Marketing meat birds for profit

[sicangu]

I’ve been reading Joel salatins book pastured poultry. In it he talks about how to market birds for customers consumption. I looked into some of the laws in Indiana and it appears that I can sell up to 1,000 birds in a calendar year without getting a license. My question is would it be wise to carry some insurance in case someone may try to accuse me of selling them tainted poultry? In his book he talks about not selling to customers who are unscrupulous to protect your interests. But sometimes that’s not enough I feel in todays world. I personally wouldn’t sell anything of lesser quality of I myself wouldn’t eat it. Any advice would be helpful too in starting out because I’m doing this as a side income to help pay the bills and hopefully turn this into a full time income if I can get this off the ground and running. Thank you again!

 

[nuthatched]

Joel salatin has questionable practices regarding poultry but that aside, you're going to need completely sterile processing areas and it likely falls under cottage food laws.
You will want insurance, a lawyer, State and county inspections.
Raising meat birds for sale actually has a relatively low profit margin unless you have everything already on-site and streamlined.

 

[cmobley]

I raise and sell meat birds I do all my processing under a metal carport on stainless tables. I keep everything wiped down and in order while processing. Really not a lot to it just keep things clean like you would for your own use. I used to put the stickers on the birds and all that I don’t waste my time with any of that anymore I just weigh the bird for the customer so they can see they’re not over charged. I sell them straight outta the freezer from my house built up a good customer base. I make good money on the birds charging 5.00 a lbs. my last batch I raised some a few weeks longer and have some 8-10 pounders

 

[sicangu]

Joel salatin has questionable practices regarding poultry but that aside, you're going to need completely sterile processing areas and it likely falls under cottage food laws.
You will want insurance, a lawyer, State and county inspections.
Raising meat birds for sale actually has a relatively low profit margin unless you have everything already on-site and streamlined.

What practices does he do that are questionable? Purely asking out of curiosity as I know he has garnered a following on both sides of the aisle.

 

[sicangu]

I raise and sell meat birds I do all my processing under a metal carport on stainless tables. I keep everything wiped down and in order while processing. Really not a lot to it just keep things clean like you would for your own use. I used to put the stickers on the birds and all that I don’t waste my time with any of that anymore I just weigh the bird for the customer so they can see they’re not over charged. I sell them straight outta the freezer from my house built up a good customer base. I make good money on the birds charging 5.00 a lbs. my last batch I raised some a few weeks longer and have some 8-10 pounders View attachment 3701333

Those are nice looking birds!! Do you do any partial cuts? I’ve read and watched YouTube videos of farmers who went this route instead of selling the whole bird to customers because the customer doesn’t want wings so they’ll buy like 5lbs of chicken thighs and drums. Reason why I ask if I should acquire liability insurance is because I used to work in a restaurant and the food health safety inspector had differing opinions from the last inspector and they had differing opinions from the other inspector lol. For example they thought that to properly sanitize kitchen ware was to give them a quick splash with sanitizer when the sanitizer bottles instructions clearly said to let the utensils soak for 5-10 minutes. I also worked at a food hub and it was hard to get the health inspectors to agree on a single ruling because they all had different opinions.

 

[nuthatched]

What practices does he do that are questionable? Purely asking out of curiosity as I know he has garnered a following on both sides of the aisle.

Not sure what you mean by both sides of the aisle, I'm sorry. His designs and methods are overcrowded and possibly undernourished. His goal is most profit for little investment, not a bad thing but the ways he does this are just slightly above government standards, which are lackluster. The Kardashians have a following, that doesn't mean they're worth anything.

 

[cmobley]

No we just sell whole birds and livers,hearts,gizzards.

 

[Penpal]

Please put Indiana in your avatar for future reference.

If you have worked in a commercial kitchen this puts you ahead of others. You understand why stainless steel is used and why and how everything is kept clean.

I suggest that you contact someone who is already doing this and talk to them. Not only could they give you advice on what the inspector wants to see, but they may be able to help you get your feed for less as well as what problems you may face.