I hope everybody is catching the point here. The hard part is selling these chickens. Don't go invest $25,000 when you don't have a single customer yet. Start with one modular chicken tractor and if you sell out in 10 minutes, then scale up. Don't start with a thousand birds and you sell 500. You are stuck feeding 500 birds until you sell them.
Strongest point coming out of this interview: we need people around the city that do things that's good for regenerative agriculture like creating compost or some nice techniques.
I’m 43 and I’m getting into this. I was raised on a very small farm with my grandparents. They did things the old fashioned way and did very well with what they did. I wish I had stayed with the program in my earlier years, but I ran from it. I’ve come to accept that this is what I should have been doing all along. On a positive note, we still have the land, and all the infrastructure is in place to include the tools. I have to get a few things repaired and also a few small upgrades need to be done. I have e already begun the process and I am looking forward to the outcome. Videos like these are encouraging. Thanks for the info.
Epic you have the place to start working. As a kid, I despised farming, the occupation of both sets of grandparents. Today, I think it’s extremely noble and praiseworthy.
You might do well to check out: 1) Gabe Brown, his book Dirt to Soil, and interviews or talks where he shares what he discovered about Regenerative Ag; 2) Greg Judy; 3) Ray Archuleta; 4) Allen Williams; 5) Will Harris; 6) Jim Gerrish; and many others who use minimal inputs and maximize nutrient dense food per acre and net income VS conventional ag practices. See what is best for your context! Have a blessed day!
Here in the Uk, reported 7000 farm closures in last three years, farming subsidies removed, and more rewilding. Farm sale lots broken up for equestrian use, while we also import half our food.
Sadly, it seems too many people still don't realize that human interaction can be a crucial element of "rewilding," and that those farms can be transitioned to regenerative agriculture models like silvo pasture, etc.
Mass human harvests throughout history just look at holodomor. African is considered 54 countries to uk or us 1 so if agenda 2030, 2050, 2065 seems a little racist it's because they are biased for their benefit. Look at Africa 2050. Look how they are not forced to poke or do the LGBT
i have learned that hiring a local excavation guy is cheaper than buying equipment. Everything we need will be done for less than the cost of the equipment, time, and learning curve. It will also be done right, plus I love our guy he just goes with my ideas and says "Well, lets make it work"
yes, if you only need a few things done this can be cheaper. For us, we're in the middle of the mountains and we have a ton of landscaping that needs to be done so it's more viable to just finance the entire machine.
I pay a little bit extra to local farmers to buy non-GMO fed, pasture raised beef, pork and eggs. I am not an animal rights activist by any means but I eat very little chicken because I refuse to consume obese or otherwise unhealthy factory farmed poultry. Likewise, I won’t buy it on the rare occasion I go out to eat for the same reason and because they often cook it in seed oils. Thank you for this video. It’s hard to get too much Joel on my video diet. 😉 I’m a few weeks away from moving to Tennessee and raising my own food.
@@honeybadgerisme I got a hold of the ingredients list for Chick-fil-A foods. I stopped eating it when I saw dozens of ingredients and just about everything.
I about died when the closed captions made Joel say 'we inject them with Mrna" but instead said "we inject them with marijuana" .... its just funny have a light heart guys.
Ya'll I went to the food independence summit in Ohio and he was one of the speakers. It is such an amazing event! It' super fun and you learn so much! Also in a beautiful part of the country!
@@noconsentgiven This year, it will be held at the same place. Walnut Creek Ohio. It's a two day event, the 19th and 20th of June. I believe tickets for it are still being sold.
New subscriber here! Great interview. "The next 401k plan is living proximate, in relationship with people who know how to grow things, fix things and build things."
This is the best line in the episode. But I can’t find it looking back. Can Simeon help me pin point it? This one quote has helped me sum up my business right there in one phrase. Carpentry/maintance x permaculture practitioner. I hope Joel doesn’t mind me pinching that for my advertising.
I have a 0.6 acre pond that was very low at the beginning of January. Then we had over 13" of rainfall in January, plus more over February and March and my pond is now overflowing. I estimate that the siphon system pulled out 7 million liters of water in that period of time into my field, and every time I think of it I want to cry at the fact that if I had a pond in the field, I could have saved so much water. Unfortunately, I cannot afford to build another pond right now.
Thanks for sharing this awesome conversation with a hero to many. The discussion truly put things into perspective and the need to take action in a thoughtful and scalable manner.
I will say there would probably be be a lot more farmers if the government and the rich people have made it too costly to buy land and farm. Look what they are doing to Amos Miller.
Until we all just stop going along with stupidity the govt will keep pushing the bar. Build local networks, support local networks and they will lose all power. The Amos Miller case is a bellwether to maybe shift the trajectory to a positive direction. If you havent followed that I would recommend getting up to speed. If the govt can control your food completely there is nothing left
The government and rich people don’t make land more expensive. They make you poorer through taxation, regulation, and purposefully inflating currency while impeding wage growth.
@@nickschaps4022Actually they do make it more expensive, but are technically making you poorer and stealing your buying power via the printing of money and subsequent inflation as you referenced. So they aren’t entirely incorrect in their sentiments, as on the surface people just see prices increasing. Inflation, especially since the U.S. went off the gold standard under Nixon, has historically increased land and house prices significantly, and is happening at a much faster rate today in the U.S. because they have nearly doubled the money supply in a matter of 6 years, thus also doubling the cost of land.
We bought our land over 5 years ago, just before land prices in the area went NUTS. The reason we bought here was cost of living and my husband was forced to retire. Love where we are! Have been trying to make the property profitable. Right now I am raising chickens (layers), and meat goats. The land is (was) full of brush and in a holler, ideal for goats. I have great ideas, some I have implemented, some I am waiting on my husband to be willing to finance. I know my ideas are good because I have had people here who have more experience than I in farming and they were visibly impressed (took pictures even), and agreed my further plans were good ones. Unfortunately, my husband hates spending money.
