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livestock – Page 4 – Homesteader Depot

Homesteader Depot

Tag: livestock

  • A Simple Guide to Raising Meat Rabbits

    A Simple Guide to Raising Meat Rabbits

    Most people think of rabbits as being adorable, quiet pets, but they’re actually great to raise for meat as well. They don’t require a lot of space, aren’t too expensive to feed, and well, breed like bunnies.

    If you’re interested in raising rabbits for meat, here are a few considerations:

    Laws

    First of all, check your local laws on slaughtering rabbits, and to see if you can legally raise them in your area for meat. There are some states and counties in which you could be reported for animal cruelty since they are considered pets, so just make sure before you start breeding them.

    Breeds

    Look into which breeds would be best for your purposes. There are wild and domestic breeds of rabbit, some better for meat than others. If you are buying rabbits from a dealer, you will most likely be purchasing domestic breeds; Rex and New Zealand rabbits are among the most popular.

    What to look for

    When purchasing rabbits to start raising them, make sure you are purchasing them from a reputable dealer who cares for their animals well.  Make sure you choose healthy-looking, well-fed animals who are clearly cared for. Healthy animals equal healthy meat.

    Feeding rabbits

    Rabbits are great because you can feed them a lot of scraps like vegetable and fruit leftovers. Carrots are of course a big treat for them, but they’ll enjoy leafy greens, strawberry tops, and celery ends, for example.

    You will also want to purchase feed for them, to ensure they are getting the prime nutrition they need. Since you are going to be eating them, bear in mind you will probably want to opt for organic, non-GMO feed for them. They will also need fresh water, as with any caged animal, and a simple rodent water dispenser from a pet store will usually be sufficient.

    Housing your rabbits

    Rabbits need open-air cages; if you can keep them outside that’s awesome, but they need to be sheltered from too much cold or dampness. When in enclosed areas, rabbits can be harmed from too much exposure to their own urine, so make sure they are getting fresh bedding regularly and that they have plenty of ventilation in their cages. Hay and straw are great options for bedding, because the rabbits will enjoy nibbling on them.

    Breeding and slaughtering 

    If you’re raising animals for meat, it is ideal to breed them, to multiply and sustain your food source. Of course, the expression and jokes about how quickly rabbits breed are true; they have large litters and breed often, so a word of caution there. Since both breeding and slaughtering require their own extensive instructions, we will follow up soon with posts for each, so stay tuned!

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  • Tips for Raising Goats

    Tips for Raising Goats

    Homesteaders should certainly consider raising goats. They can be used for meat, milk, and more. However, it is important that you have a good understanding of how to raise the goats properly and safely, and to provide them with a healthy environment. The following are some tips that can help you get started.

    More than One

    Even if you have a relatively small space, you should still have room for more than just one goat. Goats are herd animals, and they like to be social. Having several, at least, is a good option. It keeps them happy and it keeps them safe.

    Think About Their Needs

    Learn about goats to have a better idea of what they need. They will want to have easy access to water, and they need to have plenty of food for the entire herd. In addition, they need to have shelter. You don’t want to keep them out in a field all the time. They will need to have a barn or a shed that’s large enough for the entire herd.

    Beware of Males in Rut

    While goats tend to be stubborn, they are generally an easygoing lot. However, that can change when the males are in rut. At this point, the only thing they want to do is to get closer to the female goats. In some cases, they can become dangerous, so you will want to be cautious around them.

    Your Fence Needs to Be Strong

    Goats like to wander, and sometimes, they do not realize just how far away they might roam. If you want to keep your goats safe and sound, you need to have good and strong fences, and you need to check them regularly so you can make repairs. If you don’t, the stubborn goats might just break it down so they can see what’s over there!

    Feed Them Well

    Even though goats have a reputation of being able to eat anything, that’s not true. They still need to have a good overall diet if you expect them to be happy, healthy, and productive. It’s not a cartoon, so you can’t feed them tin cans and garbage! They need a healthy diet. Keep in mind that they tend to like to roam and graze.

    Don’t Treat Them as Pets

    This can be difficult for many people who are just getting into homesteading. They want to have happy and healthy animals, and they end up spending a lot of time with them and get attached. You need to remember that these are your livestock, they are not your pets.

