What animals to breed? What animals are profitable to breed for business? The most profitable animal on the farm

Raising and breeding animals can become a profitable business if you approach this business wisely and with some knowledge. Of course, you need start-up capital and appropriate premises. Nowadays a variety of species are bred. What animals are profitable to breed for business? Let's look at it in this article.

Business plan: pig farming

Livestock farming can become a profitable business if the right approach is taken to develop it. Most often, farmers resort to breeding pigs. These pets gain weight well and are unpretentious when feeding. To properly start the breeding process, you need to draw up a business plan. Pig farming has a number of advantages:

payback rate within 6 months;
constant demand for meat;
high ratio of meat received to feed spent.

This type of livestock farming is also used for breeding and selling piglets. The method of making a profit is more profitable, but requires more investment of effort and knowledge.

The disadvantages include a large amount of physical labor costs. You will also have to invest money to equip the premises with mechanized equipment. Therefore, answering the question of which animals are most cost-effective to keep for a business is quite simple. Having spacious premises and capital, it is better to acquire pigs. It is especially profitable to make stew or sausage yourself if there are additional branches in the production sector.

Rabbit breeding business plan

The meat of these animals belongs to the dietary category and is valued among gourmets and people who adhere to proper nutrition. This product is the first to be introduced into complementary feeding of all types of meat for babies. It is more often used by allergy sufferers, as it practically does not cause negative reactions.

Breeding rabbits has its advantages:

high fertility;
good profitability - obtaining meat and skins;
low labor costs;
small amount of feed.

These points allow even novice farmers to engage in rabbit farming. The only big disadvantage is the high percentage of morbidity in animals at an early age. It is quite simple to combat this problem - vaccination of young animals. This is the only way to protect rabbits from pestilence.

To accommodate 1,000 livestock, approximately 6 acres of land are needed. It is necessary to build cages on the site and supply water under the drinking bowls. Rabbits can be outdoors from April to October. In winter, the cells can be hidden under greenhouses. In this case, you need to take care of lighting.

For larger scales, it is advisable to build sheds to house animals in the cold season. Litter can also be used for sale as fertilizer - humus. Thus, net profit will increase by a sufficient percentage.

You can build up your customer base gradually. First, the products can be offered to relatives and friends. The customer base will then expand due to their reviews. You can also sell your products to restaurants and cafes.

Carcasses are often purchased by resellers. To sell meat, you must take care of a certificate from veterinarians about the suitability of the meat and the health of the live stock. A rabbit breeding business plan will help you calculate the amount of capital investment and monthly expenses for maintaining the farm.

Raising turkeys

Poultry breeding is very often used in this type of animal husbandry. This type of animal husbandry is also popular among small and medium-sized farmers. Turkey meat is in good demand among the population, as well as in catering establishments.

Turkeys gain weight well with proper feeding and care. They grow to quite large sizes. One bird reaches a weight of 30 kg. The meat of this bird has virtually no fat and contains a large amount of healthy proteins and amino acids.

You need to start by drawing up a business plan. It describes the main points of organizing a farm:

acquisition or lease of land;
choosing a bird breed for breeding;
purchase of equipment;
purchasing and growing feed;
purchase of young animals;
costs for veterinarian services;
sales of products.

Turkeys have good egg production. This is another point of business payback. Their droppings are also used as fertilizer. These birds have good disease resistance. This argument is a huge plus for their breeding endeavors. What animals are profitable to breed for a small business? The answer is obvious - turkeys.

You can already receive your first income from this business in 4-6 months. These birds are very demanding about the purity of the water in their drinkers, so breeding turkeys requires special attention in caring for them.

Raising chickens

The meat of these birds is the most in demand on the food market. Growing chicken as a business gives excellent results. You can choose several directions for the development of this matter. Breeding broilers makes it possible to obtain good weight gain and profit from the sale of meat in a short time.

You can purchase breeds of chickens that are light in weight but have excellent egg production. Thus, profit is obtained from the sale of eggs. Most often, farmers combine two types of business and breed several breeds of birds.

For raising meat breeds of chickens, the option with broilers is perfect. You can start a business by purchasing one-day-old chicks or eggs for an incubator. For those planning a long-term business, it is advisable to use the second option. In this case, you can sell extra chickens and increase your profit.

If birds are raised for meat, then when buying chickens you can not pay attention to their gender. You just need to transport them to the farm correctly. Often, novice livestock breeders suffer large losses at this stage of breeding.

Young animals should be transported in small boxes with holes, each containing no more than 20-30 chickens. It is also necessary to take into account the outside air temperature. You cannot transport poultry during the day during hot weather.

Features of keeping broilers

Raising chickens up to 1 month requires special attention to air temperature. It should be at least 24-26 0. Then 11-12 degrees will be enough. It is necessary to avoid drafts and provide good ventilation in the premises.

