What Are Your Top Animal Farming Resolutions for the Coming Year?

[BYH Project Manager]

As the new year approaches, it’s the perfect time to reflect and set goals for the months ahead. Whether it’s improving animal care, expanding your farm, or learning something new, resolutions help keep us motivated and focused. Let’s share our plans and get inspired by each other’s goals!

Once you’ve voted, tell us more about your resolution in the comments. Let’s make 2025 a year of growth, innovation, and success!

 

[Mini Horses]

Expand the home grown feed efforts. Anything helps! That's my biggest expense! I work to buy hay
I'm sure that's true for most of us who do not have their own hay equipment or grain production. Everything cost more, I understand the prices. Gotta cut those expenses a little. Yes, reducing herd size too.

 

[SageHill]

The plan for 2025 is to build a new night enclosure for lambs/grow outs, or rams. Placing it in the small arena that is near the barn would make that area more useful and give a good place to wean lambs. I'd love to be able to grow food for them - but outside of the current natural and native vegetation it's not an option with the cost of water here. So Cal is semi arid, and in a drought on top of it. Add in the addition of cookie cutter homes taking over farm land and having lush lawns makes it even tougher.
While I'm still growing my flock, I'm getting pickier about what I keep - which is probably a natural progression.
I've been doing really good at keeping records, now it's time to use those records!

 

[JimOwens]

Just moved across town to a place with a little bit of acreage, so first priority is replacing old fencing. Now that we have land, we want to get some dairy goats. Someday when we get everything under control (ha!) we might branch out into sheep as well.
Lost both my hives last year, so this fall I'll focus on getting everything ready to get new bees next spring.

 

[Baymule]

Clean fence row, take down old fence and put up new fence, so I can use my back field. Fence is overgrown with yaupon, greenbrier, trees, pretty sure Jimmy Hoffa is under some of that. Biggest field and longest fence.

 

[farmerjan]

Can I check all those categories????

Finally getting fencing here at house, 2 acres, to try to keep a few calves here... this is difficult for DS to cut with the big farm equipment we use on the main farm/hay ground. Only get 2 rolls of hay at most... it will be better to use for some livestock. Plus being able to use the electric netting to rotational graze some of it... section off the fruit tree area and the newly planted blueberry bushes and raspberries, etc... Then a shelter for the calves that will be here...

Getting some of the purebred chicken eggs set and hatched... I miss my show chickens... Building a couple new pens etc....

We try to attend some pasture walks, different meetings that our cattle assoc puts on, plus what the extension service offers.

Trying growing some other cover crops for late spring harvest and to double crop back into something else that we can utilize for the cattle operation. But these are normal yearly things we do... except the fencing.

We are refencing quite a bit of the interior fences at the big farm since alot is 30 + years old and some of the posts have not held up from the previous owner... breaking/rotting off.... and he used 12 inch and even 24 inch stays, on the "cattle field fencing, so the cattle put their heads through and then it gets stretched out and you have a big HOLE....then the calves are out... 6 inch stays on all the new fence at the farm. I have 4 inch stays on sheep and goat fencing for here...to help keep the chickens in and deter some of the neighbor's dogs and such... In the process the posts should get pounded (fence driver) in here at the house in the next week or so... they are being laid out now... then the wire will get done later on... got 1st cutting of hay to make here...