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Location: When you take flak it means you are on target
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I had a guava tree that supported me as a kid. That one tree produced about ten bags of guavas and the local market gave me about 60 bucks each fall! Then I came home on leave from the Army and my mom had cut down MY tree because they were too lazy to pick up the guavas. That ended my farming career.
If TSHTF my partner and I intend to grab a tank, and I'm pretty sure with a tank we will have all the food we want!
Some of us can generalize, we are not all literal like 1st graders...
My point being, horses and cattle require a good bit of work, and a single peraon, esp if getting on in years, might find that getting to be a bit much. Livestock of that size, even if just out on pasture, require a good bit of water, veterinary care, and a trailer to transport them.
My point being, horses and cattle require a good bit of work, and a single peraon, esp if getting on in years, might find that getting to be a bit much. Livestock of that size, even if just out on pasture, require a good bit of water, veterinary care, and a trailer to transport them.
But 4 chickens? Don't make me laugh.
Well, even with 4 chickens you can't just leave for two weeks on a vacation. Someone has to come and make sure they have water and food and are ALIVE
Cows, horses, pigs so on even more so. Gardens with veggies are less responsibility, you can set up timers, drip irrigation, sensors etc. and if all that fails - well, you lost some veggies. You can automate your horse's watering system too but if that fails you might come back to a dead animal (not to mention you may face charges of neglect). That's all I was trying to say
My point being, horses and cattle require a good bit of work, and a single peraon, esp if getting on in years, might find that getting to be a bit much. Livestock of that size, even if just out on pasture, require a good bit of water, veterinary care, and a trailer to transport them.
But 4 chickens? Don't make me laugh.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ognend
Well, even with 4 chickens you can't just leave for two weeks on a vacation. Someone has to come and make sure they have water and food and are ALIVE
Cows, horses, pigs so on even more so. Gardens with veggies are less responsibility, you can set up timers, drip irrigation, sensors etc. and if all that fails - well, you lost some veggies. You can automate your horse's watering system too but if that fails you might come back to a dead animal (not to mention you may face charges of neglect). That's all I was trying to say
It's been four years since I've been away overnight except for two occasions when I had hip surgery. That was before I had my chickens. I did, however, have an old dog who was having both physical and mental problems; his last two years were a slow downhill journey. Now I have an eleven year old dog as well as a cat who's at least ten. Four years ago my two dogs were racing around like puppies. My biggest fear at this stage of my life is having a health problem with no warning. Chickens can live a long time. We had a hen before who made it to thirteen.
I regret that I never had horses or other equines; practically speaking, it's too late now.
I'm not complaining. I've had a good life, a rewarding life. However, my life will never again be what it was even ten years ago. My wife was alive and seemingly healthy ten years ago today, but four months later she was dead. We must plan for the future as best we can; there are no guarantees, however.
''Count no man happy until he has made an end of life.''
Sophocles: Oedipus the King
I wouldn't call it work exactly. I've got a 30x50 foot garden and 5 chickens, and my wife will be canning and putting up food for the winter, and we have fresh eggs. If a chicken annoys me too much, we have bbq chicken. Everything pretty much takes care of itself, I just kinda hang out and watch.
Yup, gardens and small livestock can be set up to be pretty self tending. If your chickens are free range in a predator free zone, then they are pretty much self care chickens. We've had it set up before where we'd go on vacation and come back in several weeks and other than a huge pile of eggs, it was like we had been there all along. Gardens can be set up the same way, although now that we've switched to raised beds, it's even easier.
We generally get a house sitter, though, but there's no dearth of those when you live in Hawaii. If we are going for more than three or four weeks, then we have a couple who fly in from Tennessee to house sit.
As for costs, there's very little involved. We got a lot of concrete blocks from a yard sale for not much money. Those were stacked three levels high, some weed mat (from a different yard sale) was put down and top soil was piled inside. It was amended with oyster shell because we have acidic soil and bunny manure because we have bunnies and it's a free fertilizer for us. All of our seeds for the past several years have been open pollinated and/or heirloom so the seeds are all saved from the previous season. So, starting a new garden this year was $20 for concrete blocks, $2 for weed mat and $5 for oyster shell, although we still have a lot of the weed mat and oyster shell left. I'll probably feed the oyster shell to the new hens.