To protect chickens from attacks by rats and other predators, finely broken glass is often laid out on the floor and covered with straw. Particular attention is paid to bird feed. Chickens eat according to a special diet and schedule.

Raising chicken as a business requires a special approach to preparing feed. This process uses cottage cheese, milk powder, vitamin supplements and various methods of preparing grain components. Many farmers, before starting to draw up a business plan, think about how long a broiler grows. The answer is very simple. After 2-3 months, the bird gains 2-3 kg in weight.

Breeding laying hens

To obtain the maximum number of eggs from a bird of this species, a simple approach to their cultivation is required. For this type of business, special breeds of chickens are used. They gain little weight, but are capable of laying up to 300 eggs per year.

According to experienced livestock breeders, this type of business will pay off 100% in 8-10 months. This is the answer to the question of which animals are most profitable for business. Caring for these breeds of chickens is simple and does not require large expenditures on feed and equipment. It is necessary to make a one-time investment in organizing the premises and keeping it clean with periodic small contributions for routine repairs.

Small farms cannot compete with large poultry farms, but they can get regular customers due to the naturalness of the product. This nuance is achieved by proper feeding of poultry without the use of artificial additives and by preparing feed yourself.

Rare animals: breeding nuances

Nowadays, growing exotic animals is gaining popularity among small and medium-sized farmers. In the country you can find entrepreneurs who breed small crocodiles.

These animals are often bought as gifts for executives of large companies and members of government agencies who have their own small zoos. To purchase the initial number of young animals you will need about 50 thousand dollars. This amount includes the arrangement of swimming pools for them and the purchase of food for the first time.

This direction is often used by large farms as an additional one. To save on feed, crocodiles are fed waste from processing chickens or turkeys. This type of business is quite risky, but with the right approach you can get a 300% return on investment.

Other directions

You can also find farms that grow snails and shellfish. Basically, these are small breeding operations that focus on the work of restaurants or sell products to large supermarket chains.

Po and chinchilla farms will not surprise anyone in our country. This type of business has been established for several decades. They are actively starting to grow fish for red meat throughout the country. This direction requires an initial significant investment. Breeding rare animals as a business is gaining momentum every year in all regions of the country.

Profitability of livestock farming

According to experts, the most profitable direction is considered to be breeding chickens to produce both eggs and meat. For a small home business, it is more profitable to keep pigs for sale by live weight or meat. Farmers often wonder what animals are profitable to breed for business. The answer to this question depends on the region in which the animals will be kept and the amount of starting capital.

Breeding birds does not require large investments in the construction of premises, but there will be significant costs for the purchase of young animals. Raising pigs requires labor and mechanized equipment.

Only the farmer can decide which animals are profitable to breed for business. This will depend on the area of land and premises and the ability to grow food yourself.

Breeding and selling animals is one of the most profitable business ideas for entrepreneurs who are interested in animal husbandry. The profitability of a business largely depends on its development strategy, approach to organization, and volume of investment. Breeding animals cannot be called extremely profitable; it requires a lot of time and investment, but if you want to achieve a good income, it is quite possible.

How to make money by breeding animals?

With the right approach to business, you can build a profitable business in animal breeding. Profitability depends on the scale of development, attitude to the process and reaches an average of 50-3000%. When choosing a niche of activity in this segment, it is important to take into account your capabilities, including financial ones, level of proficiency in breeding technology, and the specifics of the occupation (for example, fur farming is a seasonal business, and the highest feed costs usually occur in the summer).

The main problems facing livestock farmers:

High prices for feed, especially imported ones (while feed costs account for up to 70% of the cost structure), which are often of poor quality.

Advice: You can find a list of profitable ones using special catalogs in specialized periodicals and on the Internet.

Reducing the production of by-products at meat processing plants.
There is a limited number of competent veterinarians, which often forces entrepreneurs to independently study diseases and treatment regimens.
Difficulties in finding a good specialist in fur dressing in the regions.

The skins of fur animals are sold to private entrepreneurs and fur factories (including foreign ones). They find clients for selling pets through friends, the Internet, and establish profitable contacts with partners and farm owners.

What animals are best to breed for business?

You need to choose a breed of animal very carefully, focusing not on the brand, but on the volume of your resources and market opportunities. With a responsible approach to business and the availability of capital investments, you can create a profitable farm even by breeding not very promising animals (cows, sheep, poultry).

Chinchillas

Keeping chinchillas is not very expensive, but they reproduce slowly (2-3 cubs 3 times a year, but, for example, a muskrat brings 12-15 individuals 4-5 times in 12 months). You can organize a profitable mini-farm even on 50 m² of area. It should be borne in mind that it is not possible to achieve a good income with all animals. As a rule, about half are rejected based on the quality of fur, physiological indicators - flattened nose, small ears at a certain distance from each other, coat color. The price for 1 animal starts on average from 500 rubles. Most often, pets that have not passed quality control are assessed this way; they are sold to pet stores or as breeding animals. The most expensive specimens cost several thousand dollars. There are several evaluation criteria - color (traditional gray, white, beige, black, white-pink, with a purple tint), length, fur density. When planning, it is important to understand that you can only get healthy offspring by exchanging males with other farms or buying new ones. The animals' diet is inexpensive: per day, one pet eats only one tablespoon of special food, but requires additional feeding (dry apples, rose hips, hay, carrots). Business profitability reaches 300%.

