Category: Livestock, Feed, & Fencing

Livestock or “Deadstock”?, by SaraSue

I’m still reeling over what happened on the recent Easter Sunday.  It was early in the day when I trekked down to the barn to check on one of my heifers that was due to calve.  I had been watching her carefully as we got closer to her due date.  She wasn’t over-due.  In fact, she was right on time.  I had purposefully not made any Easter plans so I could be home if there was trouble.  And indeed, there was trouble. Her water broke at about 7:30 a.m. and I waited and waited for those two little hooves to …


The Price of Beef, by Patrice Lewis

Editor’s Introductory Note:  This guest article was written by our friend and fellow blogger, Patrice Lewis. Her entertaining and informative Rural Revolution blog has been published several times a week since 2009. We highly recommend bookmarking it. – JWR — The price of beef has been on everyone’s mind lately. According to the USDA, the average price of beef jumped from $8.40 per pound in March to $10.10 by December 2025. A number of recent articles reflect these concerns: Food inflation in America RFK Jr. Urges U.S. Ranchers to Ramp Up Beef Production The cost of this grocery staple is …


Editors’ Prepping Progress

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make both long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug-out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year.  We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in your e-mailed letters. We post many of those — or excerpts thereof — in the Odds …


What I’m Growing This Year – Part 2, by SaraSue

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) Meat, Dairy, and Eggs My first cow to calve this year is due in a couple of weeks, and being that she is a first time heifer, she could calve any time now.  So, I’m trying to finish up house projects, cleaning the farmhouse top to bottom. and get the garden going before I need to ensure a healthy calf, and train its mother to the milking machine.  I’ll be honest.  I’m apprehensive about training this particular heifer.  She’s a big Guernsey, taller than me, and has long “kickers”/legs, and she’s a little skittish.  Some heifers settle …


Raising, Hunting, and Harvesting Animals – Part 3, by Lodge Pole

(Continued from Part 2.) Water for the Flock For the first several years of raising fowl, I had a 20-gallon rubber water tote in the chicken coop. Every couple of days, I would have to dump all the water out and refill it because the chickens would sit on the edges of the tote and defecate into the water. In the heat of summer, the water would turn green within a day or two, spoiling all the fresh water. I was wasting more water and time than necessary. I began designing a gravity fed water system with a livestock auto-feeder …


Raising, Hunting, and Harvesting Animals – Part 2, by Lodge Pole

(Continued from Part 1.) The following are the basic tools I use to harvest and butcher fowl: Large stainless steel bowl. I put several quarts of water in the pot (the amount of water varies on how many birds I am harvesting) to keep the meat from drying out and to help keep flies away if they are present. I also butcher where running water is easily accessible to wash my hands when necessary. Sharp knife. My preferred knife for cleaning and butchering is a medium-sized, antique, high-carbon steel butcher knife with a very thin blade. This knife is from …


Raising, Hunting, and Harvesting Animals – Part 1, by Lodge Pole

In late 1929, when the stock market crashed and the Great Depression began, the population of the United States was around 121.7 million people. All through the Great Depression, it was unheard of to leave roadkill on the side of the road left to rot. With high unemployment,  the hunting pressure was heavy. Small game, like rabbits and squirrels, nearly went extinct in large parts of the United States from being over-hunted, to feed desperate families. Today, in 2026, the estimated population of the US is 348.3 million. If animals were being hunted to near extinction when the population was …


Establishing Relationships in Your New Locale, by SaraSue

I have been on my farm for about five years, give or take.  I live outside a small town in rural Tennessee.  I didn’t know anyone when I moved here.  The closest neighbor is about half a mile away, and the rest are many miles down the road. If you are planning on moving from the suburbs or cities to the countryside, you might glean something from my experiences.  I hope this helps. The first neighbor I met was an older widow, and the circumstances weren’t great.  My big dogs (German Shepherds) had a habit of escaping the property and …


Balancing Farm Life for Success, by SaraSue

2025 was a difficult year to get through.  By the end of the year, I was not enjoying any of it.  In fact, I wanted to quit (do I feel this way at the end of every year?).  You have to laugh and find your sense of humor or you won’t make it through anything that is slightly difficult.  There were so many things that went wrong, so I had to sit down and list accomplishments to remind myself that a lot of things went right.  And once reminded of all the good, I can face the next year in …


The Dirty Side of Homesteading, by Patrice Lewis

Too often, homesteading articles, blogs, websites, and videos (including this one – guilty!) show only the successful side of homesteading. The abundant harvest, the completed projects, the fresh eggs and baby chicks and overflowing milk, the healthy livestock … by golly, this lifestyle must be easy-peasy, right? Yes and no. Of course things go right. And of course things go wrong. But what is seldom shown is the nitty-gritty day-to-day dirty side of homesteading, including the daily chores that must be done for the comfort and welfare of animals. For that reason, I thought I’d show you something I do …


The Other AI: Breeding Maggie, by Patrice Lewis

Editor’s Introductory Note:  This guest article was written by our friend and fellow blogger, Patrice Lewis. Her entertaining and informative Rural Revolution blog has been published several times a week since 2009. We highly recommend bookmarking it. – JWR — Last year, we bred Maggie, our Jersey heifer, to a neighbor’s young Angus bull. It was a convenient arrangement, and little Stormy was the product of that breeding. But our neighbors no longer have that little bull, so we were trying to figure out how to get Maggie bred this year. After some discussion, we decided to use AI (Artificial …


Field Fencing: Subdividing the Pasture, by Patrice Lewis

Editor’s Introductory Note:  This article is a guest post by our long-time friend and fellow blogger, Patrice Lewis. After first living in Oregon (from 1992 to 2003), Don and Patrice Lewis bought a ranch south of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and genuinely pursued a self-sufficient lifestyle. After their lovely homeschooled daughters both reached the “up and out” age, they moved again. This time it was to an undisclosed location elsewhere in North Idaho, ostensibly to slow down and lead a more sedate life. But, as irrepressible gardeners and dairy cattle ranchers, they’ve found themselves busier than ever. I highly recommend bookmarking …


Why I Still Have Dairy Cows, by SaraSue

I have been a milkmaid now three, going on four, years.  Of all the things I’ve tried on the farm, the dairy cow is one I hope to have until I am so old I can’t carry a bucket of milk.  I don’t have any cows “in milk” right now, as a planned winter break.  I have two cows pregnant with Spring calves, and one heifer (a young cow who has not yet been bred back or calved).  This is the first time I’ve taken a milking break in three years and I’m having dairy withdrawals.  I tried purchasing milk …


Putting Down My Dog, by SaraSue

I had no sooner sent in my positive update to the blog last week than a near catastrophe occurred. I am sharing this, even though it hurts to write about it. I’m doing so because I think it’s important to recognize that country living has pitfalls, as does self-sufficiency. Your preps and relationships become very important and not just for the obvious reasons. In this case, I needed plentiful first aid supplies, a clear head, and neighbors I could call in an Emergency. I will tell you the story. Warning: This is a graphic heart-wrenching story. Please skip over it …


Backyard Chicken Tips, by Tractorguy

Keeping laying hens is an excellent idea for preppers, if you have the space and ability to do so. They are an excellent source of nutrition, particularly fats, which can be problematic to store in a grid-down or survival situation. Back in the early part of the 20th Century, during two world wars, the US government encouraged all households to keep laying hens. It is sage advice. Keeping hens to provide eggs is not hard, and does not require a large amount of time and attention. Much information is available online about raising chickens. This is not meant to be …