How would you protect your animals from nuclear fallout?

[MarGyver7]

With all that is happening on the world stage, I have been researching and devising a plan to better protect my animals from nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons....why you ask? Well if you haven't been following news you may be asking "why?"....but I do have military intel contacts that have been telling me increasingly more and more (especially for the past year) to be prepared for a nuclear war, as well as chemical, biological, conventional warfare, famine, social unrest, natural disasters, etc.....I am a minister, and student of eschatology, so I have been preparing for all sorts of disasters most of my adult life as I've seen where things have been headed ,so now I have a remote off-grid homestead with some livestock (ducks, chickens, turkeys, pigs, goats, cats and dogs) and I am focusing on protecting them better as well....I do this not out of fear, (being a woman of faith) but because I have been led to, and very blessed to be able to do so.... and the better prepared my family and animals are, the better prepared I am to serve and help others in times of crisis....but lets just talk about protecting the animals during a nuke event from here on out.

We are pretty far from any predicted nuclear strike targets (military bases, major cities, large infrastructure, etc) so the main concern for our animals is irradiated fallout, which could reach us as quickly as 30 minutes after a blast (but likely longer in our area) depend on the wind direction.

We have a small concrete fallout shelter for us, and if need be, plan to take with us a young rooster and 2-3 young hens, but we don't have enough room to accommodate more animals on top of those few birds with their cages and a couple weeks worth of feed.

Our dogs and cats would stay inside of our home with several pre-prepared 5 gallon buckets of food and water which we would open before leaving for our shelter, and we currently have them trained to relieve themselves in a back room with a large section of floor that is covered with kitty litter in the case that we aren't here to let them outside .....It's not ideal but it's the best we can do for them, , and at this point they would be better off than our poultry and livestock who just live in their (not so air tight) coops and log-slab barn.....so it is on those animals that I am now focusing being able to better protect!

Here is my idea..... we have a large greenhouse that is pretty tight and at this moment it is mostly harvested, aside from some cole crops growing along the east side wall. Last year I protected that side by building a mini greenhouse area over those cold tolerant plants and my poultry lived in the rest of the greenhouse over the winter. I wasn't planning on doing that again this year since a ton of weeds came up from them scratching in their feed everywhere, but now I'm thinking that may be the best place for them to spend a week or two in case of a fallout event.....pre-prepared with lots of food and water and a portion sectioned off with cattle panels to put my two goats (so they don't trample the birds). Unfortunately, I don't think I could get my 2 pigs across the property and into the greenhouse quickly enough, and I'd be concerned about them getting at the birds.

During my research I didn't find very much info on this subject but I did locate an archive of a downloadable USDA brochure from the cold war era, titled
"Your livestock can survive fallout from nuclear attack"

Here is the link https://ia902704.us.archive.org/29/items/CAT31305039/CAT31305039.pdf
I hope this helps!
Please post if you have any other info or ideas or think their are faults or missing pieces to my plan.... or just say whatever is on your mind....I'd love to hear from you!

 

[DickMidnight]

we currently have them trained to relieve themselves in a back room with a large section of floor that is covered with kitty litter in the case that we aren't here to let them outside

this is a…permanent situation?

 

[tripletfeb]

Honestly, I think you are probably as prepared as you can be. I haven't even planned at all for my chickens, the only farm animals I currently have. My husband and I are looking for land to do what you have, living off grid on a homestead, away from a lot. Bringing your few chickens inside might be as best as you can do, in just 30 mins. I say this for a few reasons. First being, how will you hear of a strike? By the time you know of it, it might be too late to do much besides get to your shelter. Second, the amount of animals and their waste would overwhelm a building, without proper ventilation, very fast. If the building is ventilated for the animals, you might as well just leave them where they are. Third, how do you plan on going out to feed the animals? Pigs and others might just eat any and all food you left out, so they would be hungry and out of food, forcing you to go out and feed and water, compromising any building they are in. Again, might be best just to leave them where they currently live and hope that having to take shelter won't last weeks

 

[16 and me]

With all that is happening on the world stage, I have been researching and devising a plan to better protect my animals from nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons....why you ask? Well if you haven't been following news you may be asking "why?"....but I do have military intel contacts that have been telling me increasingly more and more (especially for the past year) to be prepared for a nuclear war, as well as chemical, biological, conventional warfare, famine, social unrest, natural disasters, etc.....I am a minister, and student of eschatology, so I have been preparing for all sorts of disasters most of my adult life as I've seen where things have been headed ,so now I have a remote off-grid homestead with some livestock (ducks, chickens, turkeys, pigs, goats, cats and dogs) and I am focusing on protecting them better as well....I do this not out of fear, (being a woman of faith) but because I have been led to, and very blessed to be able to do so.... and the better prepared my family and animals are, the better prepared I am to serve and help others in times of crisis....but lets just talk about protecting the animals during a nuke event from here on out.