According to statistics, the fur of this animal is in greatest demand - about 60% of all sales. In Russia, the cost of one skin is on average 2,000 rubles. But to raise a mink, you will need to invest a lot of money. It is necessary to provide the animal with good nutrition (sea fish, meat feed, laboratory mice). If this condition is not met, not only diseases and poor growth are guaranteed, but also poor wool quality. The price of one skin starts from approximately 500-600 rubles. (if you enter the Western market, the minimum cost increases significantly and reaches 35-50 dollars, but the requirements for the quality of fur are slightly higher). To organize a profitable mini-farm, you need to purchase at least 20 minks.

It is important to take into account some features of breeding these animals - about 10% of females may not produce offspring at all, you need to be prepared for a certain percentage of mortality of individuals. The estimated profitability reaches 50%, but much depends on the size of the sales market that the owner can create. Also beneficial are ferrets and rex rabbits (the so-called artificially bred breed obtained by crossing a rabbit and a chinchilla). You can learn how to organize the sale of nutria at home with the help of special literature, consultations with specialists, and analysis of information on specialized forums.

Advice: When engaged in livestock farming in rural areas, you can organize additional income thanks to ecological agrotourism. A guest estate based on subsistence farming can operate successfully on self-sufficiency without large capital investments. Many successful farmers bet on identity, mentality and did not lose.

Pedigree cats, dogs

You can even breed purebred cats and dogs at home (of course, if the area allows you to provide the necessary conditions). The specificity of this business lies in the entrepreneur’s interest and love for these animals, the need for precise knowledge of breeding technology, and caring for a specific breed. Among popular dog breeds, breeders often choose Pekingese, Spitz, Yorkshire Terrier, Rottweiler, and among cats - British Shorthair, Scottish Fold, Persian, Don Sphynx.

The cost of one animal depends on the purity of the breed, the presence of regalia, and the titles that it or its parents received at exhibitions. For some breeds, prices have not changed for years (for example, a Russian toy terrier has cost $300-500 over the past 10-15 years). Owners of many once popular dog breeds have felt a significant decline in prices - Cane Corso several years ago were sold for 2-3 thousand dollars, and now the average price is only $1000, the cost of pit bulls has decreased. But there are breeds that are now valued much higher than before, for example, at the moment an English bulldog puppy is valued at about $200-400. To choose a dog breed that is beneficial for yourself, you need to objectively assess your resources, knowledge, and market opportunities. You can increase your income from breeding and selling puppies if you combine it with the creation of a pet store, grooming salon, trimming (caring for animal hair). The amount of expenses and profitability depend on the breed, the number of puppies, the quality of advertising, and the sales market.

Breeding cats also requires certain investments to purchase the first animals, food, and provide the necessary living conditions. To decide on your breed, experts advise visiting specialized exhibitions, reading specialized books, and taking felinology courses. It should be borne in mind that in order to create a successful business based on this idea, it is necessary to prepare significant investments. They will be used to purchase manufacturers, consumables, pet registration, costs of raising and maintaining, and advertising.

It is less profitable to breed fox, arctic fox, and sable in a mini-farm format. It is more difficult for them to provide optimal living conditions, the right diet, and create a sales market. Raising chickens and rabbits, for example, is not so profitable, and the loss of time and resources is not so small. This also requires the availability of free space and the ability to care for animals. But if a person has free time, knowledge of breeding technology, a technical base and, most importantly, a reliable sales market, it is quite possible to create a good business in growing and selling poultry (domestic species, pheasants, guinea fowl, quail), rabbits, and pigs. But the profitability of this business will be lower than breeding fur animals. It’s not difficult to study the technology, but to get a good profit you need to first form a sales market. If you have a large investment, it is profitable to engage

Is it possible to raise pets on a personal plot or dacha if there is no experience and knowledge? The Russian people are by nature an optimist and rationalizer, and are accustomed to fearlessly meeting the challenges posed by fate and time. Thus, the introduction on the territory of the Russian Federation of restrictions on the import of imported products raised the question for people not “how to continue to live?”, but what everyone can do personally so that they are not affected by a possible shortage of certain groups of goods.

Without rushing into panic, one should clearly understand the sector of products, the restriction of imports of which can, to one degree or another, worsen the life of an ordinary person. Thus, due to restrictions on the import of imported meat and dairy products, you should be prepared for increased demand for local products - beef, pork, poultry, eggs, milk and milk products. And even though the risk of food shortages is not that great, alternative replacements for missing goods in the daily lives of ordinary people should still be considered. We will talk about something that almost everyone can do: about domestic animal husbandry and which animals are profitable to breed for yourself, and perhaps for sale in small quantities.

