system on our farm.
In a few years I’m also now going to raise our own pigs instead of buying piglets because of how the females can still be used for high end pork and give another butcher date. Super grateful. Thank you.
Yes!!! So much knowledge here!! I love his pig system!!
@@BreakingNewRoots ps you are killing it for amazing content being posted fast! If your are ever in ottawa Canada come see me and the farm ❤️
@@RyanSunDynasty thank you so much!! We would love to!
@@BreakingNewRoots once you get your passport sorted. We just planted 1300 nut and fruit trees into our pasture where we run our 1000 chickens, sheep and pigs. We have ducks and bunnies for the kids. 4000 square-foot no till family garden and a 5000 square-foot flower garden. 16 chowchows. Grass fed quail and black soldier fly. We are new farmers and learning new things every second of the day.
Would love to host you and your family.
Oh wow!! That’s great! We would love to see you!
This seriously hit home. My wife and I are getting super burned out over the last 5 years with so many different income sources/ animals. It's a lot, and we're considering completely down sizing too.
I can so relate!! Talking with Ben really opened my eyes that diversity doesn’t have to be key on a small farm. It’s okay to niche down and focus on what you really enjoy.
@@BreakingNewRoots where does ben sell his animals to after they're raised? Does he have that many clientele to do all private sales? Or does he have a cattle/ hog dealer get his animals?
@@plainandsimple1 he sells the meat in private sales. I can’t remember if they do farmers markets or not.
Ha, now I feel better about giving up bees after thinking for years that I wanted to have them. Took just 2 years to realize they cut into my gardening time too much.
@donnahudson4813 we have meat birds, 200 layers, a diary cow, her calf, we had almost 30 pigs, and a bunch of goats, not to mention we both work full time. AND we're clearing the 20 acres we live on, and I'm the only one building infrastructure and fixing the equipment lol
Awesome job Ben and Rachael!!!!!!
In our 3rd month of buying our meat form Wild Harmony Farm) Loving IT! looking forward to taking a tour of the farm this fall if they offer one. Keep up the good work and congrats on your new little one!❣😃✌🙏
That’s awesome!! They really are doing some great things there!!
Outstanding interview and excellent advise. Your system can be complex but it shouldn't be complicated....love it
Yes!!! I loved that part of our conversation!!
The late Alan Nation, editor of Stockman Grass Farmer, intro'd the idea at one of their grazing classes to have ONE core centerpiece business and then a couple fewer temporary/seasonal/short term enterprises.
If the enterprises can mutually benefit the other all the better.
Ex. Cattle graze down a field partially (& leave manure) then poultry (seasonal turkey?) follow several days later and scratch through the manure pats just as the fly larvae develop. Turkey manure, enhanced by store bought feed, provide high quality fertilizer for the grass
Cattle are permanent centerpiece while turkeys are a "put & take" enterprise. Buy them in late spring/process for thanksgiving. 5-6 months and then they're off the property.
You dont even need to have turkeys every year ...switch to feeder pigs occasionally.
Back & forth
Absolutely!!! I love how Ben is really working with that idea and especially the way he is raising his pigs to be a semi-seasonal/temporary animal on the farm! Such innovation!
Thank you for this. Great data for planning.
Absolutely!! I loved his methods!
Great video, thanks for sharing!!
Thank you so much!! Ben was great! We are so glad to have met him!!
This guy is legit.
Yes!
I got some good ideas. Thanks.
Absolutely!! I learned so much from Ben and really enjoyed learning about his farm!! So glad you did too!!
When I think of starting a a farm, it’s always the sales part of it that I find intimidating. I can figure everything else out.
I’m so glad i worked at a bank before farming full time. It gave me so much experience in sales and marketing.
What I've learned over 7 years now, sales IS everything on a farm. I thought if I made a better product it would sell itself. Your product and it's quality really almost don't matter if you can't sell anything you just have a hobbystead. Best advice I can give is learn to sell your product before you make it especially if you are the "I can figure the rest out" type. The only time I ever did well was having someone else handle all sales but without them I went back to were I started.
Comment stuck out because this is the mentality I began with and would strongly advise against.
That's me! I've done it 4 times and failed on sales.
@@davidtyler7208 I have always been a big proponent for the idea that people don’t buy from you because of your product, they buy from you because of YOU! Don’t worry about selling the product so much as selling yourself and your relationship with your customers. If customers get warm and feelys from you they will come back time and time again!
@@talkingjoseph5582 check out my last response! Have you tried to focus on the relationship with the customer and not the product sales itself??
If i heard that right...he was making $300,000 gross and only netting $20,000? And they had several unpaid staff? I hope he got better. That is a losing plan longterm.
Yes, although I believe his staff has always been paid. As he described in the video, once he scaled back he was able to increase his profits.
looking for more info on how he does his pigs
You can follow their socials for more details.
@BreakingNewRoots I sent them a email about this but I have not gotten a reply yet
To have to bring in half a million-$800,000 a year. You must have a whole Lotta debt to make so little profit. We have for several years, doubled, our profit, simply taking finished steers to the auction.
