Blackbird
Goat Whisperer
we've only ever fed our chickens corn. Just straight corn. Granted they all freerange, so they aren't sitting in a little pen with only that to nourish them. It helps having grain farmers in the family though.
For supplementing feed, the animals get all of the grass clippings after mowing. We've fed tree trimmings, weeds from the garden, leaves in the fall, and so on.
In the past when we've been short on hay, we cut ditch grass, haul it back to the shed on a tarp, dry it, and feed that. I remember my mom and I did that an entire month with a goat in lactation, back before we had pasture and couldn't find any hay to buy.
We feed bark, sticks, grasses, leaves, etc to the rabbits.
We now have a small plot of alfalfa have to usually harvest by hand (but we have used the tractor and cutter to do it in the past). We rake it ourselves to dry in the sun, and then haul it back to storage on a trailer or in the back of the pickup.
Another thing we also do, is when we see a pile of spilled grain or screenings near a bin at a neighbors, we'll call and ask if we can collect it. Then off we go with the cart and 4-wheeler. We've gotten a lot of grain that way. We've had one neighbor call and let us scrounge through a section of his field to pick up cobs of corn that he never harvested and were snowed under. That lasted the chickens an entire summer.
Also, if you don't mind your animals (pigs, chicken) eating 'bad' food, ask around in your circle of friends. We'd have many people give us boxes of stale crackers, cereal, etc. for the chickens and pigs (when we still had those). It's free!
I also wanted to add - many animals today are bred the way they are for a reason, specifically for our needs. More yields, more food, more income, etc. Because of this process, many animals will not, or cannot successfully revert back to the basics. Many animals would be very poorly conditioned if they were to go without quality hay or any grain. That is why it is important to choose your breeds wisely!
For supplementing feed, the animals get all of the grass clippings after mowing. We've fed tree trimmings, weeds from the garden, leaves in the fall, and so on.
In the past when we've been short on hay, we cut ditch grass, haul it back to the shed on a tarp, dry it, and feed that. I remember my mom and I did that an entire month with a goat in lactation, back before we had pasture and couldn't find any hay to buy.
We feed bark, sticks, grasses, leaves, etc to the rabbits.
We now have a small plot of alfalfa have to usually harvest by hand (but we have used the tractor and cutter to do it in the past). We rake it ourselves to dry in the sun, and then haul it back to storage on a trailer or in the back of the pickup.
Another thing we also do, is when we see a pile of spilled grain or screenings near a bin at a neighbors, we'll call and ask if we can collect it. Then off we go with the cart and 4-wheeler. We've gotten a lot of grain that way. We've had one neighbor call and let us scrounge through a section of his field to pick up cobs of corn that he never harvested and were snowed under. That lasted the chickens an entire summer.
Also, if you don't mind your animals (pigs, chicken) eating 'bad' food, ask around in your circle of friends. We'd have many people give us boxes of stale crackers, cereal, etc. for the chickens and pigs (when we still had those). It's free!
I also wanted to add - many animals today are bred the way they are for a reason, specifically for our needs. More yields, more food, more income, etc. Because of this process, many animals will not, or cannot successfully revert back to the basics. Many animals would be very poorly conditioned if they were to go without quality hay or any grain. That is why it is important to choose your breeds wisely!