     

     

    It is important to remember that these are just some tips to help you get started with your goats. You will want to learn as much as possible about the proper ways to raise your herd so you can be successful. Also, make sure you start small and with just a few goats. As you gain more knowledge and become more comfortable with them, you can add more to the herd.

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  • Chickens vs. Rabbits

    Chickens vs. Rabbits

    When most people think of small scale backyard animal husbandry, they tend to think exclusively of chickens.  And while chickens are not without their own advantages, they are certainly not the only small animal that even a new backyard farmer can raise, one such animal is the rabbit.

    There are many benefits to having either chicken or rabbit. Both animals produce sustenance, and can provide the backyard farmer with plenty of nutrient rich manure for the garden, as well as have their feeding needs reduced by keeping them in a mobile pen.  Not every backyard farmer has the same resources available to them and what might work for one might not be right for the other, so here are some considerations:

    Gestation Periods

    Rabbits generally gestate for about 30 days.  This is around a week longer than chickens take to hatch.  However; a doe rabbit can get pregnant as early as the next day after birthing a litter of 12, while a mother hen will take considerable time off from reproducing eggs in order to care for her new chicks.  This is important to consider when thinking of your animals as a direct food source.  You can’t eat the same animal twice, so when resources and space are tight it is a great advantage to have animals that can reproduce new “future meals” for you quickly.

    Once hatched, most chickens will take about 6 months to reach sexual maturity for hens, and maximum size for roosters.  Compare this to 3 1/2 to 4 months for rabbits and once again you have your next meal coming much quicker with rabbits than with chickens.

    Food Provision

    But just how big is that next meal going to be?  Rabbits average in weight from 1 to 4 pounds, while chickens can weigh can anywhere from 2 to 9 pounds.  That being said, the larger chickens are those that have been breed for their meat and for their eggs, but they have lost most of their brooding instincts and therefore the hens will often not incubate the eggs they lay even if they are fertilized, and will show less interest in raising and caring for chicks.  So while your initial chicken dinner might be larger than your rabbit alternative, it won’t do you too much good down the road when you are all out of chickens.

    Care

    As mentioned, both rabbits and chickens can be fed scraps from the garden or even from the household vegetable scraps, and both can be given mobile pens to move around the homestead. However, while you can in certain environments let chickens go free range, this can be harder for rabbits. Rabbits also need to be watched carefully, as they can get very sick if their enclosures aren’t clean enough. Of course, if you live somewhere with a cold winter, it’s the same for chickens.

     

    Whether or not chickens or rabbits are preferable for your homestead will depend on what you’re looking for and what you have available for them, and these are some of the factors you can consider. If you can’t decide, hey-you can always get both!

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  • Tips for Keeping Chickens Warm This Winter

    Tips for Keeping Chickens Warm This Winter

    We recently covered how to care for chickens in hot weather, but as fall seems to be whizzing around the corner, we thought it would be a good idea to cover how to care for them in cold weather, because it’s important to plan ahead. It’s simpler than you think really-chickens can, with the right conditions, keep themselves warm surprisingly well.

    1. Let them breathe

    It seems like you’d want to make their coop completely insulated and airtight to protect them from harsh winter weather right? Wrong. While insulation is very important, and you should start fixing leaks in the roof and putting up fiberglass or foam insulation where you can, it’s also important to ensure proper ventilation in your coop. Chickens produce a lot of moisture that needs to be able to escape, and as they also produce a pretty decent amount of heat on their own, this will breed harmful mold that is more likely to kill them than the cold, so make sure there’s still some airflow through the coop.

    2. Keep them hydrated

    It’s very important that chickens have regular access to clean, fresh water throughout the winter months. Make sure to check it and refill it every day, especially as it might be in danger of freezing! This will help them keep themselves warm and keep their poop clean (eh, cleaner).

    3. Try the deep litter method

    A similar method is done for cows in winter barns with hay, this super cool natural way of trapping in heat harnesses the nitrogen in the chicken’s droppings and helps keep them warm. Line the coop with a thick layer, about six inches, of litter and/or hay, straw, wood chips, leaves, etc., then turn once or twice a week, removing wet portions, paying special attention to areas under roosts, and replenishing if necessary. (Hint: this will make some awesome compost in the spring!) You can even toss in some feed to encourage them to scratch it up and turn it too!

