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farm animals – Homesteader Depot

Homesteader Depot

Tag: farm animals

  • How to Groom Horses (Video)

    How to Groom Horses (Video)

    Horses and ponies are wonderful additions to any homestead, especially if you are long-term survival oriented. They can provide live power, meaning, they can help you perform many farming tasks you might otherwise use a tractor or a truck for.

    Of course, while they’re fueled by food rather than gasoline, they still need lots of attention and maintenance. And just like we can be refreshed by a clean shower and some self-pampering, horses love, and need, regular grooming for their health happiness.

    In this very helpful video from Becky’s Homestead, she shares how to groom a horse for beginners, a requested video from some of her viewers.

    Enjoy!

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  • Ways to Keep Chickens Happy

    Ways to Keep Chickens Happy

    I’m not sure that there is any data that quantifies how many more eggs you can get out of a happy chicken, but most people that raise animals could tell you that keeping your animals happy will help you get what you want out of them.  Stress can cause chickens to fight with each other, molt, and can have an effect on any animals immune system.  Keeping your chickens happy will reduce costs on keeping

    them healthy and will provide you with more eggs and better meat.  Here are some ways to please your chickens.

     

    Greens

    Chickens that are confined are going to be more prone to stress and have a greater need for dietary supplements.  Despite what most people think, chickens don’t eat grains or bugs as much as they eat grass or other greens.  If your chickens are confined make sure to provide them with greens.  A cheap way to do this is to grow comfrey.  Chickens love comfrey, and it can be dried so that you have some in the winter.

    Mulch

    If your chickens are confined, you have probably notices that they have scratched the earth bare in their pin.  Chickens love to scratch, and keeping them off the mud and their waste will reduce their exposure to parasites that could slow egg production or even be passed from the egg to you.  Keep your chicken’s pin filled with a thick layer of fresh (fresh meaning that it is reasonably dry and not covered in chicken manure) mulch.  When they have soiled it, it will be covered in nutrient rich manure that your garden will love.

    Roosts

    Chickens are social animals that have a well-ordered hierarchy.  If this hierarchy is disrupted fighting will ensue.  One way to reduce that amount of fighting is to provide roosts for your chickens that are at different levels.  The more dominate the chicken the higher it will roost.  If there is only one height the dominate chickens might attack a less dominate chicken for being at their height.

     

    None of these tips are difficult, so do your chickens a favor and keep them happy.  They will be healthier, more productive, and live longer to provide you with more food.

     

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  • 3 Ways to Save on Raising a Dog

    3 Ways to Save on Raising a Dog

    Dogs can be expensive to keep, but they don’t have to be!  You can maintain a high quality of life for your dog while cutting costs at the same time.  Here are three ways to save money on raising a dog.

     

    Selection

    The first cost to consider is the price of the dog itself.  A specialty breed can easily cost you thousands of dollars, and that’s just to get the dog.  Then there are the health complications that go along with dogs that have been bred for specific traits.  One the other hand, you can get a rescue dog from your local shelter, through the newspaper, or on Craig’s List  $100.  Not only will you have saved hundreds of dollars off the bat, but you will save thousands in the long run as well with a solid mutt that has a not been inbred for generations.  You will also save a dog’s life, and reduce the demand for unhealthy inbred dogs.  Large dogs also cost more than small dogs, they eat more, need more medicine, destroy toys faster, and can have more joint issues as they age.

    Alternative Medicine

    Medicine for dogs can be expensive.  But there are alternatives to the typical products for common ailments.  One common and expensive medication for dogs is heartworm treatment.  Depending on the size of your dog, you can spend $500 a year or more on heartworm treatment alone.  And then there are intestinal worms, and other parasites.  A money saving alternative for all parasitic worms is to go to your local farm supply shop or look online for Ivermectrin for cattle.  The active ingredient for nearly all anti-parasitic medicine is the same, only the dosage and price differ.  Be careful when using Ivermectrin with Collies, some people report that their collies have died after treating them with Ivermectrin, but some also report this with standard heartworm medicine because they both contain the same active ingredient.  Do some research into using Ivermectrin with your breed online; pet owner and farm forums can be quite helpful To get accurate dosage and save money on supplies, get diabetic syringes.  The medicine can be given orally, but you need a syringe to remove it from the sterile packaging.

    Toys

    One of the most commonly overlooked costs of a dog is toys.  Quality of life is important! Also, you don’t want an unhappy dog, for one it will cause you trouble by digging holes, destroying furniture, and being more difficult to train.  But store bought dog toys are ridiculously priced.  The cheapest alternative is the age old stick.  Wood is great for dogs to chew on, as are bones.  They clean their teeth and provide them with the satisfaction of destroying something.  Dogs love destroying soft fluffy overpriced toys, but they don’t know what you paid for them so go to the thrift store and grab some second-hand stuffed animals instead.  You can also add a level of fun to the basic game of fetching a ball by putting the ball in an old sock and tying a knot to keep it there.  This will allow the dog to shake it the way it would prey after catching it.

