This is an important essay.
Let drill through the following texts:
- Sheep -
- It takes about 1/4 to 1/2 acre of good grass, 500-900 pounds of hay, and 100 pounds of grain to support one sheep for a year. (A ewe's annual wool yield—around eight or nine pounds—will probably bring in enough cash to pay her grain "bills.") Hence, its profit must come from selling their offsprings.
- First, I don't think most homesteader shepherds can compete with the "Big Business" sheep-raising operations. Face it, all the fellow with 30,000 to 50,000 head of sheep has to do is clear $1.00 per head to make a very nice annual profit. If "Shepherd Sam" gets the same income rate on his own farmstead-sized herd, he may only make 50 bucks!
- Alpaca -
- You need five acres to support 20 alpacas. The good news: they create a communal dung pile, so sanitation efforts are concentrated.
- Alpaca profits today lie in breeding (very similar to sheep). Investors who want a quick return buy a pregnant female for $20,000, then sell her baby for $10,000 to other newcomers to the industry. Those building more slowly hold female babies until they, too, are pregnant and worth their initial purchase price. The return on investment ranges from Stewart's 50 percent annually to 10 percent for those unfortunates with scrubby stock.
- All this breeding is leading toward a fleece market -- but not for 20 to 40 years, Stewart estimates. As secretary of the Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association, he points to literature claiming ranchers sell their fleece to artisans for $2 to $4 an ounce. Fiber thickness counts also influence price: get it too coarse and the price starts to slide. Shared shearing times flood this tiny market, driving the price down. Some alpaca farmers work around this by spinning their own fibers, knitting the sweaters and marketing the apparel on the Internet. "Part of it is luck, and the other part is we treat it as a business that takes work. You don't get rich quick on a legitimate business enterprise.
- Chicken -
- An animal rights organization is urging to take a firm stand against what it calls “shocking animal cruelty” captured on a graphic video it says was taken at two chicken farms. The hidden-camera video shows hens crowded in battery cages, and chicks being violently smashed by workers and thrown into garbage bags. “They’re so crammed inside those cages they can’t spread their wings, they can’t walk, they can’t turn around, they can’t engage in any of their natural behaviour,” said the whistle blower. “They spend one year of their miserable life in there, basically producing eggs and after that time period, they’re considered spent by the industry because their productivity is declined, and then they’re slaughtered.”
- Chicken farming requires loads of capital to start. The land size is small, so not an issue. I am not into heavy capitalization. Most heavy capitalization projects always fail on me.
- Turkey -
- In factory farming, each turkey receives less than three square feet. After they hatch, turkeys have the ends of their beaks cut off to prevent them from attacking each other in their crowded, unnatural conditions. No anesthesia or painkiller is used. This process, which is known as “debeaking”, has been compared to having your lips or the ends of your fingers cut off, and deprives the birds of one of their most important sources of sensory input. A debeaked bird cannot eat properly or explore her environment fully, nor can she preen herself or her flockmates. She may also experience acute and chronic pain in her beak, head, and face.
- Debeaking is only one of the mutilations performed on turkeys. They also have their toes cut off; when they are one-day old, a pair of "five-inch surgical shears" is used to clip off "the tip of the toe...including all of the toenail." The snood--the colourful, fleshy appendage that hangs over a turkey's beak--is also cut off, often with no more than a pair of scissors. Like debeaking, all of these tasks are performed without anesthesia, and they appear to result in acute and chronic pain. Dozens of turkey chicks in a rotating debeaking machine. Turkey hatchlings are debeaked without painkillers.
- Turkeys in modern factory farms have been genetically engineered and pumped with antibiotics; as a result they grow much faster than ever before. For example, in the 1960's, it took a turkey 32 weeks to reach slaughter size, but now it takes only 13-16 weeks.
- Like chicken farming, the capital requirement is great.
- Hog -
- As to how much land for a pig, we currently have about 200 pigs of varying ages on about 10 acres divided into paddocks.
- Still, he’s worried about their future. In his forty years of raising hogs, Vincent said he’s never seen the swine industry struggle as much as it has the last few years. “I have never experienced a more difficult period [for producing pork] than the period we’re living right now,” he said. It’s tough times for the hog industry. Since five years ago, producers and processors have been seeing red as grain prices soar, hog prices fall.
- Hog farming requires loads and loads of capital to start. The land need is small. So better don't play this game.
- Cattle -
- Where I live in Ireland, many farmers are part-time farmers, with a regular day job, and cattle can be managed in the morning and evening. We estimate one livestock unit (1 cow or 1.5 sheep) per acre. We have good grass. Places with poorer grass need many more acres, which is why Australian farms are so huge. They have very poor soil with poor grass. the size of the average US producer (is) 32 cows. Profits are not always made every year. The land requirement is huge.
- Running expenses are very high.
- Horse -
- It was much like any other horse sale, said an auctioneer; chatty farmers and ranchers packed the bright blue stands to watch about 60 horses be led across a thick sawdust floor to be sold to the highest bidder. Sales in the small auction house are much as they’ve always been. Cowboy hats are still a common sight and a good market is half social event, half business. The only thing that’s changed is the price. These days, the only people making a profit seem to be the line cooks handing out fried foods at the concession stand.
- “It was a good night,” the auctioneer said after the crowd had left. “But it’s like pulling teeth trying to get someone to bid.” Of the five dozen horses that went up for auction, the auctioneer predicted about 50 were sold for meat. And not for much, even at that. “It was definitely lower. The prices were 20 cents a pound lower than a month ago.” That’s another bad week, and the horse breeders have had plenty.
