Dream animals

[azurbanclucker]

I'd like to have room for a Shire horse, a Friesian and a Gypsy Vanner. #4 would like an OTTB or an Irish sport horse to jump. Also peafowl and pheasants to go along with the menagerie of chickens. Tortoises and mini pigs, of course, but the next house the bacon stays outside and has their own climate controlled shed. A llama or donkey as a herd guardian, a hutch full of rabbits, and a koi pond. Maybe some ducks or geese. Nothing too fancy or crazy.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Oh man. If I had the land and money, it'd be cows I think! I'm not at all confident I could handle an animal that big at first, but it would be so neat to learn.

Anyway, as I don't have either of those prerequisites, I'm hoping goats are a bit more realistic for my pretend-farm...

Yeah I’m not sure I could handle such a big animal either but then again I want horses which might be bigger I hope you can get goats

 

[azurbanclucker]

I'd like to have room for a Shire horse, a Friesian and a Gypsy Vanner. #4 would like an OTTB or an Irish sport horse to jump. Also peafowl and pheasants to go along with the menagerie of chickens. Tortoises and mini pigs, of course, but the next house the bacon stays outside and has their own climate controlled shed. A llama or donkey as a herd guardian, a hutch full of rabbits, and a koi pond. Maybe some ducks or geese. Nothing too fancy or crazy.

And malamutes. But we'll have mals long before we have another place for the rest.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I'd like to have room for a Shire horse, a Friesian and a Gypsy Vanner. #4 would like an OTTB or an Irish sport horse to jump. Also peafowl and pheasants to go along with the menagerie of chickens. Tortoises and mini pigs, of course, but the next house the bacon stays outside and has their own climate controlled shed. A llama or donkey as a herd guardian, a hutch full of rabbits, and a koi pond. Maybe some ducks or geese. Nothing too fancy or crazy.

I love all of this Llamas are so cute too! As are alpacas which I forgot I want lol I know you didn’t mention them but it reminded me of it lol all those horse breeds are gorgeous

 

[ShrekDawg]

And malamutes. But we'll have mals long before we have another place for the rest.

Malamutes are awesome!

 

[ShrekDawg]

I’ve never had venison. Someone send me some deer too or better yet, Mare or someone makes something delicious out of it and THEN sends it because I would probably ruin it Chef Mike FTW

 

[Folly's place]

Malamutes are awsome if you live way up north and have them in a sled dog team, outside.
When a cow has twin calves (not a good thing) and one of each sex, the heifer calf gets an overload of her brother's testosterone while in utero, so she's sterile, and called a free martin. Don't have any idea where that name came from!
Mary

 

[azurbanclucker]

Malamutes are awsome if you live way up north and have them in a sled dog team, outside.
When a cow has twin calves (not a good thing) and one of each sex, the heifer calf gets an overload of her brother's testosterone while in utero, so she's sterile, and called a free martin. Don't have any idea where that name came from!
Mary

We had 2 mals. They can acclimate to most environments. Summers in the desert were "lay on the tile under the ceiling fan on the hottest days", and we mostly only saw them in the cooler months when they came in to eat They used to sun out in the yard with the tortoises and chickens. You'd have a mal with a couple birds nestled in the curve of her stomach, and a tortoise kinda halfway climbed up her back while she was laying in the yard, happy as a clam.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Warning: The following post will be a downer to those of you who dream of keeping cattle. So if you don't want your dream dampened, don't read! Skip it.

I speak from experience. Dream away all you like; but if you're serious, don't make it a reality unless you're ready for:
- Acres and acres of pasture. Securely fenced, cross-fenced, and gated.
- Regular source for hay that's affordable. AND equipment to move it.
- Feed prices that are in flux and unpredictable. AND equipment to store it.
- Open line of credit at one or more livestock feed stores, and your local farm equipment dealer. Bottomless bank account to go with it.
- BIG animals that can and will KILL you whether they mean to or not.
- Corral and loading chutes. Have you checked prices on cattle panels lately? LOL
- Lots of $$, or a friend with heavy equipment, to install posts and fencing.
- Barn or VERY sturdy shed with sizeable stalls.
- Livestock trailer, hay trailer, squeeze chute, hay racks, feed troughs, water tanks, de-icers.....
- Dealing with mastitis, injuries, pink eye, FLIES, calving problems (at 2 in the morning on a Saturday during a snowstorm), charging bulls, skittish heifers, panicky steers, bawling calves...
- Large animal vet on speed dial.
- MUD and MANURE up to your knees and in your hair.
- Helps to have a tractor with hay spike, or a skidsteer or bobcat. Then you'll want a brush hog, and more and more attachments... Leads to getting a hay mower, rake and baler... then dedicating weeks in spring and again late summer to cut hay for yourself and several neighbors....
- Sunburn. Frostbite. Bruises. Stitches. Heat exhaustion. Sprains. Maybe broken bones.

We started with a dream of having "a few" cows. Just enough to keep the freezer full. Well, that was fine, except that we still had to have ALL the equipment whether we had two, or ten. So it made sense to raise a few more to sell, to help cover costs. Then we lost two calves and two mama cows last year, so fewer cows to sell. At the moment, we have one breeding bull, four breeding heifers/cows (all pregnant) on pasture, two feeder steers in another pasture (bull will join them soon), and two bottle calves in the corral. All of this just to put ONE steer per year in our freezer.

 

[azurbanclucker]

...Yeah, I think I'd rather just make friends with someone raising beef cattle and buy a side when they slaughter.