Benefits of Certain Farm Animals

[kjanda]

I've got goats, guineas, 40+ chickens, and hopefully cattle one day. But I'm wondering what's the benefit of animals like rabbits, ducks, turkeys, geese, etc.. A rabbit I can see being a pet project for a child, like graduating from goldfish to hamster to rabbit. Or I guess you can show rabbits. I love hunting cottontails. Ducks? What good do they do other than interesting personality and fun to watch? I remember geese when I was little...they were mean. Yall keep em for eggs and meat?

 

[heartsizedfarm]

Sheep are an easy and useful farm animal. If you get them young they can be socialized to make them more manageable, and if you choose a breed with nice fleece you can make your own yarn with an inexpensive spinning wheel. Then you can sell your yarn or knit or weave your own scarves sweaters and blankets! Just like chickens are the perfect farm animal for people who want to be food self sufficient, sheep are the perfect farm animal for people who want to be clothing self sufficient. And as grass and hay eaters they're pretty inexpensive to keep.

 

[kjanda]

Yeah definitely, sheep are great. Most people around here have Barbadoes. Sheep and pigs aren't something I'm after but both seem really useful.

 

[sourland]

For me, at one time or another all have been pets or utilized for meat/eggs - well, never did get any eggs from the rabbits.

Domestic rabbit has a more mild taste than cottontail. We had one rule while growing up: never name your food. Pets got names and life time rights - 'food' was treated kindly, fed well, and killed as compassionately as possible.

A long, long time ago I was preparing to marry a 'city' girl. Never brought her to meet my family until after we were engaged - long story there. She was rather fearful of all the critters that I had. She admired my beagles from a distance. Wanting her to meet them 'up close and personal'. I went up to Gus the Goose (yep, a pet) and his mate and grabbed one of their newly hatched goslings. I then ran back to my 'wife to be' with the geese in hot pursuit - she decided that beagles were a better choice and jumped into the pen with them. Yes, geese can be mean - they can also be very interesting creatures. By the way she still married me after all of that and has hung around for more than 50 years.

 

[heartsizedfarm]

For me, at one time or another all have been pets or utilized for meat/eggs - well, never did get any eggs from the rabbits.    Domestic rabbit has a more mild taste than cottontail.  We had one rule while growing up:  never name your food.  Pets got names and life time rights - 'food' was treated kindly, fed well, and killed as compassionately as possible. 

A long, long time ago I was preparing to marry a 'city' girl.  Never brought her to meet my family until after we were engaged - long story there.  She was rather fearful of all the critters that I had.  She admired my beagles from a distance.  Wanting her to meet them 'up close and personal'.  I went up to Gus the Goose (yep, a pet) and his mate and grabbed one of their newly hatched goslings.  I then ran back to my 'wife to be' with the geese in hot pursuit - she decided that beagles were a better choice and jumped into the pen with them.  Yes, geese can be mean - they can also be very interesting creatures.  By the way she still married me after all of that and has hung around for more than 50 years. 

Kudos to her! Not sure if I'd have stuck with someone who sikked the geese on me! Lol

 

[kjanda]

Haha! That's a good one!
Not naming your food is always a good idea. I'm sure they make good pets and are real interesting to have around. Guess I see it that I have enough to do already, what return on investment am I getting from them?
Luckily I married a country girl. She's right there with me getting her hands dirty cleaning deer or fish, tending the garden and flowerbed, good homemade cookin, all that stuff.

 

[donrae]

Rabbits are a great, easy source of protien. Fairly cheap to feed, lots of meat return, and you don't have to wait for anyone to go broody

Ducks and geese are meat and eggs, plus insect and weed control. Geese have the bonus alarm system built in!

Turkeys are meat, eggs and comic relief

Different animals have different niches on a farm. Myself, I don't have the space for a beef or milk cow, so I've raised goats, pigs and chickens for meat instead. The cool thing is, when it's your place, you can say what lives there. You can try an animal and decide you just don't like it enough to continue with it (goats for us) or decide it's the animal for you and you focus too much of your life on it (yes, that would be chickens for me).

 

[kjanda]

Great answer. I ask the folks I know who have geese, turkeys, and ducks what they have em for and they always respond they like having em around or the kids like em, something like that. If I got any it'd be for good eatin'!

 

[ChaoSS]

For me, at one time or another all have been pets or utilized for meat/eggs - well, never did get any eggs from the rabbits.

My rabbits lay prolifically. The only problem is that their eggs are really small, and taste like crap.

 

[donrae]

My rabbits lay prolifically. The only problem is that their eggs are really small, and taste like crap.

You must have the wrong rabbits, then. The ones they show on TV in the spring lay chocolate eggs

. I'ma get me some of those, but they seem to be a proprietary secret, like the Cornish cross or the ISA brown.