What animals are profitable to breed in the country?

If you have a plot of land, even a small one, then you can have chickens, rabbits, nutria, and always be confident in the quality of meat, eggs, and, in addition, get down and feathers for pillows and feather beds, or warm and valuable fur. By the way, few people know about the whole industry in the industrial production of warm sportswear from the down and feathers of domestic waterfowl (goose, duck). The cost of a kilogram of waterfowl down ranges from 175 to 300 rubles; feathers are in less demand. In general, waterfowl provide an excellent way to make money: meat and by-products are always readily purchased by both private traders and various industries, and fluff and feathers can be donated to feather collection points (in Krasnodar, for example, this is the Kuban-Pero organization). A prerequisite for waterfowl and nutria is access to fresh water, both running water (drinking, swimming) and a reservoir with natural pond-type water.

Chickens

Chicken farming is one of the most profitable types of livestock farming. The main cost items are the construction of a chicken coop, the purchase of chickens and feed. The room where the chickens will be and lay eggs can be built from any available materials, the main thing is that it is warm enough and with good ventilation. Chickens lay eggs from 6 months of age, and the presence of cockerels is not at all necessary (if the eggs are used for food or for sale). Breeding chickens from scratch, namely by purchasing a rooster and a laying hen, or buying already hatched chickens is a matter of preference; in the latter case, a grown chicken will be somewhat more expensive, but not significantly. Chickens feed on table scraps, grass and grains, so the costs of breeding and keeping chickens can be minimized, and the benefits become even more obvious. On average, each chicken will require about 3-4 kilograms of special feed per month. By the way, read about keeping and breeding partridges (partridges) at home.

Rabbits

Breeding rabbits is very profitable for the breeder, but somewhat troublesome and requires initial costs. But rabbit meat is considered dietary, fertility is high, in a year some females can give birth to 6 litters and up to 30 rabbits, reaching 3-3.5 kg of live weight by the age of five months. This applies to the Giant and Flanders breeds. To successfully breed rabbits in a small area, you will need appropriate cages located in the fresh air. If you want to raise rabbits all year round, then you will need a suitable indoor space, which should be warm enough to keep the animals from freezing and spacious enough to accommodate at least 15 cages, measuring 50x30x27 cm, made of wood and equipped with drinking bowls and feeders.

To start breeding, it is enough to purchase one rabbit and two mature female rabbits, having previously chosen the breed and made sure of their health and taken care of the feed. In the summer, rabbits eat fresh greens and grains; in the winter, the diet is more limited, consisting of dry food and hay. The benefits of breeding rabbits are obvious: in a year, one healthy female can produce offspring worth 60-80 kg, in terms of net weight, and if you choose a meat-hide breed, then at least 20 skins. The demand for rabbit fur/skins is also specific. So, if you are planning to get more meat, then the silver, butterfly, chinchilla, or down breeds are unlikely to suit you. Keeping downy rabbits will require special conditions and an almost sterile infrastructure.

Nutria

Breeding nutria can become a real business if you approach it responsibly. Here, meat is rather a pleasant addition to the opportunity to sell quite valuable fur. Nutria fur is divided into two main categories: dyed and elite natural color. The first include Canadian zonal ones, the second include selected Transcaucasian, blue, and pearlescent ones. Although the taste of nutria meat is highly rated by professionals and nutritionists, its use is not as widespread as rabbit meat. But in vain, the weight of one carcass reaches 2.5-3 kg of pure meat, which, due to its sedentary content, has moderate fat content and is particularly tender, without any unpleasant taste or smell.

Keeping nutria is somewhat more expensive than rabbits; they bear offspring less often and take longer to gain weight, but the value of the skins outweighs all possible disadvantages. For breeding, there are sufficiently equipped cages and a supply of grain feed, and in the summer the opportunity to feed them with fresh herbs. And the main thing is the constant availability of renewed water, even if it is small troughs in cages for bathing.

Which animals can be bred in the village?

Having your own house in the village, there are much more opportunities to start breeding livestock for subsequent consumption. The abundance of forage grasses allows you to keep not only rabbits and nutria, but also raise geese, ducks, goats or cows to graze. The situation with goats is this: the meat and milk of these domestic animals is in limited demand, and this is hardly suitable for direct, main income. The same can be said about sheep, the demand for meat of which in Russia is limited to the southern and remote regions. But in the village, much is available for free, when it comes to hay or leaves for feeding rabbits, which you can pay special attention to. Cows are the most difficult option for starting livestock farming in rural areas, and without many months of experience observing work with cattle from the outside, it is highly not recommended to start keeping them yourself.

