Thanks for the great info. I did not feel too inclined toward quail, but the guineas seem like a great option. Since I don't know much about either I wanted some perspective before I began searching the web & library.
I do want the Angora goat (just one) for fiber, and maybe 2 others for milk. I have prepared many goats - goat posole, curried goat, etc and like the meat but I don't LOVE it.
I think it's easier, and better if people just stick to a few things, instead of dabbling in multiple... This isn't really geared directly at you (maybe), but in general to the many readers and spectators who'll read this...
I agree, and that is why I plan to wait until I have the other things I want to do under control before I add to my work load. Then I would only add one at a time - probably starting with the cow - and only 1 species a year. Next year the most I would add are 6 or so meat chickens, 3-4 turkeys and a few guineas. If I tractor them I would clear the overgrown area enough to facilitate moving them around.
My grandparents had a big farm when around the corner from my house growing up and I worked there just about everyday as a kid. I would go & just hang out in the barn & read on days when it was too rainy. I loved their 2 sheep and their cow like most kids love their best friend. As my grandfather's health declined, and after he passed, I worked in the morning before school with my Mema, then after school as well. I learned - after my grampa decided he liked his 6 layers & 10 meat birds so much he should raise 200 birds the next year - about how quickly a farm can go off the rails when the work load is grows out of control.
For now everything is in the dreams and ambitions stage, but I have two strong, healthy boys and loads of energy myself. I would only take on enough to keep us busy & tired & off the xBox. I'm also not sure I would do BOTH cows and goats. I have read that milk goats are a better time & energy investment, as well as being less expensive to feed. I also know their reputation for escaping their pasture, eating everything in sight and terrorizing the neighbors - my friend had 3 nubian goats he hated. We regularly had to chase them around the neighborhood to get them out of neighbors fields and out of the road. So, I am torn and, as I said, if I get them it would be a long way off.
I work from home as a personal chef and prepare foods from locally grown products for my clients. I deliver once a week and cook two days a week. Since I got the ducks and chickens one of my clients has opted to come pick up since she loves the ducks. They all want me to raise as much of their food as possible and are very supportive of my expansion. The other man I cook for wants to help me raise his pigs rather than getting them from the farmer I have raise them. He knows I would not get into doing so for at least 2 years but has offered to buy much of the required fencing and materials if I were to get into it. Until then (if we do it) he is perfectly content with how things are now. (Honestly, I am, too.) My oldest son spends a lot of time up the road and has fallen for the pigs though, and would love to raise his own (he thinks) so we will see.
I appreciate your perspective as I have noticed a "just get more" attitude on some websites that doesn't add up to me. I want to make sure I am the best owner I can be for each creature that I move here before expanding any further. So far, so good though, and I could add a few more - it would keep me from being on BYC so much, probably a good side effect.
