livestock Archives - Homesteader DepotHomesteader Depot

What is a Homestead Dog?

Dogs are great companions. Homestead dogs are more than that. They serve many functions around the farm, from taking care of predators to herding your cows. A homestead dog really does do it all and then some. Once you have one, you’ll wonder why you didn’t get a homestead dog sooner. In fact, the only better than one homestead dog is two of them. The more help that you have around the farm, the better, right? Choose the Right Breed It all starts with picking the right breed. A homestead dog can be a rescue mutt. After all, it all […]

Simple Pig Weighing Hack

Did you know that it’s entirely possible to figure out how much your pig weighs without putting it on a scale? Instead, you can use a number of things that you probably have lying around your house to figure out your pigs weight. A few quick measurements and calculations are all that it takes. This is much easier than trying to hoist your pig onto a scale. We’ll cover this useful pig weighing hack and some additional information here. Why Do You Need To Know How Much Your Pig Weighs? If you’ve been trying to determine when your pig is […]

5 Ways Pigs Are Valuable Beyond Just Meat

When you are living off the land, owning animals that can provide you with food can be extremely beneficial. You may grow plenty of crops and fill your pantry with canned vegetables, but if you aren’t getting enough protein, you won’t have the energy to tend to your farm and home. While there are some homesteaders who don’t want to commit to raising a large farm or a herd of cattle, there are plenty of other animals such as chickens or turkeys that can ensure you have meat and eggs throughout the year. They are also low-maintenance so that […]

Can Rabbits Contribute to a Homestead?

Not just for pets, including rabbits on a homestead can be a great way to contribute to your food supplies, both as a food source and a natural fertilizer for your garden. If you’re into fiber arts or want some extra money, angora rabbits give an additional benefit just by growing their fur. Rabbits for Manure A single rabbit can produce approximately a pound of dry manure each week. That’s roughly 50 pounds a year. This high-quality soil conditioner is usually low in weed seeds thanks to the prepared foods typically used to feed them. It also contains an excellent […]

3 Keys to Choosing the Perfect Livestock

A farm or homestead without livestock seems unusual, to say the least. Whether you see yourself with a flock of cheerful chickens, a herd of graceful goats or a few calming cows, livestock are a valuable food source that should be planned for carefully, then cared for consistently. Are You Ready to Be Available Every Minute of Every Day? Are you prepared to be “on-call” for your animals 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year? When you enter the world of livestock, a few things to be aware of are: Newborns usually come in the […]

A Brief History of Goats

Goats are a wonderful choice for an animal to keep on a homestead. They provide delicious milk which can be used for cheese, yogurt, even butter. They help out with clearing land or mowing since they are notorious for eating nearly everything (we’ve all seen the ubiquitous imagery of a goat gnawing on a can). Meat breeds of goat can quickly and easily fill up your freezer with delicious, nutritious meat. They are also relatively easy to care for, and, since they can provide either meat or dairy, are much smaller and easier (not to mention cheaper!) than cows. […]

Tips For Raising Your Own Holiday Turkey

If you’ve considered how cool it would be to raise and cook your very own Thanksgiving turkey, then we at Homesteader Depot fully encourage you to do this. We are all about raising and growing your own, and this is a very fun way to get started raising poultry and save some money over the holidays! That being said, there are a couple things you should know. It’s not quite as simple as buying some baby turkeys, known as poults, and feeding them until November, then slaughtering and serving. If your goal is to have a freshly slaughtered turkey for […]

How to Buy a Rabbit Starter Stock

Rabbits are a great animal to raise on a homestead. They don’t take up much space, they breed very efficiently, are affordable to feed, and their meat is delicious. Since one of the biggest appeals of raising rabbits is how quickly and easily they reproduce, you will need to get yourself set up with what’s called a starter stock. These will be the first rabbits you buy, that will go on to reproduce and build your herd. Rabbit Breeders To find your first rabbits, you’ll have to find someone who’s already selling them. A great place to look at first is a state […]

Are You Ready for Livestock?

Raising livestock is one of the great appeals of homesteading. If you’ve just bought your own land or have plans to, or have considered raising goats or chickens in your backyard, you should be careful not to get too far ahead of yourself. The prospect of raising livestock is so appealing, the decision to dive into serious animal husbandry is no small consideration. Here are some important factors of making this big decision: Space Do you really have the room? A lot of animals need much more space than you’d think. Most animals simply won’t thrive if kept in a […]

Can Your Livestock Make Money for You?

