Category: Livestock, Feed, & Fencing

Letter Re: Last Minute G.O.O.D. Versus Well-Considered Early Relocation

James – We think along similar lines, as my wife and I relocated to Central Idaho in 1995, raising and homeschooling our four children here. We’re electrically functioning off the grid, engage in animal husbandry, grow what vegetables we can, and stock up on essentials we cannot produce and always meticulously rotate the stock. And we hunt, big time. I read the entry on your site today about the fellow who intends to travel ore than a thousand miles in a blink of an eye, and use this blur to make a life-changing decision based on distorted glances at sixty …


Seven Letters Re: Advice on Deep Water Wells in a Grid-Down Era

Hi James, There is a mission-oriented web site with a tutorial on making valve leathers at this site. There is other useful water well-related information on the site, too. Where John C. is living, if the static level is 400 ft., then he will be looking at needing a fairly deep well. If he gets by with less than drilling a 500 foot well I’d be surprised. Water wells here locally have a 350-400 foot static level and run 700-800 feet deep. The depth, quantity, and quality of water you find all depends on the area you live in, the …


It Will Be Skills, Not Gear That Will Count in TEOTWAWKI, by Chris M.

The topic I will cover is one I have not seen on SurvivalBlog. Everybody is caught up in the equipment side and not concentrating on the training. I have two examples several months back our dryer started squeaking & we had to stop using it. I am a trained air conditioning technician. At first I thought about going out and purchasing a new dryer and then I had a thought: I have fixed multi thousand dollar air conditioning units, how hard could it be? After two days it was back up drying clothes and for a lot less money than …


Two Letters Re: Getting Started With Dairy Goats

Sir, To add to the Memsahib’s excellent, succinct article on raising goats: Those interested in self-sufficiency could hardly choose a better livestock animal. Might I suggest Nigerian Dwarf goats? There are several reasons why these fine animals make an excellent livestock choice for those interested in self-sufficiency: 1. Nigerian Dwarfs are fairly small and easy to handle. Their food needs are also minimal: they can graze on minimal pasture and will of course forage through wooded areas. Like most breeds, they do equally well on grassy pasture or in thick woodland, flat-land or hills. But unlike some of the larger …


Getting Started With Dairy Goats, by The Memsahib

Getting any dairy animals is a very big commitment. However, I believe that they are a valuable part of your livestock preparedness. Even more importantly I believe goats are the best dairy animals for the survivalist. Here are my reasons to recommend goats over cows for a survival situation: 1. A dairy goat is about one fifth the cost of a dairy cow. 2. Five goats can be fed one the same amount it takes to feed one cow. 3. If your your one cow dies you are out of luck. But the odds of losing all your goats is …


Letter Re: Breeding Guinea Pigs as a Protein Source?

Hi Jim; I remember reading a “review” from a survival-minded individual who raised some Guinea Pigs (cavies) as a test case for survival situations. It took some searching, but I found it on the excellent Alpha Rubicon Web site. While I was searching for it, I stumbled upon some other sources of information as well: An article on the pros and cons of cavies as a meat source, from the book “Microlivestock” And here’s an article (in PDF) on cavies for meat production. And an older article about Peruvian Guinea Pig meat production. I love this line: “Today, churches in …


Letter Re: Breeding Guinea Pigs as a Protein Source?

Mr. Rawles, My husband and I are having a preparedness debate that we were hoping you could shed some light on. While he’s more of a conventional preparer (food, supplies, guns) I prefer to think of “things” that would help us survive if we were to ever run out of, or lose the conventional supplies. This distinct difference in preparation brings me to my story. Several months ago I was watching a special on, I believe National Geographic, where the camera crew followed an actor on his journey through the country of Peru. On his trip he went into the …


