How much effort do you put in to a choice that isn't working well?

[DianeS]

I have been wondering about this a lot lately. Most of my self-sufficiency attempts are working well. I had no problem adding chickens to my lifestyle. Doing a compost heap worked almost textbook perfectly. The mealworm farm produced lots of bugs for the chickens to eat. Even after moving from Colorado to Oregon and not understanding the climate, the starts in the garden are growing like weeds. I've figured out how and where to forage for several items. I still have grapes in the freezer from last fall. The meat chicken experiment is going well and one week away from butchering day. Craigslist is showing me where to get several things that I can resell and so turn a profit.

But the rabbits? Not so much. I struggle with them. The wool on the Angoras is matting like crazy. I just can't keep up with the grooming. I got clippers and buzzed their back ends down the other day, giving myself a frest start that I can maybe keep up with. But in addition to producing wool for me to spin, they are supposed to BREED and produce kits for meat. And that just isn't happening. I've attempted to breed numerous pairs, and have only two dead litters to show for it. I also have meat rabbits, and finally have my first live litter, but that's after months of doing this.

How much is enough? When do YOU choose to throw in the towel on an experiement that should work well but just isn't?

None of my startup costs were expensive. But the feed is adding up. They are costing about $5 per week to feed these rabbits, and I am not getting that much back from them. But I keep trying because if I could just keep up with the grooming a little better, I could sell the wool and it would pay for the feed. (But not if I have to keep shaving them.) And I keep trying because if they would each just produce ONE litter this year, the resulting meat would pay for the feed.

I guess I'm asking how much in the hole are you willing to go for something that *should* work? Is it a dollar amount for you? Like you'd invest $100 or a $1000? Is it a time period for you? Like you'd give an experiment 6 months or a year?

I admit am emotionally invested in this generation of rabbits. They almost didn't live and I had to get nurse does for them. Most of them have names. I know their personalities. So although they are livestock, they are also semi-pets, which complicates things. How much would that influence your decisions in when to throw in the towel on an experiment? I mean, when I moved, I wasn't going to bother moving the mealworm farm, so I just dumped the whole thing into the chicken run and gave them all a huge treat, with no emotional impact whatsoever. But the rabbits feel different and I can't just put them all in the freezer without a LOT of thought and being sure it was the right decision.

So how do you choose to make decisions like this, with and without the emotional aspect of it?

 

[pinkfox]

for meits when it crossed the line form work im enjoying to work i dread doing each morning...
if you wake up and think "oh my god ive got to go brush those rabbits AGAIN" and just dread the thought of it then its time to say "this isnt my thing" and move on.

in terms of breeding i do know angoras can be tough to get to sucessfully breed and rear litters (hence the initial cost for babies, there an expensive breed)
the only "meaty" breed i have experience with is the S.Rex and they generally dont have the breeding/motherng issues many other breeds do (but their kits dont grow as fast and 8 is a BIG litter)
it could just be you got into the wrong breed. but it could also be that bunnies arnt for you.

if you dread it, cut your losses and take a different path.
i dont keep any critter projects going if im not enjoying them, if i dont like a breed ill try different breds before giving up completly, but i dont see the point in sticking with it if its not at least somewhat enjoyable too.

 

[FarmerChick]

animals are hard. animals mean alot of work and if they are not producing, ditch it. OR TRULY sit down and figure out what is happening and fix it...again and again if you truly want to continue.

there were a million things were tried. we weeded thru and decided which was easiest, we enjoyed, made true profit, and didn't kill us at the end of the day.

we planted 3 acres of sunflowers. wow we sold a ton but dealing with them was a mess to take to market. they required water...and alot of it. mess to harvest because we cut very very very late at night in the dark before the sale day, then had to keep them wet, get there, set up and deal wtih water again. not worth it. we made bucks but not worth the work. so only 1 season of that thank goodness (and many other projects went by the wayside to find our niche)



there is nothing wrong with ditching a project and finding another that works, you enjoy, you profit somehow for your hard time committed. keep one as a pet and move on if it is something you are seriously thinking is a wasted effort. not a thing wrong with that.

 

[Beekissed]

I go by how much stress, time or money it causes me....and it's easier if it causes an increase in all three.

I'll invest some money...usually my limit on any project is around $300 if the pay off is going to be similar or more~I've went higher on extreme occasions. Anything that has run over that without a payoff during that particular year is going to be cut out of next year's projects.

Time is something I allot for worthwhile things....if I find I'm using up time I hadn't planned on using and it happens quite frequently, that time wasting thing will be cut from my life. Life is too short to waste anything so precious as time.

