Just out of curiosity.....

[the funny farm6]

We also go threw a lot of meat.

We raise:
2 pigs a year, but we butcher kinda small
Rabbits
Quail
Chickens for eggs
Chickens to eat
Dairy goats...(becouse we can't afford a dairy cow yet)
We used to butcher young goats and will again when our girls are having babies
We help a friend butcher for some of the beef, but we buy a lot of hamburgur!

Plus wild game:
Deer
Rabbit
Squirrl
Fish

I am going to add this year or next:
Ducks
Turkeys
Guineas

I have a chance next month to have a lot of ringneck pheasant eggs given to me. So we will try pheasant this year also.
Plus it would be a good idea to have extra to barter with.

 

[hwillm1977]

I think for our family it would look something like this:

1 dairy cow (raising one calf for beef a year, plus all the milk we would need)
2 hogs
24 dual purpose chickens so I can make my own 'meaties' and have eggs (I'd want 1-2 chickens a week to eat, so hatching batches accordingly)
3 turkeys (Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter)
2 icelandic ewes bred each year for 3-5 lambs (I LOVE lamb and it's $20/pound in the grocery store so I never get to eat it) and the nice wool

I really don't think we'd need much more than that, and if we did I would hatch out more chicks and barter with them... I saw someone else say that they could buy 6 week old chicks for $5, but here purebred chickens will sell for $5.00 for straight run day olds so I'd get a couple popular breeds and sell/barter chicks.

That would be my 'someday' dream list, but I'm sure if I had the land the list would get longer all the time

 

[~gd]

I have been wondering about this during the evening today. Out of curiosity how many animals would a family of 4 to 6 need to provide all the meat/dairy/poultry/eggs they'd need?

Here is what I have come up with:

12 Laying Hens
8 Breeding Rabbits
1 Beef Steer
1 Hog
24 Broilers
3 Breeding Turkeys
3 Breeding Ducks
25 Meat Rabbits
12 Meat Turkeys
12 Meat Ducks
2 Milking Goats

What are your alls thoughts??

Yep If you breed Turkeys, Ducks, Amf Rabbits, Why not Chickens? 1 rooster wou;d convert a laying hen or two into breeders for a while, and then could become Stew. Hens don't produce that well after 3 years and they would have to be replaced. I don't know much about goats but don't they have to be bred to keep them producing milK ? ~gd

 

[hqueen13]

You know, I don't think many Americans think of their food this way....
Sure does change your perspective.
Give me a few years and I'll get back to you

 

[animalfarm]

One dairy cow; 2 if you want milk and cheese year round. This equals 2 calves and only one is needed.

20 hens/1 rooster. A trio of turkeys if you really think you need them but they are a luxury item; cost money to feed and you can survive on the beef just fine. The typical family only really eats one maybe two turkeys a year as a holiday feast.

One or 2 pigs for variety/lard, but again a luxury item and not really needed for anything other then variety.

The list you made will feed 5 families with leftovers for a year or two or three but a few good belt expanders will fix the problem.

We were a family of 7, one milk cow, one steer, 2 acres of potatoes and 1 acre of carrots and onions and cabbage was standard fare for a year. Anything else was gravy.

 

[BarredBuff]

I have been wondering about this during the evening today. Out of curiosity how many animals would a family of 4 to 6 need to provide all the meat/dairy/poultry/eggs they'd need?

Here is what I have come up with:

12 Laying Hens
8 Breeding Rabbits
1 Beef Steer
1 Hog
24 Broilers
3 Breeding Turkeys
3 Breeding Ducks
25 Meat Rabbits
12 Meat Turkeys
12 Meat Ducks
2 Milking Goats

What are your alls thoughts??

Yep If you breed Turkeys, Ducks, Amf Rabbits, Why not Chickens? 1 rooster wou;d convert a laying hen or two into breeders for a while, and then could become Stew. Hens don't produce that well after 3 years and they would have to be replaced. I don't know much about goats but don't they have to be bred to keep them producing milK ? ~gd

Yeah I meant roosters, too so I hatch out my own meaties, and sell the extras. Yeah Goats have to be rebred....

 

[SSDreamin]

I definitely would have to think long and hard about this, BB.

Right now, we depend a great deal on wild game but, if that option were removed, I'm not sure what we'd need for a years worth of food. I'd also have to make other assumptions, like assuming DH would be home fulltime (which would increase consumption astronomically - the man can and does pack it away!).

Hmmm...

 

[BarredBuff]

12 Laying Hens
8 Breeding Rabbits
1 Beef Steer
1 Hog
24 Broilers
3 Breeding Turkeys
3 Breeding Ducks
25 Meat Rabbits
12 Meat Turkeys
12 Meat Ducks
2 Milking Goats

I am revisiting my own list....

15 Hens and 1 Rooster (with different breeds to allow for more consistent egg production, all with a stocky build. So you could work on having your own meaties from them)
7 Rabbit Does and 1 Buck
4 Heritage Turkeys (Enough hens to brood our own meat needs, and hatch some out to sell)
3 Milking Goats or 1 Milk Cow (2 Goats wouldn't be enough for us after you share it with the other animals, kids, and dairy products)
3 Muscovy Ducks (Enough hens to brood our own meat needs, and to hatch some out to sell)
1 Beef Steer (Definitely for us, we eat a lot of Beef)
1 Hog
24 Broilers (Suitable for us, we use more pork and beef)
24 Meat Rabbits (Suitable for us)
12 Meat Turkeys (To eat whole, and grind as well)
?? Meat Ducks (Whatever drakes we had left after sales, and stock replacement)

Currently we buy 1/2 beef every year, and will be acquiring half a hog this fall as well. If a SHTF scenario(whatever it may be, economy collapse, or just a lost job) took place, we would definitely maximize production of those last four areas to have adequate meat. Which would be feasible for us, I incubate now

 

[pinkfox]

ok so i did the math,to feed myself and my current carnivorous animals in the house im looking at needing aproximatly 1000lbs of meat per year.
thats 1 human female post gastrci bypass and can come from meat, fish, dairy or beans, no bone and no organ (i donts like organ meats)
2 cats and 3 dogs at 2.5% body weight which needs to come from meat/fish/eggs (light dairy) and include bone and organ

so for my set up.
the cats and small dogs would be eating primarily rabbit and quail
Dozer would be primarily rabbit and chicken
i will eat pretty much any meat

so id need.
aproximatly 4 active breeding pens of cortinux quail at a ratio of 1:5
2 bucks and 6 does should produce enough rabbit meat for all of us
2 dozen chickens, a group of 1 dozen lean egglayers and 1 group of dual purpose with a goal of bringing 200 chickens to the freezer each year

1 small beef cow
1 pig
4 Dairy Goats. (by the time i take into account cheese production as well as drinking milk, i think 4 does would be needed to do it) OR 2 good Dairy goats and a Dual cow
1/2 a dozen laying ducks (eggs would be used primarily for baking purposes)
id want to raise tilapia too

that SHOULD give me what i need to put enough meat in my freezer to feed the current family.
not realy a bad list when you think about it...

i dont reay eat turkey, and i could deifnatly live without lamb

 

[Wannabefree]

I could live without lamb too. I have for 35 years so far Seriously, have never even tried it