Pastured Poultry Profits

Truly speaking from experience Joel writes a detailed book with practical explanations to make even the most city of folks able to make money with poultry. I personally bought the book to learn more about what pastured meat really is and what it takes to raise chickens humanely. My friend however borrowed my book, followed the advice, and about 60 days later our family and his were processing chickens. He pre-sold all of his first batch and it was a great way to make some side money for the family. Due to customer requests, he is starting another batch this week. This book really does work which is why I gave it 5 stars. However, the book touts making $25K in 6 months on 20 acres but when you read the book you soon learn that is with TWO people working (modeled as husband/wife team in the book) and working nearly EVERY DAY for 6 months so you might want to keep those profits in perspective. Also, even the book admits your will have to count as loss if a fox, coyote, or other animal gets in your pens. Additionally the model of Joels pens does NOT work if you ground is greatly sloped or rocky (just ask our friends in New York) but it gives a good launching point for creativity. Overall, raising your own brood if you have some space means YOU are in control of what you eat and the book is written in such a friendly, easy-going way it nearly guarantees success. With all the hormone and antibiotic injections and all other nastiness (like 30% of fluid in your store-bought chicken is chicken feces) that comes with comercial/large chicken farms as both mentioned in this book and published in reputable literature buying pastured poultry is worth the extra $$ for our family. It truly does taste different and we find we don't need as much on our plate to feel full. Overall this book was inspiring and made me appreciate the hard work of my local farmers/ranchers even more.

This book is essential for anyone considering poultry production as a business. Following this book will save time, stress, money and more. Nothing is smooth or perfect, but when using the experience the Salatin's have under their belt will greatly reduce the number of disasters. They took most of the oops's out of the equation. This book covers in detail everything from why you should go this route, to what the "big hats" do and why that isnt the route to go. He explains in so much detail that I feel after reading this book you can safely gauge whether this business would work for you. This book contains everything you need to begin today. It discusses the equipment, the government certification requirements, or more accurately what sort of operation doesn't have to deal with those restrictions. He discusses the chicken tractors, how to make them, how to not make them. Discusses seasonal processing, the actual nitty gritty about the processing and more, oh so much more. I learned a great deal from this book, I was so impressed that I have his Salad Bar Beef on order. I believe this book represents a turn key business. A person purchases the rights to open a fast food chain, you spend 1 mil to have the right to use a clown to advertise your hamburger's and get to tap the experience of everyone that has opened that type of company... this book is no different. The purchase price of the book is a great value when you consider this is experience talking, this shows all of the details, this shows everything including the day to day life and how to find customers. Sounds to me like the 1 million dollar turn key franchise. Except this is anything but a franchise, he points out family business and not empires are the way to go... and I have to agree with him. He shares this information because he would like to see a lot more operations like the one him and his family (and sometimes even customers) run. He notes that 100 operations in Virginia using the model he shares with us, would be about enough to support the state... yet he is the only one there (at the time of writing this book). He would like to see these everywhere... people eating healthier, animals that are healthier, people being connected to where their food comes from. I can not say enough good about this book, personally I would like to go work for the author and his family for a couple weeks to learn hands on. I think this is a wealth of information and I await eagerly my Salad Bar Beef book hoping it opens my eyes to a better way to raise my beefalo.

Salatin describes, in good detail, how to raise pastured broiler (meat) chickens for sale. While I learned a good deal about chickens, the book concentrates on describing the needs of one particular breed (Cornish Rock Cross) and one industry (meat chickens). There are three chapters at the end of the book about layer (egg) chickens, turkeys, and exotic birds, but the main focus is on raising, processing, and selling Cornish Rock Cross meat. With that limitation in mind, it's an excellent book. Salatin makes a great case for raising chickens on a small farm, with a small processing facility on the premises, as being superior in nearly every way to the large centralized processor and large farm that is more common. He gives details on processing the birds into meat, keeping them safe from predators, diseases, etc., and a host of entertaining and instructive anecdotes. If you're interested in raising chickens, it's a book that I'd highly recommend.

Superb. Joel Salatin lays it all out. We use the ration for layers all year, from chick to adult. We realized feeding less and butchering at a lower weight was a much better mode of operation. First year of following this, 33 chickens, not one death. 6-7 weeks old at butchering, 3.5-4.5lbs. dressed chickens. Completely positive experience. Second year 110 chickens, nearly twenty deaths (overfed- heart and lung failure, perhaps acidosis?) 7-8 weeks old at butchering, 4.5-6lbs. dressed chickens. Once we realized we were feeding too much we slowed down deaths, and eliminated them but it was scary to see so many lost. Online communities can really help diagnose. This book is an extremely useful and comprehensive reference tool. From shelter to butchering, marketing and value. Joel Salatin will pump you up and let you believe in honest food and your part in it. Anyone can do it. I recommend you do it. We started on a quarter acre in a suburb allotment, the heavily treed backyard of my parents. They did so well we moved out to a farm 15 minutes away the next year. If you could raise the birds at your home it would be extremely appealing, to an even greater degree because the constant contact and supervision you could exercise. Still, even being removed from them, it was a great experience. Some of the conditions have changed, internet is now a great tool for marketing. It may be a little more to regulate according to your government but this book needs very little updating, just start. You will make your own adjustments and find it satisfying.

