Started Reading "Pastured Poultry Profit$" - Joel Salatin

[bigredfeather]

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I would disagree to an extent. Although his operation may not presently be the same as when the book was written, the model still holds true. All those years of doing things this way has enabled him to change the way he operates. It's easy to upgrade a facility to a differnent model when you have made the kind of money he has over the years. It would be interesting to have an updated book, but I think this one is still valuable to those just starting out.

 

[petrelline]

I would disagree to an extent. Although his operation may not presently be the same as when the book was written, the model still holds true.

Yeah, I thought about it after I posted and I can agree with that. His whole point is that anyone can do it, so describing the original method makes sense. But I'd also like to hear about his newer methods, if he's found better ways of doing it.

Just to hammer home how important this book is to me -- I have it right here, on my desk, within arm's reach. I refer to it all the time. None of my other chicken books are even in the room.​

 

[dancingbear]

Yeah, I've been very impressed with the videos I've seen of Joel's operation, and I'll be getting those books ASAP. I already had my farm, and have gardened organically for years, but I'd really like to improve my poultry raising, and expand some. We raised pigs this year, our set up is very similar to Joel's, except, being rookies, our feed and water has been done the hard way. Here's 2 pics of our pig lot, 3 strand electric, now I know we could've used 1 strand.

 

[NotAFarm]

I, too, would recommend "Pastured Poultry Profits" to everyone, even those who don't think they'd ever raise their own broilers. I read a friend's copy the summer of 2008. At that time I had 4 Easter Eggers for eggs and had never raised meaties nor really considered it. Joel's book made me believe anyone could raise their own broilers by following his plan. He
suggests starting small and using Cornish X as a starter bird because of it's short time commitment. This year I raised two batches of 26 Cornish X broilers for our family's use. I scaled down the tractor for my smaller quantities and to make it easier for me (50+ female) to move. I didn't keep really good records of cost because I was raising some other chicks at the time, but I'm sure mine cost more to raise than his. That's okay though, I can't bring myself to buy store chicken anymore knowing how they are treated and processed. We still buy turkey but I plan on doing something about that in 2010!!!

Along with Buster52, I'd also recommend "Animal Vegetable Miracle". A very humorous, well written story of a family trying to eat locally. Includes info on where our food comes from, how buying local can help your community and stories of their struggles as they learned to raise their own food. Put it on your Christmas list.

 

[jaku]

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Agreed- GREAT book, and a must read for broiler raisers. I wish he'd write another chicken book.

 

[bigredfeather]

I made it page 140 last night. It just keeps getting better. He about has me conviced to start selling broilers on a larger scale. I called my Department of Agriculture this morning and got the scoop on what I can legally do. I found out I can sell up to 1,000 per year that are raised and butchered on my property w/out any inspection or fees. I am not able to sell at a Farmer's Market. I then called the place where I got my chickens butchered before. If I have them process, they carry a licence that allows me to sell at a Farmer's Market as long as it is in Ohio. BINGO! Between the amount I can sell and process myself and the ability to sell at a FM with them doing processing, I think this could become a reality. I put an add on Craigslist for orders and we are going to check out a large Farmer's Market in a major city tomorrow to scope out what people are selling as far as poultry, and what price they are getting for their products.

I'm getting pretty excited about this!

 

[the simple life]

I am now reading his book Everything I want to do is Illegal and will read the other one after.
I have read Animal, Vegetable Mineral, it was a great book but different from what Joel Salatin is doing.
The book gave alot of insight though on eating locally, they tried to either raise and grow all of their own food or buy it from their farming neighbors for a whole year.

 

[bibliophile birds]

i read Pastured Poultry Profits in a few days. i couldn't put it down. i thought the ideas were amazing and Joel was a great man to look up to. then i watched Food, Inc. and i thought even more highly of him. so i went looking for more of his works. Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal sounded really interesting.

now, i love reading negative reviews on Amazon. for some reason i think they often tell you more about a book than the glowing ones, not because they are valid, but because the crazies usually notice interesting things and then rant about them in negative reviews. i take it all with a VERY BIG grain of salt, but sometimes i come across something that makes me wonder. like this:

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this reviewer claims to be a "grass-fed livestock farmer living near Joel Salatin" and someone who has bought, and enjoyed, Joel's products. i don't think that makes them an expert on all things Salatin, but i think their comments might have struck a cord in the back of my mind. not that i was sitting around thinking there had to be something wrong with him, but there was a certain underlying feeling i got from PPP that he wasn't exactly who i thought his was. that's not Joel's fault, that's my idealizing of him, but it's made me think.

his personal politics and beliefs don't in any way change my regard for his methods as far as personal farming go, but now i'm hesitant to read more of his books. especially Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal, since i've heard he spends more time talking about abortion and social security than talking about local, sustainable food. i guess the reason i'm posting this is because i know several people on here are better acquainted with his work than i am and i'm interested to see what they have to say. i don't want to base my opinions on negative Amazon reviews.

 

[Buster52]

I don't want to get this thread locked so I'm not going to comment specifically on politics, but I do think Salatin's conservative politics and religion and that of people like him are the among the best things to ever happen to the sustainable agriculture movement. We can't be written off as just a bunch of left wingers. It isn't a left/right, liberal/conservative thing. It's a right-thing-to-do thing.

It is wonderful we are such a diverse lot.

 

[heritagehabitatfarms]

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on the price... Arkansas is the 4th poorest state and i know 2 ppl that are selling them for 3.15 a pound and one that sells them for 15 each and he try's for a 5 pound bird...

i read PPP around 5 years ago... great book... ive only raised some for myself before but i would like to raise around 500 in 2010 and ramp up over the next few years to the 3000 mark...