Animal Production

Organizations are providing invaluable training and resources to help small-scale commercial poultry farmers establish profitable operations.

This publication was created to provide information that will help producers explore the many choices available for today’s dairy farms. This book is not intended to be a how-to dairy guide or manual. While there is no one-size-fits-all answer for dairy farmers seeking success as milk producers, there are many options that can be profitable and satisfying.

In Canistota, SD, a group of family farmers have been experimenting with methods for adding value to their products and income to their operations.

Tom and Ruth Neuberger were traditional livestock farmers in ‘70’s. During the credit crunch of early 80’s they found themselves in debt “up to their ears.” They sold off their livestock to pay off debt, and then had to devise a new business plan. 

They turned to poultry. 

To help it survive in challenging economic times, the Imperial Stock Ranch has increased profits by adopting direct, value-added marketing of wool products.

Granjeros que quieren producir puercos con éxito en pequeña escala pueden preservar su independencia de cara a la industria de puercos en proceso de consolidación.

FAMACHA is a diagnostic tool to help farmers identify parasite infection in small ruminants, allowing them to cut the cost of deworming agents by targeting treatments only to infected animals. Training is required before purchase.

Iowa State University graduate student's unexpected discoveries inspired vibrant new learning communities for small-scale meat processors.

University of Georgia researchers are developing a wealth of resources—on nutrient management, forage selection, rotational strategies and other topics—for the state's pasture-based dairies.

Down a winding country road in Garnett, Kansas stands the Bauman farm, where agriculture is a family affair. Upon purchasing the farm in 2001, the family’s first farm venture was to raise pastured chickens and livestock. Today, the Baumans sell about 7,000 broiler chickens each year and an average 350 dozen eggs a week.

With the help of a grant from the NCRSARE Farmer Rancher grant program, the Baumans experimented with pasturing different species of animals in the same area. With the “pasture stacking” project, the family increased their broiler chickens’ average weight by 50 percent.

A comprehensive small ruminant resource tool covering all manners of production, planning, marketing, health, and facilities has been developed to aid producers and the Extension agents who work with them in improving sheep and goat profitability and sustainability.

A series of eight handbooks for new farmers or established producers seeking to transition to organic or improve their current practices. Print only; order from Chelsea Green.

A group of farmers in Wimbledon, ND are working to turn a conventional chemically dependent farm into a fertile, sustainable, organic, farming unit. What started as a farm restoration project for the sake of their beef market ended by using all of the livestock to restore the soil.

In Wooster, Ohio, a producer of Katahdin sheep is working with producers from two other states on the heritability of parasite resistance. The group is investigating methods of identifying ewes with a reduced periparturient rise. They are comparing the fecel egg count of sheep selected for their low fecal egg counts as lambs to determine how it relates to their adult parasite resistance and that of their offspring. 

Pervasive cheatgrass has long posed a threat to ranchers and their communities in the Intermountain West, but there is new hope in forage kochia, a perennial shrub with the potential to improve grazing and biodiversity.

Raising poultry on pasture instead of in a barn or other permanent structure is an increasingly popular enterprise for hobby and small farmers across the country. This bulletin features the Day-Range system, which consists of a mobile pen that is kept inside a fenced area. The birds are free to roam within the fenced-area during the day and are put in the mobile pen at night if predators are a problem. The mobile pen is moved daily to prevent accumulation of manure and the fence is moved as necessary to provide access to fresh pasture.

Poultry Your Way is for anyone interested in commercially raising, processing, and marketing poultry. It is designed to help you consider alternatives, and to help you make decisions about which alternative(s) will be most compatible with your family and business goals.

The 16-page bulletin features profiles about successful hog producers as well as the latest research on everything from greater profits to better-tasting pork raised in alternative hog systems.

Profitable Poultry: Raising Birds on Pasture features farmer experiences plus the latest research in a guide to raising chickens and turkeys using pens, movable fencing and pastures.

This farmer project assessed whether greenhouse crops can be raised in hoop structures heated by livestock's body heat and manure compost.

Features innovative SARE-funded research on creating and sustaining a healthy range.

This multimedia project includes four video segments on the economics of behavior. They are: 1) Improve Rangeland Use and Profitability: Using Low Moisture Block to Extend the Grazing Season, 2) Reduce Feed Costs and Improve Feed Efficiency: Let Animals Mix their Own Diets, 3) Improve Rangeland Use and Profitability: Herding and Low Stress Handling, and 4) Cost Effective Weed Management: Training Cows to Eat Them.

In a SARE-funded project coordinated by Montana State University, researchers have demonstrated that using sheep to graze crop residue and summer fallow can help address insect, weed and residue management challenges.

This multi-page fact sheet describes basic parasite biology for gastrointestinal worms acquired by sheep and goats on pastures, and provides several strategies for managing internal parasitism. 

When rising feed costs threatened to put his once-successful confined feeding dairy out of business, Tom Trantham made the switch to a pasture-based rotational grazing system, and now his operation has never been stronger.

The purpose of the guidebook is to assist the rancher and/or land manager use business planning and ecological monitoring to ensure the ranch or land is managed in a sustainable manner. Material focuses on:

• Business planning
• Financial and ecological monitoring
• Assessment of ranch management

Nevada rancher Agee Smith is using a farmer/rancher grant to add sagebrush to his cattle's diet, which has the potential to lower winter feed costs while improving rangeland biodiversity. 

Charuth van Beuzekom-Loth grew up in Holland. Her family raised goats and good cheese was plentiful. Eventually, she moved to the United States and years later settled down with her husband on a small farm named Shadowbrook near Lincoln, Nebraska. The transition went along nicely except for one thing. The cheese just wasn’t the same.

“I guess I’d always had a dream of doing some kind of a cheese making venture,” said van Beuzekom-Loth. “I love the cheeses in Holland. I never was very satisfied with the cheese that I could buy here unless it came from Europe.”

As the drought in the Texas High Plains continues to intensify, a unique partnership of producers and researchers is working diligently to find economically viable alternatives to the region’s irrigation-dependent crop monocultures.

How can Tom Trantham’s cows graze alfalfa and not be susceptible to bloat? The short answer: feed the cows a total mix ration (TMR) each evening.

Despite the cold Wisconsin winters, Julie Maro and her husband recently were able to establish a small hatchery in Western Wisconsin, hatching a unique breed of chicken that comes from parent stock raised on certified organic feed.