Livestock Thread

[For The Lulz]

I'm a lot greener and working on a smaller a scale than others by the sounds of it but the lady and I only do it for a bit of fun and something to occupy out time productively. We were both farm kids and with the way shit's been going (crime out of control, cop helicopters over the house every night etc) were keen on getting the fuck out of the city and going hermit mode in the middle of nowhere. All a bit different being on the adult side of this shit (and learning all the shit I never had to consider) but easily the best decision of my life outside bagging the missus.

We have 13 chooks, mix of isas, reds, astros and one i'm not sure what it is but it looks like it might be a leghorn/wyandotte cross. We don't even really keep them for the eggs, we flog most of them off to neighbors and locals and they aren't meat birds (i CBFd processing them and we don't eat enough chicken for it to be worth it). They free-range around the property during the day then go into a secured coop overnight. We copped some pretty bad storms in our first couple of months here and really fortified their coop so outside a bear attack, no fucker is getting into the thing. Have found them really good at cleaning up bugs, spiders, grubs etc. Had a bad case of lawn grub in the front yard, let them in there for a couple of weeks and the grub was gone and the yard manured with chook shit. They have cleaned up all the shit living under the house and I watched one of them catch and eat a mouse. One of the boys even nailed a small red belly.

Here are my chook questions:
- Integrating pullets?, we have a segregated section in the pen setup to house new pullets but am unsure when we should be opening it up and letting them integrate with the oldies? They seem a bit hostile toward each other through the fence so I am expecting some dust ups and lost feathers, not sure if there is a way to minimise / mitigate this and make the transition smoother? The size difference just seems a bit unfair at the moment to be letting them jump into a royal rumble.
- Opinion on wing clipping? our originals came with their wings already hard clipped because their primaries never really came good, the newer ones still have theirs and I really don't see any reason to clip theirs, is there something I am missing?

Moving on, I have sectioned off ~8 acres toward the back of the property and plan to run ~5 head on it, its divided up as I have a well so plan to irrigate and move them around. While I mentioned wild storms previously, its been ~4 months since our last rain and easily over 6 since we had a downpour that would add anything meaningful to the tanks, so I will need to irrigate or bring in feed. Sale yard isn't far away but I don't have any sort of loading/dump ramp setup yet so we're still a little bit off. Some of the fencing on our back run isn't great and we've had the neighbors steers getting in and out. Not a bad thing at the moment as they have kept it under control so I haven't had to slash, but definitely not good long term, mainly sagging lines they rub on and get twisted up then pop through the gap so isn't going to be hard to fix with some wire spacers and a bit of tensioning. This is a more long term goal/project though as there is other shit we need to do that is a higher priority.

Now, being most of you cunts would be rural or rual-ish, what are your best strats for genociding rats/mice? I am vehemently anti-poison as we have so much wildlife around us that eats them and I don't want to cause knock-ons and kill shit I like having around (I also don't want my house to stink of decomposing vermin). That said, the fuckers that have moved into my roof need to go. I have set traps but the fuckers are really weary of them and I'm sure the same one has been bit a couple of times before but escaped (see vid). I'm not sure what to do / where to go, I've tried the attractant shit in them, peanut butter, mixed grains, bread w/peanut butter and mixed grains, none of it seems to really pull them in. I'm almost at the point of letting the 12Ga fly and just dealing with repairing the roof if its going to nerf the fuckers.

/blogpost or whatever, please god help me with these fucking rats

 

[Rakovnik]

I'd guess around 60 comfortably. I have 3 sheds. 1 shed with 2 bays, and 2 sheds with 3 bays. The bays arent all the same size but I reckon I could comfortably keep 60 cattle.

Moving the strip grazing temporary fencing is probably my least favourite job. I have looked at some solutions like nofence, which is a geofenced shock collar (very topical haha). But I would be worried the geofencing would not work right and they keep getting zapped.