     

    Dogs are great, for companions, security, or working dogs.  Don’t let the potential cost keep you from enjoying all the benefits a dog can bring into your life.  A little planning and thinking outside the box can greatly reduce the costs of keeping a dog, while maintaining all the benefits.

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  • All About Alpacas

    All About Alpacas

    Finances can be a determining factor in the success or failure of your homestead.  Finding a way to make a living on your homestead, or better yet, through your homestead, can have you go from scraping by to rolling in money.  That may sound like an exaggeration, but it’s been done before.  One way is to raise alpacas.

     

    What is an Alpaca?

    Alpacas are basically a half size llama.  But unlike llamas alpacas are not bred to be pack animals, they are bred for their fiber (it is similar to sheep’s wool but softer and contains no lanolin), or for their meat.

    Benefits

    Unlike their larger relatives the llama, alpacas do not have a bad temperament, alpacas are gentle and curious, but do not like to handled excessively.

    They have a rather unique behavior of not leaving manure where they eat the way most grazers like cows or horses do.   This is one reason that they do not require as much area as other grazers, since they do not need to rotate their pasture as often.  This will also cut down on vet bills since they will come in contact with less parasites like intestinal-worms that can be present in feces.

    They can save money on your initial investment by not requiring the same fencing that other grazers like cows do, alpacas can be contained with minimal fencing and will learn their boundaries, and once learned they will not desire to stray from them.

    Unlike sheep, alpacas are highly territorial and will defend themselves and each other from predators like dogs and coyotes.

    Alpacas do not need to be killed to harvest their produce, their fiber is a renewable income earning resource.

     

    Aplacas will not fit into everyone’s life or onto everyone’s homestead.  But for those who do have a place for them, these animals have brought in a handsome profit.

     

     

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  • Slaughtering Pigs: A Simple Guide

    Slaughtering Pigs: A Simple Guide

     

    After investing so much time, energy, money, and emotion into raising your pigs you want things to go right when you slaughter them.  If it is your first time slaughtering a pig, a sloppy kill and messing butchering can really turn you off from wanting to raise pigs in the future.  The following are directions and tips on slaughtering and butchering pigs.  Make sure to thoroughly plan things out before you begin, you will not be able to stop half way through and finish it later.

     

    Clean Kill

    Plain and simple, shot the pig between the eyes.  You do not want to try to bludgeon, or stab an animal that is as large and powerful as a pig.  It could easily only injure the animal, prolonging its suffering and putting you at risk for retaliation.  To get a clean shot, put some tempting feed in a container on the edge of its pen, this will put the pig in one area, holding still, with its head down.

    Cut the Throat

    Cutting the pig’s throat immediately after shooting it will allow it bleed out quickly while the heart is still pumping.

    Clean the Pig

    Get the pig out of the pen and hose it off so that you are working with a pig covered in mud and manure.  Pay close attention to the feet, they are the dirtiest part.

    Raise it

    If you have the ability to get the pig off the ground it will keep things cleaner and easier, though it can be done on the ground if you have to.  Cut into the pig’s legs behind the hoof so that you can pass the knife behind the tendon, leaving the tendon intact.  Pass a rope or chain through the holes and wench the animal to a height that is comfortable for you to work at.

    Remove Skin and Hair

    If you can dunk the whole pig, or half at a time, in hot water, the job will be easier.  But you can get it done just by pouring pots of boiling water on one area at a time.  You can use a specified tool, a “hog scraper”, or just a sharp knife or razor to scrap the hair and outer skin off the animal.

    Remove the Head and Innards

    Unless your pig is still small and you are going to roast it whole, now is when you will want to remove the head.  Then, make your cut to open the pig up.  Start just in front of the anus on the belly side, and go down to the sternum, starting shallow.  If you can open the belly up slowly and then cut around the anus carefully so as not to open the intestines, push the anus through the hole and out the hole in the belly, then remove the intestines and all innards.

     

    At this point you can cut the pig in half with a bone saw, dividing the pig left and right.  Or if the pig is smaller and you have room, you can store the pig whole and butcher it to your preference later.  It’s not for those with a weak stomach.  Before raising a pig, carefully and honestly consider if you are going to be willing and able to process that pig into meat.  If not, raising pigs just isn’t for you.

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  • The Benefits of Having a Rooster

    The Benefits of Having a Rooster

    Roosters have a bad reputation.  Many people who want to raise hens for eggs choose not to have a rooster in the flock.  Some have heard that roosters are aggressive, or they don’t want to noise, or they just so the reason to have one.  But the reality is that hens can be just as aggressive; if there is no rooster around the dominant hen will take on the role of rooster.  If noise is keeping you from having a rooster around then you shouldn’t have chickens at all because hens make plenty of noise.  There are benefits to having a rooster in your flock, here are 3 of them.