Geese

Raising geese in rural conditions is a complete benefit and pleasure; the main thing is to have an assistant who will ensure that the geese do not run away from the territory designated for grazing. Finding a suitable area with greenery or planting it yourself, equipping a pen for keeping in the yard and purchasing grain feed - that’s all you need. It is most profitable to breed geese in the summer, when special conditions for their maintenance are not required, but if the goal is to serve the goose on the Christmas table, then you should take care of a warm, ventilated room where the geese will spend the winter. Twice a year, at the beginning of autumn and in the winter cold, geese can be partially plucked in the sternum area; valuable down and feathers will be a good bonus in earnings. The loss of thermal cover, compensated by internal fat, eliminates the negative consequences of plucking.

Goats

Raising goats in the village is very practical. Goats are unpretentious in care and maintenance, their diet is content with fresh herbs and fodder vegetables, they produce healthy and nutritious milk, and the meat of a young goat tastes identical to lamb. For enhanced feeding, it is customary to include ground feed grain (derit) in the diet; this stimulates increased milk production in goats. Males with increased nutrition gain weight quickly, but without proper separate feeding, their weight will increase due to internal fat, almost unfit for food, waxy. Goat skins are also valuable, which makes their breeding particularly profitable.

Pigs

Raising pigs on a private farm, in rural conditions, is profitable, but quite troublesome and expensive. If you don’t try to make a business out of it, then almost any family can afford to feed one or two piglets to a decent size. In the Krasnodar Territory, there is a restriction on backyard keeping of pigs, no more than two heads at a time (private sector). Pigs are omnivores, although they are also voracious, but in terms of the prices of what they eat and the market prices for meat, raising them at home is undoubtedly more economical. Pigs consume up to 2 kilograms of grain per day, mixed with other components, which makes maintenance quite expensive.

Having carried out a superficial analysis of the advantages of breeding certain animals in a small summer cottage and village, we can conclude that, if necessary, domestic animal husbandry can be a serious help in matters of financial security for a family. You can not only provide yourself and your family with the necessary meat and milk, but also earn money from it. For sale, breeding rabbits and nutria may be the most profitable. The first - because of high fertility, rapid growth and skins, the second - because of valuable meat, expensive fur and a government support program for nutria breeders, which includes tax breaks on sales. Participation in special programs may vary depending on the region of Russia.

Now I will write about which animals are most profitable to breed in your own backyard. Moreover, first I will talk about what is the most profitable bird for breeding on a subsidiary farm, then, in the second part of the article “THE MOST PROFITABLE ANIMALS ON THE FARM. PART 2. MAMMALS”, about livestock and other animals.

I give signs of profitability based on the conditions of my farm. Perhaps the most profitable pets for some people will be different.

Based on the PHILOSOPHY AND WORLDVIEW of my project, the high productivity of a particular animal species must simultaneously correspond to the condition of maximum autarky. First of all, this will relate to the issue of providing feed, and secondly, to the issue of veterinary support for life.

Stern. Alpha and Omega of any animal husbandry. The two main types of feed used in feeding are concentrates in the form of grain, various compound feeds and green or roughage. You can mention here grass, hay, silage, branches.

In the conditions of a small farm, without its own fields and grain-growing equipment, the supply of any significant amount of grain is possible only from the outside and, naturally, for money. In addition to spending, I’ll also add here just an unpleasant dependence on someone. If a crisis occurs, grain prices rise accordingly. This means that our well-being is tied to economic conditions to a very large extent. And the more the farmed animals are grain-oriented in their gastronomic preferences, the more the economy is dependent on price fluctuations.

Even if fields and equipment for their processing are available, there is always a dependence on fuels and lubricants, spare parts, and components. In the event of an oil crisis, which is now predicted by many, large-scale grain production using modern methods will become impossible.

For skeptics who do not believe in the future of the crisis, but want to move to the countryside and take into account the profitability of raising livestock only in the current economic and raw material conditions, I note that the minimal dependence of the economy on external factors is always useful, in my opinion. If we talk about highly intensive methods of animal husbandry, for example, raising broilers, then yes, they require a lot of feed and preparations. And yes, intensive areas and methods are often the most profitable and quickly buy investments. Indeed, intensive livestock farming on a commercial scale is profitable as long as the current raw material and feed base is available. For example, I breed a number of species and breeds of birds specifically for sale, although this particular example, broilers, has never attracted me. Despite this, I think it is strategically correct to have at least a small set of exactly those economical animals to which this material is dedicated. In the current conditions, they will be useful for personal consumption, and in some cases for sale. And with the advent of the post-technogenic era, the notorious raw material crisis, they will become the backbone of the economy. Broilers will die of hunger if you don’t slaughter them right away, regardless of their age and degree of unprofitability. It is impossible to focus on them and other intensive species and breeds of livestock, which are not regularly supplied with grain feed, antibiotics, and other drugs, in the absence of gasoline and diesel fuel, electricity, and refrigeration equipment.

Thus, the most efficient farm animal for a private farm cannot have grain and the combined feed produced on its basis as a priority diet.