    4. Allow for ample roost space

    Chickens need proper roosts to be able to keep warm. If they sleep on the ground, they will loose too much heat. They need ample room to perch, and for their claws to wrap all around the roost to be able to keep them protected from frost bite. If you see your chickens sleeping on the ground or in nesting boxes, they need more roosting space.

    5. Give them room

    In the coop, if you have a larger space, you might want to section off a smaller space by hanging plastic sheeting to give them an area where they can roost and share body heat, because a smaller space will be easier to heat up. Wherever they are, make sure they also have room to scratch-because that’s almost all chickens do all day, you don’t want the poor things to get bored! If you do section off part of the coop for roosting, consider leaving another part for scratching, or make them a covered run for the daytime.

    Sources: 
    http://premeditatedleftovers.com/gardening/how-to-care-for-chickens-in-the-winter/
    http://www.backyardchickenproject.com/keeping-chickens-warm/

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  • Dairy Cow Basics

    Dairy Cow Basics

    Dairy cows are a wonderful addition to any homestead. The nourishment their fresh milk provides is liquid gold-raw milk is highly nutritious and can produce delicious, top-notch butter, cream, buttermilk, cheese and yogurt. I think when anyone thinks of farming or homesteading, they think of owning a dairy cow.

    If you’re interested in getting a dairy cow, here are a few basic considerations:

    Your Homestead’s Capacity

    What breed of cow, how many to get, how often to breed and what to feed the cow(s) will depend on your homestead, what facilities you have, how much acreage you have, how much milk you want and how often you can milk them.  For example, inn many parts of the country, cows will require a winter barn, where they can keep warm and will need to be fed, watered and have their pens cleaned out regularly. Or, how much hay you will need to feed them depends on how much grazing they can do. What breed you should buy will vary based on some of these considerations, as some breeds are small and produce a lot of milk, others produce a lot of milk with lower fat content, etc. First assess the capacity your farm or homestead has before researching what type of breed will best suit that.

    Find a Mentor

    If you know someone who already owns or has owned cows, they will be an invaluable resource for you (and possibly even be able to provide you with a cow!), especially if they live in your area and can talk you through the specifics of owning cows in your climate. If you don’t know anyone, there are plenty of books available on the topic and probably even dairy cow owners associations or 4H resources at your disposal.

    Find an Experienced Cow

    A very good place to start with dairy cows is to get a cow who is experienced herself with being milked! As you learn to milk, it will be very helpful to have a heifer who is comfortable with the whole thing. Cows get used to being milked and even come to enjoy it, so it will make the whole experience much smoother if one of you knows what you’re doing at first.

    Get Prepared

    Not just for all of the above-but anything that could potentially go wrong with the cow or require medical attention. dairy-cowsResearch all the common maladies that can happen to cows-mastitis and milk fever are at the top of the list-and get yourself set up to treat them properly. Most people will want to breed their cows once a year to keep a fresh supply of milk (if you continue to milk a cow after her calf is weaned she can lactate for several years, but it is best to breed her once a year to replenish her milk production), so learn everything you can about calving. Find a good big animal vet in your area.

     

    Dairy cows pour all their heart and soul into their milk production, so its important they get the best care they can. Before you consider getting one, make sure you have the resources and time needed to care for them properly. They will certainly make it worth your while!

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  • Caring for Your Chickens in Hot Weather

    Caring for Your Chickens in Hot Weather

    Did you know that chickens have a higher body temperature than humans? As a result, they will almost always feel increases in heat faster than we do, which means that they can really suffer on hot summer days. So how can you ensure that your chickens stay healthy and cool all summer long? Follow a few simple tips.

    Provide Cool Water and Shade

    Chickens will naturally gravitate toward shady areas to stay cool on hot days. Provide yours with plenty of shade, and put their water in the shade, as well. Basically, if the water is out in the sun or far away from where they’re hanging out to beat the heat, they’re not going to go get it, and they’re going to get dehydrated. So maximize shade and make sure there’s water there, too.

