mysunwolf
Herd Master
I figured I should break down and start a journal, since I keep having the urge to post TMI in my lambing and other threads
My spouse and I have four acres, a home on it, and plenty of critters. We have dabbled and experimented with quite a few livestock breeds and are currently very pleased with our sheep, pigs, chickens, and rabbits. We also farm cats, but can't seem to make any sort of living off of it (not that we make a living from the other animals either). Every now and then, they bring me dead voles as a reminder of what real food is, and can I please switch them from that dry processed junk I put into their bowls every night to real food. The two pet dogs are here to be companionable, and they do a great job. In the future, I hope to have some LGDs living with the sheep.
I was quite the chicken lady for a few years, but after getting my first lambs I knew that sheep were really what I wanted to focus on. The pigs are pretty much here out of necessity, since they act as dispose-alls for any garden waste, kitchen waste, and butchering waste. The chickens share in this duty, and we try to run the incubator all spring through the fall in order to have replacement egg layers and meat birds. For market, we import Cornish X chicks and raise them up to butchering size, since customers can't be bothered with heritage-type chicken (not enough breast meat?! who likes white meat anyways?). We also raise a few rabbits for market. Chickens and rabbits are processed here on the farm, while pigs and sheep are taken to the slaughterhouse and come back boxed up in plastic packaging. We sell at the farmers market and try to make back a little bit of our feed costs... plus a little extra to expand the farm!
I'm not that great of a homesteader, but I figure we all do what we can. I grow a garden every year to try and have plenty of organic veggies, since they are so expensive in the store. We buy or trade with other farmers and homesteaders for most of what we need, but I buy a huge amount of staples and "exotic produce" from the grocery as well. I like to imagine that we could live off of what we produced (and we have in the past)... but why would I want to? We enjoy coffee, avocados, bananas, and cocoa a whole lot I dry my clothes in a dryer, have plenty of fridges and freezers for food storage, and am really working on producing our own dairy products, while discovering that we eat so much cheese/butter/yogurt/etc that I'm not sure I have time to make all of it! We have a gas generator and are really hoping for solar panels in our future, but waiting to see what the technology does in the next 5-10 years while we save up.
That's pretty much the farm side of things. More adventures to come
My spouse and I have four acres, a home on it, and plenty of critters. We have dabbled and experimented with quite a few livestock breeds and are currently very pleased with our sheep, pigs, chickens, and rabbits. We also farm cats, but can't seem to make any sort of living off of it (not that we make a living from the other animals either). Every now and then, they bring me dead voles as a reminder of what real food is, and can I please switch them from that dry processed junk I put into their bowls every night to real food. The two pet dogs are here to be companionable, and they do a great job. In the future, I hope to have some LGDs living with the sheep.
I was quite the chicken lady for a few years, but after getting my first lambs I knew that sheep were really what I wanted to focus on. The pigs are pretty much here out of necessity, since they act as dispose-alls for any garden waste, kitchen waste, and butchering waste. The chickens share in this duty, and we try to run the incubator all spring through the fall in order to have replacement egg layers and meat birds. For market, we import Cornish X chicks and raise them up to butchering size, since customers can't be bothered with heritage-type chicken (not enough breast meat?! who likes white meat anyways?). We also raise a few rabbits for market. Chickens and rabbits are processed here on the farm, while pigs and sheep are taken to the slaughterhouse and come back boxed up in plastic packaging. We sell at the farmers market and try to make back a little bit of our feed costs... plus a little extra to expand the farm!
I'm not that great of a homesteader, but I figure we all do what we can. I grow a garden every year to try and have plenty of organic veggies, since they are so expensive in the store. We buy or trade with other farmers and homesteaders for most of what we need, but I buy a huge amount of staples and "exotic produce" from the grocery as well. I like to imagine that we could live off of what we produced (and we have in the past)... but why would I want to? We enjoy coffee, avocados, bananas, and cocoa a whole lot I dry my clothes in a dryer, have plenty of fridges and freezers for food storage, and am really working on producing our own dairy products, while discovering that we eat so much cheese/butter/yogurt/etc that I'm not sure I have time to make all of it! We have a gas generator and are really hoping for solar panels in our future, but waiting to see what the technology does in the next 5-10 years while we save up.
That's pretty much the farm side of things. More adventures to come