Sounds like you should try maxing out to 60 if it doesn't really increase the time you spend on water and fencing! I haven't heard of nofence but I've seen something similar by Gallagher called eShepherd

dealing with water

Is it getting water to the strip grazing area that takes time? Are the strip grazing sections close enough you could make a center common area with the water that connects to all of them?

I have a topper and sprayer, but the baling is left to a contractor.

By topper you mean hay mower right? I'm trying to get a sprayer for my pastures next year but mother Deere wants an arm and leg for one

I bring them to the local mart, sometimes its mega dealers that buy them via representatives, sometimes its other farmers of a scale more similar to me, that feel they can fatten them further.

Got it, that way minimizes your time spent on sales but you'll make less €/kg that way

There are some local farmers markets, but this is mostly for fruit and vegetables. It is cool that ye sell Chicken and Turkey at these. I wouldn't really have anything for this without a large change of how I'm farming.

No we don't sell at farmers markets, we sell directly from the farm, I'm in a suburban enough area that I get plenty of customers driving by. I'm not sure about your meat regulations but for me as long as I have the meat processed in a USDA inspected facility I can sell it anywhere in the country, there are also state certified processors that I think you can only sell within the same state. That way we make more $/lb than someone who grows for one of the huge meat packing companies like Tyson.

Money well spent. I have always loved the look of these barns, the red ones, it is classic Americana.

I have a big red gambrel roof barn too! I need to replace the siding on that one since it's still the original wood and starting to deteriorate. Even doing the work myself will be tens of thousands in materials so that project will wait a while. I'm having a new machine shop built right now for maintaining my hay equipment, it'll be my only insulated barn plus in floor heat, I'm excited to not freeze my fingers off repairing things.

Now, being most of you cunts would be rural or rual-ish, what are your best strats for genociding rats/mice? I am vehemently anti-poison as we have so much wildlife around us that eats them

Barn cats or look up the Goodnature mouse & rat trap by Gallagher. It uses a C02 cartridge to fire a rod into the rodents head instead of poison.

Integrating pullets?

We grow our chicks out to nearly full size in large caged sections of the brooder before integrating them to the main flock. Idk how many we have total right now definitely 400+ so there's nothing we can do to prevent some fighting other than making sure the new ones are big enough to defend themselves.

Opinion on wing clipping?

Never had to clip wings on chickens, ducks, turkeys, or guineas. Ours are free range so clipped wings would hurt their ability to get away from a predator. They know where their coop, feed, and water are so they never stray off the farm. If you're trying to keep them in a short (under 7 or 8') fence with no fly overs then yeah I'd say you have to do it.

We don't even really keep them for the eggs, we flog most of them off to neighbors and locals and they aren't meat birds (i CBFd processing them and we don't eat enough chicken for it to be worth it)

What's CBFd processing? Meat specific breeds have much better production but won't be as good at foraging like yours do. There are some in-between breeds though.

 

[For The Lulz]

Barn cats or look up the Goodnature mouse & rat trap by Gallagher. It uses a C02 cartridge to fire a rod into the rodents head instead of poison.

We are looking for a ratter dog as opposed to a cat (for reasons) but thats a little while off, I looked at that trap and jesus, serious pricetag for a single trap and there are a lot of reports of issues with them. I've ended up buying a bunch of larger flat traps instead of the plastic things, putting them up this arvo and have some tube of attractant shit.

nothing we can do to prevent some fighting other than making sure the new ones are big enough to defend themselves.

Yeah, this is what I figured, thanks for confirming I'm on the right track

What's CBFd processing?

Can't Be Fucked

 

[Rakovnik]

We are looking for a ratter dog as opposed to a cat (for reasons) but thats a little while off, I looked at that trap and jesus, serious pricetag for a single trap and there are a lot of reports of issues with them. I've ended up buying a bunch of larger flat traps instead of the plastic things, putting them up this arvo and have some tube of attractant shit.