I’m commenting before watching whole video so I apologize if it’s answered later. If we don’t want to do the processing of broilers ourselves, what’s the avg cost to have that done? I love Joel Salatin, I have so many of his books we are currently reading and crash course-ing our way into farm (he writes even better than he speaks) my husband and I find him just delightful, down to earth, and humorous throughout. 😊
In Mifflinburg, PA there is a place called Reiff's Poultry Processing. Back i early 2011, i had 99 dual purpose birds done there. It took Eli and his 2 helpers 90 minutes from start to finish. No idea of current prices.
Me too on Joel Salatin. My husband laughs because when I tell a story about regenerative agricultural he always knows who I'm quoting without me saying😂😂
Ive had bad experiences so far with leasing, hand shake deals so far that ended abruptly without explanation. Finding an actual contract lease hasnt been something ive found yet with my 3 years of experience and high competition for leases in the area between waco and Austin tx
yeah you definitely need a legal agreement/contract in place... otherwise they can just screw you over. We have a full section about agreements in our course.
One reason land owners may be reluctant to have a lease is the lease ties up the land even if it is sold. With the volatile land market currently in the central Texas area I wouldn’t want my options limited if I had land which might attract a buyer. Perhaps offer to put provision for termination of the lease at or x days after sale of the land would encourage land owners to lease to you.
In the southeast US you can find land all day for 7k/acre or less depending on how large the tract is. I bought 46 18 months ago for 3100 an acre and I’m 15 min from Walmart and all town amenities. It was clear cut 2 years prior and had started growing up I had about 10 acres cleared and cleaned up.
It depends where you live obviously, in my area it’s about 2k an acre. 20k seems way overpriced if it’s outside of town and not on a beach or something though no matter where you live
"Thank you for sharing this inspiring conversation with a hero to many. The discussion truly puts things into perspective and highlights the importance of taking thoughtful and scalable action."
What he said about the self starters jumping into farming I felt like he was speaking to me because I had a hunch about farming and I’m 28 with little to no experience. But after seeing what it cost to feed my family with one child I’m scared to have the second so I took a chance and leased 5 acres this week to build a farm and within 24 hours I had several community programs wanting to be involved because I plan to help local farmers expand their abilities while also growing food for food banks while still being able to feed my family I just had to take this chance. Also the first year of the lease is free so if I fail I will fail fighting for it. I’m glad I found this video for sure
The chicken numbers around 32 minutes leave off feed and other costs. That is a big deal. "I'm a big believer in you should plant some fruit trees yesterday." Totally agree!
22:59 my biggest 3 things for RV is water..fuel & grain.. …electricity is a thing but so far I’m able to 2x my input electricity vs output..my goal for that is 5-10x my electric input vs output….water is my main focus including acquiring as well as using it as power & thermal sources from water…I like mullet so far as my best yet grain and hopefully both sugar cane and beet as food. My advice what a new self sustainable living person would need is the things that are most basic needs…food..water..transport..lodging…power…fuel..etc. ..know what’s the toughest overall and most necessary and focus improvement of that necessity.
Our first 3 calves were free from local farmers. They dont want to bottle feed them. So, if something goes wrong.. be on their list of people to call. This means always have a calf bucket ready to go. Clean bottles, nipples, calf milk, colustrum, bactrum, electrolytes and a feeder tube if you cant get them to suck. Enjoy folks! Ps... the first one lived in the house for a week. Lol
Is the resale price worth all that time and input, I wonder. I ended up selling my dairy-cross calves at a year-old each, at a loss. Not including all those hours and early mornings. Maybe it's the way I was doing it, but I learnt the hard way that it's a lovely but expensive hobby.
Go to costco and see what chicken sells for Then find out what feed, chicks and but hering costs plus the refrigeration costs plus marketing to sell Then youll see hes full of shit
Math might be a bit off. Currently $580 for one chicken tractor. He doesn’t include cost to buy the chickens. $1,064. Cost to feed very cheap feed about $1,420. Add in waterers feeding equipment etc.
Do you have a contact for this 70 year old starting a farm in Arizona? I lost my homestead after losing my husband to cancer, and have been doing farmhand/ranchhand work. I need a new place to stay in Arizona to start over until I can start my own again.
Thank you for the conversation. Hundreds of years ago humans were more self-sufficient and farming was a big part of that. Now, we have become lazier, letting the food corporations, including agriculture, to feed us. Yet, the collusion between our USDA and corporations of all kinds is unhealthy and not functional for us. Growing our own food is the most self-reliant way to do things and I look forward to doing that. I however, will grow my own vegetables and fruits in a veganic garden using no animal manure, blood, or bone. There are also some large plant farmers using this method and it does work. As I am a longtime whole food ethical vegan, I do admire self-sufficiency.
How do I get in touch with the gentleman explaining everything? I didn’t see his name or how to contact him. What is the name of his farm? I’m in Bremen, GA with only 100 acres and just starting. I’m interested in pasture raised chickens and want to know about the shelters you do. Also have 8 cows and a bull that we just started with on 56 acres we are leasing about eleven minutes from my farm. Thanks in advance for connecting us. 1:25:49 OOPS; I mistakenly thought Joel Saladin was the host of the video but as it turns out Joel is the farmer I want to connect with so no need to reply. Thanks!
Can a single farmer butcher or process 75 birds 5 days a week? That’s what it would take to have 9000 in six months and not work 7 days a week. I have done 60 plus in a day with friends and family but we couldn’t package them until the following day because we ran out of light. Maybe I’m just too slow but I don’t see how I could do 75.
Oh to have 31 inches of rain a year 😮 I have 9-12 inches per year and that’s snow pack here in high desert mountains of Idaho… really hard to create a regenerative environment- not impossible but…
Just out of curiosity how did you spend 30k on a garden😮? We grow absolutely loads of produce for a minimal amount of money output. The items we did buy will be used for a lifetime. Just curious 😊
I felt the same about that comment .😂 maybe a tiller/tractor style? Heard him say hire someone. It's funny. We work full time jobs and garden plus livestock. May to September cooking and cleaning.. is a nope.. gotta work outside til dark. Hello Ozark from the bottom of AR.
