Where Is The U.S. Economy Headed? – D.B.
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77,000 Foreign Banks to Share Tax Info with IRS – H.L.
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Items from Mr. Econocobas:
US Money Slump Flashes Warnings as Economy Contracts
The Velocity Of Money In The U.S. Falls To An All-Time Record Low
Ben & Janet’s Swell Housing Recovery: Sales Booming For The 1%; Heading Down For Everyone Else
Four More Signs That A Market Top Is Nigh
America’s Insatiable Demand For More Expensive Cars, Larger Homes And Bigger Debts
On this anniversary of D-Day, SurvivalBlog reader C.T. sent in this link to an interesting article comparing the Normandy beaches in 1944 to 70 years later. D-Day Landing Sites Then and Now
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Dr. Ben Carson: Obamacare More Damaging Than 9/11 – H.L.
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SurvivalBlog reader R.B. in Washington state writes in: Now Washington state is seeing detainment of motorists for roadside “surveys”. The online news video was edited from what actually was broadcast. One broadcast version has the same reporter saying (paraphrased) that a reluctance to participate in the survey might be an indicator of impairment.
Other states have conducted these “surveys”, including Pennsylvania, where a man has filed lawsuit for violation of 4th amendment rights. The common theme is they want a cheek swab and despite their saying it is voluntary, there is a lot of pressure to cooperate, and a policeman is present. Here, they want to possibly take a blood sample, too, and are paying $60 if you volunteer.
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An older article but worth the read. All Federal Gun Laws Are Unconstitutional . – B.B.
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Interesting facts about the lowly potato: Spuds – J.W.
“The public wonders ‘Why are you giving all this money to the people who caused this crisis and taking the money from the public assets of the victims?’” – William Greider
Today we present another entry for Round 53 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $11,000+ worth of prizes for this round include:
First Prize:
Second Prize:
Third Prize:
Round 53 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.
The goat is called the poor man’s cow. They are inexpensive, easy to handle, and eat a wide variety of vegetation. They are basically browsers, meaning they eat leaves and stems from shrubs and trees. They are the most efficient animal to convert browse to lean meat. When commercial feeds become unavailable, they would be the most likely survivors. They are also easily trained as pack and cart animals, able to pack 20 to 40% of their weight and pull five times that. They can negotiate more difficult terrain than any other pack animal and continue with only the water they get from vegetation for up to four days, if not making milk. They would be the best animal to “bug-out” with to either the woods or range. They can make good use of cut-over areas, growing deciduous trees, and weeds June through September and grass pastures October and November and April and May. December through March requires winter feeding on some combination of evergreen blackberries, heather, dry grass supplemented with oil seed cake, hay, silage, grain, roots, kale, twigs, bark, even discarded Christmas trees, and ivy. The books say ivy is poisonous. However, my St. Croix sheep have kept my property ivy-free without a problem. It may be they have to get used to it gradually. The sheep were orphan lambs that incorporated ivy into their diet as they began eating solids.
The milk breeds are Alpines, La Mancha, Nubians, Saanens, Toggenburgs, and Oberhaslis. The Saanen gives the most milk and the Nubian the richest milk. The Alpines and Toggenburgs are the most persistent milkers, meaning they continue producing milk the longest before dropping off and going dry. Usually people breed their goats to kid every year, breeding them after seven months of production, milking another two or three months, and then drying them off for two months before kidding again. With the persistent goats, one can milk continually without rebreeding for 13 to 36 months. This means more feed goes into milk production and is less stressful for both the goat and owner. So these would be good choices for a family milk goat.
For someone who wants both milk and meat, Boers, Nubians, and Saanens are the best choices. They are the largest goats. The Boer is actually a meat goat, breeds year round, and commonly has twins and triplets. Therefore they give sufficient milk for a number of kids. One can reduce the number of kids they are nursing to the degree of milk needed by humans. The Saanen and Boer are also excellent work goats. The Nubian seldom has the temperament for work.
Pigmy goats and Nigerian Dwarf goats are small breeds that can give up to two quarts of milk per day. Their small size classifies them as pets, making them legal to keep in some cities. Three dwarfs can be kept in the space needed for one standard goat. If one’s bug-out location is a rocky hilly area with lots of brush, the Spanish goat would be the most efficient meat producer.