What type of livestock do you have on your homestead? You probably have some great animals that are working to provide well for you and your family. However, have you ever stopped to think that you might be able to get even more out of the animals? In some cases, your livestock will can make money, providing you with some extra income. Let’s check out a few of the ways that your animals could make money for you. Selling Excess Eggs If you have some chickens, they are going to keep laying eggs each day in most cases. This means […]

Clipping Chicken’s Wings, The Easy, Painless Way (Video)

It’s a common myth that chickens can’t fly, in reality, they certainly can. In the wild, chickens are able to fly short distances, enough to get them over fences or up into trees. If you’ve got free range chickens or chickens contained by a fence, you probably don’t want them to be practicing their hereditary skill of flying. So how can you keep them grounded, without hurting them or causing you both stress? This video from Raising Happy Chickens shares a simple, painless way to clip chickens wings to keep them around. Enjoy! If you enjoyed this, you might also […]

6 Things You Should Do Before Getting Piglets

I’ve raved quite a bit in the past about how great pigs are. You can buy them as piglets for a very affordable price, and within a season have a hog big enough to fill your freezer with meat. For the initial start-up cost, space they need, food they eat, and meat they yield, they’re incredibly efficient animals to raise for meat. And, as someone who hates waste, I just love how much you can feed them! It’s also relatively easy to feed them virtually for free, which is another big plus. When you buy pork at the supermarket, you […]

Raising Quail (Video)

I think one of the greatest things about the internet is that we can get an inside look into what other homesteaders are doing and how they set up their gardens and animal raising operations. This is a very informative look at Big Bear Homestead’s quail raising set up, with a detailed tour of the coop. I have always been very interested in raising quail, particularly because their eggs are supposed to be highly nutritious, and they’re just as productive as chickens. This video really motivated me to explore the idea of raising quail more, so if you’ve been wondering […]

4 Things to Know About Goats Before You Get Them

Goats are fantastic homestead animals, and we write about that all the time on this site. They can produce excellent milk, help you clear brush, grass, and shrubs, and can even been great companions. But you might have some misconceptions about goats you’re not aware of, so we thought we’d share four things you might not realize about goats. Before you purchase any, you should definitely be aware of these things, so you are not surprised when it’s not exactly like you thought! 1. Cream doesn’t separate While the cream in cow’s milk naturally separates, providing you with more than […]

How to Feed a Pig for Free

The expression “eating like pigs” is a very apt comparison, pigs eat a lot of food! They happen to be one of the most cost-efficient animals you can raise if you’re trying to fill your freezer up with meat for the year, so you’ll want to feed them well, and efficiently. Unfortunately, pig feed itself is not only expensive, typically full of GMO corn and soy which is not great for pigs or the humans who eat them, it’s also not everything a pig needs. It’s the pig equivalent of public school cafeteria food daily, so you’ll want to give […]

A Simple Guide to Raising Turkeys

A lot of Americans only think about turkeys once a year around Thanksgiving, but turkeys are a great homestead animal to raise and breed. They’re a lot like chickens, really, only bigger. If you’re considering raising turkeys yourself, here is a basic guide to what you need to know. Starting out You’ll first have to decide if you want to start with mature turkeys, or with baby turkeys, which are called poults. You can buy poults as you can baby chickens, and raise them up from infancy. Or, you can buy already mature turkeys and let them breed. There are distinct pros […]

The Best Animals to Raise on a Homestead

Being able to raise livestock is one of the biggest appeals of homesteading, and it’s very rewarding too! Livestock can bring so much reward, from delicious byproducts, to valuable contributions to gardening and even landscaping, as well as companionship. Here are some of the best animals to raise on a homestead, and why. Chickens Chickens are just awesome. They’re cheap to feed, can be put to work in a number of ways, can easily be tended to using natural remedies, and produce delicious eggs and meat for you. Chickens are a globally popular animal to raise, for good reason to. […]

5 Ways to Use Vinegar for Your Chickens

Vinegar has so many uses around the home in general, it should be no surprise to you that there are a lot of ways to use it around your chicken coop! Both distilled white vinegar and apple cider vinegar are wonderful to keep your chicken coop clean, your chickens healthy, and keep you happy! Here are a few of the many ways you can use vinegar for your chickens: 1. Added to water Chickens are subject to parasites and digestive issues as much as any other creature, and adding a bit of vinegar to their water can help keep them healthy […]

The $5 Chicken Tractor (Video)

Popular homesteading vlogger Justin Rhodes has been on a tour of American homesteads this month, and through his travels, he found this impressive $5 chicken tractor made by his friend, Ryan from Wholesome Roots. I love seeing great, innovative, and frugal ideas for homesteading in general, but it seems people seem to get particularly innovative when it comes to housing and accommodating chickens! Just this week we shared our frugal chicken nest ideas, and I’ve actually found a few more since posting it. This is a very clever little system for moving chickens around the homestead, which is a great […]

How to Train Horses (Infographic)

I came across this infographic from Thoroughbredstallionbestminister.com on Pinterest recently and I thought it was really cool. I’m not a huge horse expert, but my ideal homestead would most definitely include horses. There’s a reason they were such a huge part of Western Civilization for centuries, and why, despite much faster modes of travel we have today, many people still choose to keep them around. First of all, they’re always reliable for work and transport. Sure, tractors and cars are much more efficient…or are they? When the grid goes down, how reliable will your fossil-fuel reliant vehicles be? Or maybe […]