Stress...few things are worth additional stress to me, so that one gets a little easier. If I find myself worrying, defeated or stressing over the time and money spent, then it becomes an easy decision. On things like that I usually know within 6 mo. if it is going to add more stress to my life. If it does, it's gone without any regard to sentiment, money or time lost or invested. Life is too short for stress that I have created by myself...too much of that gets thrust upon a person by other things without self-induced stress jumping on top of the dog pile.

Some things work, some things don't, life changes on a dime and sometimes what used to work no longer does....and such is life. Einstein says that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. I try to keep that in mind while reviewing the things I am trying to accomplish in my life...what to change, what is getting good results, what seems to never get good results no matter how hard I try.

 

[hqueen13]

If you're after fiber for some reason, you might look into goats if you have the space. Cashmere goats are a real delight, and they are a lot of fun, and they act like goats, and they are hearty and they only require carding once a year (and it is carding, not shearing). My friend has them and LOVES them, I am looking forward to being able to get some eventually. I don't know how they would do for dairy or meat, though.

 

[BarredBuff]

Interesting you should mention this. I am in the same rut right now as well. My rabbits are costing us, and I am trying to raise meat rabbits. But I didn't use my brain so they are dying. All my fault. But the rabbits I can justify more than the goats. They are gonna have to go, I am just not setup for them.

Emotionally I am tied to one of my rabbits for sure, she will stay regardless. But the others I could cull.

 

[Niele da Kine]

The wool on the angoras matts when it sheds. When they are sheared instead of plucked, the little bits that shed from the sheared off parts while the rest of the coat stays put is what can cause a lot of tangles. What variety are your angoras? If you have giants, then they will have to be sheared. But if they are English, French or Satins, then harvesting the wool by plucking will keep the coats from matting up so much between groomings. Of course, plucking takes longer than shearing but it doesn't tangle as much between pluckings.

I've got about twenty English angoras at the moment, although five of them are babies and five are young ones. The adults get groomed about once a week and the babies under four months old just get handled to get them used to being handled while the ones over four months but under about eight get light grooming. Some of the adults are in show coat so that's kind of a handful. After the show in July, most of their coat will be harvested for the holiday yarn sales.

https://sites.google.com/site/hillsidefarmhawaii/home Check the webpage, there's a lot about angoras and feed and yarn and all sorts of things. As events happen, they get listed there. Since you've already got the rabbits and everything set up, it shouldn't take much more to get it to all work out.

English angora are supposed to be a dual purpose breed to where you get meat and wool from them, although eating something that can be sold for rather a lot hasn't made economic sense yet so the babies get sold instead of eaten. More than pays for feeding the whole herd. Email me if you have specific questions and want quicker answers, maybe I can help.

Does your friend want to sell the fiber from his/her cashmere goats?

 

[Avalon1984]

In the end you need to look at what your time is worth and which projects you can truly turn into successful ventures. If it is something you dread, and you cant get it to work no matter what you tried, maybe your time can be spent on more fruitful projects. I am like that with some of the gardening. By the time I would try to grow certain things myself, I may as well buy them from somebody who know what they are doing, hence saving me the startup cost, the time and the frustration.

 

[SSDreamin]

The wool on the angoras matts when it sheds. When they are sheared instead of plucked, the little bits that shed from the sheared off parts while the rest of the coat stays put is what can cause a lot of tangles. What variety are your angoras? If you have giants, then they will have to be sheared. But if they are English, French or Satins, then harvesting the wool by plucking will keep the coats from matting up so much between groomings. Of course, plucking takes longer than shearing but it doesn't tangle as much between pluckings.

I've got about twenty English angoras at the moment, although five of them are babies and five are young ones. The adults get groomed about once a week and the babies under four months old just get handled to get them used to being handled while the ones over four months but under about eight get light grooming. Some of the adults are in show coat so that's kind of a handful. After the show in July, most of their coat will be harvested for the holiday yarn sales.

https://sites.google.com/site/hillsidefarmhawaii/home Check the webpage, there's a lot about angoras and feed and yarn and all sorts of things. As events happen, they get listed there. Since you've already got the rabbits and everything set up, it shouldn't take much more to get it to all work out.

English angora are supposed to be a dual purpose breed to where you get meat and wool from them, although eating something that can be sold for rather a lot hasn't made economic sense yet so the babies get sold instead of eaten. More than pays for feeding the whole herd. Email me if you have specific questions and want quicker answers, maybe I can help.

Does your friend want to sell the fiber from his/her cashmere goats?

Niele da Kine: I tried your link, because it sounds very interesting, and it didn't work for me. Has anyone else tried it? That way I'll know if its just me

 

[mrscoyote]

The link didn't work for me either.