- As Europe reels at growing tales of equine meatballs and mislabeled lasagna — on Friday, Britain’s food regulator said testing had found horsemeat in ground beef at Taco Bell outlets — ranchers here are dealing with an entirely different disaster. The two local horsemeat processing plants have all but shut operations – a slowdown that’s expected to last until next week, at least. While distributors across the Atlantic struggle to get to the heart of the tainted meat scandal, the demand for horse flesh has dropped off. Few seem interested in buying the stock of lean, rich horsemeat.
- An average of between 1 and 3 acres of land per horse. The land need is very high.
- Deer -
- We became deer farmers because of our interest and obvious appreciation of the animal. For us, whitetail deer are an enigma and an enjoyment to farm. They are low maintenance, and require less labour and feed than the traditional cattle herd.
- Pastures can normally carry 6-8 mature does and their offspring for each beef cow/calf pair. They are browsers, not grazers, and their feed consumption decreases in winter months. They are hardy, intelligent and adaptable to our weather. They are highly productive and generally have twins and often triplets, making deer a good investment with an above-average rate of return. This investment can be maintained on less acreage and poor quality land unsuitable for other types of farming.
- Money can be made in this industry. Good! Finally, a section of agriculture that can be self-sustaining, that may see some profit in a well-run farming operation. Is there money to be made in cattle? You bet, in a well-run farming operation. In any one province which is facing farm crisis, the economic benefits of diversification are a necessary and valuable source of salvation for the family farm.
- A fallow deer doe-fawn unit requires approximately 0.4 acres of good quality pasture. The land need is not too bad.
- This is my favourite. Even if it doesn't turn a profit. I have already ear-marked this business-type.
- Bee -
- Beekeepers are troubled by the silence. The familiar summertime buzz of bees hovering over the lush cherry blossom trees is noticeably absent. The flowers sit untouched. "This is extremely unusual for this being a bee farm, there are no bees here. This is really sad." This increasingly familiar scene, which is playing out across North America and Europe, worries beekeepers, farmers and scientists who have been tracking the collapse of honeybee colonies over the past decade. Another bad year for honey bees as EU pushes through restrictions to protect bees. In the process, two main camps have emerged, vigorously debating the root causes of the decline. A debate rages over whether the death of many honey bees in recent years is the result of a mite infestation or pesticide use. Some scientists and insecticide companies suggest the bees are being overrun by an infestation of mites, while other observers suggest seeds coated with neonicotinoid insecticide – or "neonics" – are to blame. It's a puzzle with huge implications. Bees and other pollinators are responsible for ensuring most fruit and vegetable crops around the world mature into food. Most sources suggest about one-third of the food we eat is reliant on pollinators, and Bloomberg Business Week estimates bee pollination affects "$200 billion worth of crops annually."
- The land need is very small, but you need a huge farm land to prevent neighbours from complaining about the bees.
- The capital cost is very low, apply this business-type with other large land needs.
- Log -
- Growing trees for profit is an ideal part-time or full-time business for anyone who enjoys being outdoors and working with plants. Trees are a valuable and renewable resource that can be grown in a tiny backyard or on a 100 acre tree farm. The most profitable trees for most small growers are those in demand by buyers, are reasonably easy to grow, and bring above-average prices when sold. Unlike traditional trees sold for saw logs and pulp, high-value trees are sold at retail prices to homeowners and landscapers, hobbyists who use the wood or tree shoots to make everything from baskets to guitar backs, or trees planted for their valuable fruits and nuts.
- Sorry is the rude word. It takes at least 40 years to grow a tree for sale. The capital investment cost is extremely low, but you might not have the life-time to earn it. You just need to buy the land.
- You may plant up to 1,800-2,500 per 100 acres.
- This is a good generations game. Do check out the government-of-the-day's interest. They might cut you off on the farm land ownership. So do exercise great caution.
- Fruit/Nut -
- A few years ago, Bill Lancaster bought six acres of sagebrush and rocks in eastern Washington state with the idea of creating a natural grove of nut trees. “They told me I was crazy to try to grow nut trees here,” he said. But now his neighbours are buying nut trees from him! His 4 acre grove of trees resembles a natural forest. Walnuts and Chinese Chestnuts, planted on a 60 foot spacing, form the upper story of the grove. Filberts, which grow well in partial shade, fill in the 20 foot high lower story. There are also peach, plum and pear trees planted in the sunny corners and edges of the grove. Grape vines are trellised around the edge of the grove.Bees from his own hives do the pollinating, and peafowl patrol for insects in the grove. The grove is just reaching it’s prime, producing 8,000 pounds of nuts each year. But the nut and fruit tree grove is only part of Bill’s cash crop income. On the remaining 2 acres, he grows tree seedlings and grafted trees in a backyard nursery, his most profitable plants. His trees are such high quality, they are sold out for two years in advance. Bill says this grove could produce for another 50 years, with very little further work.
- This is a good consideration. This is a low cost and low land need business-type.
- Crop - Crops require huge machinery and huge land need. So don't talk about turning in a profit, it will bankrupt you first through capital purchases. Unless you aim for specialist crops like some of the passion businesses discussed so far.
Don't despair. Build your own reality. If you must cry, by all means be my guest. I cry loads too. There is no embarrassment. Just watch silly shows like 非诚勿扰 would immediately wake your fucking ideas up. There is no love without the dollar sign. Sad? I know. There is no true love, at least for me. The gals in 非诚勿扰 even suggested their bullshit of catching a 柔情铁汉 to depict a man who is very strong in making money but easy on the money for the damsel-in-distress. The gals simply thought that the 柔情铁汉 would fall for the dumb broads like them. LOL. I simply must watch the eventual "happy endings" of these gals after they have gotten hitched.
If you that good, the whites would be clamouring to work for you. The sound of pigeon English amongst the pure English accent is gold.
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