    Scatter Frozen Veggies and Juicy Fruit in the Chicken Yard

    Fresh fruits and vegetables are attractive to chickens, but frozen veggies, like peas and baby carrots, are also good pecking food, as well. If you have any old frozen vegetables in your freezer that are freezer burned and unappetizing to you, just open them up and throw them to your chickens. They’ll love them!

    Do You Have a Dust Bath?

    Chickens also cook off by taking dust baths. So, if you don’t have one already, provide an area without any water or grass, where your chickens can roll around in the dirt. Don’t be surprised if a shallow pit starts to form – that’s just from your chickens wallowing around and rubbing in the dirt until they get down to the cooler soil under the top layer.

    These three simple tips can go a long way toward keeping your chickens healthy, hydrated, cool, and well fed this summer. Try out one or all of them today and see how well they work.

    Sources:
    http://hencam.com/faq/hot-weather-care/
    http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/04/beat-heat-helping-chickens-survive-high.html
    http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-to-care-for-chickens-in-the-hot-summer-months

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  • 5 Great Reasons to Get Goats

    5 Great Reasons to Get Goats

    Goats are awesome. They’re fun, cute, useful, slightly weird, and low-budget and low-maintenance options for livestock. If you’re not convinced, below are five great reasons to get goats.

    1. Milk

    I don’t know about you but I personally don’t need any more reason than this. Goat milk is delicious, and what’s better than loads of free milk, from an animal who’s food you supply and who you see every day? A constant supply of free range, non-GMO, organic goat’s milk of your own is definitely the very best reason to get a goat.

    2. Cheese

    There is such a thing as too much milk, but I’m not sure there’s such a thing as too much cheese! Especially goat’s cheese. Goat’s cheese is delicious and flavorful and very easy to make. Plus you could even sell it at a local farmer’s market, goat cheese has long been considered very gourmet.

    3. Weed control 

    While letting your goats into your garden probably isn’t a very good idea, goats can be very efficient at clearing back shrubs and weeds if you’d like to clear a spot to make a new garden! Wherever they are they will most likely keep the plants back, so goats are a great way to cut back on time and money spent mowing and trimming plants and shrubs.

    4. Free Manure 

    Like any animal, goats provide an awesome supply of manure to add to compost piles or garden beds. It’s a lot less stinky than cow or chicken manure too, and the hard, small pellets are relatively easy to collect.

    5. Cheap alarm system

    Goats are loud and curious so if anyone ever tries to sneak on to your property, you’ll definitely hear about it. Goats herd on over to check out and loudly bleat at anyone knew, so in addition to all the wonderful reasons to get goats this is definitely a nice plus!

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  • Easy Milking Tips…

    Easy Milking Tips…

    One of the first big steps that many homesteaders take when becoming more self-reliant is to consider owning a dairy animal. Whether you go for a cow or a goat, having your own milk – that you can later turn into butter and cheese – is a great way to continue making your home milking a cowself-sustaining.

    If you’ve never had to milk an animal before, it can be a daunting task, but many first-time homesteaders have learned to milk their goats or cows successfully. If you are consistent with your milking routine, and you utilize a few key tips, you’ll have no trouble getting your first perfect bucket of fresh milk.

    Tip #1: Set up the ideal milking spot first.

    Animals can be easily spooked or just plain stubborn at times, and any kind of stress on their system will lower their milk production. Before you try to milk, be sure that you have a quiet, comfortable spot picked out. You want it to be clean, warm in the winter, cool in the summer, and away from any distracting activity. You should have extra supplies within reach, especially at first; it is inevitable that the cow or goat will put their foot into the bucket a few times.

    Tip #2: No matter what milking routine you use, always focus on cleanliness.

    Milking gets dirty fast, and mastitis and other bacteria can spread very quickly. To keep your animals and your family healthy, it’s imperative that you keep everything clean while you milk. The udder area should be shaved or trimmed as necessary, and always wiped down before you milk. The bucket should be sanitized after every use, and you may also want to tie up the animal’s tail.

    With these two tips, and a bit of patience, you’ll find that milking is no problem at all.

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