Category: Livestock, Feed, & Fencing

Livestock Breeding Strategies For When SHTF – Part 1, by S.W.

Since my high school days, I have dedicated my spare time to breeding quality creatures– parakeets, gerbils, rabbits, cats, and canaries. As I see my country disintegrating, I am adding skills in heating with wood and growing fruits, vegetables, meat, and eggs. I currently enjoy breeding and showing canaries, and I think about how hard it will be to keep these beautiful but impractical creatures going when so much time and effort has to go into human survival issues. How few pairs can I retain to keep a strain or variety going without loss due to inbreeding? Actually, this question …


Two Letters Re: Want To Raise Pigs?

Jim, Regarding feed sources for home-raised pigs: Many supermarket chains will gladly “donate” outdated or overripe fruits, vegetables, and cheeses, due to the cost of container disposal. This often includes apples,  melons, citrus, tomatoes, avocados, and even prepackaged salad greens, berries and herbs.  Even a relatively small store will have 2-3 trash cans full, daily. They may even provide containers if they are emptied on a regular basis and kept clean.  Commercial bakeries and baked goods outlets often provide bear hunters with barrels of donuts, snack cakes, and breads during hunting season.  Ask them if you can take care of …


Want To Raise Pigs? by Mountain Top Patriot

  I hope this missive provides you the reader with insights and useful knowledge to raise your own pigs. I’m not a farmer, just a regular guy with five acres and the desire to eat healthy food our family raises, save some hard earned bucks, and be as self sufficient as practically possible. My intention is to provide a complete 1st hand account in order to convey the pertinent details so you can make your own determination as to pig raising and it’s feasibility in regards to your particular circumstances. It is hard work at moments, but as pigs are …


In It For The Long Haul, by Java-Powered

I first got serious about prepping in 2006, when I realized the U.S. Dollar was on its way down.  I had a young son at home, and I wanted to make sure he would be safe if civil unrest occurred. I built a home on some acreage in the country in 2007 and started getting setup to be self-sufficient. I believed 2008 was going to be a bad year, and I wanted to be ready. I installed a wood stove in my home and purchased a hand pump for my well. When I moved my chickens out to the new …


The Benefits of a Homesteading Approach to Preparedness, by Chaya

We all have our own personal style at preparedness, and the style seems to mature with you the longer you prepare.  I have noticed this in others and myself; that we all gravitate towards the preparedness hobbies that best fit our personal inclinations—homesteading skills in the traditional sense just might not be your gig.  I get that—it is another great reason why a close knit community of prepared people is a super idea.  Let someone else make homemade candles if you just cannot get kicks and giggles out of dipping string repeatedly into a burning wax. (Tactfully)  Identify others, identify …


So, You Bought Fish Antibiotics. Now What?, by TX ER DOC

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First, the disclaimers:  Nothing in this article constitutes medical advice.  It is for information purposes only.  It is not meant to diagnose or treat any disease.  Fish antibiotics are not for human consumption.  Never take any medication that was not prescribed specifically for you by your physician.  Hopefully, this information can help you be a more informed and involved patient.  Short of a true post-SHTF scenario, I strongly advise you not to self-diagnose and treat.  (Health care professionals are especially notorious for doing this.)  I have seen significant harm come to many patients because of this.  Recently, someone killed off …


Year One at the New Retreat, by Mrs. R.L.B.

Have you been thinking about leaving the crowded city and moving to a retreat? Perhaps you are weighing many factors, finances, age, leaving friends and family, and work.  But the most important factor you should weigh, is the answer to the question, “If the SHTF, can we survive here?”  If the answer is no, then take the leap and move!  We did!  We sold our San Diego house and finally landed in Washington state, on the west side of the Cascades.  We aimed for the Redoubt, but due to work constraints we could not make that work for us.  So, …