Thanx gents, I been away from farming since 91 as a business owner. I’m looking to incorporate both horticulture & livestock into a small DIY farm on 10 acres to begin with. Lots of great info to update myself & refresh as needed.
They're going by pounds, a full grown chicken is 3-4 lbs when processed, and it sells for $6 a lb. It's an avarage but you have to think wholesale or be ready to spend a lot of time on marketing your products.
Maybe you might look at free leasing as Joel mentioned, where you raise chickens on land a farmer doesn’t use & the chicken manure improves his soil for him to use later. Sounds like a good idea that may suit both parties.
that's actually more than what most our clients start with. We can help you understand how to maximize your investment and how to build it out in phases so that you don't go broke in the first year. Check it out: www.livingtheoffgriddream.com/home
LOTGD channel guy: Don't knock greenhouses. Ypu try to grow a garden on the Texas panhandle prairies and watch all your effort get destroyed by 40-70+ mph winds, hail, frost 2 weeks AFTER LFD, and a snow flurry 7 weeks before FFD. If you don't have a greenhouse you're stuck with store produce. Or you'll only be living on garlic, potatoes, and onions.
If you think Tyson buys their own barns and is upside down on ratios you need to talk to the farmers who raise their chickens. Nothing is straight forward or how it seems. It would be a great follow video
He was referring to the cost to the farmer to raise chickens for Tyson. Tyson is a very corrupt company that hides a lot in the fine print that your honest farmer doesn't know I w about before signing.
Australia may be a completely different system, not sure. But how do you make a profit off broilers and rabbit from remote USA? I feel that I need to know this because I’m in regional, almost remote Australia and it is such huge distances to travel with stock of that nature that it makes it unviable to buy the trucks and cages and travel to steggles etc. to make any profit off broilers, and rabbits… I don’t even know of a market for them. I’d love to expand that way. I sell layer pullets in regenerative agriculture system with chicken tractors and also do Aussie whites, vegetables and Angus grass fed. But chickens are my fav. The amount of phosphorus they feed into the poor Australian soils really brings this landscape to life. So if there’s a way to add broilers to my operation, I’d love to. Any advice on how to do it, or more info on how you do it?
I lost the battle with the civil service, no matter what creative work arounds I tried, but I had to deal with Germans. They don't care whether you think they are human or not, they are the boss and for them you are just the not highly educated Dutch farmer who has to listen. That is my experience, I don't sell anything edible anymore.
yeah, that was an unintentional slip of the tongue... kinda when someone says 'thank you' instead of "see you later" and you accidentally say "you too" instead of 'you're welcome" 😂
Dude, you HAVE to include the entire $25,000 upfront cost in the first year. This will break most people from starting the business the way you stated.
I would like some raw cow’s milk to make butter. If you haven’t had butter freshly made from a small op farm, you don’t know what you are missing. BTW, I grew up drinking cows milk and I’m still here at 61.
@@johnfitbyfaithnet that's not exactly true, the perimeter fence, the ponds and lakes I want to build(that is what I want to do not necessarily what the cows would need) but even underground pipes for water is not portable if you went that route instead of ponds and lakes
In the U.S what kind of business or license do you need to sell chicken or pork privately. Asking from Florida Also, if you process chickens yourself, can you sell them lawfully?
Jamie you are getting a great deal of echo in the room you are in. I would recommend hanging some kind of cloth around the walls to dampen the echo. The echo makes listening this this vid really annoying.
The bureaucrats in Australia have such heavy fines for any meat leaving the property it was grown and processed on, by a [fully qualified] mobile butcher, the butcher himself does not dare take any with him. The animals have to go TO a butcher or s.house, which means no horned cattle and a lot of extra $$$. They've made it too unprofitable for small guys who just want to sell to a handful of locals a few times a year.
You've got to be in an area that supports a population that is willing to spend $20 per chicken...thats outrageously expensive, especially when Costco charges $5 for a rotisserie..you can make the "farm raised" argument all you want and people might try yours once or twice but the reality is the middle/lower class is getting squeezed, inflation is insane and the avg family cant afford to pay $20/chicken unless they are man bun soy latte drinking software engineers who want to know the chickens name. Avg Joe blue collar just cant afford it IMO. They will pay a slight premium for a better product, if cheapest is $5/chicken they would pay $8-10 but not 4x.
Most urban areas will gladly spend $20+ per bird. In my area you're already paying close to that for conventional, so pasture raised isn't much more. I live in Michigan, it's not like you have to be in California or NY to get those sales. Joel lives in Virginia in a pretty remote location. It all depends on how creative you can be with your market.
@@petekooshian5595wow. Even when I lived in California, I couldn't afford chicken over ten bucks. I was not the target customer. Anxiety ridden GMO grocery chicken was affordable. Tbh, I cut out a lot of meat to make it work.
@@the-asylum Yup it's one of those things that has to appeal to middle class families first so it becomes popular enough to be more accessible and cheap. I've never made over 40k in a year and I can still make room in my budget for a $20 bird here and there, but that's only because I'm using every part of it and not just the normal meats you know? It's a lot cheaper when you get the whole animal. Another great way to sell more is to make broths and stocks and then you can get more per bird without raising the price 👌
we've created an entire course on doing projects like this and we have a full module on navigating the "red tape". You can check it out here if you like: www.livingtheoffgriddream.com/home
I love Joel. But I don’t think he truthfully understands how difficult it is to obtain land, especially getting it for free. Older people who are dying and passing their land to their children are not giving land away to others who would utilize it. The next generation is selling the land to big business.
“The greatest transfer of wealth in human history” will be/is already the 0.01 % baby boomers to their grandkids: 0.0001% millennials/gen z . All the winnings go to the top, middle gets eliminated, the impoverished settle for scraps
I own 160 acres in central Manitoba, it is flat has no water source, power or buildings, I am a loss as to where to start especially as to ponds and moving water with gravity. The one thing it does have is 120 acres of forest.