The best breeds to “bug-out” with would be the triple-purpose goats– Saanens and Boers. However, the Saanen, being a high milk producer, requires grain for that production. The wethers (castrated goats), however, would be fine to take along as pack and meat animals. That leaves the Boer as the most important breed to maintain when SHTF.
In using goats to rustle their own feed, consider the following rules of thumb. If a kid is fed an abundance of milk and grain, the rumen does not develop to handle the coarse feeds they need when rustling. The kid should be weaned off milk between 8 and 12 weeks and fed one pound of grain and protein concentrate a day, along with roughage until nine months old. By then the rumen has developed enough for it to continue developing on a roughage diet. If a goat has been fed in confinement as an adult, it will not adjust to grazing. Also, if a doe has always been dried off after 5 to 10 months of milking, she will persist in that pattern. So to have a goat that adjusts to your system, you best start with young ones. For the best tasting milk, you need to confine the doe off browse, silage, and turnips four hours before milking. Milk every 12 hours or 6 or 7 AM and 4 or 5 PM, but be consistent. You best confine her at night, then release her after milking until four hours before the next milking, then out again until dark.
In breeding the dairy goats, it takes two to keep a family in dairy products year round. So to use the system used for dairy cows, we would need six people with six does each, supplying two other families and each keeping a buck, which will rotate between herds each year. Goat milk is naturally homogenized, so it is harder to separate out the cream to make butter. Goat’s milk is not as universally used, so it may be harder to find the other 12 families to supply. This may be the place to discuss the difficulty finding a community of breeders who all have or agree to have the same breed. Our three lines could actually be three different breeds. The breed conservationists would never approve, but consider that during World War II some European breeds of livestock were lost or severely depleted. So, we should consider with all our stock which breeds could logically be combined if necessary.
With goats, I would put all the dairy breeds, except the Nubians, in one class. The Nubian is genetically different in some ways. Importantly, the polled (hornless) gene in both Nubians and Angoras is not linked with the intersex gene, like it is in the other dairy breeds. It is necessary to avoid breeding polled to polled in those breeds. I think the other breeds could be crossed, but Nubians, Angoras, Boers, and the dwarf breeds should be kept separate, though the dwarfs could be crossed with each other. Some crosses with Angoras to make the Pygora breed and with Pygmies on Nubians to make the Kindergoat have been done, and that is fine if one wants to maintain these breeds. The small Kindergoat gives nearly as much milk as the Nubian, and the kids efficiently convert feed to meat.
How it might work to maintain three breeds of goats in a community might look like this:
A = Alpine
B = Toggenburg
C = Saanen
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |||||
| Breeder | Does | Buck | Kids | Buck | Kids | Buck | Kids |
| 1 | A | A 1 | A | C 2 | AC Cross | B 1 | AB Cross |
| 2 | A | B 1 | AB Cross | A 2 | A | C 2 | AC |
| 3 | B | C 1 | BC Cross | B 1 | B | A 1 | BA Cross |
| 4 | B | A 2 | BA Cross | C 1 | BC Cross | B 2 | B |
| 5 | C | B 2 | CB Cross | A 1 | CA Cross | C 1 | C |
| 6 | C | C 2 | C | B 2 | CB Cross | A 2 | CA Cross |
| Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 | |||||
| 1 | A & crosses | 2’s Alpine | A | 5’s C | AC Cross | 4’s B | AB Cross |
| 2 | A & Crosses | 4’s B | AB Crosses | 1’s A | A | 5’s C | AC Cross |
| 3 | B & crosses | 6’s C | BC Crosses | 4’s B | B | 2’s A | BA Crosses |
| 4 | B & crosses | 1’s A | BA Crosses | 6’s C | BC Crosses | 3’s B | B |
| 5 | C & crosses | 3’s B | CB Crosses | 2’s A | CA Crosses | 6’s C | C |
| 6 | C & crosses | 5’s C | C | 3’s B | CB Crosses | 1’s A | CA Crosses |
The average dairy cow or doe reproduces herself by five years of age but can easily keep reproducing for 10 years. So some purebreds will be maintained for some time. One person could manage Boers, Spanish goats, or the dwarfs for meat production part time, using the system of 30 does and three bucks used sequentially. Alternatively, one could maintain any breed pure, for a time, using 10 does and two bucks, breeding sons of one buck to the daughters of the other buck. Extend the generation interval by using them as long as able and keeping new parents from later breedings. Even with a 4-year generation interval, one could go 8 to 12 years before needing new blood.
