Pastured Poultry Talk

What makes a guy quit his New York City job on the Howard Stern show, sell everything he owns to bicycle across the US, and then start his mid-life farming career. That's the summary of John Suscovich's self-described quarter-life crisis. John is the Farm Manager at Camp Roads Farm in Connecticut and host of the Growing Farms Podcast.

In this episode, Mike and John talk through John's transition to farming. Over the course of four years, he has gone from a trial batch of 40 broilers in year one to raising as many as 2,400 meat birds and up to 350 laying hens. John primarily markets through a chicken CSA, and we spend a fair amount of time talking about marketing birds.

John can be found at:

• Camp Roads Farm (www.campsroadfarm.com)
• Farm Marketing Solutions (www.farmmarketingsolutions.com) - Home of the Growing Farms Podcast.
• Food Cyclist (foodcyclist.com) - The journey that started it all. John's chicken tractor plans are available here.
• Farm Marketing Solutions on YouTube: (https://www.youtube.com/user/farmmarketing)

What makes a guy quit his New York City job on the Howard Stern show, sell everything he owns to bicycle across the US, and then start his mid-life farming career. That's the summary of John Suscovich's self-described quarter-life crisis. John is the Farm Manager at Camp Roads Farm in Connecticut and host of the Growing Farms Podcast.

In this episode, Mike and John talk through John's transition to farming. Over the course of four years, he has gone from a trial batch of 40 broilers in year one to raising as many as 2,400 meat birds and up to 350 laying hens. John primarily markets through a chicken CSA, and we spend a fair amount of time talking about marketing birds.

John can be found at:

In episode 12 of Pastured Poultry Talk, Grady (gradyphelan.com) and Mike (millsidefarm.com) used a profit of $5 per bird to calculate the paypack on equipment purchases, particularly pasture shelters. In this episode, we walk you through the "how to price your pastured poultry" to determine what you need to charge in order to realize a $5 profit margin (or any profit margin, for that matter).

So, grab your pencil and calculator and join us. In this episode, Grady is quick on the calculator and crunches numbers as soon as they hit his ears, or so it seems.

Grady and Mike, despite having different production scales and methods, have similar costs in many areas. Find out where they differ and how that difference influences the production cost, which influences the profitable selling price.

In episode 12 of Pastured Poultry Talk, Grady (gradyphelan.com) and Mike (millsidefarm.com) used a profit of $5 per bird to calculate the paypack on equipment purchases, particularly pasture shelters. In this episode, we walk you through the "how to price your pastured poultry" to determine what you need to charge in order to realize a $5 profit margin (or any profit margin, for that matter).

So, grab your pencil and calculator and join  us. In this episode, Grady is quick on the calculator and crunches numbers as soon as they hit his ears, or so it seems.

Grady and Mike, despite having different production scales and methods, have similar costs in many areas. Find out where they differ and how that difference influences the production cost, which influences the profitable selling price.

This is a second part to Mike Badger's Poultry Politics workshop at the October Sustainable Poultry Network Conference in Wilmot, Ohio. Eric Pawlowski, Sustainable Agriculture Educator, at the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association makes a cameo appearance is this part of the talk, as well. We're discussing the value of animal welfare certifications, including certified organic. This is an edited version of the talk.

Please send your comments and questions to [email protected]. You can reach Mike at millsidefarm.com and Grady at gradyphelan.com.

This is a second part to Mike Badger's Poultry Politics workshop at the October Sustainable Poultry Network Conference in Wilmot, Ohio. Eric Pawlowski, Sustainable Agriculture Educator, at the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association makes a cameo appearance is this part of the talk, as well. We're discussing the value of animal welfare certifications, including certified organic. This is an edited version of the talk.

Please send your comments and questions to [email protected]. You can reach Mike at millsidefarm.com and Grady at gradyphelan.com.

This is an excerpt of Mike Badger's Poultry Politics workshop from the Sustainable Poultry Network Conference in Wilmot, OH in October 2015. Mike is joined briefly by Eric Pawlowski, Sustainable Agriculture Educator, at the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association. Turn your speakers up, the audio is clear, but may be low depending on your device.

As always we appreciate your listening. Send all your comments and questions to [email protected].

This is an excerpt of Mike Badger's Poultry Politics workshop from the Sustainable Poultry Network Conference in Wilmot, OH in October 2015. Mike is joined briefly by Eric Pawlowski, Sustainable Agriculture Educator, at the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association. Turn your speakers up, the audio is clear, but may be low depending on your device.

As always we appreciate your listening. Send all your comments and questions to [email protected].

This episode features an edited version of Mike's Pastured Poultry Husbandry and Management presentation at the Sustainable Poultry Network Conference. The SPN conference was held in Wilmot Ohio in October 2015.

If you like this episode, share it with your friends. Contact Mike and Grady at [email protected].

This episode features an edited version of Mike's Pastured Poultry Husbandry and Management presentation at the Sustainable Poultry Network Conference. The SPN conference was held in Wilmot Ohio in October 2015.

If you like this episode, share it with your friends. Contact Mike and Grady at [email protected].