You'll have to create your own "gravity" by using water towers and the like. Many places will collect water by day and pump it up into a tower at night when electrical rates are lowest. Using tarps/roofs to direct water into the tower can work also. Once you have water at height, you can then use it to power mini-hydro electric, drip irrigation, etc.....Flat, cleared land is an "asset", if you want to farm/pasture, so that much is already working in your favor. You can also contact a timber buyer in your area. They'll come out and look at your forest and tell you what you could get for various specimens. You'd be surprised how much you can make just by selling a few mature trees and there are A LOT of trees on 120 acres. Not to mention having infinite lumber on site to build with. Where there's a Will, there's a way!
Have you watched video series on permaculture? I like Geoff Lawton's videos and a channel called The Weedy Garden. Your forest is a massive source of organic matter with which you can create incredible compost. You can design the layout, earth works, soil, and what you plant and where and when to trap and slow down the water you do get from rain and snow fall and slow evaporation in warm weather.
Don’t buy into this, the odds of you making $100k on your first year farming is very low. Most people will drown in debt they get themselves into trying to build their dream before they ever see a cent of profit. This is the realistic outlook.
Honestly, I never recommend to my clients to start with the farm on the first year. It's a massive money and time suck. But we can show you how to build it out in phases, get the land, fund it, etc. www.livingtheoffgriddream.com/home
If you are leasing land or renting then you are one economic depression from becoming an indentured servant. Learn from history and embrace off grid land ownership.
I was thumbing through the comments to see if anyone else had this question. That fundamentally throws the math off since you charge more like $7-$10 for a whole chicken.
that price is moreso for regular factory farmed chickens. Many people will pay a premium for chickens that have been raised outside of cages, free range, organically, no hormones, chemicals, etc.
I hope everybody is catching the point here. The hard part is selling these chickens. Don't go invest $25,000 when you don't have a single customer yet. Start with one modular chicken tractor and if you sell out in 10 minutes, then scale up. Don't start with a thousand birds and you sell 500. You are stuck feeding 500 birds until you sell them.
Every soul needs food and if the price is right they will always sell no question and no doubt
@@freewillchoice805210-4
Will prevent all food deliveries to town then sell my stock at 500% markup
Agreed
So true and can be very emotionally taxing!!
@@freewillchoice8052 if the "right price" is so low that it cost money then there is no point in selling
Strongest point coming out of this interview: we need people around the city that do things that's good for regenerative agriculture like creating compost or some nice techniques.
I’m 43 and I’m getting into this. I was raised on a very small farm with my grandparents. They did things the old fashioned way and did very well with what they did. I wish I had stayed with the program in my earlier years, but I ran from it. I’ve come to accept that this is what I should have been doing all along. On a positive note, we still have the land, and all the infrastructure is in place to include the tools. I have to get a few things repaired and also a few small upgrades need to be done. I have e already begun the process and I am looking forward to the outcome. Videos like these are encouraging. Thanks for the info.
Epic you have the place to start working.
As a kid, I despised farming, the occupation of both sets of grandparents. Today, I think it’s extremely noble and praiseworthy.
You might do well to check out: 1) Gabe Brown, his book Dirt to Soil, and interviews or talks where he shares what he discovered about Regenerative Ag; 2) Greg Judy; 3) Ray Archuleta; 4) Allen Williams; 5) Will Harris; 6) Jim Gerrish; and many others who use minimal inputs and maximize nutrient dense food per acre and net income VS conventional ag practices. See what is best for your context! Have a blessed day!
Never give up, don’t back down. Full throttle. That song is for you!!! You have the foundation, run with it!
Look into Knf. Or Natural Farming techniques
Awesome 👏 Now you can farm with Grace and a deeper appreciation
Hey Joel, I'm so sorry about your friends passing. Thank you for taking the time to share so much valuable information with viewers.
Here in the Uk, reported 7000 farm closures in last three years, farming subsidies removed, and more rewilding. Farm sale lots broken up for equestrian use, while we also import half our food.
Sadly, it seems too many people still don't realize that human interaction can be a crucial element of "rewilding," and that those farms can be transitioned to regenerative agriculture models like silvo pasture, etc.
Mass human harvests throughout history just look at holodomor. African is considered 54 countries to uk or us 1 so if agenda 2030, 2050, 2065 seems a little racist it's because they are biased for their benefit. Look at Africa 2050. Look how they are not forced to poke or do the LGBT
Nokia 6g running on lucent technologies and inferno operating systems. Ceo "will be n your body by 2030
Meanwhile China has bought up over 350,000 acres of farmland in the USA
I believe their plan is to create a famine. Then they will control you through the food most likely Bill Gates frankenfood.
i have learned that hiring a local excavation guy is cheaper than buying equipment. Everything we need will be done for less than the cost of the equipment, time, and learning curve. It will also be done right, plus I love our guy he just goes with my ideas and says "Well, lets make it work"
yes, if you only need a few things done this can be cheaper. For us, we're in the middle of the mountains and we have a ton of landscaping that needs to be done so it's more viable to just finance the entire machine.
I pay a little bit extra to local farmers to buy non-GMO fed, pasture raised beef, pork and eggs. I am not an animal rights activist by any means but I eat very little chicken because I refuse to consume obese or otherwise unhealthy factory farmed poultry. Likewise, I won’t buy it on the rare occasion I go out to eat for the same reason and because they often cook it in seed oils. Thank you for this video. It’s hard to get too much Joel on my video diet. 😉 I’m a few weeks away from moving to Tennessee and raising my own food.
You are soooo lucky. I am in Hawaii Oahu and no chance that I'm aware of for doing that.
@@SurvivedaReset I am very lucky. It’s my superpower.😏
just fyi
chick-fil-a uses peanut oil to deep fry
@@honeybadgerisme I got a hold of the ingredients list for Chick-fil-A foods. I stopped eating it when I saw dozens of ingredients and just about everything.
