Our weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. Note that we may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters.
—
Russia’s mysterious ‘Doomsday Radio’ broadcasts two new codewords [1].
o o o
Several readers mentioned this news: French hospitals told to prepare for war in Europe by next year in leaked Government letter [2].
o o o
o o o
Russia Continues Efforts to Regain Influence over Moldova [4].
o o o
SaraSue sent us one of her regular weekly snippets:
“September is prime breeding season out here (June and September actually), and I’m still learning. Breeding cows on this schedule prevents winter-time calves, and very pregnant cows in the heat of summer. I only have one bred dairy cow from the June attempts. I am now working on breeding the other 3 this month, with one down and 2 more to go. I use artificial insemination and have an experienced rancher who lives nearby to do it for me.
I have developed very specific goals for my dairy cows, so breeding them each to specific semen has been a challenge (in absence of bulls). Two of my cows are “highly pedigreed” and are being bred to specific semen. That is because their calves are highly sought after. One cow I deemed my “beef maker” and she is being bred to Angus. I deemed her such because she holds condition no matter what, she breeds back easily, and calves as if it’s nothing, but she doesn’t give extra milk for the house – she just raises fat calves. She had to learn to be a good mother, but with 2 calves under her belt now, she is “proven”. And one cow, who provides more delicious milk than anyone would ever need, will always be bred to one of two kinds of dairy bulls to keep her calves “marketable”, but also as fallback for beef calves. I call these girls my “keepers”. I purchased a steer calf from a dairy to raise for beef, but I’m hoping I won’t have to purchase another one in the future, if my strategy works out.
It’s taken me a few years to figure this out and get a strategy going that makes raising cows financially feasible. And as we know, “Man plans, and God laughs”. Going on my fifth year, I’m still such a novice! Sometimes you think you know when a cow is in heat, and ready to breed, and you are way off! There’s an art to keeping cows in great condition and it’s not as simple as throwing them out in a field and hoping for the best. There’s an art to filling your and your family’s freezers. There’s an art to reading the bovine market and determining what sells and what doesn’t. We know the beef herd numbers are at an all-time low (since 1970), and all kinds of cows are selling for crazy prices, but figuring out what my farm and family needs is a separate issue. We need quality beef. We need a few marketable calves to pay for hay and feed. We need milk. Based on those needs, I am going with this strategy and I have no idea if it’s going to work out. And I won’t know until the end of next year. A labor of love, for sure.”
o o o
Florida To End All Vaccine Mandates – Not Just COVID. ALL. [5]
o o o
Because we recently bumped up our silver divisor to 30 at Elk Creek Company [6], we’ve had several new orders where the buyers have said that they’ll be paying in pre-1965 silver coinage. For example, one gent just ordered a Pietta .44 caliber percussion revolver, and opted to pay in silver. That revolver was priced at $375, plus $15 postage. (A total of $390.) I wrote him:
Dear ___.:
Thanks for paying in silver! Please package the coins very securely, and rattle-free, preferably in a Small Priority Mail Flat Rate box with plenty of exterior clear packaging tape.
o o o
Josh Duhamel says he’s 70% ready to survive an apocalypse at his Minnesota ‘doomsday cabin’ [7].
o o o
A study shows that married couples with kids are indeed happier: In Pursuit: Marriage, Motherhood, and Women’s Well-Being [8]. (Thanks to D.S.V. for the link.)
o o o
World’s first telepathy device lets people communicate without speaking [9].
o o o
Blog reader C.B. sent this: Big Change Is Coming to Some of Your Favorite Campbell’s Products [10].
o o o
And lastly, just for fun… An important home security tip [11].
Please Send Us Your Snippets!
Please send your snippet items for potential posting to JWR [12]. or AVL [12]. You can do so either via e-mail or via our Contact [13] form.