Sheep are no more efficient in crude protein production per hectare than cattle, and they are subject to predation, disease, and parasites. They require more labor than cattle but considerably less grazing land per animal (1/4 acre/ewe-lamb pair). However, like cattle, they make efficient use of land too arid or too steep for cultivation (over 15-20% slope and 8-16 inches of annual precipitation). Sheep fit best in areas of medium to low rainfall, grazing steeper areas than cattle, short grass ranges preferably with lots of forbs (herbaceous plants like clover and dandelion).
Sheep are the most important wool producers. The six top dual purpose wool-meat sheep breeds begin with the Rambouillet. Only the Merino has finer grading wool, but the Rambouillet is more productive with respect to lamb meat. They are the breed of choice for extensive grazing and wool for light-weight comfortable clothing. The Targhee comes next for high quality apparel type wool, and it adapts to both farm and range conditions and even has some parasite resistance. Next are the Columbia and Corriedale crossbred-wool breeds. They are excellent range sheep with wool valued by hand spinners for making blankets. They have meatier lambs than the fine-wool sheep. The Long-wool breeds to consider are the Border Leicester and the Romney. The longer, coarser wool is most easily spun into yarn and used for making thick sweaters and rugs. These breeds do not have the same flocking instinct as the range breeds and do better on good pastures. The Leicester is valued for crossing on Rambouillets to produce a meatier lamb. The Romney is valued by hand spinners for hardiness in the wetter Pacific Northwest climate.
For strictly meat production, the blackface medium-wool breeds are most popular. These are the Suffolk and the Hampshire for large meaty lambs. They are kept on diversified farms where the feed and pasture are good quality, which is especially necessary for the Hampshire. Their wool has little value, but it still needs to be clipped every year. The Southdown is a smaller medium-wool sheep adapted to hillier pastures. If one wants primarily meat but would like some wool for spinning, the Southdown wool is similar to cashmere and easy to blend with other fibers. This breed does not eat shrubs and trees, so is used to weed orchards and vineyards.
If one wants lamb meat without the bother of shearing, three hair sheep breeds meet the requirement. The Dorper is the best meat breed, producing very meaty twin lambs with the highest value skins of any breed. They are good foragers in hot, dry climates. The St. Croix, also known for twinning, utilizes coarse feeds and has the most parasite resistance of any breed. They do eat trees and vines. The Katahdin also produces twins, utilizes a high forage diet and has good parasite resistance. All these hair sheep breed year round and if necessary could be combined. The Barbados is a hair sheep I do not recommend, due to wildness, making management more difficult. The same breeding program recommended for meat goats apply to sheep.
Dry lands, defined as a growing period less than 120 days encompasses 41% of the earth’s land mass and much of the Western U.S. Here, range animals provide an efficient subsistence base in areas otherwise unproductive for humans. Highest yields often occur where cattle, sheep, and goats all share the range. Cattle eat grass, sheep eat forbs, and goats browse. If one’s survival retreat consists of acres of range land with a water source, pastoralism could become the survival strategy. Seven adults with as many children could handle 30 horned Hereford cows and three bulls, eight Nubian does and two bucks, 30 Rambouillet or Crossbred-wool ewes and three rams, and use nine riding mares and one stallion for transportation. I would select Morgans of Western working lines. Successful pastoralists hold a wealth of ecological knowledge passed down through generations of experience. Since, in the U.S., pastoralism, other than under fence, is a dying way of life, the learning curve will be very steep for newcomers.
I am convinced that what will survive when SHTF are small communities pulling together. Your family’s stockpile of food, water, bullets, and band aids will last only so long. Over the long haul, communities producing their own necessities from farms and ranges will rebuild civilization.
HJL,
Regarding C.B.’s article on moving females, I have a few suggestions. I have long, thick hair that goes to my waist and for many years had the constant frustration of trying to figure out what to do with it when I was getting dirty (hunting, butchering, cleaning the barn, ect.). Tucking it into a hat never worked for more than 20 minutes at a time. First, the cap or cowboy hat or what ever was in constant danger of being knocked off my head because of the extra mass under it or blown off by our wonderful winds in this part of the country because healthy hair is smooth and the hat had no grip.