A Tale of Quail, by KD1

Always trying to learn and become better prepared I thought our family needed to start pursuing livestock and learning the ins and outs to raising them.  Since I deplore powdered eggs I thought we’d start with poultry.  After reading how easy quail were to raise I decided to give them a try this spring.  After all, it met many of the requirements I needed for raising poultry.  The chicks are easy to raise and inexpensive.  They take very little space.  I live in a subdivision so had only a small area to house them in as well as city regulations …


Delivered to Safety, by ShepherdFarmerGeek

I have delivered my sheep to safety, and you may soon be called on to do the same. Almost five years ago we started our own little flock of Katahdin sheep in order to be able to raise our own healthy, drug-free organic meat. Through the years we had 23 lambs, two rams, and many tough times (lambing in winter) as well as hilarious, joyful times (lambs frolicking and snuggling). We had read that in large flocks sheep have a mob mentality, but we discovered that one-on-one sheep had their own personalities and were much more complex than we ever …


Letter Re: Hiding Livestock From Looters

Sir, Forgive me if this has been addressed, but what do you think is the best way to hide livestock from looters if/when the shtf?  it is no secret that we have animals.  Our property is such that the only clearings for pasture are near our house, which is in plain sight of our quiet country road.  From the street, you can see our house, a coop, a pen, an old tin barn, an outbuilding, a goat pasture, free ranging chickens and turkeys, etc.  We read that a privacy fence up front at the street would be a bad idea, …


Home Chicken Flock Management by B.D. in Tennessee

Chickens are one of the most important yet overlooked purchases in the preparedness world. Chickens are relatively low maintenance, a joy to watch, and they offer a significant return on investment for the backyard homestead and small farm. Because they will eat anything from table scraps to fish heads, they are also very economical pre-collapse. On average, most chicks cost around three dollars each purchased from local co-ops and feed stores. They can also be bought online for reasonable prices (shipping costs are high, however, due to Postal Service regulations) and delivered to your local post office. Chickens of a …


Letter Re: Wool Carding Questions

This is in response to the recent question re wool cards for angora fiber. Please let me add a few important facts on this subject. Angora fiber needs to be processed on cards with a fine tine. The fibers are comparatively short and incredibly soft and fine. Buy cards referred to as cotton cards or recommended for carding exotic fibers or cotton. Yes, one can pluck and spin the fiber off a rabbit in one’s lap, but that’s generally a trick for fiber shows. Really, please, just pluck the rabbit and let it down to run around while you spin. …


Direction of Force: Working Safely Now and at TEOTWAWKI, by Arizona Slim

We all accept basic firearms safety rules and know that if we were able to carry them out flawlessly, there would be no such thing as an unintended injury or what we pitifully refer to as an “accidental” discharge. [JWR Adds: Properly, this is termed a Negligent Discharge.] There is another much more broad concept that, if we can also just hone it to a fine edge, we can employ it across a broad array of activities to greatly reduce the chance of damage, injuries and even death. Activities as diverse as cutting a project out of construction paper, opening …


Letter Re: Some Experience Raising Geese

Captain Rawles, I’ve some info that might be of interest to the visitors to your blog. What started out as an impulse buy by my wife and daughters 10 years ago has resulted in our discovery of a creature that has a very long life span, is a good watch or alert critter, is easy to keep, provides good entertainment and lays eggs.  It is African geese. We bought two of these as goslings and raised them to adults. By doing this, we discovered that they will be very loyal to their caretakers and friendly. Anyone that has been around geese know that …


Letter Re: Rabbits for a Stable (and Staple) Protein Source

Hello Mr. Rawles, Regarding the recent blog article Rabbits for a Stable (and Staple) Protein Source, by S.F.D. in West Virginia: I too have chosen meat rabbits to be my SHTF meat source. Raising, butchering, and of course eating domestic rabbit has become a great learning experience for myself and my family. The one problem I foresee is providing food for my rabbits. But one possibility, of which I have a friend who has much success with, is growing a substantial plot of dandelion. My friend from northern Maine has a 90 foot-long plot of dandelion which he harvests and then dries …