Yeah, this is what I figured, thanks for confirming I'm on the right track

Can't Be Fucked

Dogs are my favorite but trained ones can be expensive, either one will work better than a trap


I haven't used it myself but I'm planning to get one for this winter, we layer the bedding all winter so it composts inside the coop and mice start tunneling deep in the bedding where the cats can't get them. Those flat style traps never work for me and I can't have open bait in the coop or the stupid hens will set it off as soon as I put it down lol, I'll report back how that other one works out.

 

[For The Lulz]

The great rat war continues, this cunt is too big for the average trap and now it appears he's too small for the rat traps. The trigger on these things was so fkn light too, they were a pain in the arse to get set because they would keep going off when I put them into place. Seems cooked bacon rind is the goer as far as bait is, have had more interest from them on it that anything else so far.



New ideas today, going to get a box trap thing (one they can climb into but not out of) and am going to fill it with the nastiest rat bait the ag traders sells mixed with bits of cooked bacon rind. I'm about ready to setup a sniper nest in the roof and camp up there with a rifle at this point though.

On the chook front, turns out the 2 I suspected were cocks definitely are, the astro has some really pretty coloring coming though, can't see it in the photo but there's a tinge of red coming in around his neck, cunts are starting to try and crow too, god they sound pathetic. Makes me laugh every time.



Looks like granny is brooding, just going to let her do her thing if she doesn't give the others trouble.



Have started integrating them now they are all around the same size (cocks are a touch bigger despite the age difference) and it's gone fairly easy so far, only a couple of dust ups and they seem to begrudgingly get along. Aren't flocking together as yet but they are interacting with each other and the littles are obviously watching the older ones as they are starting to widen their circle of exploration into areas the old ladies go. @Rakovnik thanks for the info, made it a little easier to pull the pin on opening the door between their pens. Also saw your reply in the welding thread, the missus is away visiting the MIL this weekend so planning on a bit of practice/experimentation with your notes in mind.

 

[147573952589676412927]

I have about 100 chickens, 20 sheep (working on building up the herd), 4 breeding rabbits with about 3-4 litters a year, and 5 geese.

Some lessons I've learned since I started my farm:

If you have enough space chickens are perfectly fine free-roaming and will come back to the coop at night, no need to pen them in or monitor them, simply close the coop door at night to keep foxes and coyotes out. However: they WILL hide their eggs unless you build nest boxes for them, setup some nest boxes in or near your coop to encourage laying in a location you visit every day, otherwise you can have 100 chickens and collect 10 eggs a day if you don't want to treat every day like Easter. Chickens are also obviously delicious and once you've done it a couple of times it only takes like 30 minutes to slaughter a bird and get it in the pot for dinner. I have an old-style table plucker which my wife affectionately calls the "chicken sander" because you simply rub the chicken against it and it removes all the feathers for you. It has rubber fingers on a rotating cylinder that grip and pull the feathers off, looks like this (the below is not mine, just an example)



I DO NOT like the modern style bucket pluckers because they bruise the fuck out of the meat. (this style shown below)
These spin around and you simply throw the chicken into them for 20-30 seconds or some such, they are easier to use, so if you have kids it might be a more viable option than the table-style chicken sander, however, as I said, they bruise the meat. If you're only planning to make soup and don't care, then they're perfectly fine and very easy. The rubber fingers have enough give that a child can reach in and grab the chicken back out with worrying too much about hurting themselves.



Sheep are the ideal livestock for meat, they are cheaper than cows, smaller than cows, you can easily fight them and win if the ram decides it's time to fight. Cows would be my preferred livestock if I was rich enough to have a big fuck-off tractor and big fuck-off fence, but I don't, so Sheep is ideal. You can easily keep sheep in with plastic posts and 3-4 strand polywire fence, with a low-voltage fence charger. I highly recommend sheep as the starter livestock for everyone, yeah, cattle farmers will look down on you, say shit like "that's for 4H kids" and etc. but fuck 'em, most of the guys that say shit like that only care about the appearances of "being a farmer", they don't know the first thing about subsistence.