I would like to gently suggest that hey either cut their hair or learn to braid and twist it up. It takes me less than five minutes to tuck my hair into a french braid each morning. In another few seconds, I can have a low, flat bun on the top of my head. Low and Flat are the key words. Top is the key location. Without securing the hair properly, the females in your party are going to be one stumble or wind gust away from ruining their disguise.
As a last thought, it helps to get your ladies used to wearing a hat outside at all times. I can always tell when someone is new to a cap. – K.B.
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Hugh,
“Have the girls tuck their hair under a hat”. Seriously? Cut the hair off. It’ll grow back. Don’t have good scissors? I’ll bet you have a sharp knife and frankly that will be better anyway. You’re not styling the hair you want it to look kind of “raw”. Cut it short like a boys cut but keep the bangs if you can. Also leave the hair a bit longer in front of the ear to hang down to give the impression of side burns. You are not trying for the illusion of a man you are shooting for “young man or older boy”. If you are talking about an elderly woman then you can shoot for elderly man but that might be a different article.
Okay, baggy clothes is fine butshould take the advice a bit further. The illusion of male/female is more about contrast. A females shape still needs to be re-sculpted, even under baggy clothes. Strapping the breasts down as much as possible is obvious. But what will aid the illusion a lot is thickening the waist. It is not so much the larger chest/hips on women that give away their shape but the difference in waist to hips/breasts. If you thicken the waist you help this difference fade. Just tape extra clothing or other padding right around the waist to thicken that area. A small bundle of socks in the groin is also something to consider. Don’t overdo it and make sure that it is not going to slip or fall out.
Dirt and or grease on the face? Yes, but where on the face can make a huge difference. Use the darker grease to make the eyebrows look thicker and less arched. If the women in the group have an eyebrow pencil and or eyelash thickener they can use that on the fine hairs around their eyebrows and in front of their ears to give the appearance of sideburns and masculine eyebrows. I would *not* try for a makeup beard or stubble. Unless you are a pro it will look fake and put you at higher risk. Think of a 14 or 15 year old boy with the beginning of masculine facial hair. Also, when putting grease/dirt on the face put a darker amount on the neck behind the jaw line. This will make the jaw line look more prominent which is also a more masculine feature.
Of course, clean off all nail polish, makeup and/or jewelry (in a SHTF scenario I would hope you are not wearing jewelry in any case). But pay some attention to hands. Get the nail polish off then cut the nails short – shorter then the female in question is comfortable with (probably right down to the quick). If you can get her to chew the nails a bit to make then jagged that would help as well. Then take a light coating of grease and rub it into the nails and cuticles and then have them drive their hands straight down into the dirt. Then wipe the hands with a towel or rinse lightly with water but no soap. The idea is to get the nails looking dirty as if they have not been cleaned thoroughly in a long period of time. Hands are a dead give away. If you have time it would be good to scuff the hands up as much as possible even callousing them (if they are not already- obviously for some women reading this their hands are plenty tough and dirty already). As it is you should avoid having women shake hands with anyone whom you are trying to fool. Most of the time a woman’s hand is too small to really fool anyone if they are gripping it. But if they are dirty and you are shooting for the young boy look you might fool a casual glance.
Feet – if you are driving in a car this might be less of an issue but having everyone get out of a car is not an unusual request. Women’s feet are usually much smaller then men’s so have the women wear shoes that are a size or two too large. Have them wear multiple pairs of socks. so that they don’t look like they are not filling in the shoe and have them practice walking so that they don’t stumble. And speaking of walking the easiest way to get a woman to walk like a man is to tell them to lengthen their stride a bit more then is comfortable and then walk “heel-toe”. Drive the heel into the ground then roll onto the toe and repeat. Arm movement is tricky so just have them put their hands in their pocket or hoody while walking to avoid the hassle.