The second category of feed actively used in livestock farming is rough green feed. I think the first part of the article demonstrated that it is this type of nutrition that the most profitable farm animal should accept. The larger percentage of your pet’s diet can be grass, hay and other feed, the better.

Why greens?

1) Firstly, there is a lot of it. True, not every herbivorous creature is ready to eat any grass. Everyone has their own tastes. There are two reasons for this selectivity: taste preferences and consistency are considered by the masses. A plant, any one type, can be poisonous to another. A large ruminant or rodent can easily overcome the tough branches of trees and bushes, but give small birds tender young grass that is under the control of their beak. All this must be taken into account when choosing the most profitable pet for breeding in rural areas.

2) Secondly, in standard rural conditions, green feed is free. Anyone can cut a certain amount of grass and make hay absolutely free, without any sanctions, permits or money. The only resources needed are labor and hay for storage. Let me remind you that grain also requires a barn, which is, as a rule, a fairly capital structure. Hay, when properly stacked, can be stored even in the form of a stack. Not to mention such exceptionally beneficial cases as the ability of other breeds of sheep to graze year-round, with the exception of the time of deep snow, or rabbits to gnaw the bark of non-leafy branches.

3) The availability of roughage, procured independently, is not subject to the market. No matter how prices rise, oil runs out, or electricity goes out, grass and its derivatives will always be available. At the same time, the cost of livestock products also increases during the crisis, reimbursing the livestock farmer for other expenses.

4) The fourth advantage is low competition and accessibility. By this I want to say that you can pick grass for chickens or cut branches for goats in any forest belt or even on the side of the road and no one will object or claim rights. And try in the same way to thresh a couple of acres, or even a hectare or two of someone else’s field, or sow an ownerless clearing with barley. It's unlikely that anything good will come of this. So, grain is an artificial resource, and grass is natural. Except for anecdotal cases when you graze a cow in someone else's clover field.

Rough feed also has its disadvantages. Their calorie content relative to grain is low, which means they require more by weight. Harvesting them takes time and effort, whereas you bought grain, poured it into the barn, and it’s ready. I don't remember any other cons. If the reader finds them, please indicate them in the comments.

Having considered the food supply that the most profitable domestic animal should prefer, I will move on to assessing the compliance of different species and, in some cases, breeds of animals with this factor. I will mention the most common in our country and, if I remember, interesting rarities known to me. Unfortunately (or fortunately), I did not personally raise the entire range of listed farm animals and birds. However, I went through a lot of information on almost all of them in order to argue reasonably. Actually, the reason I didn’t start other living creatures was because I considered them ineffective in my conditions.

Chickens. The first building block of any small household. Nowadays, meat crosses and breed lines - broilers - have become widespread. Regarding eggs, lightweight egg-laying breeds are common, laying over 300 eggs per year. The trouble is that such results are only possible when feeding balanced feed, which the vast majority of poultry farmers even now do not undertake to produce themselves. You have to buy or prepare grain mixtures without taking into account their balance. Intensive meat and egg chicken farming cannot exist without a huge amount of antibiotics, vitamins, and premixes. Someone will think that they can do without them and thereby obtain environmentally friendly products. However, in practice, highly efficient varieties of chickens without the appropriate veterinary feeding regime either die almost all of them, or give productivity almost less than that of a village crossbred bird. Highly productive chickens are demanding in terms of temperature and light conditions. Given the modern raw material and feed base, such chickens could be called the most effective backyard birds. When food is limited, they become less productive and sometimes simply unviable. Let me separately remind you that products grown on antibiotics and other drugs are not as healthy as those obtained in ordinary yard conditions. The media is full of information about the dangers of industrial meat and eggs. Let's draw conclusions. For a farm that is primarily focused not on the market, but on personal consumption, independence from the market and striving for maximum self-sufficiency, modern highly productive breeds, lines and crosses of chickens are not suitable.

What about simpler breeds and simple outbred chickens? To be fair, I will say that in our time, I think there are no simple village outbred chickens. The chickens that we regard as such are actually crossbreeds. Their properties depend on the origin and composition of the breeds in the pedigree. Large, clearly meat-type chickens in a subsistence farming environment, in my opinion, are not far removed from modern industrial chickens. But I think small ones, meat and egg oriented, will be quite useful. But there are a number of caveats.

A population of chickens that is useful to us must preserve the gene for incubating eggs and raising chickens, which is absent in many, if not most, modern breeds. Of course, eggs of chickens of the same breed can be hatched under others, or ducks. But this is not the level of bird versatility that we should strive for.

