How Can I Make Money With Farm Livestock?

Farm livestock are domesticated animals that are raised as food, for their fiber or for labor. Common livestock include cattle, sheep and chickens. Cattle may be used for meat and milk, sheep can be used for their wool and chickens are raised for meat and their eggs. Smaller farms cannot necessarily compete with larger farms in terms of generating income through these three traditional ways, but smaller farms can make money from livestock by opening up their farms for educational purposes.

Things You'll Need

  • Working farm
  • Farm livestock
  • Parking markers
  • Signs
  • Permits
  • Portable toilets
  • Handicapped facilities
  • Hand-washing facilities
  • Fruit and vegetable stands
  • Livestock pens
  • Livestock food for visitors to feed animals
  • Tractor ride
  • Farm guide
  • Advertisements and website
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Instructions

    • 1

      Build a parking lot in front of your livestock farm. Simple parking markers can point out designated parking areas. Repair any buildings on the farms, and create safe entrances and walkways throughout. If you want to open it up for educational tours, you need to make it safe for visitors.

    • 2

      Contact city business departments to ask if any permits are necessary to open up your farm to visitors and schoolchildren. Create signs for your small farm so visitors can easily locate it from main roads. Bathrooms and other facilities for the handicapped may be required.

    • 3

      Set up stands to sell your products, like fruits and vegetables. Consider starting a u-pick fruit and vegetable field for seasonally grown produce. Be sure to use safe farming methods, such as organically grown vegetables.

    • 4

      Build pens for livestock to be displayed to tour groups. Set up friendly livestock like young goats, rabbits and chickens for a petting zoo. Sell livestock food for visitors to feed livestock.

    • 5

      Create a tractor ride with a tractor pulling a cart so that families can ride around the farm. Hire a knowledgeable and child-friendly farm guide to talk about how farms work.

    • 6

      Set up a website about your family farm that is open to the public. Create advertisements in the local newspaper or family magazine about your livestock farm with educational tours for schools and birthday parties.