Jon,

Great advice. There are some restrictions on the land I own (minimal covenants) that would make it difficult to have chickens on a commercial scale. I used to have a few for generating our own eggs and this would be a virtual requirement in any future that resembles the one we are "practicing" for. I constantly get requests to add in enough chickens that I could bring eggs to the market for sale and am thinking about the best way to have a small operation for that purpose.

I am familiar with the chicken tractored poultry set up you mention. Or at least a version of it where the chicken house is built on a wagon like frame that you can pull around to different areas of the property. I know several farmers who have such setups and they work really well. An interesting side note on these movable wagons is a strange quirk of local code. These "wagons" are considered "buildings" and subject to code and restrictions on where they can be "parked". Hard to believe but I know of one farmer who is getting harassed by county authorities and neighbors over the issue.

In this county there are many ordinances/covenants that impact where and how you can conduct agricultural operations and even gardening. Many HOA's have restrictions that would make it very difficult for people to have gardens on their own property due to strict limits on fences and such. In tough times many such restrictions will be ignored of course, but in the meantime they impair the ability of folks to be more self sufficient. I have this fantasy that we pass a state law that supercedes such restrictions on the use of private property when it concerns growing food or supplementing our energy supply.

I have not looked into the miniature beef cattle. I did have a few cattle on my place for years to include the first year of the vegetable growing. I decided not to have animals of that size on a place this small. They are very destructive and requiem more time than I wanted to devote to them. You are quite correct on the need for mixed animal/vegetable production on small farms to maintain fertility and profitability. Unfortunately my operation, I think, is just too small to make it work other than with chickens or maybe just a hand full of hogs. In a manner of speaking I mimic the mixed operation when I bring to the property the composted manure from my neighbors operation or if I purchase the organic fertilizers made from composted chicken waste.

Wyo