baymule
Sustainability Master
Wow! Way to go! Next question, do you have a slaughter date? LOL
Let's talk about meat, dairy, eggs, hunting, and cooking on the homestead
- Thread starter BarredBuff
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BarredBuff
El Presidente de Pollo
I don't yet, but I am not slaughtering for another year. I want to get a good sized animal finished out. I'll sell the rest directly or through the market. I am excited for it.
baymule
Sustainability Master
I don’t know about your area, but here, everyone wants to be a farmer and raise their own. Slaughter facilities are booked over a year out. I suggest that you look into that and select a date.
Mini Horses
Sustainability Master
Sorta lucky here....slaughter houses not booked out as so few now raise own livestock. But there are also ew facilities now! I have two within 40 miles. Good people, all inspected, both "family" owned & operated.
Rammy
Super Self-Sufficient
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Here are my candidates for freezer camp.
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farmerjan
Super Self-Sufficient
@Minihorses.... you need to get a couple of 7-800 lb animals, graze through the grass months, put one in the freezer and sell the other so you don't have to deal with winter chores.... Better than bush hogging..... will taste better too than the bugs in your face and hot sun on your arms....
farmerjan
Super Self-Sufficient
Sorry, but I must be dense.... what is EW facilities? I must've missed something or my brain just can't compute.
farmerjan
Super Self-Sufficient
That jersey will make the best beef if you get him finished out right. A little sweeter than some meat, but they all will have better flavor than anything that is raised in a confinement type facility. And a little grain doesn't hurt them....
Rammy
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The jersey is mixed with holstein and belongs to the neighbor. I had been looking for jersey on CL but no luck. When I got the holsteins he didnt have that one or Id of gotten him. We probably wont get these processed til next fall.
8
8710
Guest
If I was truly in need of self reliance, I'd keep laying hens that would see a massive diet shift. They'd go from feed to learning to rely 100% on free-range and garden scraps real quick. I've done the math and I simply wouldn't have the means to grow enough for them. I'd butcher all but a couple hens and a rooster come winter, and feed them to get through the winter, and hopefully restart with more chicks. If that didn't work, then I guess no more laying hens.
I'd try my hand at rabbits as well.
If rabbits and chickens fail, my only meat source would be from hunting. I already grow amaranth and corn for grain. It would be no problem for me to switch to beans for my protein source.
I have a pond on my property, but right now it is in bad shape. I'd love to get it fixed so I could have a self-sustaining fish population and a couple ducks. I had ducks growing up and we never fed them! They ate minnows and bugs and survived just fine on their own. They blessed us with plenty of huge eggs.
I'd try my hand at rabbits as well.
If rabbits and chickens fail, my only meat source would be from hunting. I already grow amaranth and corn for grain. It would be no problem for me to switch to beans for my protein source.
I have a pond on my property, but right now it is in bad shape. I'd love to get it fixed so I could have a self-sustaining fish population and a couple ducks. I had ducks growing up and we never fed them! They ate minnows and bugs and survived just fine on their own. They blessed us with plenty of huge eggs.
