Oh man... this will be the first time ever...

[texasgal]

just ............. speechless ......

 

[Scoop]

All I have to say is

and

 

[FluffyColor]

Um....Daddy,since when did we get meat turkeys?

(My dad's name is Jeff

)
Well,either Daddy stashing all those turkeys somewhere I don't know, or you're my neighbor... but Christina didn't tell me about her meat turkeys.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Quote:
Ya the day job sucks, but I wanted to get some equipment this year and the only way to do that was to stick out the day job. I'm crossing my fingers that I will not have to do both come spring. It is so hard to do both.... but sometimes I just bite the bullet. I'm a roofer during the day so as soon as it starts to snow I get a break.... SO I'm hoping that after all the turkeys are done.... that it starts snowing!

The only thing that makes the day job work is my boss... he is great and loves what I'm doing so he is all for it. If I need time off to catch up at the farm he gives it to me without any hassle. Plus I promised him I would stick it out until Spring....

 

[Buster52]

Quote:
...I'm a roofer during the day so as soon as it starts to snow I get a break....

Well, at least you will be processing them after a day on a nice, easy job.

Former roofer, here. My dad was a roofer (when he wasn't working dairy jobs) and we worked with him on weekends and in the summer, back in the day when wood shakes and shingles were popular and you nailed every single one by hand. Did it as an adult a while before and after the Marines, too. Hardest job I ever had. We used to envy the carpenters and other construction workers who went to work at 8 and got off at 5. We thought they had cushy jobs.

So, I feel for ya. Hang in there and keep us updated if you can.

 

[ghulst]

Where di you buy the poults from?

 

[2manychixs]

I'm interested in selling free range meat chickens and turkeys to the public, but there is so much red tape.

How can you get by the heatlh dept?
Do you own a butcher shop?

You must own alot of freezer and refrig units.

Wow! I though 30 meat chickens were a hand full!

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Somebody else asked me this question along with financial issues. I will do my best to help guide you in the right direction. But as far as how much it cost me per turkey or how much profit I make per bird is a question I'm not willing to answer. I get $4.00 / lb for turkey and that is about as far as I will take it in a "money" sense. I will do my best to help you cut your cost with certain issues, but like any other buisness you do find ways to make your life easier. To say the least, make it worth your while don't cut yourself to short if you plan on raising the turkeys. I would sell them no less than $4.00 / lb. I've learned that the hard way, trying to make money at $2.00 / lb just doesn't cut it. You can't reinvest or pay the bills.

As far as processing goes, we are within legal rights to process and sell within 1,000 poultry per calendar year on our farm with no exemption. A lot of our broilers are sold as live birds via contract which helps us do more.

This year I will be building/remoldeling a structure to become a processing facility. This will allow me to do 20,000 birds / year and I would be able to sell to anyone in the state of Ohio. Wether that be a grocery store or a farmers market, If I ever decide to do more than 20,000 I no longer will be inspected by the state but instead would have to turn to federal authorities. Which from what I here the Feds are easier to work with than the state of Ohio.

I deal with the local Health Department for eggs and the ODA so we have a good relationship so far. If you ever have to deal with these people be very nice to them and bend over backwards for them when you can. You must remember they control how easy it is for you to run your buisness..... either it be just a few chickens at a market or a few thousand at your farm. As of right now, there is no need to deal with the HD for the meat as we are considered exempt.... but in the future (next season) we will be working closely on this to make this work.

I do not own a butcher shop, I process my birds no differently than most of you on here. I do have a concrete floor with a drain which to me is worth a million dollars compared to grass or dirt. Because as most of you know it doesn't take it long to turn it into a mud whole when processing chickens. I just recently purchased some equipment from featherman.net that has made my life so much easier. I still need to get the scalder though. As of now, I'm still using a turkey fryer which to be blunt... really sucks. It slows me way down as I can only do 2 birds at a time compared to 5. I'm thinking with the equipment I have I can do about 10 turkey's per hour by myself. BUT that is a guess.... time will tell.

I normally don't run into freezer or fridge space as most of what we process is iced down really well and the birds are gone that day or early the next. We are however running into a small problem with these turkeys. I will be taking them to a meat locker to freeze them, I used to use them all the time, I would pay $80 for a 40x40' space which was awesome. I since moved and has made it much more difficult to use them.

The turkey's in the pics are on about 3 acres of woods and pasture (mostly pasture) and they are 15-16 week old BB WHITES. They grow fast don't they? 4 months and they will dress around 14 lbs. That's a bit less than a pound a week!

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Quote:
A local commercial hatchery that doesn't ship, pick up only. I do offer the poults in the spring and ealry summer though for $3.00/ poult.

I pick them up at the hatchery (usually hours after they hatch) ... pack them.... then ship them out via USPS. I only do states that are one or two states away from Ohio though....

 

[barrybro]

Jeff;

I am at the beginning point of my poultry enterprise. I am encourage by what I see you doing. We all have to figure out our finances on our own. I do appreciate all your help and guidance.

Barry