Second point. The diet of chickens is varied. These are mainly plant seeds, insects, and grass. To reduce the percentage of grain in the diet to a minimum, give the bird the opportunity to forage, collect weed seeds, bugs, worms, fruit drops, and peck grass. And this is already a certain area. Corrals are not suitable for this; free grazing is needed. At the same time, the bird must stay indoors so that it does not run wild, rush into the barn and become a victim of predators. In other words, chickens should hang around the yard. This means that their feeding territory will be small. In such conditions, large flocks of chickens are unrealistic, only small numbers. There will be enough eggs for yourself, but not for sale without reorienting the diet to grain. In other words, chickens must be kept, but in such a way that they can feed themselves and only receive a little grain from the owner in the evening and in the morning. The chicken must be adapted to yard keeping, hatch chicks and forage well.

Ducks. Let's start with mallards, our Eurasian ducks. With fast-growing meat breeds, the situation is similar to broiler chickens. True, ducks are more resistant to diseases and manage with a small amount of drugs. But it’s impossible to raise ducks without grain. There is one significant exception to the above - the presence of a reservoir. If he is, everything changes. On a reservoir with good aquatic and coastal vegetation, the duck will grow quite well. However, she needs to be taught to return to the yard at night. This can be made into something delicious for an evening seaside meal. A small amount of grain, vegetables and other feeds that are not available on the pond will come in handy here. The disadvantage of modern duck breeds is the absence of the egg incubation gene. Here you need to either find a population that sits on eggs, or take domesticated wild mallards. An excellent option is to cross domestic breeds with wild mallards and breed their offspring. So, for ducks - yes, if there is a reservoir with aquatic vegetation.

Muscovy duck. About them separately. The bird has a stronger beak than mallards, and is much more adapted to consuming grass. Little ducklings actively catch insects. And if there is also a body of water, then the Indian duck may well become the most profitable bird for breeding. At the same time, pay attention to the species composition of the grazing grass. Consider whether your ducks will have enough grass in the second half of summer, when most of the vegetation burns out. What will mute mules eat in winter? Corn. Here we come to the conclusion that the flock of ducks should also be small, no matter how abundant and juicy the spring grass is. True, musk ducks are not voracious like mallards and are not prone to obesity. The advantage of Muscovy ducks is their excellent maternal qualities. She even hatches chicks of other bird species well. The bird also has tangible disadvantages. It is clearly inferior to the mallard in terms of resistance to cold due to low fat accumulation and origin from warm latitudes. In northern regions without a shed with plenty of bedding, frostbite will only be a matter of time. To this I will add the unpleasant fact of the extreme volatility of the Indian duck. It will increase enormously in lightweight birds raised on pasture. However, timely and correct trimming of the wings will solve this problem. The main thing is not to miss it. The law is that these ducks rarely get sick and are very hardy.

Let's move on to the geese. In my opinion, geese may well lay claim to the title of the most profitable bird for personal farming. Their main food is grass. At the same time, the goose willingly eats coarse, sun-dried greens and dry spikelets of wild cereals, which is extremely beneficial in the conditions of the arid southern regions. It accepts goose and hay, which is extremely beneficial in winter. It makes good use of the pond, although it is not as dependent on it as ducks. The goose is a good hen. Due to its size, the goose is less likely to become a victim of small predators such as weasels and ferrets, which are very difficult to fight, and the gander is by far the best defender of its family than a rooster or drake. To prevent geese from flying away, trim their flight feathers on their wings. In addition, geese are quite resistant to diseases. There will be geese in the yard. And you can keep them in significant quantities. The only negative is that geese are prone to long journeys and, if you don’t have the time and desire to herd them or look after them, they can go quite far and then disappear.

Turkeys, they are turkeys. In general, here you can repeat the tale about chickens, but with a number of additions. The turkey is a wonderful hen, some even read that she is the best. This bird is very flying and mobile. This cannot be done without significant grazing. And hence, as with geese, there is a need for control. I can’t even imagine what you can feed turkeys in winter, other than grain. It is widely believed that the turkey is an extremely sick bird in its youth. Based on my little experience of growing it, I dare to disagree. They don’t get sick for me, although the same chickens show a deplorably high mortality rate.

Quail, they are also quail. In conditions of food and raw material abundance, other breeders claim that quail is the most profitable agricultural bird for the farm. The production of quail meat and eggs is possible in conditions of a warm and ventilated room, feeding with specialized feed and a balanced light regime. Violation of the regime leads to a sharp decline in productivity. Effective breeding of quails using other methods, as far as I know, does not occur. Hence the conclusion - the raw material crisis will make quail farming an anachronism or a less common decoration.

I’ll finish with birds and move on to mammals. Reading the material "THE MOST PROFITABLE ANIMALS ON THE FARM. PART 2. MAMMALS".

Home-made products will always have an advantage over factory-made ones. That is why for people who live in villages or have their own plot of land, raising animals for sale is. However, first you need to figure out which animals are profitable to breed for business.

Rabbit meat is a dietary product that is especially valued in the diet of children and those who suffer from food allergies. In addition, it is very well digestible and quite tasty. When breeding rabbits, you can also get it by selling their skins.

A small initial investment will be required. To open a farm for a thousand rabbit heads, you will need a plot of less than six acres. You can also save money if you make drinking bowls, cages and feeders for animals yourself.

