What’s one thing you wish you had known before starting to raise [goats/pigs/sheep/cattle]?

[CherishedFowlGuardian]

What’s one thing you wish you had known before starting to raise [goats/pigs/sheep/cattle]? Any tips or surprises to share?

 

[Mini Horses]

Have a good bank account!

 

[Poka_Doodle]

Domestic sheep can be a concern to wild sheep in certain areas. Contact a wildlife biologist before getting them depending on where you are.
Oh this especially applies to Dorpers who might have a tendency to take themselves on a tour of the area.

Cattle- beware of the neighbor's charlois bull. But then again, those two calfs are my favorites.

 

[farmerjan]

Domestic sheep can be a concern to wild sheep in certain areas. Contact a wildlife biologist before getting them depending on where you are.
Oh this especially applies to Dorpers who might have a tendency to take themselves on a tour of the area.

Cattle- beware of the neighbor's charlois bull. But then again, those two calfs are my favorites.

Love my charolais/ angus cross cattle.. got a couple cows... grey "smokies"... and crossed back to our angus bulls, the heifers are really really nice...most are also smokey grey; as long as you don't get too big a char bull that sneaks in with your heifers... and you have calving problems... lucky for us, no one around with big char bulls....

 

[Baymule]

I studied here on BYH, reading past posts and asking questions. I learned a lot.

Book learning and live animals learning are 2 different things. Before I got sheep I thought I knew a little about them. After I got sheep, I didn’t know anything.

 

[farmerjan]

I studied here on BYH, reading past posts and asking questions. I learned a lot.

Book learning and live animals learning are 2 different things. Before I got sheep I thought I knew a little about them. After I got sheep, I didn’t know anything.

Yeah, you did know a little.... from reading etc... you knew what they were SUPPOSED to do and act..... then you got them and learned that they never read the manuals....

 

[Baymule]

Yeah, the vet I used didn't know anything either. He tube fed two cold lambs, I didn't know any better either. They died in my arms around midnight that night. For anyone reading this. NEVER feed cold lambs or kids. It makes sense to warm them up with warm milk in their little tummies, right? Wrong. If they are cold, they cannot digest the milk, even if you warm them up after you feed them, they will die. Put them in a box, cut a hole in it, poke their little heads out. cut a hole in the opposite end of the box, insert hair dryer and get them warm and toasty. Poke their heads out so you don't scorch their tiny lungs. Or use a laundry basket. Wrap them in a heating pad, wrap that bundle in a bath towel to hold the heat in. I've stuffed a lamb inside my coat up against my belly and used my own body heat. You can even plunge them in hot water, not boiling, you aren't trying to cook them! You can put them in a plastic bag to keep dry before the hot water bath. I never did the hot water thing.

stick your finger in the lambs mouth. If their mouth is cold, it's full on emergency, get them warm fast! Stick your finger in their mouth, when it is good and warm, then it is ok to give them a bottle or return them to mom and help them nurse. It is also great fun to tie a wild ewe with notions that humans DO NOT touch her udder and milk out colostrum for her weak baby. Prepare to get bruises.