Main Street Farms received a SARE Farmer grant for on-farm research of Black Soldier Flies larvae (BSFL) as an alternative food-source for aquaculture and livestock. We plan to raise and breed BSFL in a heated green house year-round to find the ratio of pounds of larvae to pounds of food waste can be produced in a given month. The larvae will be fed cafeteria food waste, coffee grounds, and compost from other areas of the farm.
Pigs are tough on equipment. This simple water system doesn't tip in a pasture situation, stays clean and prevents the pigs from disturbing the hose connection.
A cattle farmer occasionally needs to weigh his animals, but weigh scales for cattle are expensive to purchase for the small operator ($1,000 to $1,500 or more). This is an accurate electronic scale you can make yourself for about $500.
Locates and tracks items in a defined area (several acres). Uses 3 or more "anchor points" to locate the position of any tag within the area defined by the anchor points. Tags must be low cost, but the anchor points can be $100+ each.
Turn your electric fence on or off with a text message. Get text alerts of power failures (and thus fence outages). Find a short or a broken section of fence way out in the pasture? No need to walk all the way back to the barn to turn the fence off to fix it (nor to "grin and bear it" while you fix it); just a send a text and in a few seconds the fence will be safe to work on.
A mobile roost for poultry production. Keep those Turklers happy.
An easy, inexpensive way for poultry to enjoy free-range activities during the day and access to supplementary feed and water while having the safety of a predator-free roost at night.
A summary of exisiting egg washing technologies and some discussion of merits/goals of small scale egg washing, hopefully some designs and prototypes to follow...