Update: I just bought a Farm in Kentucky! The only thing that would’ve made it better is if it was 300 km further south 😉
I about died when the closed captions made Joel say 'we inject them with Mrna" but instead said "we inject them with marijuana" .... its just funny have a light heart guys.
I am sorry for your loss! Thank you for taking the time to educate us while processing the loss of a friend. God bless you and your wife!
Ya'll I went to the food independence summit in Ohio and he was one of the speakers. It is such an amazing event! It' super fun and you learn so much! Also in a beautiful part of the country!
Where and when is the event fam?
@@noconsentgiven This year, it will be held at the same place. Walnut Creek Ohio. It's a two day event, the 19th and 20th of June. I believe tickets for it are still being sold.
@@changed7226 Ok thank you👍❤️!
New subscriber here! Great interview. "The next 401k plan is living proximate, in relationship with people who know how to grow things, fix things and build things."
Or just be one!
love it! yeah we want to leave our land and what we build as a legacy for generations to come.
This is the best line in the episode. But I can’t find it looking back. Can Simeon help me pin point it?
This one quote has helped me sum up my business right there in one phrase. Carpentry/maintance x permaculture practitioner.
I hope Joel doesn’t mind me pinching that for my advertising.
24:25
My wife and I also have bought 40 acres in Arizona, and are starting a permaculture farm.
I have a 0.6 acre pond that was very low at the beginning of January. Then we had over 13" of rainfall in January, plus more over February and March and my pond is now overflowing. I estimate that the siphon system pulled out 7 million liters of water in that period of time into my field, and every time I think of it I want to cry at the fact that if I had a pond in the field, I could have saved so much water. Unfortunately, I cannot afford to build another pond right now.
Dang. Maybe soon you can get that extra pond dug.
Raise your organic matter in the soil and it will retain a large amount of the rain water for you. But I hear your concerns.
@@AaronDashing I am working on it, but I must say that to my surprise, I have very little pooling of water. Most of it soaked in very quickly.
I've seen pasture raised hogs dig some more shallow ponds.
a shovel is pretty cheap you can quit crying now :)
Wow. Epic conversation.
Thanks for sharing this awesome conversation with a hero to many. The discussion truly put things into perspective and the need to take action in a thoughtful and scalable manner.
An excellent interview. Asking hard questions and Joel breaking it down. Such a wealth of wisdom for business and basic life in 90 minutes
I will say there would probably be be a lot more farmers if the government and the rich people have made it too costly to buy land and farm. Look what they are doing to Amos Miller.
The just passes an rfid cattle tags bill too
Data science people need to get on board to legalize raw milk and producer to consumer direct marketing
Until we all just stop going along with stupidity the govt will keep pushing the bar. Build local networks, support local networks and they will lose all power. The Amos Miller case is a bellwether to maybe shift the trajectory to a positive direction. If you havent followed that I would recommend getting up to speed. If the govt can control your food completely there is nothing left
The government and rich people don’t make land more expensive. They make you poorer through taxation, regulation, and purposefully inflating currency while impeding wage growth.
@@nickschaps4022Actually they do make it more expensive, but are technically making you poorer and stealing your buying power via the printing of money and subsequent inflation as you referenced. So they aren’t entirely incorrect in their sentiments, as on the surface people just see prices increasing.
Inflation, especially since the U.S. went off the gold standard under Nixon, has historically increased land and house prices significantly, and is happening at a much faster rate today in the U.S. because they have nearly doubled the money supply in a matter of 6 years, thus also doubling the cost of land.
We bought our land over 5 years ago, just before land prices in the area went NUTS. The reason we bought here was cost of living and my husband was forced to retire. Love where we are! Have been trying to make the property profitable. Right now I am raising chickens (layers), and meat goats. The land is (was) full of brush and in a holler, ideal for goats. I have great ideas, some I have implemented, some I am waiting on my husband to be willing to finance. I know my ideas are good because I have had people here who have more experience than I in farming and they were visibly impressed (took pictures even), and agreed my further plans were good ones. Unfortunately, my husband hates spending money.
Aloha everyone from Lanai Hawaii, great interview so good to hear what you’re saying. It gives me hope that it’s possible!
Oh man all those old cane fields that are turning into dust bowls would make great food forests Maui love.
I’m commenting before watching whole video so I apologize if it’s answered later.
If we don’t want to do the processing of broilers ourselves, what’s the avg cost to have that done?
I love Joel Salatin, I have so many of his books we are currently reading and crash course-ing our way into farm (he writes even better than he speaks) my husband and I find him just delightful, down to earth, and humorous throughout. 😊
In Mifflinburg, PA there is a place called Reiff's Poultry Processing. Back i early 2011, i had 99 dual purpose birds done there. It took Eli and his 2 helpers 90 minutes from start to finish. No idea of current prices.
Me too on Joel Salatin. My husband laughs because when I tell a story about regenerative agricultural he always knows who I'm quoting without me saying😂😂
I’d like to know too. Can’t seem to find any where near me that’ll do it
Last time I had some done- about 7 years ago, I had some nearby Mennonites who processed for $2 / head.
Fabulous conversation!!! Joel is a global treasure!
So glad to see Joel on your channel, Thank you.
Thank you for the great conversation. My wife and I are getting ready to start our farm and we will be starting with meat birds and layers.
Ive had bad experiences so far with leasing, hand shake deals so far that ended abruptly without explanation. Finding an actual contract lease hasnt been something ive found yet with my 3 years of experience and high competition for leases in the area between waco and Austin tx
yeah you definitely need a legal agreement/contract in place... otherwise they can just screw you over. We have a full section about agreements in our course.
One reason land owners may be reluctant to have a lease is the lease ties up the land even if it is sold. With the volatile land market currently in the central Texas area I wouldn’t want my options limited if I had land which might attract a buyer. Perhaps offer to put provision for termination of the lease at or x days after sale of the land would encourage land owners to lease to you.
Where you finding acres for 7000 ? an acre is 20k nowadays, I have 100 acres and I am holding on tight.