Pro Tip: Rotate your pastures! The top half of grass grows and regenerates FASTER than the lower half, what this means is if you put your animals on an acre, allow them to eat off the top halves of most of the grass (which they naturally do on their own) and then move them off to another acre before they eat the second half, that grass will regenerate faster than if you left them there until they ate all the grass. Which means more free food per year. Almost no one rotates their pastures in farming, it's like some fucking forgotten knowledge or some shit, the amount of guys I've argued with about this is insane. It's free food. It's also much better for the grass which means you will have better yields year after year. Look up rotational pasture paddocks for more information on this. Also, make sure to give them a salt block every now and then, they need salt, but make sure you're not buying the salt blocks for cows as they have too much copper in them for sheep. And buy some grain with some various minerals for them from time to time, especially if you have a winter where you are.

If you're going to get sheep for meat, like me, get a hair breed, wool breeds have to be sheered (and you do not want to sheer fucking sheep trust me, and it's expensive to pay someone to do it) and do not handle heat well, where I live we have 90 degree summers and -30 degree winters, a nice hair breed will do fine in both of these climates as long as a simple shelter (doesn't even need to be insulated, they just need coverage) Also sheep are fucking delicious, comparable to beef in flavor. I have katahdin which look like this:



Rabbits are fantastic for meat from a feed cost / benefit ratio, though they aren't my favorite (gamey, extremely lean), but they're basically free if you have grass and build simple rabbit-tractors. (basically a box with hardware cloth / mesh on the bottom that lets them eat the grass through it, and you simply move it once a day). Make sure to get a meat breed if you're going to be getting them for, well, meat. I have silverfox which are big fuckers and grow and breed fast.



The geese were originally purchased just as a "hey that'd be entertaining" thing, but they are wonderful alarm animals, anything approaches the other animals, the geese go off, which sets the dog off, which gets me outside with a shotgun in my pajamas plenty of times a year. Knowing this now I recommend adding geese to a setup if you have any predator problems. It is also just fun to watch them goose-step around the yard and yell at everything because they are fucking assholes. If your farm is small they can get a bit annoying though, as you will hear them in the house yelling at all your other animals all day if you don't have enough space for them to wander off. They can also free-roam and will come back to the coop. I keep mine in the same coop as the chickens, and with enough space they will not fight with the chickens.

I'll also repost some advice about sheep/goats I gave someone who asked on my profile:



Lastly, I will use this opportunity to repeat that Josh has NO LIVESTOCK and therefore will PERISH when SHTF and he can no order his gourmet cheese off the internet.

 

[Forgive Me Im Retarded]

I just bought a property that had two chicken coops set up with electric, our new neighbours gave us some of their old hens, another neighbour gave us their rooster, they’re great I love them. The rooster gets picked on by the older ladies, and he’s got two or three smaller girls (out of seven) he can actually mount so he’s happy. I could do without the larger hens (especially the one my kids named Diarrhea) pecking the shit out of the smaller ones when they’re already getting mounted and beat up by the cock but it is what it is.

I grew up with horses and my area is huge for teamster work, so eventually the plan is to get into that for fun and heritage. Plus I want like one cow to raise to handleable (I want to be able to halter it, and pick up its feet but that might be too much horsemanship for a cow idk), and I have a shed for pigs but I need to redo the fence.

 

[Nigger Caviar]

I ended up moving and I had to sell off my chickens.

I did end up getting pretty good at taking care of them and most of the time I was working with the bare minimum supplies I can afford.

A few of my silkies were show quality birds that I got a decent amount of money from and the people I sold them too ended up calling me later to talk about how healthy and friendly my birds were.

Also, I guess threads can be sponsored now so I added a banner to the OP that @147573952589676412927 sent to me in DMs.

I will have a new flock of birds in the future and hopefully, a better set up to take care of them.

 

[8reallybigbirds]

I would like to eventually own some goats for milk (and cheese making), not for meat. Does anyone own goats and can share some experience? Do they need to have babies regularly in order to keep producing milk? I would prefer to give them a long and happy life and not sell the males off to be butchered (shocking, I know) but I don't know if that's possible.

