Category: Livestock, Feed, & Fencing

Lambing Woes, by H.F.K.

Sheep are mostly binary creatures: Zero or One. Either they are strong and healthy, or they’re dead. There isn’t much in between. Once they’ve lived for 24 hours, they are likely to do well for the rest of their lives. But the exception to that rule is when they’re lambing. Sheep farmers of today are not like Biblical shepherds. When the Bible was written, time was measured by most people in days, or fractions of days, according to the movement of the sun. Shepherds could take the time to search for a lost sheep, or dress the injuries of a …


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 ‘n …


Making Your Home More Self-Sufficient, by Jonathan Rawles

As we have just passed the midpoint of winter, it’s time to be laying plans for the spring. Whether you are already residing at a rural retreat or it’s still a future goal, there opportunity to improve on your home’s self-sufficiency and food production. Where can you start with self-sufficiency if you’re still on a suburban lot? You must be more considerate of neighbors, local ordinances, and homeowners’ Associations (HOAs). But even so, there’s great potential for supplemental food production even on a city lot. A few projects to consider: Replace ornamental trees with productive fruit or nut trees. With …


Handling Predators, by Hollyberry

Predators come in all shapes, forms, and sizes. Some have fur, feathers, or scales. Some of them walk upright among us. What exactly is a predator? As the name implies, they prey on a victim. Who doesn’t hum the theme to Jaws when stepping into the ocean? As soon as you enter the water, you become part of the food chain. Sharks are predators, we are the prey. When an animal preys upon another animal, it is usually not on a personal level, it’s to eat. Yes, sometimes dominance is involved. When humans prey on other humans, it’s all personal. …


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 ‘n …


Haying By Hand, by H.F.K.

One of the challenges of keeping domestic animals is providing them with forage during the winter months, or year-round if you live on a small lot. We started keeping sheep in a cold climate on a small lot as a way to feed our family when we were paying off student loans and a mortgage at a high interest rate. Haying by hand was a way to make use of previously unproductive spots on our land (and other people’s land), because a person with a scythe can work in places that would be lethal by tractor. Believe it or not, …


How to Process Chickens and Rabbits – Part 2, by Elli O.

(Continued from Part 1.  This concludes the article.) Now for the wings. Separate the wing at the first joint by using your knife, in the same manner as the feet removal. Due to the small amount of meat from the first joint to the tip of the wing, this part can be discarded. Turn the bird around so you can see the neck. There is very little meat on the neck (although it is delicious and quite tender) so the neck can be cut short. You will need to remove the esophagus which can be found in the upper part …


How to Process Chickens and Rabbits – Part 1, by Elli O.

This article won’t change your life. It won’t win any prizes. But it will give you the ability to take a small, live animal and humanely dispatch it then process it for personal consumption. So rather than read this less-than-riveting article, I would suggest you print it and file it away for when the time comes to use it. A little background on my experience with both chickens and rabbits: I started raising layer chickens about 10 years ago and really enjoy the fresh eggs as well as the convenience of retrieving food for our family. After having layers for …


My Experiment in Small-Scale Pig Farming, by SaraSue

It was a fluke, sort of, that I got a breeding group of pigs.  I had obtained two “feeder pigs” to see if I could raise them for the freezer.  I spoiled them, named them, and they had the run of the farm because they could get under the gates quite easily.  I didn’t really mind.  They were cute and would follow me everywhere.  The closer we got to their butcher date, the more they earned their new names: “the terrorists”.  I started calling them that because their love of food outweighed everything else.  They would get in the chicken …


Milk Cows on the Homestead – Part 3, by SaraSue

(Continued from Part 2. This concludes the article.) More milk cows Cows are no trouble at all if they have what they need: plenty of grass to graze, hay during the winter, a little grain at milking time, minerals, plenty of fresh water, good fences, shelter, and no predators. I should tell you that I obtained more milk cows and there’s a reason for that.  Once I weaned the calf, my Jersey’s milk production started to drop until she was giving half a gallon of milk a day.  This happened over a few month’s time.  She was about 8  months …


Milk Cows on the Homestead – Part 1, by SaraSue

Trends in Homesteading It’s become very popular to have a homestead milk cow.  I can see why!  No running to the store for milk.  When my children were little, milk was the item we were always running out of.  I love being able to open the “milk fridge” and see gallons of milk sitting there.  I love being able to make cream cheese, or ice cream, or whipped cream, or yogurt without having to run to the store.  Chocolate milk is a treat and is easily made when there’s plenty of milk.  In years past, I would have never drank …


The Importance of Good Record Keeping, by Hollyberry

It is very important to keep accurate records of purchases, insurance polices, banking information, and other useful data. Organizing and maintaining files are not something most people (including myself) like to do but it makes life easier in the end. A little extra time on the front end saves a lot of time on the back end. It’s much easier to be organized than to spend half a day trying to locate one document that you desperately need. If you are lucky enough to find old family journals or family Bibles, read them! They are a wealth of information. The …


Post-TEOTWAWKI Community and Employment – Part 1, by 3AD Scout

Humans are no strangers to catastrophe. Through the centuries, civilizations across the earth have succumbed to volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, floods, plagues, and crop failures. Regardless of where this took place, or the people it affected, there was a rebuilding of society and life went on. For many of us, we focus on surviving the immediate effects of disaster or catastrophe, but few focus on what comes next, the recovery or rebuilding phase. Just like being prepared to survive the immediate impacts of an incident starts in the years long before the disaster ever strikes, so does preparing for rebuilding our …


Downsizing: Back to Farm Basics, by SaraSue

Things can change overnight, and recently, they have.  In my opinion, we have entered WWIII.  We don’t know yet how bad it’s going to be. But what we do know is that things are heading south, fast. There is no way to rationalize that we Americans are “going to be okay” with what is happening on the world stage. Not to mention, how quickly goods and services have degraded here at home.  You’d have to have your head stuck so deeply in a sand dune that you can’t get it out.  It is better to stand up and face reality …


Countering Rampant Food Price Inflation, by SaraSue

When one of my daughters, who has a good job, starts complaining about how insane food and supply prices are, I pay attention.  She has started shopping at Walmart searching for the lowest possible prices.  Her recent cart rung up at $450 and she didn’t buy hardly any food – mostly toilet paper, paper towels, dog and cat food, a few household items, and enough food for a few good meals for her family.  She exclaimed, “This won’t even last us a week!”  I keep telling her to shop Costco for certain items – you get way more product for …