     

    Chicks

    Hens won’t fertilize their own eggs.  If you want to raise chickens as a source of food then having subsequent generations of chickens is important.  One rooster can keep 12 hen’s eggs fertilized.

    Protection

    One of the reasons that roosters get a bad reputation for being aggressive is that they are protective of their flock.  The less domesticated breeds have more protective, and sometimes more aggressive roosters.  While the hens are doing their thing, the rooster will take up a high position and watch out for threats from predators high and low.  They will scan the skies for birds of prey, watch out for dogs or weasels, and sound an alarm that is specific to the threat letting the hens know how to best react.

    Social Order

    Flocks with roosters simply function better and seem to offer a better quality of life for the hens.  Roosters keep order in the flock, help find food for the hens (sometimes they trick them), and even help the hens by scouting out potential nesting sites, though the hen ultimately chooses to approve or reject the site.

     

    While roosters are not without their potential annoying drawbacks, namely the crowing, they can offer benefits that greatly outweigh their annoyances.  Try adding a rooster to your flock if you don’t already have one. If it doesn’t go the way you want it to, you can always eat him.

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  • 3 Easy Ways to Keep Your Chickens Healthy

    3 Easy Ways to Keep Your Chickens Healthy

    Chickens are some of the most common animals to see on a homestead or farm.  One reason is that they are some of the easiest animals to care for.  But even chickens can develop health issues like tape worms, mites, and various intestinal infections.  As with everything else, taking care to prevent these issues will be easier than treating them retroactively and will ensure that you have a healthy supply of eggs and meat without interruption.  These are 3 easy ways to help your chickens stay healthy.

     

    Pasture

    Just like you, chickens are healthiest when they are eating well.  One of the easiest and cheapest ways of ensuring your chicken’s health is to provide them with access to pasture.  It’s not the bugs that the chickens are after when they are pecking at your lawn.  Pastured chickens will eat as much as 30% of their calories in grass alone.  This will dramatically cut down on the feed and supplements that you would need to provide your chickens if they were not given the opportunity to graze.

    Dust

    Chickens do not bath with water, but with dust.  Providing them with an area that remains dry even in wet weather, and has a thick layer of fine dust will help them keep off skin parasites like mites.  If the area your chickens are in doesn’t have fine dust, or if it doesn’t seem to be enough for them, you can supplement this with diatomaceous earth.  Diatomaceous earth can also be sprinkled over their feed to help treat intestinal parasites like worms.

    Water

    Clean water is a must for chickens, especially if you want to keep a constant supply of eggs.  If your chickens are allowed free range this might be harder than you think since your chickens will not be selective about the water that they drink.  They will just as soon drink out of a contaminated puddle as a clean water dish.  For this reason, you might want to add a small amount of chlorine bleach to the water dish that is in the coop they go in for the night, and make sure to change out their water dishes at least once a day, more if they show signs of illness.

     

    Chickens are fun animals to have around and are typically robust.  If you give them what they need, they will thrive, and in return you will high quality eggs and meat.

     

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  • 3 Reasons Why Ducks Are Better Than Chickens

    3 Reasons Why Ducks Are Better Than Chickens

    When most people think of animals for their back yard they quickly think of chickens.  And while there is good reason so many people think to raise chickens, there are also reasons why ducks may be the preferable livestock for your backyard farm.

    Ducks don’t crow

    Not everyone starting their homestead has 15 acres in the country.  Some may have less than an acre with neighbors right next to them that don’t share their passion for raising animals and growing food.  Keeping this in mind, it is not hard to think of how a rooster could degrade the relationship one has with the neighbors.  Ducks, on the other hand, don’t crow, and don’t cackle loudly after laying an egg, or when in preparation to lay an egg.

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    Ducks don’t destroy everything

    It’s true that ducks will eat all the grass available if they are confined, just as chickens will.  But they can be allowed into an established garden without causing total devastation.  Ducks do not kick and scratch the way chickens do which will destroy the roots of plants and ruin mulch.  Plants will recover from losing some leaves a lot faster than they will if they are uprooted and kicked into the path.

    Ducks are better at egg laying

    Ducks do not decrease egg production in the winter the way chickens do.  The eggs they do lay are more nutritious and have a taste that is often preferred over chicken eggs.  With a thicker shell and membrane, they also last longer than chicken eggs do.

    You may already have a flock of chickens in your yard now and may be skeptical of replacing birds that you have come to appreciate.  But as your chickens become chicken dinner you might want to make some room in your flock for some different birds and give ducks a try too, if it doesn’t work out you can always have roast duck instead of fried chicken.

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