Category: Livestock, Feed, & Fencing

Would you like to provide a good meal for your family and know where the meat has come from and who has handled it and not have to rely on going to the grocery store to purchase it?  Well that was me a few years ago.  I was concerned about the safe handling practices of store bought meat as well, the cost of the store bought meat.  I really wanted to be able to take pride that I could grow and process my meat and not have to rely on the grocery store.  I already process deer so I thought …

As we find ourselves moving back to basics on and around the farms, more people that have had no livestock ever also have no clue how to feed them or how to take basic care of them, are getting them. In the past two years, I have personally rescued and placed 115 horses and assisted in numerous other rescues. I can’t stress enough about proper care and feeding. It is easier to maintain a healthy weight then to put it back on an animal. For each 100 pounds lost, it takes three months to put it back on the right …

Like many preppers, we’ve been looking for ways to expand our self-sufficiency.  With 25 years of experience raising chickens for both meat and eggs, adding another meat fowl seemed like a good move.  Although we had raised both broilers and laying hens of many breeds, we hadn’t found a good all-purpose bird among the chickens, although many lay claim to the title.  They either laid poorly (eating all the while) or were very short on meat when killing time came.  As readers may know, chickens in America have been bred for two tracks:  meat (fast growing, often leg problems, too …

Sir: Just a few more thoughts on cattle.   The author had mentioned some of the issues that may arise when raising cattle.  Some treatment methods are important to understand.  The most common treatable problems encountered in cattle will be related to calving problems, prolapse and bloat.  Calves are born with the front feet first, followed by the nose.  Any position that deviates from this may require some intervention on your part.  A prolapse can also be easily treated.  With the cow secured in a chute, wet the prolapse with water, and wipe down with sugar or dish soap.  Next …

Jim: Just a few things to be added on cattle raising. One can often buy older cow-calf pairs in the spring, let the cow raise the calf over the summer, sell the cow as a slaughter animal at auction in late summer or butcher for yourself and have the calf left over at very little cost. You can then sell the calf or wean and raise to a yearling for either sale or fattening for your own butcher beef. These old mommas know how to raise a calf, that’s why they got to be old in the first place. Prices …

Someone recently asked for suggestions on raising livestock.  I won’t claim to be an expert, but I’ve had cattle for more than thirty years so I’ll offer some observations. Think it through before you begin.  Don’t get cattle because you think it’s something you should be doing, or because you think they will be a cheap source of meat.  Do you have the resources—time, land, money—needed?  Are cattle the best use of those resources?  Cattle are selling at historic highs right now.  Getting started is not going to be cheap.  There’s also a lot of investment in infrastructure before you …

Raising chickens is a wise investment in your survival, especially if you are now living on your rural retreat. We live in the deep southern United States, so it would be much different the farther north you live. I can only speak out of my own experience, so you will have to take what I say, combine it with all the other things you have read, heard and experienced on the subject, and modify it for where you live. Housing You need to have plenty of room for the chickens to live. If your chickens free range every day, less …

Greetings Mr. Rawles; First, allow me to thank you for your work.  I have only recently become aware of your site, having heard you on Mike Ruppert’s radio show.  In the short time since, I’ve gathered many useful facts and sources from the material on your site.  We all owe you a debt of thanks. The post on protection from predators by John L.  is very valuable.  I have no disagreements with any of his approaches or solutions.  I would like to offer an alternative that has worked for us for the last 15 years, and may be suitable for …

JWR,   I particularly enjoyed John L.’s article about predator-proofing property. My family has lived on a 40-acre former farm since 1990, and for quite some time we kept pheasants, chickens, and quail. At times we had nearly 100 birds. To a lesser degree, we did garden as well, though the local whitetail deer tended to make a mess of it. The game birds helped keep the local wild population up and the chickens provided us kids with valuable opportunities to learn how to keep animals for food.   While not living in mountain country, we had our share of predation as …