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I guess it depends on the storage location. If you have a secure, climate controlled pantry/larder that's safe from rodents then beans are probably fine in their original sacks. When I stored my bulk beans my storage was in a garage, so I kept everything in 3gal plastic buckets (5gal too heavy to lift).
I had a neighbor once who stored dry goods in galvanized metal trash cans out in the barn to protect them from mice.
I have found the solution to rodents is to have a pride of cats that you only feed on alternate weeks. Freefed cats lack a strong motivation to hunt.
Our primary hurdle for long-term storage of dry goods is humidity.
I want to buy 2 tons of barley, 2 tons oats, and 2 tons corn, every Autumn for our livestock. Left on its own it molds. I put grain in 55-gallon steel drums with a cup of desiccant. Once a week I replace the old desiccant with freshly re-charged desiccant, and after a month that usually will have removed most of the moisture, enough to prevent mold.
We do not have 'climate-controlled' anything. We heat with woodstoves, so our interior temps vary a lot in winter. In summer it depends more on the outdoor temps, with windows open and a few fans.
I have found the solution to rodents is to have a pride of cats that you only feed on alternate weeks. Freefed cats lack a strong motivation to hunt.
Interesting. I know this is way off topic, but is that your experience with cats? It sounds somewhat cruel to alternate weeks of 'free' food...I guess they figure it out?
I lived off grid for several years and went through a few cats. They were all given kibble 2x a day and all of them ate it. Two of my cats, despite regular kibble feedings, routinely caught mice and mutilated them, but another of the cats wanted nothing to do with mice. A mouse could run across the room and he would just look at it and do nothing. I think some cats are 'mousers' and some aren't.
A mouse could run across the room and he would just look at it and do nothing. I think some cats are 'mousers' and some aren't.
My husband's cat tortured whatever mouse got into his NYC apartment. It was only one white mouse every year or every other year. He would break its back and toss it back and forth between his paws. We had another cat in Austin, Tx which hunted palmetto bugs and scorpions. I would find a body in a corner of a room while its legs were scattered across the floor.
Yeah, it turns out cats learn to mouse from their mothers. If the mothers can't mouse or if the kitten is separated from they mothers too soon, they don't learn it.
...
Our primary hurdle for long-term storage of dry goods is humidity.
...[grains]... Left on its own it molds. I put grain in 55-gallon steel drums with a cup of desiccant. Once a week I replace the old desiccant with freshly re-charged desiccant, and after a month ...
We do not have 'climate-controlled' anything.
...
Quote:
Originally Posted by terracore
Just out of curiosity, how many barrels does it take to hold 2 tons of grain? Do you use silica desiccant?
We have the same problem (probably worse) here in the tropics, so far we haven't really found a viable solution.
We should probably have a thread on desiccant.
In fact, give me a couple minutes, and I will start one.
Interesting. I know this is way off topic, but is that your experience with cats? It sounds somewhat cruel to alternate weeks of 'free' food...I guess they figure it out?
I lived off grid for several years and went through a few cats. They were all given kibble 2x a day and all of them ate it. Two of my cats, despite regular kibble feedings, routinely caught mice and mutilated them, but another of the cats wanted nothing to do with mice. A mouse could run across the room and he would just look at it and do nothing. I think some cats are 'mousers' and some aren't.
You sound like a friend of mine, whose chickens grow old and are buried when they reach the end of their natural life.
Quote:
Originally Posted by YorktownGal
My husband's cat tortured whatever mouse got into his NYC apartment. It was only one white mouse every year or every other year. He would break its back and toss it back and forth between his paws. We had another cat in Austin, Tx which hunted palmetto bugs and scorpions. I would find a body in a corner of a room while its legs were scattered across the floor.
Yeah, it turns out cats learn to mouse from their mothers. If the mothers can't mouse or if the kitten is separated from they mothers too soon, they don't learn it.
You are quite correct.
Cats are the very definition of cruel, but most "civilized" people don't seem to understand that.
I call them "God's cutest little killing machines."
Because that is what He created them for.
It is all a part of God's naturally intended, self regulating, cycle.
Number of rodents rises, number of cats rises.
Cats kill off most of the rodents,
excess cats starve to death.
Number of cats falls, rodent population begins to rise, again,
and the cycle repeats.
Until man interferes.
Or, as Submariner seems to have found, man regulates. In Genesis 1, God told us to take dominion and subdue nature. Submariner found a way to subdue the natural rise and fall of the population, so there would never be too many or too few cats, and therefore no need for starvation cycles.
My wife checked for navy and baby limas at Walmart and they had none.
We can them being they are faster and easier to prep to eat than pressure cooking them.
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