Let's talk about meat, dairy, eggs, hunting, and cooking on the homestead

[baymule]

I don't yet, but I am not slaughtering for another year. I want to get a good sized animal finished out. I'll sell the rest directly or through the market. I am excited for it.

I don’t know about your area, but here, everyone wants to be a farmer and raise their own. Slaughter facilities are booked over a year out. I suggest that you look into that and select a date.

 

[Mini Horses]

Sorta lucky here....slaughter houses not booked out as so few now raise own livestock. But there are also ew facilities now! I have two within 40 miles. Good people, all inspected, both "family" owned & operated.

 

[farmerjan]

@Minihorses.... you need to get a couple of 7-800 lb animals, graze through the grass months, put one in the freezer and sell the other so you don't have to deal with winter chores.... Better than bush hogging..... will taste better too than the bugs in your face and hot sun on your arms....

 

[Rammy]

That jersey will make the best beef if you get him finished out right. A little sweeter than some meat, but they all will have better flavor than anything that is raised in a confinement type facility. And a little grain doesn't hurt them....

The jersey is mixed with holstein and belongs to the neighbor. I had been looking for jersey on CL but no luck. When I got the holsteins he didnt have that one or Id of gotten him. We probably wont get these processed til next fall.

 

[Britesea]

We have only a half acre, so there is NO way we could raise all our own meat, especially if we were also trying to grow their feed as well. We have enough chickens to give us a couple of eggs every day, and the occasional rooster for a treat. The chickens forage over the entire half acre (except for the fenced garden) and we give them some fermented feed, but they don't eat even half of what I had calculated for them. Maybe more during the winter? In a pinch, we would be shooting or trapping the small game that is all over the place- squirrel, marmot, rabbit, dove and quail. I know better than to count on large game as there are a lot of hunters in the area. There are fish in the river which is walking distance from us- mostly catfish. But I know that people eat a lot more protein than they really need. I'm more concerned with getting enough fat.

 

[Mini Horses]

Is yours a deep well? I haven't priced any -- scared. LOL But that would be my consideration for a next "large" buy.

My generator will run it -- the there's gas. It's all good right now when I can stock up on gas. IF NONE -- then it's a problem to be solved. There is a dug well at the back of this property....on anothers abandoned homesite. My hand pump could be used but, I've never tested the water for it's use. One day, I may, for general info. Couple rivers close but, there's the transport thing.
The back portion of my farm is way lower, so water table could likely support a shallow well. Never tried. But the one I mention has always had water in it. It was dug & is stone lined... The parcel was granted to a freed slave back then.

 

[Mini Horses]

I like the Dexters and there are a few in my area. But prices are up there. Makes it hard to butcher when you see the $$$ signs. For me, a couple heavy meat goats will work for most part. That's my next project. I've raised them in years past -- market was good.

 

[Britesea]

I found this in my files: This was an experiment done in Scandinavia in nixtamalizing other grains besides maize.

 

[BarredBuff]

I love all of the comments on this thread!! It is always good to think, discuss and plan!

Have any of you all given much thought to security? Not just "I have guns and ammo" either.

 

[Britesea]

Selco Begovic has some excellent things to say about survival in a SHTF situation. He survived the Balkan War, in a city that was besieged for over a year. One thing he mentioned was that nobody that tried to go it alone survived. For instance, if you are trying to get water out of the well, you need someone else with you (or preferably more than one) armed and keeping an eye on what's going on around you, because you only have 2 eyes.
If you have not read his blog, here is a lot of it. Unfortunately some of his original posts are no longer available. https://geroldblog.com/2018/11/28/selcos-shtf-survival-lessons-part-1-a-to-b/