I read this book while preparing to move to a farm and find another source of income while building our business. This book has invaluable insights and information on selling farm directly to the customers. It’s well written and interesting. Actually I couldn’t put it down as I’m obsessed with developing a reasonable second and third income stream.

OK - there's no doubt Joel is a very successful businessman - his Polyface Farms has been written up by Business Week (amongst others). This book gives you a great deal of insight into the pastured poultry "enterprise" part of his business and does a pretty good job introducing you to the concepts surrounding raising meat birds. Pros * easy read * generally stays on topic in each section and the book is arranged logically * offers lots of experiential stories to help the newcomer learn from his mistakes * sprinkled with his own viewpoint of the world Cons * no "exacting" plans for building the pasture coops - rater verbal descriptions and poor black and white photos. * lots of "factual opinions" with no references to source data (when he starts on the "big industry" for example) some of the science is sketch at best - again no references cited * sprinkled with his own viewpoint of the world The last item as both a pro and a con is what seems to polarize folks regarding Joel's books and techniques. The fact is - he's made a truly sustainable model out of farming - from both a land/resource management perspective, a "save the planet" perspective, and frankly - from a dollars and cents perspective. Take it or leave it - his opinions about a lot of things shine through. If you can not agree with everything someone says - but take the meat of their points and work with them to learn - this is a fairly solid book (but expect to do some extra research if this is your first brush with poultry). If you are someone who is easily put off by strong opinions that may differ from your own - you should avoid this book - and go buy a book on self-esteem and negotiation.

Joel does a great job overall. I'd just like to see better illustrations, especially concerning pen construction and processing the birds. I highly recommend newbies take a look at Herrick Kimball's [...]. He does a great job illustrating how to process the birds, with great pictures. Also, the homemade plucker, which he designed, is great. It plucks 3 birds in about 10-15 seconds! Now that's good stuff! But I'd highly recommend Joel's book, in spite of the poor illustrations. Maybe he should have a talk with his publisher and put out a new edition. We just did our first 50 Cornish X Rocks, largely based on his methods and it went off without a hitch...well, I accidentally ran over a couple of birds with the pen as I moved it. So, those were a couple of "hitches", but some of the little buggers just didn't want to march to my well-sung Marine Corps marching songs! Imagine that! So, the little non-hackers went off to join Colonel Sanders in a better place. Maybe he can get them to march:)

I love this book! I can tell that it is one of Salatin's first works, as it lacks the humor and ease that is found in many of his later writings. That being said, this book is essentially a long instruction manual/ brochure; the matter-of-fact writing style is well suited to the subject matter. I especially enjoy all the resources listed at the end of the book. The addendums and author's notes at the end are also very useful, as Salatin's methods continue to grow and change throughout time. His current knowledge is much more than it was when he first wrote the book. The only thing I had been hoping for in this book, that i found lacking was actual plans. I would have liked to see blueprints or plans to many of the projects he mentions. I personally can not visualize his projects off of his verbal descriptions, as I prefer to see the plans drawn out.

this is exactly what i wanted. all the reviews i've seen of this book say positive things (save those that say its out of date for the financials) and so far, it's brilliant (100pages in) i don't care about the cash numbers as i am not in the usa it's the principles I find invaluable.

I've searched trough the Internet for ecological and economical way for raising livestock. This is an excellent primer for pastured poultry, you can even watch the evolution and relevance of the contents of this book scattered around in hundreds of homesteading and family farming videos, the most valuable lessons have permeated to the general movement of responsible farming. This book gives excellent advise for beginners that can be easily improved by experience and further reading. This can be a stand alone reference, since it covers the whole Poultry business. However, complementary readings should be considered in each particular case. In general, this is a great quick reference guide for embarking in the pastured poultry business. The book was also well written and organized, the reading was fast and easy, which is appreciated. The best part, is the ethics and principles embedded within the lessons, a prime example of humane practices anchored to animal wellness, consumer's health and satisfaction, and reasonable political viewpoints. This might not be the "solve all" reference, but it is a complete guide relatable to anyone interested in honest farming and permanent learning. It is a must for every beginner.

Joel Salatin is a very smart man and excellent writer!

util como experiencia, práctica

I have never had any kind of poultry before but plan to on a small scale at first, for my own meat and egg production. This book has all the knowledge you could ever want and more on the best way to look after your poultry!