suggestion

[CrimsonRose]

I would love to see a category listed for homestead livestock... not raising animals for pets or for profit... but real tips for hobby farmers who are looking to raise animals to help with a more self sufficient lifestyle... BYC and BYH are great sites with lots of info but some stuff just isn't what I'm looking for in raising animals... Their suggestions and tips are great info if raising animals for show or profit! But some stuff just isn't practical if you are trying to be frugal and just help feed your family...

examples I'm looking for.... can you get by with feeding chickens only corn (provided they get freerange protein or table scraps as well) Or can you get by with Only one goat (I know they are herd animals but if raising them for milk only can you keep just one) most on BYC or BYH will tell you no WAY for these ideas... and really it isn't the BEST senerio... they also tell you that mutts are not worth the time and should be culled... and I agree if you are raising them for show or to sell... But if raising them for a purpose many mutts I've seen outpreform the purebreeds... and I know several farmers who do feed corn only and a few friends who keep only one mutt goat for milk and the animals are health and doing just fine! and were much cheaper to purchase for a backyard frugal farmer!

We have a hunting section but I also feel we need a small section to deal with raising animals frugally and listing tips to help save on feed costs since they are on the rise... we need Tips on raising livestock to be self sufficient... Also tips on how to butcher at home would be great since we wouldn't have to depend on others to process our meat...

I know lots of this type of info is out there on the web if you want to search for it... but I would love to see a section here so you can have a one stop forum for all your self sufficent needs... I feel livestock plays a critical roll in being self sufficent...

 

[FarmerChick]

there isn't a thread or category here that is for mainly show or profit

we eat or sell everything on this site

chicken feed question
throw it out anywhere and you get a response

how to kill, pluck, etc a chicken
throw it out under "everything else" and you get hits lol

"for show and profit from show animals" is another whole life for people....you will rarely get a "down to earth farming" idea from them. It isn't their bag. They are handling their livestock for another "purpose" so to speak and come from a different angle when answering alot of basic old time "how to slaughter" etc. questions I think.

If ya want to eat, raise to eat, kill, pluck, skin, cook anything you raise, this is the site LOL

yes you can raise one goat for milk, but ya gotta get a buck on loan to keep her producing kids, and no, she won't be lonely without another goat....well it would be nice to have 2, they are after all a herd animal, but if you have other animals in the area, they attach to "any herd" ya know

hang here with farm questions...everyone on this site knows those answers

 

[BarredBuff]

I think a Homestead Livestock section would be wonderful!!
And a Homestead Garden section would be good to!!

 

[patandchickens]

I dunno, but my take on it is basically "Why? You'll get the same info on BYC/BYH that you'd get here". On the questions you mentioned anyhow. For one thing it seems to me that quite a lot of people on BYH/BYC are practical homesteadish raise-yer-own-food types. You have to wade through some show people's replies, and some people who disagree with the basic premise that it's good to see 'what you can get away with' as opposed to what's most conservatively 'good for' the animals.... but so what? It's not like you have to take ALL pieces of advice you're given LOL. Not even here!

FWIW the answer to the chicken feed question IMHO boils down to: if they are getting most of their nutrition from free ranging, then sure you can supplement only corn (to make up total calories, chiefly). How well that will work in any particular situation, and for how much of the year, will depend greatly. And you may not get as good egg or meat production that way. But can you do it and have it work ok in the right circumstances? Sure, no doubt. Try it and see how it works for you, then you can decide whether to continue.

The goat question answer, similarly, is "yes, obviously you *can* keep one lone goat, it just will on average not be as happy (thus not as easy to handle or contain, and potentially more vulnerable to health problems) as if it had friends. Some individual goats will do better than others. Most will not curl up and die outright. Depends whatcha want to do, you know?

There are many excellent poultry-butchering threads in the "Meat Birds Etc" section of BYC (also a few non-poultry butchering threads there too); and hunting-butchering threads on this forum here.

Final comment, NOT directed to the o.p. specifically but to every time this type issue comes up (and it seems to come up a lot on this forum) -- why is it that people supposedly trying to be self sufficient can be such sheep about hearing alternative points of view? Isn't *part* of being self sufficient having the gumption to say "Yes, I hear what you're saying, but that is not what I'm going to do, I'm going to do this other thing" and not get all in a swivet about having been disagreed with? Be happily WILLING to go against the tide, without feeling the tide is treating you unfairly by failing to go your way? (General you there, not specific)

I'm sorry, maybe I shouldn't say this on any particular thread because truly it is NOT specific to this one, it comes up a BUNCH on this forum. But it just strikes me as WEIRD that "self sufficiency" should be so dependant on everyone AGREEING WITH you

JMHO of course,

Pat

 

[CrimsonRose]

yes I know I will always get the answers I need here this site is great!

I think the garden section would be awesome as well never even thought of that!

 

[FarmerDenise]

I would also like to see these sections on this site. I don't like having to wade through all the other info to get the info I really am interested in. I would like exactly what the op requested for the same reasons.
I don't have all day to search for stuff on the other sites and my computer is crotchety and I usually have only a few windows open at a time.
I also tend to trust the info I get from folks here more than the info I get from the other sites, because the people here tend to live more like me and have a similar belief of how to do things.

 

[ksalvagno]

Actually, I think it would be a good idea to have a category for livestock. Livestock usually ends up going under "everything else self sufficient" and can get lost in all the postings if you are trying to do a quick look.

 

[FarmerChick]

Actually, I think it would be a good idea to have a category for livestock. Livestock usually ends up going under "everything else self sufficient" and can get lost in all the postings if you are trying to do a quick look.

yea I never really thought of just livestock questions under a livestock category lol

very true tons gets lost under "everything else" been so used to it that way but a Livestock category at least would keep those critter threads in one place.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

SO, why are you all not using backyard herds and the easy garden?

 

[Blackbird]

This has come up many many times and amounted to nothing, so don't expect any changes. LOL.

Say Pat - regarding your generalized paragraph; in my experience it has been the complete opposite. Many of us have raised animals in the conventional way before and have been seeking for alternatives - many of us HAVE been on both sides of it - only to be told repeatedly that if we raise out animals any differently that they would surely die... Don't you think it would get rather tiring hearing that over and over?

Not pointing fingers, of course, but that has also been my experience in 'REAL life' as well.