Meaties 2010 - A year in Review

Last year I raised and processed about 150 birds. We put a total of 80 in our freezer, and the rest were sold to a friend of mine that helped butcher them. During the cold Winter months, I started to devise a plan to market and sell broilers to others. After many hours of discussing with my DW, we came up with a plan. We sent out 45 flyer with all our information on it, most of which where delivered to people w/ in a 5 mile radius of our house. It included a short summary of the operation and a order form. I was wanting to do batches of 100, three weeks apart. The plan was to have a deadline order date for each of the four processing dated I had established, 3 of them in the Spring/Summer and 1 in the Fall. All deadline dated where well before the processing date, which looking back, was a bad idea. I timed the deadlines so I could order the appropriate number of birds to satisfy the orders for that date. The first deadline came and went with only one order of 10. I didn't admit it to my DW, but I have to admit I was a bit dissappointed. Here I had developed this plan to do this and nothing came of it. I kept telling her, "Don't worry honey, it will pick-up." Despite only having this small order, I decided to go ahead and order 75 chicks. If nothing else, we would have birds to put in our freezer, is what I reasoned in my mind. That is why I started raising them in the first place. Second processing date deadline came. We were hoping for more orders, and ended up with 50 of them sold. Better than the first, but still not what I had in mind. In talking with the people that ordered, they had forgotten about the first date, and wondered if they could still get some for the first date. We told them there was still some availble (we didn't tell them we only sold 10). Then things started to take off. By the third date, we had almost all of the first sold and the second batch of 100 sold. With all 100 sold of the 3rd batch, I went out on a limb and order 150 chicks, which was more than I had ever done. We hoped to sell the remaining 50 after the fact. Three weeks before the 3rd batch, all were sold! Life was good! I built a Whizbang to aid in the processing, which was easier to justify, now having money coming in, and so many birds to process.

Now we had a dilema. We had sold so many, we didn't have any for ourselves. We had a few customers ask about a broiler that was raised on soy-free feed. Having never done this, we decided to do a "extra" batch of 50 on a soy-free ration, that would be for us. After telling the customers that had requested them we were trying it, they were really wanting to try a few. We sold 15 of the 50. The feed was more expensive, and they didn't grow as quickly as we wanted, and went thru more feed than I expected. We charged $3 a pound for them, and ended up paying $.18/pound for the birds we kept, which we were very happy about.

The deadline for the last batch came. ALL BIRDS WHERE SOLD, and we were turning people away. After some thought, I figured if I built one more tractor (I was already at 3), I could handle a batch of 175. It took no time at all, and all those where sold.

We ended up processing 525 of them total and selling 492. The 33 that weren't sold either got beat up when plucking or where just not appealing enough to sell. I learned a great deal thruout this process, and I have enjoyed all aspects of it. I get a great deal of fullfilment knowing I am providing quality food for people. Not one time did I feel like I didn't want to go out and take care of the birds, despite having to lug 5 gallon buckets of water and 50 pound bags of feed about 300 yards. It was always the first chore I did when I got home. I would get so worked up the night before a processing date that i had trouble sleeping. As the season went along, each processing event got a little more efficient. By the last processing date, the average time from cone to chiller was 1 minute 36 seconds per bird. With only keeping 33 birds, I do have one more batch of 70 going right now. I am planning on doing those right before Thanksgiving, and that will be the end......for this year.

Next year I am shooting for 700-800 birds. Over the Winter I am going to build another 10'x12' tractor, and retire my smallest one and convert to a brooder. After that, I will be able to do batches of 200. In an effort to get business, I sold my birds for $1.60/pound which I think is a bit low. Next year I may up it to $1.80 or possibly higher if feed prices continue to rise. I really wanted to do some Thanksgiving turkeys this year, but just never got it done, despite having some broiler customers wanting them. All in all it was a great year. Count down to 2011 Broiler season - 85 days!

I am so impressed! I was thinking of you the other day and wondering how this was going. Great update! how much do you think you made per bird just counting cost not labor?

I raised 50 meaties and butchered them last week. We sold 43. I had never raised or sold chickens before this year. Last night I was at a meeting and sold 82 of next year's chickens already. I nebraska though to sell through farmer's market, etc. I have to be licensed as a food vendor and the birds have to be processed at a state inspected facility. Calculated some ballpark figures for next year and am planning on raising 1500. Should make some money I hope.

interesting read. ( i am not in the biz of marketing---but it was interesting to read about your intuition/vigor/and persistance. ) Hope that in yrs to follow, your profit margin will raise exponentially.

Thanks for the info, its always nice to hear other people's experiences Let us know how next year goes!

