Here's my take/ mostly on livestock....
I do not have much food put back. I have a few hundred pounds of meat on the hoof mowing my yard(goats). I have 25 or so chickens.
If things went bad I have enough canned stuff for about a month. The chickens would all be turned out, well all but a trio or so of Leghorns for hatching eggs an some Cochins if power for the incubator was an issue. The goats can fend for there self pretty well an the dogs being in the goat yard keep predators at bay. I also have a cat for mousing.
Storing grain is always a good idea but it needs to be protected. Grain storage has been an issue for thousands of years. That is one of the first reasons for domesticating dogs an cats. People would be shocked an how much rats can carry off the first nigh when they find your grain. A years supply of wheat can be gone my morning. A good cat or ratter dog is worth its weight in food a day. Plastic buckets will not keep rats out, they will actually attract them. The plastic in buckets along with other plastics is a food source to rats. They will seek out the plastics an eat threw them for the nutrients in the plastic its self. Once inside an it finds the grains it will carry off every bit that it has a place to store.
I cant eat grass. To turn dirt in to food I have to make a garden which takes lots of calories of input. A garden is a good thing but is not all that efficient. Goats, sheep, rabbits, exec can turn grass in to food for me with almost not calorie input from me. Less calorie input I have to use means the less calories I have to eat. Now if all you own is so many square feet of dirt then efficient use of land is key, not efficient use of time an calories. Knowing how to garden well will be a priority. Every inch of dirt needs to produce as much food as you can.
On the other hand, if you have a few acres, efficient use of time an calories becomes key, not efficient use of land. If you take half an acre an make a garden, an acre for wheat, a acre for a few goats an maybe a small lot for a rabbit colony what would happen. How big of a garden can you work your self? How many calories will you eat on those days? What would it cost to fire of a tractor if you went bigger? Sure a acre of goats wont make you as much food as a second acre of garden would but can you work 2 by hand? Or is less work an meet an milk worth more? What about the wheat or corn or other grains? You need them but you only eat the grains. If you throw away the rest, thats not very efficient. You grew it, might as well store it an have something that can eat it.
Now theres the issue of wildlife an other predators. Humans, deer, rats, wild birds, you name it an it likes the same foods you like. Are you going to run outside day an night to run off everything that might find your garden, wheat, corn or goats. You could but how many calories do you burn moving your 150 pound body around doing that? I bet a pair of 20 pound shelties could do a better job an burn way less calories a day doing it, leaving you to only go look out the window or go out when it is needed.
What about winter storage? Are you going to dig threw stacks of buckets of grain an other stored foods every day, cleaning an resting traps to make sure your food is not being taken away in the night? Sure you could but think of the calories you are burning threw. I bet a pair of cats or 10 pound ratter dogs could crawl around between those buckets an do the same job better while burning less calories per day.
Can livestock or pets give away your location? Sure. Anyone withing a few hundred yards will see livestock but they will also see a garden. Anyone withing a mile may hear your dog barking but if it is then something is close enough already to be more of an issue at the time. The people a mile+ away will not know your dog from the sound of wild dogs. If they are going to find you they will more likely follow the smell of anything you cook or the smoke from your chimney.
Animals are there to do the jobs that we cant or to do they jobs that we can but they can do more efficiently than we can. There is a reason over thousands of years the home/farm evolved to have both plants an livestock, an dogs an cats. Those people knew what they were doing. Before anyone tries to reinvent the wheel, look closely at the old one an ask why each part is there to begin with.
I do not have much food put back. I have a few hundred pounds of meat on the hoof mowing my yard(goats). I have 25 or so chickens.
If things went bad I have enough canned stuff for about a month. The chickens would all be turned out, well all but a trio or so of Leghorns for hatching eggs an some Cochins if power for the incubator was an issue. The goats can fend for there self pretty well an the dogs being in the goat yard keep predators at bay. I also have a cat for mousing.
Storing grain is always a good idea but it needs to be protected. Grain storage has been an issue for thousands of years. That is one of the first reasons for domesticating dogs an cats. People would be shocked an how much rats can carry off the first nigh when they find your grain. A years supply of wheat can be gone my morning. A good cat or ratter dog is worth its weight in food a day. Plastic buckets will not keep rats out, they will actually attract them. The plastic in buckets along with other plastics is a food source to rats. They will seek out the plastics an eat threw them for the nutrients in the plastic its self. Once inside an it finds the grains it will carry off every bit that it has a place to store.
I cant eat grass. To turn dirt in to food I have to make a garden which takes lots of calories of input. A garden is a good thing but is not all that efficient. Goats, sheep, rabbits, exec can turn grass in to food for me with almost not calorie input from me. Less calorie input I have to use means the less calories I have to eat. Now if all you own is so many square feet of dirt then efficient use of land is key, not efficient use of time an calories. Knowing how to garden well will be a priority. Every inch of dirt needs to produce as much food as you can.
On the other hand, if you have a few acres, efficient use of time an calories becomes key, not efficient use of land. If you take half an acre an make a garden, an acre for wheat, a acre for a few goats an maybe a small lot for a rabbit colony what would happen. How big of a garden can you work your self? How many calories will you eat on those days? What would it cost to fire of a tractor if you went bigger? Sure a acre of goats wont make you as much food as a second acre of garden would but can you work 2 by hand? Or is less work an meet an milk worth more? What about the wheat or corn or other grains? You need them but you only eat the grains. If you throw away the rest, thats not very efficient. You grew it, might as well store it an have something that can eat it.
Now theres the issue of wildlife an other predators. Humans, deer, rats, wild birds, you name it an it likes the same foods you like. Are you going to run outside day an night to run off everything that might find your garden, wheat, corn or goats. You could but how many calories do you burn moving your 150 pound body around doing that? I bet a pair of 20 pound shelties could do a better job an burn way less calories a day doing it, leaving you to only go look out the window or go out when it is needed.
What about winter storage? Are you going to dig threw stacks of buckets of grain an other stored foods every day, cleaning an resting traps to make sure your food is not being taken away in the night? Sure you could but think of the calories you are burning threw. I bet a pair of cats or 10 pound ratter dogs could crawl around between those buckets an do the same job better while burning less calories per day.
Can livestock or pets give away your location? Sure. Anyone withing a few hundred yards will see livestock but they will also see a garden. Anyone withing a mile may hear your dog barking but if it is then something is close enough already to be more of an issue at the time. The people a mile+ away will not know your dog from the sound of wild dogs. If they are going to find you they will more likely follow the smell of anything you cook or the smoke from your chimney.
Animals are there to do the jobs that we cant or to do they jobs that we can but they can do more efficiently than we can. There is a reason over thousands of years the home/farm evolved to have both plants an livestock, an dogs an cats. Those people knew what they were doing. Before anyone tries to reinvent the wheel, look closely at the old one an ask why each part is there to begin with.
