The movie "Fresh"

[schellie69]

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And my fiance won't allow cows, only goats!! I am curious about mini-breeds, I only just discovered them. Do you have any currently? If so, what breed? How much space do you have/need to house one? I would LOVE to raise a few mini-steer because I just don't have the pasture-space for a big cow. My land lends itself REALLY well to pigs though. There is enough room for the goats too..

Piney, how much room do you have? One or two dairy goats are SO cute and fun. What kind of goats did his step-mom have? I've only had experience with Boer and Pygmy. The Boer were not mine and belonged to my family, so I only saw them in passing or when I wanted to feed them treats. Some of them were bought mean-spirited (they got rid of those pretty quick), so I know they can be a pain.. but most of them were wonderful. Mostly girls, of course. Pygmy's.... are just plain awesome. Although if you're just getting for milking, look into a Nigerian. Also small, but more bred for milk and thus I hear easier to milk. I wanted my girls for milk but also to produce me some offspring for meat, so Pygmy was a better choice.

Good luck convincing DH!

No I live in town so now cows for me yet. You only need 1/2 acre of land to feed one. Also you get more meat from a mini-cow then a full size one. So a Google search and see what kind would work for you that is what I did. I love mini-anything because you can have more with less space. My Dh hates goats maybe someday

 

[BlackBart]

Seeds of Deception and Homo Toxicus are good too.

There are other advocates, Vandana Shiva for one and there are several in my area.

 

[Pineywoods Peepers]

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We have about 11.5 acres, but the terrain is rather hilly and a dry creek bed segregates the land, so it feels smaller than 11.5 acres (to me anyway).

I'm not sure what breed of goats my m-i-l has. I know she milks them daily, and I think she sells the kids for meat. She may even put a few in her freezer. Honestly I don't really want goats either. I'd rather have a cow, and those mini cows sound like they might be just the ticket.

 

[NevadaRon]

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I raised two pigs last year. They went from 20 lbs. each when I got them to 350 lbs. each in a little less than 6 months (well, one was only 345

)! Dressed out I had 478.5 lbs. of pork - enough to fill a large freezer. I figure the cost was about $2/lb, half of which was processing. Well worth it!

 

[Kudzu]

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Thank you!

 

[Pineywoods Peepers]

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Wow! What kind of set up do you need for pigs?

 

[NevadaRon]

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Wow! What kind of set up do you need for pigs?

It's quite simple really. I made a 16x16 foot enclosure with T-posts and "hog panels" - basically welded wire but more substantial than that used for chickens. You can see it in this pic:

For water, I used a "hog nipple" - the pigs bite on it and the valve opens and they can drink. For feeding, I used several sizes of those black rubber bowls you see at feed stores, going larger as they grew. I built a very simple lean-to type shelter so they could get out of the sun/rain. About once a week I would clean the poop out of their pen, adding it to the compost pile (we called it Pig Poo Peak

). They will dig a hole that you just fill up with water (which they quickly turn into mud) to cool off in when it's hot. Any scraps, garden waste, etc. that you have leftover you can just throw in their pen - they'll eat anything. For their main feed I used Purina Hog Chow. There's a starter you feed them for the first month or so then switch to the regular feed. Here's the result:

 

[Looking4ewes]

Any serious homesteader has got to have a dairy animal. For a small holding, a goat or two will produce much milk in exchange for the feed AND produce a tasty goat kid for the table. Since I have the room, I went with a Jersey cow, about 700-800 lbs. She is a light producer, about 2 gallons a day, but it is fine for our needs. The excess milk, after butter and cheese making, goes to feed the dogs, pigs, and chickens. PLUS we have a nice bull calf growing in the pasture to fill our freezer next winter. I'm not a fan of mini-cows as the payoff of milk or meat does not make up for the very high initial purchase price. If you don't have the space for a Jersey, then go with the goats, or pasture a couple ewes for some very good eating. (I'm writing this as I am cleaning my plate of a very tasty backstrap of a 2 1/2 yo cull ewe.)

I can't wait to rent the movie. Our internet is too slow for u-tube.

@NevRon - nice set-up with the hogs. I pastured 5 last year in electric netting and used a plastic calf feeder for shelter. I fed daily, as you did, and added excess milk as well. Delicious! I've started to render the excess fat into lard, which makes for delicious frying, and I am searching for uses of the cracklings, which I have frozen. Potatoes fried in lard seasoned with crackings is phenomenal! Phooey to all who have told us that lard is bad for us!

 

[schellie69]

Here is one web-site I found on mini-cows it should answer some questions. I don't think that mini-cows are any more expensive then another type. Just works better for smaller farmers. There are over 21 different breeds of mini-cows right now and I think people are working on other breeds. I think these are just like chickens I have seen standard and bantam sizes in a lot of different breeds now. I hope people who think these cows will work for you do some research they don't needs as much good grass to grow so they can graze in places other can't good luck and I hope this web site helps This is just one I found
http://www.minicattlecountry.com/page3.html