We are pretty far from any predicted nuclear strike targets (military bases, major cities, large infrastructure, etc) so the main concern for our animals is irradiated fallout, which could reach us as quickly as 30 minutes after a blast (but likely longer in our area) depend on the wind direction.

We have a small concrete fallout shelter for us, and if need be, plan to take with us a young rooster and 2-3 young hens, but we don't have enough room to accommodate more animals on top of those few birds with their cages and a couple weeks worth of feed.

Our dogs and cats would stay inside of our home with several pre-prepared 5 gallon buckets of food and water which we would open before leaving for our shelter, and we currently have them trained to relieve themselves in a back room with a large section of floor that is covered with kitty litter in the case that we aren't here to let them outside .....It's not ideal but it's the best we can do for them, , and at this point they would be better off than our poultry and livestock who just live in their (not so air tight) coops and log-slab barn.....so it is on those animals that I am now focusing being able to better protect!

Here is my idea..... we have a large greenhouse that is pretty tight and at this moment it is mostly harvested, aside from some cole crops growing along the east side wall. Last year I protected that side by building a mini greenhouse area over those cold tolerant plants and my poultry lived in the rest of the greenhouse over the winter. I wasn't planning on doing that again this year since a ton of weeds came up from them scratching in their feed everywhere, but now I'm thinking that may be the best place for them to spend a week or two in case of a fallout event.....pre-prepared with lots of food and water and a portion sectioned off with cattle panels to put my two goats (so they don't trample the birds). Unfortunately, I don't think I could get my 2 pigs across the property and into the greenhouse quickly enough, and I'd be concerned about them getting at the birds.

During my research I didn't find very much info on this subject but I did locate an archive of a downloadable USDA brochure from the cold war era, titled
"Your livestock can survive fallout from nuclear attack"

Here is the link https://ia902704.us.archive.org/29/items/CAT31305039/CAT31305039.pdf
I hope this helps!
Please post if you have any other info or ideas or think their are faults or missing pieces to my plan.... or just say whatever is on your mind....I'd love to hear from you!

If you have access to an excavator, and don't mind digging up around your greenhouse. Pushing a few feet of earth up against the walls, may help. Plan B: keep an incubator & a handful of eggs safe in that shelter of yours, you may need to start over if plan A doesn't work out!

 

[MarGyver7]

this is a…permanent situation?

Yes but rarely used, since our dogs have matured now, and we don't ever leave the property for more than a few hrs a day unless we get a sitter.... We started it when the dogs were younger and weren't as well trained and obedient to come inside when called, and we could only let one dog out at a time because if several went out as a pack and spotted some wild horses or grazing cattle they would go after them as a pack. So only one dog goes out at a time. but now they will come in when called.... and that was our backup plan in case another dog decided they couldn't hold it until it was their turn to go out.... better to have them use a designated spot in an unused room that can be easily cleaned then have them go in the livingroom lol.

 

[DickMidnight]

Yes but rarely used, since our dogs have matured now, and we don't ever leave the property for more than a few hrs a day unless we get a sitter.... We started it when the dogs were younger and weren't as well trained and obedient to come inside when called, and we could only let one dog out at a time because if several went out as a pack and spotted some wild horses or grazing cattle they would go after them as a pack. So only one dog goes out at a time. but now they will come in when called.... and that was our backup plan in case another dog decided they couldn't hold it until it was their turn to go out.... better to have them use a designated spot in an unused room that can be easily cleaned then have them go in the ivingroom lol.

so now there’s just a pee room in your house?

 

[tripletfeb]

so now there’s just a pee room in your house?

I used to work at a dog boarding facility. This is actually more common than you think, especially if the person lives in an apt building on a top floor. Puppy pee pads are used a lot. I know the OP doesn't live in an apt, I'm just saying...

 

[DickMidnight]

I used to work at a dog boarding facility. This is actually more common than you think, especially if the person lives in an apt building on a top floor. Puppy pee pads are used a lot. I know the OP doesn't live in an apt, I'm just saying...

that’s why dog walkers are so prevalent in big cities.

no chance i’m devoting a whole room to a doggie bathroom.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

that’s why dog walkers are so prevalent in big cities.

no chance i’m devoting a whole room to a doggie bathroom.

Then... don't? They don't use it every day every time, it sounds like they use it more so when there isn't another option

 

[DickMidnight]

Then... don't? They don't use it every day every time, it sounds like they use it more so when there isn't another option

i don’t. and that’s exactly why i asked if the OPs kitty litter floored room is a permanent fixture.

it’s not exactly what you expect to find in someone’s home.