Forest Edge Farm Products

Here on the farm, our main products have been beef, pork and eggs. The beef comes from the males of our herd. This past fall ('06), we butchered one steer and this coming fall we'll have 2. We are working toward having about 10 breeding cows giving us on average 5 steers for meat and 5 heifers to sell. Currently we have six cows.

Most years we purchase a number of weaner pigs to grow out for pork. We've had anywhere from 2 to 12 at a time. 2 is barely
enough to provide us some meat and bless 1 or 2 others with some reasonably priced pork. 12 is too many for our facilities. Four to six seems to work out best for us.

Forty or fifty hens provide us with all the eggs we can eat with quite a surplus. We take the surplus to our workplace and provide co-workers with the opportunity to purchase good, fresh eggs. Any left over, I take to the local feed store and they buy them, or give me credit against my feed purchases.

Lately, we've been feeling the need to diversify our 'products', to possibly create additional income streams. To that end, three addtional products are being 'introduced'. A nest box unit. A drill-powered chicken plucker. And a rabbit water holder rack.

The nest box unit is patterned after several commercial units that we have seen on the internet, reproduced in wood. It has 2 nests and perches. The nest areas are eleven inches square by ten inches high.



The chicken plucker is produced by mounting some commercial plucker fingers on a 4-inch PVC cap. A drill arbor mounted in the center of the cap completes the unit. Northern tool used to supply something vaguely similar.



The rabbit water holder is just that; a ring of stiff wire fixed to a cross-member which allows it to be hooked on a cage wall. This produce hasn't been completely produced yet, as we are having difficulties affixing the metal pieces together. Several types of soldering and brazing haven't worked. I think I need to consult with my metal-working guru friend to see what advice he can render.

Any products I have ready for sale will be listed on eBay; The link for my auctions is in the 'Internet Diversions' section on the right sidebar.