In the southeast US you can find land all day for 7k/acre or less depending on how large the tract is. I bought 46 18 months ago for 3100 an acre and I’m 15 min from Walmart and all town amenities. It was clear cut 2 years prior and had started growing up I had about 10 acres cleared and cleaned up.
@@joemay1200maybe if you are buying 100plus acre tracts but anything under 50acres is going for 20k per
It depends where you live obviously, in my area it’s about 2k an acre. 20k seems way overpriced if it’s outside of town and not on a beach or something though no matter where you live
@@joemay1200only problem in the south east is Hurricanes! and high priced insurance which doesn’t cover hurricanes or flooding either!
"Thank you for sharing this inspiring conversation with a hero to many. The discussion truly puts things into perspective and highlights the importance of taking thoughtful and scalable action."
Excellent video, with tons of info! Thanks for this!
This was great what a wealth of information
Thank you. This was a full library of useful information and a lot to think before I jumped into farming.
What he said about the self starters jumping into farming I felt like he was speaking to me because I had a hunch about farming and I’m 28 with little to no experience. But after seeing what it cost to feed my family with one child I’m scared to have the second so I took a chance and leased 5 acres this week to build a farm and within 24 hours I had several community programs wanting to be involved because I plan to help local farmers expand their abilities while also growing food for food banks while still being able to feed my family I just had to take this chance. Also the first year of the lease is free so if I fail I will fail fighting for it. I’m glad I found this video for sure
wow! awesome action taking! Wishing you the best of luck on your years ahead!
Wonderful interview and great points offered!
The chicken numbers around 32 minutes leave off feed and other costs. That is a big deal. "I'm a big believer in you should plant some fruit trees yesterday." Totally agree!
22:59 my biggest 3 things for RV is water..fuel & grain.. …electricity is a thing but so far I’m able to 2x my input electricity vs output..my goal for that is 5-10x my electric input vs output….water is my main focus including acquiring as well as using it as power & thermal sources from water…I like mullet so far as my best yet grain and hopefully both sugar cane and beet as food.
My advice what a new self sustainable living person would need is the things that are most basic needs…food..water..transport..lodging…power…fuel..etc. ..know what’s the toughest overall and most necessary and focus improvement of that necessity.
Our first 3 calves were free from local farmers. They dont want to bottle feed them. So, if something goes wrong.. be on their list of people to call. This means always have a calf bucket ready to go. Clean bottles, nipples, calf milk, colustrum, bactrum, electrolytes and a feeder tube if you cant get them to suck. Enjoy folks! Ps... the first one lived in the house for a week. Lol
Or a nurse cow!
Is the resale price worth all that time and input, I wonder. I ended up selling my dairy-cross calves at a year-old each, at a loss. Not including all those hours and early mornings. Maybe it's the way I was doing it, but I learnt the hard way that it's a lovely but expensive hobby.
So what is the $100k based off of? The broilers? Or just working backward from anything basing it off of a 30% profit?
Yeah I didn't quite follow that myself either... (?)
Go to costco and see what chicken sells for
Then find out what feed, chicks and but hering costs plus the refrigeration costs plus marketing to sell
Then youll see hes full of shit
Math might be a bit off. Currently $580 for one chicken tractor. He doesn’t include cost to buy the chickens. $1,064. Cost to feed very cheap feed about $1,420. Add in waterers feeding equipment etc.
Do you have a contact for this 70 year old starting a farm in Arizona? I lost my homestead after losing my husband to cancer, and have been doing farmhand/ranchhand work. I need a new place to stay in Arizona to start over until I can start my own again.
Best wishes to you.
We can absolutely help you rebuild on a new spot. You can learn more about how we can help here: www.livingtheoffgriddream.com/home
Thank you for the conversation. Hundreds of years ago humans were more self-sufficient and farming
was a big part of that. Now, we have become lazier, letting the food corporations, including agriculture,
to feed us. Yet, the collusion between our USDA and corporations of all kinds is unhealthy and not
functional for us. Growing our own food is the most self-reliant way to do things and I look forward to doing
that. I however, will grow my own vegetables and fruits in a veganic garden using no animal manure,
blood, or bone. There are also some large plant farmers using this method and it does work.
As I am a longtime whole food ethical vegan, I do admire self-sufficiency.
How do I get in touch with the gentleman explaining everything? I didn’t see his name or how to contact him. What is the name of his farm? I’m in Bremen, GA with only 100 acres and just starting. I’m interested in pasture raised chickens and want to know about the shelters you do. Also have 8 cows and a bull that we just started with on 56 acres we are leasing about eleven minutes from my farm. Thanks in advance for connecting us. 1:25:49 OOPS; I mistakenly thought Joel Saladin was the host of the video but as it turns out Joel is the farmer I want to connect with so no need to reply. Thanks!
His name is Joel Salatin and his farm is called “polyface farm”
Can a single farmer butcher or process 75 birds 5 days a week? That’s what it would take to have 9000 in six months and not work 7 days a week. I have done 60 plus in a day with friends and family but we couldn’t package them until the following day because we ran out of light. Maybe I’m just too slow but I don’t see how I could do 75.
Off the bat I doubt it. I’m listening. Prove me wrong.
Anyone in here in Michigan?
Me:)
Me!
Oh to have 31 inches of rain a year 😮
I have 9-12 inches per year and that’s snow pack here in high desert mountains of Idaho… really hard to create a regenerative environment- not impossible but…
“I’m just doing my job” with the Nazi illustration of pushing the button at Auschwitz. That will forever stick in my brain!
Good point Joel 👍🏻
Just out of curiosity how did you spend 30k on a garden😮? We grow absolutely loads of produce for a minimal amount of money output. The items we did buy will be used for a lifetime. Just curious 😊
I felt the same about that comment .😂 maybe a tiller/tractor style? Heard him say hire someone. It's funny. We work full time jobs and garden plus livestock. May to September cooking and cleaning.. is a nope.. gotta work outside til dark. Hello Ozark from the bottom of AR.
