how a meat & egg csa can help your livestock farm | starting a farm csa business

[@philgriswold2133]

I recently retired from a electric utility that had over 1000 people at our headquarters campus. A local vegetable farm did a CSA there, but the variety of vegetables contains such a broad array of product, most people weren't attracted. For those forward thinkers, they began a sort of a swap shop at the pickup area where one person may not want their squash, but they did want more green beans. Once people got into the veggie swapping, the sales picked up. The farm actually started promoting this model to other large organizations and it helped sales everywhere.

[@JL-xn3zy]

Your farm and personal approach represents the best of America. Love the videos Pete. Keep the great work and God bless!

[@JustaFewAcresFarm]

Thank you J L! This means a lot to me.

[@keithmcallister4917]

I did a cash CSA for my customer’s that worked great for me and worked well with meat sales. I offered a $100. $200. And a$300.

[@carloshenrique85]

That's great. Really an amazing job you're doing. I'll try to find CSA where I live (UK).

[@TheStormisComing24]

I didn't even know you could do that. I thought only big business or established butchers did this. Thanks!

[@JustaFewAcresFarm]

You're welcome Bernie!

[@jimwade5782]

great timing I've been considering this and your insight is invaluable

[@Lady_of_Ishpeming]

This is the most informative video I have seen so far! Thanks for sharing 👍. I will use this information for when we purchase our property.

[@livingparadiselife]

One Great Job Sir.. I Hope and pray you have a continued success

[@brianclayton6305]

Super helpful, just found your channel, thanks for all the great info.

[@jeanettestefanisko5301]

Love the show

[@chrisobermeyer355]

Pete i have tried to watch every video i love the farm life but i am stuck in the city with 1ac however i still raise chickens Layers and meat birds.

[@ralphcostello9203]

Peter hi it's Ralph your csa fascinating and really interesting, I have small holding and what you might call window box. I love the programme keeping it good luck. Ralph from South Wales UK.

[@yanierose5114]

Thank you for this information. I will review your sight and sound pretty straight forward👍

[@TheMartywall]

Hi Pete, Am loving the videos, I was just wondering how many freezers you use and are they working of your solar system. If not how much do they consume in electricity. While I am still trying to find my way through your great bank of videos, I have seen the one explaining your solar system, I would be interested in seeing your set-up and power consumption for a month. Many Thanks your Fan Martin.

[@SheratonParkFarms]

Great info and I really like the structure. We’ve toyed with the idea of joining a veg farmer and giving their customers a protein option but just haven’t been able to figure it out. This is super helpful. Just a thought, since ground beef is usually pretty abundant, did you consider adding a ground beef “add-on”? No guesswork on the cut, consistent price and additional revenue. Thanks again for the info! Chuck

[@peterlarson9970]

Hi Chuck, I think the ground beef option is a great idea!

[@frankbeans289]

Probably old idea now...but you could take credit cards for your CSA, and just uplift the cost by the CC charge, and then offer a discount of that charge for cash or check. That's typical sales/marketing approach and gives customer options to pay for convenience and gives you same net profit.

[@brandonwillcutt1099]

I would love a video of your chicken butchering process

[@danachoate5361]

I have seen beef added to CSA as a Al' LaCart item. you can set the price and they can have it added to their box.

[@Offgrid.farming]

Thank you! Thank you! Than you sooooo much!

[@kyleward5694]

Pete what equipment do you use to package your chickens and turkeys

[@JL-xn3zy]

Great videos!!!

[@mntcreekranchandhomestead6997]

Do you deliver to customers? Or do they pick up weekly?

[@russsherwood5978]

i,ll leave that part of farming up to guys, i just wanna grow my own food,, be blessesd and safe

[@JustaFewAcresFarm]

Thanks for watching Russ. Hope you are well.

[@russsherwood5978]

@@JustaFewAcresFarm i just have a bad case of winter blues is all,, winter dont want to leave/end this year it seems, be blessed and safe

[@SteveM0732]

A monthly quantity of ground beef would probably be welcome and usable by all customers.

[@foxy1067]

Could you not do a csa for beef with a dollar amount instead of cuts? There might be some left over or more to pay in the last month, but it would enable the farm to be able to have more funds.

[@tobyjamison6801]

How would you have product available for every month of the csa if the livestock is only slaughtered and processed once or twice a year though?

