posted 9 years ago
Greg,
Since you're looking to the Kentucky area, why not check out Joel Salatin? He's just over in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia so climate is similar, and he's got youtube videos and books that talk about his operations.
Also check with local farmers where you're gonna raise your animals. When I first moved to a rural area in 1977 I was mostly a southern small town girl / Navy brat - adaptable and capable of many things, but greener than grass to farming. The older farmers and their wives helped me and my family alot! They already had livestock that had been raised for decades and through several generations of mutation to succeed in our area - so much so that I ended up with 30+ chickens (5 different breeds from 3 farmers) given to me to start my flock, because they had too many. I also was given local corn, beans, melons, and other fruits and veggies to eat and can (kept the seeds to plant the following year). My garden from those seeds produced beyond belief. I recently had a similar experience with pumpkins - got a local produced pumpkin, planted about 30 to 40 seeds the following year (thinking that 1/2 of seeds in most seed packs don't make it). I had 38 pumpkins that fall. I saved some for cooking through the winter and gave over 2/3 of them to family and friends.
Modern term for this localized breeding is landrace - these are the breeds that are optimized to your growing conditions. It's how our ancestors created plants and animals that were so successful that we now have them 100 to 1000 years later and call them "heritage" or "heirloom" breeds.
Even Joel's son has created a rabbit breed that is optimal for their operation, I'm doing a similar program on my .15 acres with my rabbits. As for chickens, I have a variety of hens (sorry, had to get rid of roosters due to city ordinances) that lay colored eggs - no white eggs in this bunch. We easily get $4 -$6 a dozen for "Rainbow Eggs" and $6 - $8 for "Chocolate/Chocolate Chip Eggs". Kids love them and one dad explained that our "Easter eggs" are colored by the chickens because we fed them crayons. His kids and their friends HAD to come visit our farm. Everyone loves that story.
Anyway, lots of best wishes for your future.
Raine