Market gardens may need some infrastructure
Thanx gents, I been away from farming since 91 as a business owner. I’m looking to incorporate both horticulture & livestock into a small DIY farm on 10 acres to begin with. Lots of great info to update myself & refresh as needed.
How many people would buy a chicken for $20??
They're going by pounds, a full grown chicken is 3-4 lbs when processed, and it sells for $6 a lb. It's an avarage but you have to think wholesale or be ready to spend a lot of time on marketing your products.
That's what the grown, live ones bring at auction!
And that is less than a whole chicken at the store right now. Once in awhile I find it less on sale.
I’d give anything to start a farm but I only have 30k and it’s a pipe dream. I grow what I can in my yard tho:)
Maybe you might look at free leasing as Joel mentioned, where you raise chickens on land a farmer doesn’t use & the chicken manure improves his soil for him to use later. Sounds like a good idea that may suit both parties.
That's enough for a down-payment near the Panhandle if you have steady income!
My husband does home loans
that's actually more than what most our clients start with. We can help you understand how to maximize your investment and how to build it out in phases so that you don't go broke in the first year. Check it out: www.livingtheoffgriddream.com/home
Anyone from Arkansas here?
Texas!
Does anybody know what type of shelter Joel is talking about when he says a single shelter can raise 280 birds?
good question. I'm guessing it's a large roosting house or barn with those numbers. We have a small chicken tractor that houses about 12.
He’s talking about a chicken tractor running four batches of birds per year with 6 month growing season.
What a wealth of information!
LOTGD channel guy: Don't knock greenhouses. Ypu try to grow a garden on the Texas panhandle prairies and watch all your effort get destroyed by 40-70+ mph winds, hail, frost 2 weeks AFTER LFD, and a snow flurry 7 weeks before FFD. If you don't have a greenhouse you're stuck with store produce. Or you'll only be living on garlic, potatoes, and onions.
Try some simple low-cost hydroponics. Plants in milk bottles to start.
If you think Tyson buys their own barns and is upside down on ratios you need to talk to the farmers who raise their chickens. Nothing is straight forward or how it seems. It would be a great follow video
He was referring to the cost to the farmer to raise chickens for Tyson. Tyson is a very corrupt company that hides a lot in the fine print that your honest farmer doesn't know I w about before signing.
Australia may be a completely different system, not sure. But how do you make a profit off broilers and rabbit from remote USA? I feel that I need to know this because I’m in regional, almost remote Australia and it is such huge distances to travel with stock of that nature that it makes it unviable to buy the trucks and cages and travel to steggles etc. to make any profit off broilers, and rabbits… I don’t even know of a market for them. I’d love to expand that way. I sell layer pullets in regenerative agriculture system with chicken tractors and also do Aussie whites, vegetables and Angus grass fed. But chickens are my fav. The amount of phosphorus they feed into the poor Australian soils really brings this landscape to life. So if there’s a way to add broilers to my operation, I’d love to. Any advice on how to do it, or more info on how you do it?
Talk to restaurants in the nearest town or city.
I lost the battle with the civil service, no matter what creative work arounds I tried, but I had to deal with Germans. They don't care whether you think they are human or not, they are the boss and for them you are just the not highly educated Dutch farmer who has to listen. That is my experience, I don't sell anything edible anymore.
Government is the plague of the earth.
PREACH JOEL!
Brutal. He says he's going to the funeral home and you say, "have a nice rest of your day." Ice cold.
Yeah I caught that. Said... Good. I'm sure his nerves were tight and he probably kicked himself in the butt on playback.
yeah, that was an unintentional slip of the tongue... kinda when someone says 'thank you' instead of "see you later" and you accidentally say "you too" instead of 'you're welcome" 😂
Dude, you HAVE to include the entire $25,000 upfront cost in the first year. This will break most people from starting the business the way you stated.
I would like some raw cow’s milk to make butter. If you haven’t had butter freshly made from a small op farm, you don’t know what you are missing. BTW, I grew up drinking cows milk and I’m still here at 61.
Screwed up the audio for headphones.
How much would a boiler farmer lease land for per acre if first starting at an initial investment?
Thank you❤
How can I meet the 70 year old's I'm 72 and would like to be part of regenerative farming & I live in California .
you can drop your email on this page and we can connect you: www.livingtheoffgriddream.com/home
i want to buy land cause when i spend 100k to put infrastructure and another 100 or 2 for building a house or 2 i don't want to not own that land
Joel teaches you to make the infrastructure portable
@@johnfitbyfaithnet that's not exactly true, the perimeter fence, the ponds and lakes I want to build(that is what I want to do not necessarily what the cows would need) but even underground pipes for water is not portable if you went that route instead of ponds and lakes
@@homestead685You don't do any of that on leased land!
Where do you find these chicken modules?
Amen! ...to the Ford Bronco!!
In the U.S what kind of business or license do you need to sell chicken or pork privately. Asking from Florida
Also, if you process chickens yourself, can you sell them lawfully?
If customers aren't buying pre-processed, (live), then you have to have it processed under USDA supervision.
best to contact your regional district about that as every area will be slightly different as far as what requirements you have to follow
Didn’t Joel mention a federal law that allows for processing poultry and selling them directly to the consumer?
@@lynnmac6494i don’t believe that’s true for birds, though in Texas and Oklahoma it is true of cattle and sheep.
Jamie you are getting a great deal of echo in the room you are in. I would recommend hanging some kind of cloth around the walls to dampen the echo. The echo makes listening this this vid really annoying.
Try listening to it with one ear bud in. Im listening to it at work and no issues. Or i dont notice.
Got it coach!
Plus100, thank you!
Look up usda loans to purchase farm land
The way people sell raw unpasteurised milk in Australia is to market it as “Bath Milk”
Love it haha I see it marketed as animal food a lot
NICE!! I'd drink that bathwater! 🤣🤣
The bureaucrats in Australia have such heavy fines for any meat leaving the property it was grown and processed on, by a [fully qualified] mobile butcher, the butcher himself does not dare take any with him. The animals have to go TO a butcher or s.house, which means no horned cattle and a lot of extra $$$.