I helped raise goats for about 6 years, I love them a lot but they are expensive and require a ton more care and attention than people assume. Especially dairy goats because if you're planning on being a responsible breeder you have to have some knowledge of the genetics you're introducing into and maintaining in your line. Also technically you can keep a doe producing milk for multiple years but it's really not great for the health of the doe, so the most humane thing is to have multiple goats who you rotate primary use of year to year. For example doe A has a kid and then you milk her for the year after the baby is weaned, then let her dry up for a while while doe B is getting knocked up. Rinse and repeat. There is also the problem of the buck. A lot of people don't know this but the flavor of the milk is directly impacted by how close she is to a buck. If you have a buck and a doe within an acre of each other, the milk will be more sour and have that real "goaty" taste. Especially during rutting season! Also, bucks fucking STINK. They piss allllll over themselves to smell nice for the ladies and if you touch them or anything that they have touched you will smell like buck piss for days. So. Best thing to do is find another breeder who is willing to stud one out to you. That's usually much easier said than done for many reasons. Quality breeding is hard and you have to be patient to find the traits you need.
The feed is crazy expensive because dairy goats get a special sweet feed that has had molasses added to it. The diet of the doe will also impact the flavor. You want to make sure they have lots of fresh grass and underbrush to much on. Some breeders I knew fed their does animal crackers, but I don't know how much that added. My mom and I would drive around town after christmas when the neighborhood curbs were full of discarded christmas trees and bring them back home to feed to our does. The vitamin C boost was great for them during that time. The milk during january always tasted like pine and I actually loved it so much.
The most of your medical care will be trimming hooves and worming them. You will also have to get really comfortable with having your arm inside a goat vagina because the babies get tangled like you would not believe and often times assistance is required. Horns should be burned off when they are babies to prevent accidents from happening in the future. Goats with horns are known to hang themselves on fences or gut other goats when they fight. Heartbreaking, but for the best.
All that being said, they have more personality than sheep and are smaller and easier than cows, so I still love goats very much.

Please 2 help me. I have to figure out how to catch my goat. He got bitten up by a dog attacking him about six months ago and now he's afraid of EVERYTHING. He has also broken through the fence (which I have tried to fix myself several times and I can't afford to get help on that) and is eating the winemaking neighbors' grapevines. We have been trying to catch him since March.

Probably a bit late to help you but for anyone else in this type situation I STRONGLY reccomend you get a shepherds crook and learn how to use it. Watch border collies herd and do what they do. Hook em quick, pull them in, and swing a leg over their back to pin their bodies tight with your knees. GG EZ.

 

[Forgive Me Im Retarded]

The guy above me is way more knowledgeable about goats than I am. I had a goat leftover from my aunt’s farm (the woman freaking loved goat milk and meat, would not consume cow). They stink, they either escape any enclosure you put them in, or get into confounding situations in an attempt to escape. The idea that they can eat anything is misleading, they can try… don’t let them and try to keep them to browsing and supplement feed. They love to climb stuff, if you touch their heads you can accidentally train them to headbutt more but they’re always going to do it a little bit regardless. Their cute as fuck so you can almost forgive that they smell worse than chickens, cows, or pigs. Goat meat isn’t bad but you need to use it in dishes with loads of spices (cumin is a must).

 

[run over my foot $12]

Also technically you can keep a doe producing milk for multiple years but it's really not great for the health of the doe, so the most humane thing is to have multiple goats who you rotate primary use of year to year.

Kidding is by far the most dangerous thing a goat can ever do in her life and many dairy females do eventually die in kidding or due to complications of kidding. Milking for multiple years is called "milking through" and it's not at all detrimental to the health of a goat as long as appropriate nutrition is provided. Trust me, most people are retarded and think goats eat garbage and tin cans because they learned all they know about livestock from cartoons, but dairy animal feeding is a science. When they are fed correctly and given appropriate mineral supplementation, you can milk through for multiple years and do not have to kid your goats every spring if you don't want to. The question is whether you as the farmer want to milk through. A lot of dairy people appreciate having that break for a few months in the winter, often the only break a dairy farmer ever gets, so it's worth it for them to breed their animals every season. Extensive European studies on goats have shown no detrimental health impacts to extended lactations; goats also do not require an involution period to maximize milk production during subsequent lactations the way cows do.