Letter Re: Home and Ranch Methane Gas Generators

Jim: I saw the following post concerning Gober (“dung”) gas, dated 27 April, 2009, over at Michael Yon’s web site:. “During breaks from tracking training – I was sweating like crazy in the jungle heat – I asked many questions about Afghanistan and Nepal, and he talked about a simple way to make many of the Afghans lives easier. Most Afghans don’t even have electricity. When he was about fifteen years-old, his dad installed a “Gobar Gas” (methane) generator next to the house in Nepal. The generator is simple: the owner just collects human and animal waste, and through a …


Letter Re: Learning the Details of Self-Sufficiency

Jim, I’d like to add an additional perspective on the letter on “Learning the Details of Self-Sufficiency” — the conscious competence learning model. I’d like to pull back the shade a bit on why ‘just buying stuff’ and reading books isn’t going to cut it when the balloon goes up. Many folks are ‘buying things’, reading books, searching the internet with the thought that when the time comes, they will begin living the self-sufficient lifestyle in the country. The aforementioned letter points out the folly of this approach. I just want to take a step back and look at why …


Letter Re: Learning the Details of Self-Sufficiency

Jim, None of us here can know the hour when 1 Thessalonians 4:16 -17, will come to be. There are Prophesies that seem to indicate that that time approaches. But we don’t know. We are not Prophets ourselves. We can just know to be ready. But until that time comes, there are also many other possibilities for which to prepare. We are in the early stages of a world-wide economic meltdown. As that grows worse, it can lead to all sorts of interesting events. Unemployment will likely lead to increased crime and even food riots. That can lead to the …


Letter Re: Recommendation for Kinder Goats

Hi First, I just wanted to say I loved “Patriots” and have given it away to many of my friends and adult children. Concerning “Livestock for Survival, by Bobbi A.” Most people are not aware of a small meat/dairy goat called the Kinder [, spoken “Kin-dur”.] It was developed over 30 years ago and has gained great success in competing against it’s larger cousins. This little goat will produce a gallon of milk a day, is much more feed efficient than other breeds, is small so easy to handle (especially the bucks) and is stocky so makes for better meat …


Two Letters Re: Livestock for Survival

Jim: I would like to clarify a point in the article, "Livestock for Survival" by Bobbi A. Regarding hens going "broody" – Probably not. There are very few breeds in which the hens will sit on their eggs, and even among broody breeds (such as Buff Orpingtons, which I raise) only a few hens will become broody. The broodiness trait has been intentionally bred out of chickens because a broody hen does not lay eggs. If you plan to raise your own chicks, have an incubator and power source as a backup. Also, a suggestion: I have made arrangements with …


Livestock for Survival, by Bobbi A.

With a cynical eye on the rapid downward spiral of events, it seems prudent to plan for a very long time of sustainable living. In this case survival depends not only on your stockpiled preps, but also in your ability to sustain food production past the end of your stored supply. Let’s assume, to begin with, that you have reasonably stocked retreat. I’m not talking a stock to the level described in “Patriots”, but rather one that includes a year (or more) of food, basic ammo, firearms, reliable water, heat and power source … the basics. Now it’s time to …


Letter Re: Successfully Trolling Craig’s List

Mr. Rawles, At the risk of turning on my local competition to the positive aspects of the free section of Craig’s List, I thought I would mention a few of the things I’ve picked up in the past couple of weeks. These include: A new round oak dining table and four oak chairs Three boxes of canning jars with lids A commercial fishing net (40′ x 60′), to be used for keeping birds and other critters out of the garden 36 Concrete cinder blocks (approximate value $130) Remington electric chain saw (yes, it works!) 30+ wooden pallets (can be used …


The 19th Century Home Retrofit, by Y. Cornelius

By now most SurvivalBlog readers have gone about your preparations for your ideal home or retreat cabin, all storage food and tools acquired, fuel stored, generators ready, PV panels carefully concealed and hooked up to the battery bank. You and your family or group are ready to handle the coming collapse, but are you really? Are you ready to do without? Without that generator when the fuel runs out, or a critical piece is worn out and a new one cannot be had? At some point your supplies will be used up, storage fuel consumed and there may not be …