[@davidoutdoors74]

How's the numbers for you on pork per pound. Thanks

[@scottkeeports2308]

It is all about the Math! Linear thinking. Question: Do you recommend accepting Paypal, Zelle or other 3rd party companies to process your payments? Unfortunately, the IRS just came out with their new rule to require disclosure of any payment over $600. The Taxman Cometh for small businesses...

[@HoosieHunter83]

Hey Pete. Do you ship meat to other states?

[@gwc3721]

DO YOU USE YOUR SQUARE APP FOR ONLY CREDIT CARD SALES OR DO YOU USE IT FOR CASH SALES ALSO, FOR ACCOUNTING PURPOSES? AND DOES THE COMPANY TAKE A % OF THE CASH SALES?

[@itztractorjohn]

How many meat birds do you do every season?

[@horsebee1]

You mention that you only accept cash or cheque for your CSA Boxes. Do you still have cheques in common use there? Do you have available Eftpost and direct electronic deposit. Here in New Zealand banks no longer accept cheques and without eftpost we wouldnt do business. Cash is becoming rare.

[@jamiecoyne2102]

Do you slaughter per CSA or is it all frozen meat? I just noticed all those Freezers

[@JustaFewAcresFarm]

Hi Jamie, we sell fresh chicken in the summer, and freeze some to sell in the winter. Our pork & beef comes back frozen from the butcher.

[@Offgrid.farming]

Dose the meat have to be USDA processed?

[@Discipleofthelordandjesus]

@@Offgrid.farmingnot if it’s non gmo , organic , kosher fed.

[@byronmcgee4118]

Kind of like a co op

[@wjgoh653]

considering the CSA model, Im surprised you dont do your own hatching. Breeder pairs like your cattle and you pork. Is it just not tenable?

[@cameronshaw599]

Hatching out chickens in large enough numbers to make a living requires infrastructure and labor that is very costly if it is not something that you are doing at an enterprise level. Additionally, the fast growing broiler varieties do not really have any mothering instincts left, so you can’t really get around having an incubator, etc. Purchasing chicks at ~$1.50 from a reputable hatchery with stable genetics saves so much labor and money, it’s pretty much impossible to beat on a home scale.

[@larrymoore6640]

Pete do you dress your own chicken and turkeys.

[@JustaFewAcresFarm]

Yes we do the butchering.

[@larrymoore6640]

@@JustaFewAcresFarm Have you done a video on that and do you have a designated place on the farm for that equipment??

[@JustaFewAcresFarm]

@@larrymoore6640 No video on that. We have a dedicated butcher shed.

[@twochickshomestead3439]

I was wondering if having a butcher shed would be wise and also what regulations we have to follow.

[@joelegrand5903]

Thanks a million. I just retired & want to grow my on food, sale a little so to break even on infrastructure & raising of crops/animals. I got more ideals on plants then I can deal with, very few on meat. Why do you not offer duck & rabbit or lamb ?

[@JustaFewAcresFarm]

Hi Joe, we used to grow Peking ducks for meat, but they didn't work very well with our pasturing system. They played in their drinker & made a muddy mess of things. I have no experience with lamb or rabbit; don't know how to raise it or cook it, so was never interested in adding them to the farm. Best of luck with your farm.

[@Whyjustwhy78]

So how do you set up the credit card payment

[@simtexx791]

Easiest way to include the beef into your csa is this. 1: work out how much a full beast cost to grow 2: add 10% 3: sell half beast on csa

[@christian9125abd]

now we are comming to the problem people aren't stupid they will take the best parts so the average price would way to low and when he would make it higher people won't choose the beef at csa

[@vadanadav]

I'm surprised that you are paying three to three and a half percent credit card fees. They're much better options out there for processing credit card transactions that cost very little. Far be it for me to tell you your business that's very often it's the terms of financing in credit that determine whether you make a profit. It sounds like you may be leaving quite a bit of money on the table.

[@PinkTaurus93]

What other options would you suggest?

[@vadanadav]

@@PinkTaurus93 square, even zelle

[@PinkTaurus93]

@@vadanadav Square has the 3%+ credit card fee. Idk if it’s new! Thanks, I’ll look into Zelle!

[@vadanadav]

@@PinkTaurus93 2.6 percent if you don't have a subscription. There are other competitors too...

[@riasomers642]

Don't you grow anything? Corn, beans, anything?

[@JustaFewAcresFarm]

We grow a different crop: grass.