New Project: Cost Per Acre Calculator
I have an idea for a new online calculator, and I need you the reader to help out. Many times I’ve been asked what is the best animal to raise for meat, from a preppers point of view, and my response has always been rabbit. I’ve also been asked how long green peppers take to grow till harvest, (about 71 days in my area). And the list goes on and on…
So it occurred to me that these questions have a couple of factors in common, and are being asked because people are comparing options. Do you raise rabbits because you don’t have enough room for beef? How much does it cost in feed to raise egg laying hens, are sheep really that bad? Should you just go with Aqua-ponics because you need that job in the city?
So here is what I need. I need to pool all the knowledge from my readers, so that I can create a online calculator and place it here on my site. If each reader commented on this post about what they believe to be the best food to raise in their area, as far as cost of feed/soil, water, and time spent on it. It would give me a starting point for the datebase. Please also include what climate zone you are in, if there are local risks such as an invasive plants, pests, or even local laws, anything you think should be included in the calculations.
The idea is two fold, first it should help people decide which of this or that to do, and second how much what they do is worth to what they can trade for.
For example: If you are raising corn, the calculator should be able to tell you how much you should have raised, and how much you would have raised in beans if you had done that instead. You will then know how much corn you should trade for beans, and so on.
Thoughts? Leave a comment.
I'm late, but we are happy with the cost of keeping our four hens. We haven't bought eggs in almost two years and in the good weather we get enough to give our neighbours a dozen or so every week to keep them looking the other way. I don't think we would spend $15 a month on them, including the water heater and extra light in the winter. To get farm fresh eggs all year round, that seems pretty cheap.
I could house another four in the small coop for very little more, if I felt like selling the extras, but I don't want to push it in case the new bylaw officer gets wise.
I don't have any chickens.... yet. I don't know if I want to live in a world without Chickens... but I live in a city...City Ordinances say I can't have chickens in the city limit. Grrrrrrrr sigh @somena "meaghie champion" Cheers Mate!
This is a good idea! But you have to think that the wether is changing. For example, we are in Portugal and this year seems that theres no much rain so the trees are in flower aut of the corret time. Nevertheless, we think that the best thing to create here in Portugal is potatoes, onions (half of the population creates that products at home). For animals we choose chickens and pigs because they eat our remnants of food and in 4/6 months you have a chicken to eat and in a year you have a good pig.
Fascinating. My apologies for not seeing this sooner. I'm just starting my PREPPERs work. I'm a big fan of Jesse Colombo of @Thebubblebubble on Twitter. I follow him religiously. You two should meet. He's on facebook. @somena "meaghie champion" - Cheers Mate!
Followed. ;)
It sounds like a worthwhile project, it will be interesting to see where hemp would come in on the money/time side of the project. And no I am not talking the smoking kind, the kind for making clothing, oils, ropes and other such items.
Cool!!! I upvoted! Thanks for upvoting my last post!!! Have a nice weekend!
It would almost seem more effective to group certain plants by genus, pick a common sub-genus, grow them in controlled conditions, take your intial datasets by varying levels of light, water, NPK, and pH levels, then quantify the negative repercussions of certain geographic areas and environmental conditions to create a more flexible geometry for comparison. You could also integrate insect migration/invasion predictions if you can get access to that level of data from the appropriate organization. I could be wrong, too.
In Norway- potatoes. I will have to check for the details and numbers ...
That's a fantastic idea. Could even even change the world, no money would be needed. I live in Granada, in the south of Spain, and from what I've been told, asparagus and olive trees are the two plants that's most profitable, due to scarce water resources. Keep working on this one!