That's awesome, I was wondering how this year would turn out for you. It's funny to look back on but I can remember those days of lugging 5 gallon buckets around and feed sacks on my shoulder, wondering when I can make enough money to buy a four wheeler. Well two years after saying that, I still don't have one.... however I did manage to get a golf cart for saving my legs and a 275 gallon tote I can put in my truck for water. Both a real life saver. The truck isn't four wheel drive which puts me in a bit of a pickle when it snows or gets muddy. All that hard work fuels the fire to do better and achieve more the next year around. I guess people really don't understand the cornish x's and are quick to point out their defaults because they don't have to go through what you are going through. The passion and sheer dedication that it takes to do what your doing is something that is simply missed by many people. When those chickens become the center of debate it's neat to see how fast they are defended and it's not because they are the best chicken in the world... because they are not... however it is because of the countless of hours that are spent caring for them and making sure they live the best life. All while so you can live a more full filling life and to have a better future. Bringing a commercial breed to the forefront of sustainability is amazing and it shows that consumers do want a better product that lived a better life. Until you've done it and cared for these birds you won't understand how good they actually have it. You did a good job this year and should be proud especially if your not near a big city because that makes it even harder.

I kind of fell into the same predicament that you're falling into. Last year I had batches that were sold out way in advance and a few times I would hit two to three months in advance. One thing I have learned is that customers hate waiting... and they hate planning that far in advance. I will get to that in a minute but back on topic... this year I really wanted to get ahead of the game and have birds every 2 weeks ( year before was 200 every three weeks) This year I planned to do 300 every two weeks. Well it worked beautifully for the first couple months and I processed my first batch and like the year before we quickly became swamped in orders. So my reaction was I will just order more birds. So I ended up getting in 400 in every two weeks which I thought would take the pressure off of orders... it did not. I ended up doing 400 every week for 8 weeks straight in the dead of summer. I was not prepared for the amount of loss I endured. Out of 400 sometimes I would process just 275 which was a huge hit. I finally was caught up by the end of summer but after looking back at the books, I lost a lot of money. Was it greed? I doubt it, you will find out that once you get that "bug" to farm you willingness to please is greater than that of a dog and you will eventually feel like your working like one too if you don't learn how to say no.

A word to the wise..... take it slow but stay in control. I found it easier to do 600 every two weeks instead of 400 every week. Which it turns out my mortality rate (hawks, foxes, coons, piling, DOA, ect) was about 4% when I raised them 600 every two weeks compared to 25% when doing 400 every week. It didn't take me long to figure, well just a summer, to know that you have to have complete control of what's going on. Even though I always thought I did. In the long run you will make more taking it slow than doubling production overnight.

About convenience to your customers. Weekly processing is definitely the way to go, because you can move through many customers and you can do it quickly. For instances if you get chicks in every other week you will always have birds to process weekly. Do males at 7 weeks and females at 8 weeks. Honestly, if I was you I would focus on small batches and process weekly. It's amazing how customers react to a waiting list that's only one week long compared to 8. They tell their friends and they tell theirs.... and so on. I learned that you can lose your butt quick if you do big batches at a time instead of a steady flow all summer. Because if that one batch gets wiped out or grows to slow or whatever it could set you back all summer. I know I've had it happen.

Good luck it's going to be interesting how the next season starts, wait until you tell your wife that you're going to do chickens full time.... that one always gets the look from family. The way your going it won't be long.... by the way, you never did come up this summer!!

Jeff, it admirable you have made the plunge into full time farming. However, winters should be a busy time for farmers. What we do is add a seven foot snow blower to our Zetor 5211 and hustle plowing jobs up here in the Michigan UP. The dairy farm down the road rebuilds their tractors during the winter, and then focuses on their maple syrup operation in the Spring.

Ya, I here ya. Even though I don't have tractors to work on winter is still busy. I get all my work caught up in the winter and it's needed. My first "big boy" job was plowing snow in the winter for a guy. I was paid good and at 17 I loved it. Unfortunately I sold the plow and the truck but someday I would like to get another one. I'm right under Lake Erie and get pounded with lake effect early in the season and again in March.

However winters are my time to relax too. I get about two months where I don't do much of anything (january and february) just because it's so cold and mostly everything is covered in feet of snow. That break is really needed though.

Hey, are those tractors new that you built? I've seen the one but I haven't seen the new ones. I'm going to be building a few more this winter that are more functional and seen the inside of yours in another post curious to see what the whole thing looks like.

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I've have dreams of a 4 wheeler as well, but "business isn't that good", I'm told. I think I am going to take the junk deck of my lawnmower, and customize a small trailer I have for it. I will equip it w/ a 50 gallon tank and room to bring out the feed. It should make it much less work.