want to add more animals, need advice on self sufficiency!! #43

[Lifesong Farm]

Quote:
Do you plan to keep buying piglets and only raise then for butcher or do you want to have a couple to breed? If you just want to raise them up to slaughter weight then any breed would work. If you want to have a sow and boar I would pick a heritage breed that doesn't get as large as a more modern hog. The do better at raising their young than the hogs bred for factory farming and can be more friendly (not always though).

 

[awesomefowl]

You should read the book We farm for a hobby and make it pay by Henry Tetlow.
If I had 50 acres in Canada, I would get Highlands cattlle and/or some sort of easy care sheep. And a few pigs but they don't use much space. Depends on how much work you can put into it. Beef cattle (I love cattle) are not as much work as dairy cattle.
I think a cow or goat would be good for milk. Maybe a Jersey or Guernsey for the cow, and an Oberhasli or Alpine for goat's milk.
You could raise pastured broilers in the summer in
the cow pasture. Or turkeys.
whatever you choose, please post some nice photos when you get it/them!

 

[Ema]

again thank you for this information it does help us make a decision on what animals we want to put our energy into. We haven't fully decided whether we want to breed the pigs and then raise some for butchering and some for breeding, its something Dh and I plan on talking about today while we go out for coffee without the kids.

last night we decided on a few things. we certainly are going to get a few more chickens, pheasants, quail and partridge for meat, loads of people hunt them up here wild but there is also a lot of people who cannot hunt due to having no license or whatever so I know I could sell extra birds to some folk around here.
A few turkeys too.

As for rabbits, a couple months back we had an elderly friend and her mom tell us we should get meat rabbits, On Sunday I got a flat in town and Dh went to our friends house to see if she could drive him home to pick up the spare tire. She was on her way to church and gladly helped us out. She asked Dh again about meat rabbits, and dh told her we are currently talking about it, she told dh, my mom and I will buy you the rabbits if you build their pen and raise them, and when they are ready they will help process, in return they want a few rabbits for their freezer of a 70/30 ratio where I get 70 percent of them and they get 30 percent on the first batch. After that they will buy them from us.

In reality I prefer to buy my own rabbits to avoid future issues, and of course I will gladly take her help in processing as she is very experienced, she lives right in town and is not allowed any farm animals, nor does she have the space. 2 years ago she was supposed to rent an acre from me to build a coop and a small garden, but she became ill and couldn't do it.

anyhow, back to topic...so the list is now: more chickens, a couple turkeys, pheasants, quail and partridge for meat. 2 pet ducks (as promised to the kids last spring), a couple goats, a few piglets, and I am undecided on sheep, and we are looking into honey bees.
I won't be getting too many of each because I don't want to take on too big of a project right off the bat, if all goes well the first year then the next I will look into increasing.

Ema

 

[Hound]

A lot of one thing is a lot less work than a little of everything. It is also more profitable.

 

[Ema]

Quote:
yes this is true but I want variety. and higher quality meat. the little extra I know I can sell here in town.

 

[Lifesong Farm]

What we are doing is adding one species at a time and getting established with them. Our first was goats. They give milk and meat. Next we added the chickens. I may add a fiber goat later. Not sure. I was also going to add a couple cows because we like products that come from cattle. But I am rethinking that because the stocking rate for goats is much greater even with looking at mini or old world cattle.

 

[Raiquee]

Ema

I have found that me and DH will own almost all livestock! lol Heres why:

Cow- Want one only, a female that we will AI and either raise her calf for meat or sell. Then we have milk (I can't get raw milk in my state, illegal) which I can get cream, butter, cheese and milk from! Cheese being my biggest bonus. Also fertilizer, lawn mower, and they are so dang cute too

Goat- DH wants. Milk again, to make soap, milk to drink, cream, butter, cheese. Raise kids up for meat. Great for disposing weeds too! I grow weeds 5 times better than my garden, and i'm pretty good at my garden!

Chickens- DP for eggs, fertilizer, soup chickens when the time comes. Meaties to raise once a year, enough to fill the freezer so i'm not dealing with them all the time.
Ducks- Meat mainly. Eggs too. Cute

Pigs- Going to buy piglets in spring, butcher come fall. Buy 2 at a time and once again, so I don't have to deal with them all the time.

Supplement them with whey/milk from goat and cow we can not drink. Also eggs we can not eat or sell.
Sheep- fleece, milk (for cheese mainly), lambs for eatin'

Turkey- Not sure if i'll just buy a few poults every year and raise up or what. But I love me some turkey, and I hear they are fun to have

Probably will run them on the year we don't have pigs.
Rabbits- DH wants, I am okay with rabbit meat. Not sure I want to keep em around tho. If I could find a place to outsource the pelts (after utilizing a few for some really comfy throws

) then It would make me a believer. Otherwise not really in the cards.

We don't have a lot of kids or anything, but we have SEVERAL SIL, FIL, BIL, MILs etc that want in on this and would pay for it. So I see it offsetting some of the cost, and providing us with cuteness on our farm

Granted DH would love to start a CSA, so that's always in our deck of cards too should we find the customer base!

We only have ducks right now. The list above is for when we move

I think a sheep/goat would be a good stepping stone before a cow, and heck to house a trio of rabbits isn't too much room and man they have kits like...well like rabbits!

I heard they are easy enough to process too.

ETA: Oh, if I could I would do honey bees in an instant. Good for your garden/orchard and honey is sooo yummy! I am allergic to bees however, and think I might die if we decided on a beehive lol. I may be doing redworm bins for composting though

Worms can't kill me.

well...at least THOSE worms.

 

[Beekissed]

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Yes, but she is wanting self-sustaining projects and monocultures are rarely that....diversification is key and more profitable in the long run.

 

[Ema]

Quote:
I love your way of thinking :-D you pretty much summed up everything we've been thinking and talking about, worrying about. we don't think we want to over winter that many animals. the ducks of course are or will be pets, both my kids asked for one each last spring and I told them they could have one this spring, they are holding me to it, lol.

Dh says your method seems more appropriate for us. but you know how quickly things can change. I am more interested in stocking our freezers than selling, though I won't have an issue selling any extras, I might have an issue with making sure I don't go selling our freezer stock, lol...only a few friends know what we plan on doing with the farm this spring, and they are all interested in purchasing from us. so I have to make sure I don't short change ourselves LOL.

thank you for your input, it was very helpful, sometimes I got so much going through my head its hard to describe what I really want to do into words.

 

[Ema]

Quote:
Yes, but she is wanting self-sustaining projects and monocultures are rarely that....diversification is key and more profitable in the long run.

well at least someone else found the right words I couldn't find earlier to respond to this.

I will admit, I am sick, been sick since Sunday and all the meds I am under is leaving me foggy. I had a tooth abscess that was not treated properly and it began seeping into my bloodstream, well half my face is swollen and very painful, shivers and a fever, almost as if I had the flu to be honest. taking high doses of antibiotics but what makes me real foggy is the pain meds...they make me sleepy and sometimes I have a hard time thinking...lol....I am off work the whole week which is why I have had more time to come on BYC. I am loving time off but wish it was under better circumstances.