They've made it too unprofitable for small guys who just want to sell to a handful of locals a few times a year.
Billionaires calling Joel like, “Who is John Galt?”
You've got to be in an area that supports a population that is willing to spend $20 per chicken...thats outrageously expensive, especially when Costco charges $5 for a rotisserie..you can make the "farm raised" argument all you want and people might try yours once or twice but the reality is the middle/lower class is getting squeezed, inflation is insane and the avg family cant afford to pay $20/chicken unless they are man bun soy latte drinking software engineers who want to know the chickens name. Avg Joe blue collar just cant afford it IMO. They will pay a slight premium for a better product, if cheapest is $5/chicken they would pay $8-10 but not 4x.
I know this kind of farming doesn't work in my area.
Most urban areas will gladly spend $20+ per bird. In my area you're already paying close to that for conventional, so pasture raised isn't much more. I live in Michigan, it's not like you have to be in California or NY to get those sales. Joel lives in Virginia in a pretty remote location. It all depends on how creative you can be with your market.
@@petekooshian5595wow. Even when I lived in California, I couldn't afford chicken over ten bucks. I was not the target customer. Anxiety ridden GMO grocery chicken was affordable.
Tbh, I cut out a lot of meat to make it work.
@@the-asylum Yup it's one of those things that has to appeal to middle class families first so it becomes popular enough to be more accessible and cheap.
I've never made over 40k in a year and I can still make room in my budget for a $20 bird here and there, but that's only because I'm using every part of it and not just the normal meats you know? It's a lot cheaper when you get the whole animal.
Another great way to sell more is to make broths and stocks and then you can get more per bird without raising the price 👌
Preach!
How do we work around the new laws? Apparently, we have to register and pay a fee for each bird now. Tax, tax tax.
Where???
we've created an entire course on doing projects like this and we have a full module on navigating the "red tape". You can check it out here if you like: www.livingtheoffgriddream.com/home
Did he say a 20$/bird?
It's possible to turn your yard into a food forest.
Where do you sell the chickens for $20 a chicken?
Anywhere. That what live birds at small auctions go for.
in our region a lot of farmer markets and organic stores sell a full bird for around that price
@@livingtheoffgriddreamBollocks
I love Joel. But I don’t think he truthfully understands how difficult it is to obtain land, especially getting it for free. Older people who are dying and passing their land to their children are not giving land away to others who would utilize it. The next generation is selling the land to big business.
“The greatest transfer of wealth in human history” will be/is already the 0.01 % baby boomers to their grandkids: 0.0001% millennials/gen z . All the winnings go to the top, middle gets eliminated, the impoverished settle for scraps
Cheaper and easier is the exact problem
150 people at 20$ per chicken good luck.
were is he getting 20$ per chicken?
probably farmers market
I own 160 acres in central Manitoba, it is flat has no water source, power or buildings, I am a loss as to where to start especially as to ponds and moving water with gravity. The one thing it does have is 120 acres of forest.
I live in Toronto And have the passion for agriculture
But i don’t have the land
Look at Steve Kenyon in Canada, perhaps ideas for you...
You'll have to create your own "gravity" by using water towers and the like. Many places will collect water by day and pump it up into a tower at night when electrical rates are lowest. Using tarps/roofs to direct water into the tower can work also. Once you have water at height, you can then use it to power mini-hydro electric, drip irrigation, etc.....Flat, cleared land is an "asset", if you want to farm/pasture, so that much is already working in your favor. You can also contact a timber buyer in your area. They'll come out and look at your forest and tell you what you could get for various specimens. You'd be surprised how much you can make just by selling a few mature trees and there are A LOT of trees on 120 acres. Not to mention having infinite lumber on site to build with. Where there's a Will, there's a way!
Have you watched video series on permaculture? I like Geoff Lawton's videos and a channel called The Weedy Garden. Your forest is a massive source of organic matter with which you can create incredible compost. You can design the layout, earth works, soil, and what you plant and where and when to trap and slow down the water you do get from rain and snow fall and slow evaporation in warm weather.
@@Building_Bluebird "perma pastures farm" and "the permaculture consultant" are two other sites who show techniques on youtube
Lost me at 30k garden
How do you get rid of Trudeau?
that's the question of the century haha
Don’t buy into this, the odds of you making $100k on your first year farming is very low. Most people will drown in debt they get themselves into trying to build their dream before they ever see a cent of profit. This is the realistic outlook.
It could be done but it has to be done strategically and with closed loop systems so you can be self sustained as soon as possible.
Honestly, I never recommend to my clients to start with the farm on the first year. It's a massive money and time suck. But we can show you how to build it out in phases, get the land, fund it, etc. www.livingtheoffgriddream.com/home
Ha ha ha land , that’s a good one
He talks about me at 54:20
😮
You won’t make 100k- your net will be 100k, and your expenses will be 80k lol.
More like I lost $100K in the first year 😹 I’m still keeping the dream alive!!
Bob's Stocking Herbivorous Solar Conversion Lignified Carbon Sequestration Fertilization
If you are leasing land or renting then you are one economic depression from becoming an indentured servant. Learn from history and embrace off grid land ownership.
Joel doesn’t believe in evolution: he believes the good lord created a sucker every minute
Yeah the land is transferring right to black rock.
$20 a chicken seems very high
Who is buying these chickens at $20 each???
I was thumbing through the comments to see if anyone else had this question. That fundamentally throws the math off since you charge more like $7-$10 for a whole chicken.
@@ferrantenicholasjust like people will pay more for pasture raised eggs, they will pay more for pasture raised chicken.
that price is moreso for regular factory farmed chickens. Many people will pay a premium for chickens that have been raised outside of cages, free range, organically, no hormones, chemicals, etc.
Equine therapy for blind or autistic people, or PTSD sufferers.
I love that! Horses are so majestic and loving.
You cant birth too big a dream.
you can absolutely have a big dream, but definitely need a plan to build it out in smaller phases.