Sorry it has been so long
since I have posted. The lack of Internet in our home has put a real damper on
blog posting. 2015 went pretty good for us. Janice already posted about this
already, but I think it is important to discuss. We did our taxes and posted
only a $200 loss on the year. In eight years of farming, this is the closest we
have come to showing a profit. Before mileage, insurance, power, and water, we
made $6,000 last year, with total sales around $18,000. This is an increase
over the last several years by around $4,00 to $3,500. Sales by product looks
like 40% beef, 35% chicken, 25% turkey, and less than 1% eggs. We did this
without any lamb sales, since we phased that product out, and with a 25 percent
reduction in the number of meat chickens.
Chicken production was cut
back for several reasons. With the move last year, our production season got
started about 4 to 6 weeks late. This cutback on the number of deliveries we
would normally have done by cutting out June and the first half of July. This
meant a lot less cash coming in early, and not enough cash flow to afford to
raise 90 more chickens late in the season. I hope to move our chicken
production back up to previous years levels. As of right now, my availability
of chicken in the freezers is close to running out. Profitability on chickens
went up as we started be able to offer individual cuts and I would expect us to
continue to do that in the future. We may offer chicken breast as two per
package instead of four, and offer chicken drumsticks at six or eight per
package instead of for.
Turkeys treated us well.
We had some of the best mortality rates we have had in years. I think that 50
birds may be just about right for us. We did not do Pickett Fence Creamery
Thanksgiving Sample Sunday for the first time in seven years, but added turkey
delivery to Farm to Folk in Ames. With the switch to GMO-free feed and
subsequent price increase to cover that change, it would seem that our turkeys
are just too expensive for that market to bear as we saw a massive drop off in
sales there in 2014. I have been very pleased with our smoked turkeys,
since they are now sodium nitrate and nitrite free, but the big challenge has
been getting the locker to let me bring them in. This has been very frustrating
to me and I have customers who want his product, but I can't get the locker to
do the job. Putting poultry into the lockers smoker, precludes red meats, and
requires the smoker to be completely cleaned out once complete. I will continue to work on this and look
at other options.
I want to see improvements
in our egg sales. We have demand for eggs, which we are not meeting. Right now
we have the same old seven hens that we have had for years. The big bearer is building
a new poultry structure. I am working on plans to build a nine-foot by
thirteen-foot structure this spring and summer. The odd size dimensions are
because that is the largest structure we could squeeze into the desired space.
The building will accommodate 30 to 35 layers and will place the access doors
in the cattle lot, which should help reduce fly numbers. I currently have
chicks scheduled to arrive in June, which means we won’t really start to see
eggs until around Christmas. The process of ramping back up on eggs is
unfortunately a slow one.
Beef has finally really
come on in 2015. We processed 4 animals and sold two older bred cows. We are
now to the point where we are creating a pipeline that will let us process four
animals a year, and sell a small amount of breeding stock each year. I am
looking at selling off at least two young heifers this year to keep out cattle
numbers inline with our available forage.
Calf Born Today
Calf Born Five Days Ago
Part of profitability is also watching costs. We spent too much on hay
this year, having to stop grazing and feed hay in the summer is killer. In the
short term, I have been clearing brush and “weedy” trees from the pastures and
broadcasting clover seed on the pastures in an attempt to frost seed. It has
been very warm here this spring and we have not been seeing freezing
temperatures at night in March, which is unusual. In the longer term, I am
looking at the possibility of trying to “reclaim pasture ground” across the
road from me that is so badly overgrown with “weed” trees that some locals call
it the “Jungle.” I am still searching for cheaper ways to get the protein side
of our GMO-free poultry ration, but I have yet to find something that I am
confident will no reduce product quality. I would love to be able to reduce the
price on our poultry and I will keep looking for a solution.
I am exited that the house construction is largely behind us and that we
get to start a year on our new farm. I want to try to improve our communication
with our customers. This has definitely suffered with the move, the uncertainty,
and lack of reliable Internet at home. I am excited to see all of you again and
wish you all a happy spring.
One of ManyBrush Piles Cleared This Winter
Post Burn