I don’t recall a conversation around debt but I do know that feed expenses, animal expenses, and land payments can easily add up to a large number. Also, Ben makes a point to say that he does pay himself a wage and has multiple employees that he pays well. Those too are not low expenses.
I’m curious how you are doubling your profits on your farm by going to auction. Are you reducing costs elsewhere?? Sounds like you are really figuring out your sweet spot!
@@BreakingNewRoots
We have no imputes, only grass, no feed, no bills. We have 250 acres in Ava Missouri, we breed and purchase South poll cattle/steers they bred back great, are grass genetics based cattle, slick oil hide, approximately 1000/1200 pounds max, they are simply the cattle for no imputes.
Example: 400 lbs steer at sale is approximately 800-900 pound, even if you purchase high when you double the weight at sale you double the profits. We don’t even have a tractor. You have to have forage and understand high intensity grazing. No hay let them eat it stomp it and fertilize it. No stress. All that the greats Salatin, Judy, etc. have the formula you just have to apply it.
@@SJA-ox3hs oh for sure! That’s a great system! I’m glad you are able to apply that on your land!
What costs 170k no matter one pig or 100?
The farming ranching management crisis is real. Lots of people dont understand how to run things
How to design how to manage people including themselves.
Yes. But I understand why. We get into farming because we loving growing/raising things, we want to help our community. But we forget that it is a working business and should be treated so.
@@BreakingNewRoots A biz should be a biz agreed. some of the best farmers, if they can get their feet under them is people who do not come from farming backgrounds. I think it's because of that reason. Management and understanding people. Modern farms rarely have 7 kids of labor to take you from small farm to retirement and kid takes over. I don't fully agree with transitory labor practices of farming and ranching industry. Because it's a double edge sword that is basically destroying there labor market in the modern labor context. Honestly, if he didn't do the first killing himself farming he'd probably never had got the connection and training enough for staff to do the other part of his farming. Sigh, farming management crisis is so under talked about. It's sad. Even if you love something as an employer kindness is having your crap together enough to make sure your employee is taken care of. At least in my mindset you don't want to be walmart and have your employees on welfare while you rake in record profits. Just a bad look. (mind you that is management for the purose of doing that act and not management because you don't know what your doing properly. Walmart understands what it's doing. It's by design) And in a modern sense for most perspective employees in the labor market it's why so many farms are low on the options. If you are going to transport yourself (which requries a care or living on site and you as well have to think about retirement, health insurance, kids, colleges can you do that as a random working for a farm? No most employees working as spot labor moving place to place can't.) I remember my first tour of singing frog farms and realizing that the reason why they had so much labor that worked full time on farm. Got a decent wage it was huge. We forcus on the farmer/family making "city wages" but not on what the employees are making. Why would a employee want to work a job (yes they might love it, but they gotta survive as well) making good money but not city wages or better since they gotta drive out/live on farm. Just a lot of click click click brain moments really turn my thought process away from the romanization of farming and ranching to the actual reason why there's currently a breakdown. It verbalized in my mind what are the halmarks of an actual sucessful farm/ranch. And am I doing that? I remember meeting an old guy who worked for the company straight out of high school/entry level to retiring in the boardroom. And he was talking about cultural changes in the way buniess ran. He was a farm boy who went to work in the city slightly post reagan reforms. When all the union jobs where being broken down and if they couldn't break it they just sold the company in pieces. complete work place landscape change. Comapnies use to think of 10 and 20 year plans. Now they think in Five year Plan or 1 year plans. Short term profit over long term gain. But that's honestly been the farming mindset for generations. That's how we got go big or go home farming. That's how we got break the backs of labor farming. It's how we got poorly designed farms or no design farm. Eh sorry for the rant completely agree again. "working business and should be treated so." when other people are involve.
@@MistressOP I have found that every farm we have visited that has working employees, they make sure to pay them well above the current wage. I can’t say there is an industry standard but maybe better or worse business practices than others. Either way, the farms we are seeing (not by design) greatly value their employees.
Ranching for profit class? Can you provide a link?
Sure! I’ll ask Ben and get back with you!
Here is the link.
ranchmanagement.com/ranching-for-profit-school-2/
Why doesn’t he breed back the sows instead of leaving them unbred?
Seems like it would be more efficient to keep breeding sows.
Yeah. That’s what I was thinking too. But that’s kind of his whole point. Instead of focusing on the traditional value of “production” he processes the sows, they only get bred once and when their piglets are weaned the sows are used for meat production. He does keep gilts back to breed for the next line but it’s not as much maintenance.
Farrowing can be challenging.
Where is all that money coming from? Just a few pigs and cows?
In the video he states how many animals he raises.
Question(s) How was he able to afford the time overseas and buying the land if he was so sick? I'm not trying to be negative, but I have to question this.
Happened at different times in his life.
What happened to just feeding yourself, then painting when you need cash?
Just stop feeding the chickens 😅😅 that solves that annoying 😒 chore