Before opening a farm, you need to choose a form of registration for your farm, usually this is either the status of an individual entrepreneur or running a personal subsidiary plot. If there is a prospect of selling meat and skins to friends or at agricultural fairs, then it is better to choose the latter option, since then you will not have to pay taxes. However, to obtain maximum profit, by increasing the options for selling products, the first option is more profitable.

The best system for keeping rabbits is the shed one, which automates almost the entire process. It consists of two rows of cells under one roof. The passage between the cells is filled with concrete, and if they are placed in several tiers, space can be saved.

Important points:

Before you start building a rabbit farm, you need to find out from the local administration the requirements, for example, at what distance from a populated area it should be located, otherwise you will have to pay a fine.
The breeding male and uterine rabbits must have separate cages; the rest can accommodate young animals, but no more than eight individuals together.
Mating occurs every three months, and the rabbits are fed at least two. Thus, if there are 14 females, then you can get about 300 new individuals per year. For a thousand, accordingly, you will need three sheds.
For feeding, it is optimal to choose compound feed, all components of which are selected by experts based on maximum nutritional value. In summer, you can additionally feed with fresh grass from pastures, and in winter with hay. It is better to feed pregnant rabbits with vitamin and mineral supplements.

To summarize, to start a rabbit breeding business you will need:

(rented or owned)
farm documentation
construction of shad, cages and storm drain system
: drinking bowls, feeders, equipment for preparing feed
rabbits for breeding (40-45 heads)
workers' wages for building a farm

The list of fixed costs for maintaining a farm includes feed and veterinarian services. Thus, keeping 15 cages of rabbits, of which 14 are females, will require about 126,000 rubles for food, 12,600 for a veterinarian. At the same time, income from the sale of meat per year will be about half a million rubles, taking into account expenses, about 30,000 thousand rubles every month.

Business plan for cattle breeding

To start a business for breeding medium-sized and large horned cattle, you can receive a subsidy from the Ministry of Agriculture as part of the support for beginning farmers, but even in this case, you will need to invest personal funds. The main focus will be the sale of meat to both wholesale organizations and agricultural fairs.

The first stages will be the search for a plot of land and the reconstruction or construction of premises, the creation of feed reserves, the purchase of young animals and the selection of personnel. It is also necessary as a peasant farm. The profit tax in this case will be 6%.

The technology involves raising six-month-old calves to the age of 1.5 years. Usually by this time they weigh about a thousand kilograms. To do this, you will need a pen (calves spend most of their time outdoors) and food: silage, root crops, haylage, compound feed and green fodder. The total cost for raising one individual is usually twenty thousand rubles.

It must be taken into account that the main competitors will be larger complexes of agricultural products. Although today there is a very high demand for high-quality cattle meat, so there will be no problems with sales.

Potential annual income for one bull is 42,000 rubles. The amount is based on the fact that you can get 250 kilograms of meat from one individual, and the wholesale price is 170 rubles per kilogram.

ensuring constant access of animals to clean water
well equipped room without drafts
vaccination against diseases
dry and clean floor

Running a medium-sized farm usually requires 4-5 employees, whose responsibilities include slaughtering, feed purchasing and accounting.

Poultry farming business plan

One of the most profitable areas is chicken breeding. They grow quickly and begin to lay eggs at five months. Some breeds can do this all year round if the temperature and light in the house are maintained.

Before you start, you need to calculate all the costs and your own capabilities. Building a poultry house does not require much space, so chickens are bred even in cities. If your plans include expanding your farm, then it’s better; this will make it much easier to obtain various permits and certificates, but you will have to pay taxes on profits.

There are two types of keeping chickens: in cages and on the floor, but the first is rarely used for raising laying hens. The quality of eggs is affected by how active the birds are and how often they are outdoors. In addition, the cages will have to be purchased and cleaned.

You can build a poultry house yourself or buy a ready-made one. The first option is, of course, more economical. You can build from slate, boards or gas silicate blocks. The latter material is more expensive than the others, but will last longer. The temperature in the poultry house should be no lower than 2 degrees and no higher than 27.

Among the costs, you must, of course, take into account the purchase of feed. Chickens need compound feed, and adult birds need grass, potatoes, and food waste. It is useful to include vitamins, chalk and eggshells in your diet.

And expenses must be taken into account that on average one chicken costs 100 rubles, one chicken eats 35 kilograms of feed per year. Thus, when running a farm with 40 chickens per year, you will need to spend 20,000 rubles. Homemade eggs cost an average of 70 rubles per dozen; from 40 hens you can get 1,200 dozen eggs per year, which means that in a year you can get at least 60,000 rubles per year.

Business plan for breeding exotic animals

Recently, it has become popular to keep exotic animals at home, so breeding them is quite popular. However, to ensure that the animal does not die and is born healthy, their maintenance and rearing will require special conditions and knowledge. There are several areas of this business:

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