We're getting a new set of hens this year since the other ones are five years old. Still laying a bit, but not that much. So the two old Brown Danish leghorns are being replaced with four white leghorns. A friend gave me a dozen fertile eggs which I ran through the incubator ($5 years ago at a yard sale) and my share is four hens and a rooster. Not sure how long the rooster will last. Probably he will be soup at first crow, but we will give him a chance to be a quiet crower.
So, that's essentially free produce and egg costs are determined by if and how much feed we give them.
Yup, gardens and small livestock can be set up to be pretty self tending. If your chickens are free range in a predator free zone, then they are pretty much self care chickens. We've had it set up before where we'd go on vacation and come back in several weeks and other than a huge pile of eggs, it was like we had been there all along. Gardens can be set up the same way, although now that we've switched to raised beds, it's even easier.
That's pretty much how we feel, although this year we are raising about 325 birds. The bulk of them are chickens, but we have geese, turkeys, and ducks as well. They are on pasture, and require very little feed and even less care. The do require water, but we're in the process of automating that. Less than a dozen are laying pullets. We still get plenty of eggs. There are 4 of us living here (all adults), so getting away for a couple weeks is no problem.
I guess that my family and I have raised livestock and horses for so long that we don't even think about it. During the summer, the stock is out on pasture and need very little care aside from an illness or cut or something, otherwise, they just graze and drink and lay in the shade.
We do run the fences pretty regularly, and you have to harvest your hay in the summer, but otherwise, not a big deal.
Of course we are on a small ranch so the carrying capacity of the land means we have enough grass for the stock and don't have to suppliment feed.
Normally, we have enough pasture to last from early May through when the snow starts laying in late October/early November.
Because it's a family operation, when one of us or more of us goes somewhere, one of the others takes over. Because it's a communal herd, we all feed or whatever anyway.
When my father was in the hospital having a knee replaced, I went down to the hospital with him to drive my mother around. My wife took care of our rabbits, my brother and sister in law fed the cattle, there was no disruption to the system at all.
When my Niece and Nephew were in the national finals of the Science Olympiad, my father fed their hogs. Not a big deal.
My brother was just away for a long weekend, my niece and sister milked his cows and goats and took care of his chickens and turkeys.
We don't have sheep at the moment, (wolves), but we have raised them in the past, and fresh lamb or mutton, and having the wool as well as milk if you want to make exotic cheeses, that is kind of a value added aspect as well.
No big deal.
When the time comes for butchering, each of us gets a nice freezer full of top quality beef, pork, chicken and turkey. We have fresh milk and eggs and rabbit all year round.
We also get some pretty nice checks from the stock we sell.
My 80 year old father broke out 2 teams of horses last winter on contract, and has a new saddle pony he's working with now. She'll be a nice horse when he's done.
It's just a matter of what you like and what you like to do. For me, I get a lot of enjoyment out of the stock, as well as fantastic meat, milk, cheese, eggs, so it balances out.
I prefer a nice grilled T-bone from one of my steers with some wild mushrooms sauted in homemade butter, next to a large home grown baked potato smothered in homemade butter and sour cream, with a sprinkling of green onion from the garden and topped with some home raised, homemade bacon bits to just what I can raise in the garden.
A big prime rib for the holidays, or a home grown turkey or Ham from a hog we raised and smoked ourselves makes for a memorable dinner.
If you don't want to be bothered with livestock, fine with me. I just like all the positive aspects of having my own steady meat and dairy supplies.
Last edited by MTSilvertip; 06-08-2015 at 08:48 AM..
It's just a matter of what you like and what you like to do. For me, I get a lot of enjoyment out of the stock, as well as fantastic meat, milk, cheese, eggs, so it balances out.
I prefer a nice grilled T-bone from one of my steers with some wild mushrooms sauted in homemade butter, next to a large home grown baked potato smothered in homemade butter and sour cream, with a sprinkling of green onion from the garden and topped with some home raised, homemade bacon bits to just what I can raise in the garden. A big prime rib for the holidays, or a home grown turkey or Ham from a hog we raised and smoked ourselves makes for a memorable dinner.
Mmmm, protein! That's a man's meal! You're making me hungry!
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