Not all goats can milk through, though, because lactating has a seasonality to it. A goat's body expects their their kids will be weaned in the fall when they begin going into estrus that year, so milk production gradually decreases at that time (and butterfat goes up). It takes some work and skill to maintain milk production during that drop and subsequently it comes back strong again in the spring. If you specifically WANT to milk a goat for multiple years it is critical to invest in genetic lines that have that capability. Swiss goat breeds such as Saanens and Toggenbergs are vastly more likely to have this ability than those shitty little mini goats people keep for pets nowadays and pretend are dairy animals. Large operations and even medium scale dairies usually kid once a year, but it's not at all rare for family homesteads to keep their goats in milk for 18-24 months. (Most people do not rotate or keep alternate does dry; it's a significant waste of feed and of productive years of a doe's reproductive life to maintain several hundredweight of dry animal. Now, sometimes girls are given a year off when they are older or not bouncing back from kidding as quickly, but it's not typical to do for young healthy animals. Breeding once a year is normal and generally okay when managed with some basic level of knowledge of your goat's health and wellness. Do not keep an intact boy with your girls because she can and will get pregnant and give birth MORE than once a year, which IS very bad for them.)

Pro Tip: Rotate your pastures! [...] more free food per year.

This was all well said but ya missed the most important part of pasture rotation: parasite control! Strongyles (parasites that reproduce on grass, specifically haemonchus) are probably the #1 killer of small ruminants in America. Parasite management is HARD and intensive, and requires developing a program tailored to your property and your herd. This is the most important thing you will learn as a person who owns sheep and/or goats. Pasture rotation, when you're leaving 6-8 weeks between returning the animals to previous pastures, gives time for the parasite eggs to die off and the grass to regrow to a safe height since fewer parasites are ingested off longer grass. If you have the capacity for it, pasture rotation is a damn near indispensable tool for reducing your parasite problems.

I would prefer to give them a long and happy life and not sell the males off to be butchered (shocking, I know) but I don't know if that's possible.

The vast majority of all dairy breed males go for meat. With goats, perhaps 1 in 20 males are of sufficient quality to use for breeding. Male goats are a HUGE part of your herd's success and contribute more to your overall herd quality than any individual female, so it is a positive thing for people to be extremely choosy with what boys they select for breeding and you ideally only want to keep intact and sell males from the highest producing, most correct female does to maintain the quality in the genetic pool of your breed. There is a market for pet goats, but you will likely outstrip your local market pretty fast. (You also don't want to know about the quality of most pet goat homes, refer to what I said above about how most casual goat owners are retards who think goats eat tin cans. If you had seen half the shit I've seen when people call us for help you would think it was a blessing that most excess goat kids go for meat.) Goat is absolutely delicious and you should ideally look at most of the males you produce as having an important role as homegrown, humanely raised meat out of your own homeplace. Anyone who gets into dairy with anything, cows, sheep, goats, whatever, should be prepared to accept that meat is a necessary and unavoidable byproduct of dairying. It is a very difficult life for people who can't reconcile this, so the best thing to do is steel yourself for it and remember that it's another great skill to teach your family and provide for your community.

I am a dairy farmer, so literally AMA.

 

[147573952589676412927]

This was all well said but ya missed the most important part of pasture rotation: parasite control! Strongyles (parasites that reproduce on grass, specifically haemonchus) are probably the #1 killer of small ruminants in America. Parasite management is HARD and intensive, and requires developing a program tailored to your property and your herd. This is the most important thing you will learn as a person who owns sheep and/or goats. Pasture rotation, when you're leaving 6-8 weeks between returning the animals to previous pastures, gives time for the parasite eggs to die off and the grass to regrow to a safe height since fewer parasites are ingested off longer grass. If you have the capacity for it, pasture rotation is a damn near indispensable tool for reducing your parasite problems.

