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You can definitely get enough milk from 1 goat for only a gallon a week. However, you will go through a period without milk if you only have 1 goat and goats don't do well as single animals. If you have 2 or 3, you can stagger the breeding enough to stay in milk all year. I would recommend...

Check out www.GlobalPedigree.com It is an online database. We use it to manage our rabbitry and it tracks pedigrees. It is not nearly as expensive as other software.

I will jump in with Beachbunny on American Chinchillas. We started our meat operation a few years back with a variety of breeds. We now only have American Chinchillas for meat. Even the mixes we were keeping were more than 75% Am Chin. As for 5lbs at 8 weeks, we never come close to that...

In our experience, problems with a doe getting pregnant are most commonly associated with the doe being too fat. We put fat does on a hay only diet for a few weeks. I have culled some that had excessive fat built up inside and 1 that appeared to have cystic ovaries.

We have been keeping meat rabbits in outdoor change in CT for a few years now. We have had a number of nights below zero here this winter. We added tarps to front of cages that showed signs of snow blowing in. Otherwise, the cages are 3 sided with wire bottoms. We do have thin plywood boards...

We have Lamanchas and Oberhaslis. My Lamancha herd sire almost meets the Oberhasli breed standards. Regarding the disbudding, it is simple for us - you can't show a horned dairy goat, so we disbud. And we disbud every kid, regardless of their fate. If I decide to grow one out for meat, then...

Many butchers will hang pork or beef for a week or longer prior to cutting. As long as the fridge is good and cold, I would worry more about the meat drying out. I don't have any scientific evidence, but I would say 5-7 days as long as it doesn't get dry.

Yes, litter size matters. We breed American Chinchillas (and mixes thereof) for meat. I know of a different breeder about 2 hours away that breeds for show and not for meat. He specifically breeds for small litters so they grow out fast with less competition and fewer culls to deal with. We...

We have considered fodder, and my wife is planning to set up a system to try for the rabbits. However, space and workload becomes a problem. We are usually feeding 6 milking does, plus another 6-8 dry stock (bucks, yearlings) for our goats. We have about 35 rabbits right now, but that number...

We live in Eastern CT. Looking for 1-2 show quality Dutch does to add to our rabbitry. Might be willing to travel a few hours for the right one.

Do you really mean hand feed? We are taking our first pigs to slaughter this weekend. I would never hand feed a pig. As for the feeding plan, I would do more level feed plan across the entire growth. If they are used to a higher quantity and you slow it down, it might not work the way you...

We have been experimenting with organic/GMO free feed on our farm. It is definitely expensive and staying in control of costs is vital to making a profit. For a couple of years now, I have been considering purchasing 1 or 2 bulk feed bins to use through the summer when our consumption is the...

The answer is definitely - it depends. We live in Eastern CT where the market is large and varied. Pork - yes, I can make a profit. Rabbits - no. Chickens - yes. Veal - yes (requires having dairy goats on organic feed).

Since switching back to commercial feed, the rabbits have stopped dying and started eating again. I still believe something was related to the feed.

The results of the necropsy was somewhat inconclusive. It identified baterial infection as the most likely cause of death, however, the vet noted it was unclear what the source of the various bacteria may have been and couldn't explain how a bacterial infection would break out through the entire...

Actually, we harvest all organs for dog food, so yes, I look them over. We wean at 6-7 weeks depending on growth. The results of the necropsy was somewhat inconclusive. It identified baterial infection as the most likely cause of death, however, the vet noted it was unclear what the source...

I am not going to repeat everything in this thread, but if anyone finds this in a search, I want to ensure all the data is available. Please read this thread from the general organic area: http://www.backyardherds.com/threads/countryside-feed.26386/ I will summarize: We are no longer feeding...

We used Molly's on our goat herd and with our horses (note- there is a horse specific blend without the black walnut). We were also performing fecals on all animals throughout. We stopped using Molly's because the fecals indicated the blend did not affect parasite populations in our goat herd...

I would like to be clear that I do not yet have definitive results from the necropsy. I have been talking with the doctors about what they found so far, but we are still digging deeper into tissue samples and feed analysis to determine the source of the problem. On the other hand, I can...