Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
ity? Will you buy several adults and breed them? Once you know how much space you have,
you can start making your decisions.
Raising animals for profit usually involves a financial investment beyond buying the animals.
You will need housing for them and fencing or pens; you will need to arrange for feed or good
pasture; and you may need to purchase or rent tools so you can put up housing or fencing.
Planning is important. You need to keep track of expenditures because you will be trying to
produce enough meat, milk, and/or fiber to cover your expenses. You may not break even in
the beginning. If you are operating your farm as a business, talk to an accountant about how
to make these investments in farm equipment work for you on your taxes.
If you are raising animals for profit, you do need to report your income to the government.
Even if you operate at a loss, you need to file your taxes. There is a special tax form for
people engaged in farming. Get Publication 225 from the IRS for more detailed information:
www.irs.gov/publications/p225/ar01.html
.
It is a good idea to talk to an accountant about
reporting your taxes as a farmer, especially if you have not filled out this kind of form before.
Without professional assistance, you might miss deductions.
Raising Small Animals for Personal Use
Raising animals for personal use is becoming increasingly popular in the U.S. as more and
more people become concerned about their health and the source of their food. They may
want to have fresh eggs from their own chickens. They may want to have their own meat from
animals carefully raised under conditions they can control and fed the way they want the an-
imals to be fed. When you raise your own animals, you know with a great degree of certainty
what the animal eats and how the animal is treated. You know the animal has not been fed an-
tibiotics or growth hormones you may find objectionable. Raising your own animals for per-
sonal use can provide you with peace of mind as well as healthy food.
When you raise animals for your personal use, you also can have the pleasure of spending
time with them. Many people enjoy farming on this small scale. Perhaps you want to keep a
few animals to find out if you would like to become more deeply involved in farming. Or per-
haps you are content to have just a few animals and raise them for your own table. You can
sell or barter extra meat, eggs, or milk if you have more than you can use. If you are raising
animals for their meat, it helps to have a large freezer so you can freeze meat for the months
ahead when you might not have any animals to harvest.