I do sometimes get comments like this from other farmers when discussing my practices.

You're right, I did forget about that, because I specifically made the choice to allow myself to forget about it. The sheep breed I have, Katahdin, I actually selected specifically for their parasite resistance, (they are specifically extremely resistant to Haemonchus contortus, the one you mentioned.) So I don't think about it very often, but you are correct. I should have talked about parasite load and management in my post, I simply don't think about it very often because in my system, I elected to mitigate the need for intensive management practices by selecting breeds that don't require it.

If you do not select a breed that is parasite resistant as I have, especially if you pick a wool breed, which do require much more deworming and anti-parasite practices as their wool holds onto the eggs, then pasture rotation becomes even more important. As does yearly deworming practices. However, I prefer to pick animals that have natural advantages rather than using drenches and worrying about hard and intensive management.

So, if I were to add another lesson it would be this: know what animals are suited to your area, do not try to raise animals that do not do well in your environment. Sure, this breed or that breed of sheep, or cow, or whatever, might make more meat, or have a better feed ratio, or whatever, but you're going to be paying for it by how much you have to manage them. Instead, do your research and select an animal that requires little to no management of that kind.

In addition, it's important to remember how the entire eco-system of your farm works. As I said in my post, I also raise chickens, and while they do not eat the parasites off the grass, they do eat the parasites out of the dropping of the sheep, this helps to break the life cycle of the parasites. When the chickens consume the manure of the sheep they consume thousands of parasite eggs before they hatch. Studies have shown a 70% reduction in parasites on pastures grazed by sheep and chickens together.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3793100/
https://grazingguide.net/research/nepc2014parasite.html
https://extension.psu.edu/prevent-parasites-through-grazing-management

What a lot of farmers forget is that animals are meant to exists together, as they do in nature. The ideal farm setup is not one of hard and intensive management, it's about building an ecosystem that manages itself. It's about selecting the right animals for the area and for your needs.

I've managed to avoid the need for any medication, any planting of grass seed or management of the fields, any supplemental feed aside from salt and some vitamin rich grain in the winters, because I understand the principals needed for this to all happen automatically. It doesn't always have to be a game of excel sheets and vaccination schedules.

I appreciate your input and I agree with your assessment that I left these explanations out of my original post, but I have to hard disagree that parasite management, or any kind of management really, has to be hard and intensive. Remember that these animals lived in the wild for a long time without our intervention and did just fine. Replicate the circumstances of their natural lives and you will do just fine.

For anyone that feels like farming is too intimidating or complicated, I recommend looking into regenerative historical farming practices. There is much "forgotten wisdom", that has only been forgotten because of the shift to high-yield high-profit style farms after the industrial revolution. Farming doesn't need to be hard, our ancestors figured it out just fine without a guide book.

Now, all that being said, I don't want to insult or dismiss modern conventional farming practices. I help out on a very modernized farm and the people that work there, with their excel sheets and vaccination schedules and what have you, care deeply for their animals, and are simply doing what they must to manage such large herds. I'm simply pointing out there's a big difference between a personal farm, designed to feed you and your family, and a farm that's designed to produce economical output. I respect those farmers, I simply see things a different way.

I am a dairy farmer, so literally AMA.

How many cows do you milk, and do you do it alone or do you have a team? I worked with a man who grew up on a dairy farm (family dairy farm) and his number one complaint was the 3x a day milking schedule made social life impossible. I'm interesting in getting a few cows for milk one day, as raw milk has been a life changing experience for me, but I am concerned about how much time investment it will take and what that will mean for my side jobs and time with my family. I do know that when they have a calf with them you can put the calves with them for 1 or 2 of the milking periods to get a little break, though that only works for a while.

