Who is farming what? Animals, Plants, Fungi?

[Jake_Witmer]

Curious.  ...A FSW friend of mine wants to move down from AK and be a farmer.  He is a self-taught pro-FIJA lawyer, (but not an attorney/BAR member), because AK has no law school (prosecutors/overseers must thus come from outside of Alaska).

[MamaLiberty]

Does he have internet access? The best thing would be for him to get active here, read as much of the older stuff as he can, and ask questions. We can still help him otherwise, but it will be harder.

[wyomiles]

Might try the Fence Post Mag.

http://apps.thefencepost.com/classifieds/index.php

Some adds in there.

Is he interested in starting his own place ?

[DT]

Old topic, but here's some links I've come across about farming and whatnot:

http://themodernhomestead.us/

Gardening, greenhousing, livestock info




http://www.backyardchickens.com/

The care, feeding, and slaughtering of chickens

[citizen_142002]

Just my two cents here and since I'm not from WY I'll admit I'm not too familiar with the climate and the agricultural base their. In my experience here in NH it seems like you get a lot more return for your effort if you stick to veggies, chickens are pretty easy to maintain, but as a general rule it's harder to make money or cover costs with larger livestock.

Of course Wyoming is not the northeast and my guess is that it is relatively dry with a lot more open space available for grazing so it seems to me that things might be reversed their with livestock being a more sure bet than produce. Some people are so into the self sufficiency thing that they think you should grow everything you need, but I really think it would be more practical to have a specialty and network with your friends and neighbors. One guy grows mostly feed crops so that the guy who raises cattle has winter feed and can keep his efforts focused on his herd and they trade goods. As libertarians it makes sense to embrace a market paradigm keeping in mind the fact that it would need to be a very local market to provide the benefits of self sufficiency in lean times.

[novuslibertas]

As a former and soon to be again Wyomingite I would recommend your friend look into sugar beets in the Torrington/Wheatland area.  Holly Sugar as a plant in Torrington, and from what I understand sugar beets are a decent cash crop and very hardy, easy to grow crop.

[Paul Bonneau]

Seems like sugar beets are a big-time cash crop, with lots of equipment requirements and lots of money (and that means loans) involved. Pesticides too, or use "Roundup Ready" beets (VERY expensive seed). Beets will flop when (if?) the sugar embargo on Cuba is ever lifted. Probably some federal subsidies involved there too. I wouldn't think it is the kind of thing you'd get into for self-sufficiency.

I think citizen_142002 has the correct outlook on this stuff. A few cows, chickens, greenhouse, and make contacts with neighbors for trade. Make sure of water rights for any large-scale cropping.

If you have land but not machinery, lease out most to the neighboring farmer, but don't expect a huge return.

Fungi? In Wyoming? 

[HardwareHank]

Good luck...

Corn is $23 a hundredweight... mediocre hay is $110 a ton. Water is.. Well, where you find it. That's NW Wyoming (Park, Big Horn, Washakie Counties). Unless it's irrigated, it takes about 50 acres to support one horse. Raise something that eats grasshoppers.... like Chickens, Turkeys or Guinea Fowl.

As the old joke goes... The land is so poor, You have to sit on a sack of fertilizer to raise an umbrella.