Also, have you ever observed the "baby sitter" phenomenon during calving seasons? The cattle farm I work on from time to time does not do milking, but I've observed that sometimes a single cow will look after upwards of 5-10 calves, and will always have utters that are chewed to fuck and pissed off. While the actual mothers will have full bags and even contract mastitis sometimes because their calves prefer to be with the "baby sitter" cow than with them. What do you do to mitigate this? We mostly let them free mingle and free roam so separating them isn't really an option in our situation.

 

[8reallybigbirds]

When they are fed correctly and given appropriate mineral supplementation, you can milk through for multiple years and do not have to kid your goats every spring if you don't want to

Now, this is purely based on my personal experience, but I stand by the viewpoint that it's better for the does to have a break. Looking at an older adult doe who has been given off seasons standing next to one that hasn't and the difference in their health is obvious. The coat texture, the glossiness of the hair, the stress on her hips, hell I'd swear there's even a brightness in the eyes. I think the quality of the kids goes up too, but that could be my imagination.
You're right about differences in the breeds though, they truly are built different. On our little hobby operation we bred alpine crosses. A touch of nubian here and there for higher milkfat, but mostly alpine/tog or alpine/ober. I dislike saanans very much. Maybe it's just the area I was in but all the saanan breeders were very irresponsible and their does were much more prone to diseases, had poor udder attachment, and the worst teat blowout I'd ever seen. They also had higher birth complications for some reason. Many triplets or quadruplets that got stuck and all died.

 

[Cardinal Cardinal]

what are your best strats for genociding rats/mice?

Haven't tried it but this may help.

I've only really dealt with mice by repelling them with white vinegar or killing with the little poison packs. I think rats are a little more aware as it goes over in the video. They notice if something new is placed in the environment.

 

[NoCockatrice]

Why don't more people own chickens then?

Either because:

A lot of people prefer shitfilled hartleass rentraping cities over nice cozy farms

Or they earn a lot to begin with and don't have troubles buying eggs

 

[Nigger Caviar]

Either because:

A lot of people prefer shitfilled hartleass rentraping cities over nice cozy farms

Or they earn a lot to begin with and don't have troubles buying eggs

Another reason is because Alot of people insist they are too loud but they really arent. My roosters were never loud enough to bother me at all.

Tbh, the biggest reason you probably wouldn't want to get chickens is because they will eat all the grass in your yard, they shit everywhere, and if you are really busy, it might be difficult to tend to them every day.

But none of that bothered me too much aside from them shitting everywhere.

 

[Null]

Is it worth finding a weird local heirloom breed or is it better just to buy standard livestock from big companies?

 

[gagabobo1997]

Is it worth finding a weird local heirloom breed or is it better just to buy standard livestock from big companies?

I looked for winter hardy chickens because I live somewhere where winters can get pretty brutal, but I assume your climate isn't as harsh.

 

[fanutresignu]

Is it worth finding a weird local heirloom breed or is it better just to buy standard livestock from big companies?

I only have experience with laying hens, but after trying a few breeds I found that ordering the hybrid egg layers (ISA Browns because the winters are cold here and they do well in the cold) was the best options. The others might be fun, but the ISA Browns are tough and lay a lot of eggs.

 

[Nigger Caviar]

Is it worth finding a weird local heirloom breed or is it better just to buy standard livestock from big companies?

I had a few different breeds of chickens and they were all pretty great, but I also live in a temperate dry climate and dont have to worry much about snow. I personally recommend getting a few different breeds to see what suits your needs the best.

I also recommend finding a local feed store that sells chickens and ask them what breeds they have and what they think is the best. I didn't go to tractor supply for my birds. I went to a small local place for my chickens and feed and I had a good experience with them. The small local company I went to also let me trade birds for feed so if I hatched out eggs and got a bunch of roosters I usually traded them in for food and scratch. Im pretty sure big companies don't do that.

I personally think Bard Rocks and Rhode Island Reds are the best because in my experience they are really friendly and they consistently lay decent sized eggs. Some of the eggs my Rhode Island Reds laid were huge.

Also, like other people said, if you get cold winters you should look into birds that handle the cold well. I didnt have to worry about that personally because I live in a warm area but even then I was getting barely any eggs during the winter.