Which bring us to behavior. Women often have unconscious movements that are very feminine – brushing hair out of their face in a feminine manner, touching their hand to their throat or upper chest, playing with earring or necklaces (even if they are not there). Just avoid the whole problem. Tell the woman trying to pass to keep her hands in her pockets or the front of her hoody as much as possible. Keep eyes downcast but not submissively – with a surly attitude. This also bring up the action of the men in the group. They need to try to forget that they are traveling with women. The women should have male names to respond to. The men should think about what their relationship is to the woman (are they fathers, brothers, uncles etc.) then try to think of them as that role. So if I am your dad I might issue you orders like a father might to a son, if they are little brothers then teasing or taunting might be appropriate.
Finally, and this one will expose you every time – smell. I have a 14 year old boy – and anyone else who does will tell you that they are often quite stinky. Make sure that the women are not wearing perfume and that any linger smell has been taken off by soap and water (non fragrant soap of course). Then have them don a dirty t-shirt from a male. This may get the biggest “ewwws” from the subject in question but that is why it works. A person who smells like a boy or man will really throw off someone who is close enough to get a whiff. The natural impulse will be to pull back (which you want) and to assume that this must be a stinky teenage boy (which you also want). If nothing else it will make any pat down or close inspection be that much quicker and cursory
Barclays Manipulated Gold as Soon as It Stopped Manipulating Libor – G.P.
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Items from Mr. Econocobas:
U.S. Retailers Missed Estimates By Most in 13 Years
Bad Trend Breaking: Why Retail Results Are Not Better Than Expected, But Worse Than Ever!
One more reason to dump social media networking! Secret Service Requests Software To Track Social Media Trends, Detect Sarcasm – JBG
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West ponders how to stop – or fight – a new Great War – T.J.
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Krayton Kern’s latest ramblings about a political process. Sharp! Advisors
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It looks to me like the President expected that people would celebrate the release of an American POW, no matter what the cost. How typical that they would ignore the lives lost in a search for a known deserter. My personal feeling is that the president should be impeached over breaking federal law, and the deserter should be tried for treason. Failing that, the deserter should be tried for manslaughter over the 8 men who lost their lives in the search for him. How many more Americans will lose their lives due to the actions of the five released Taliban? Pentagon knew Bergdahl’s whereabouts but didn’t risk rescue for ‘deserter’ – Washington Times – P.M.
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If this route is in your escape plan, you may want to consider plan B: Crucial East Coast Highway Bridge Closed – G.P.
“When the same man, or set of men, holds the sword and the purse, there is an end of liberty.” – George Mason
On this day in 1944, United States Navy Task Group 22.3 captured U-505, a German submarine, and with it an intact Enigma cypher machine. This was first time since the USS Peacock seized HMS Nautilus in 1815 that the USN had captured an enemy vessel at sea. The sub, reunited with its periscope a decade ago, is displayed at the Museum of Science and Industry, in Chicago.
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CampingSurvival.com is offering SurvivalBlog readers free shipping for everything on their site from June 4th through June 6th. When checking out, use the Coupon code: SB-June.
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Today we present another entry for Round 53 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $11,000+ worth of prizes for this round include:
First Prize:
Second Prize:
Third Prize:
Round 53 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.
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 applies also to the practical animals we need in survival situations. So I am writing about the practical animals and questions regarding their breeding, like how many we need and how we breed them so as to keep them going for what could be a 10-year period before life normalizes.
I begin with animals having long generation intervals of six to ten years and then those with medium generation intervals– four or five years. A generation interval is the average age at which a species reproduces itself. The long generation interval species we breed in North America are horses and asses.
Horses, today, are mainly pleasure animals, but when the economy collapses and petroleum products become difficult or impossible to acquire, they could again become very practical. They are preferred draft animals, due to speed and trainability, but they require good quality, careful feeding and are susceptible to disease and injury. Horses are useful for logging, farming, and hauling.
The most practical draft breeds are the ones with smooth legs, as the hairy leg breeds are liable to skin problems. Percherons have good action for heavy hauling. Belgians have power for pulling heavy logs. Suffolks were bred specifically for farm work. In using these animals for farm power, one-quarter of the land must be dedicated to growing their feed. I would not use the large breeds for farming on less than 20 acres. A light breed, which eats less, can work smaller farms, plowing 1.5 acres a day. Practical breeds for this are Morgans, Welsh Cobs, Quarter horses, Hafflingers, and Icelandics. Light horses, especially Quarter horses, are more readily available. Select old type Morgans and Quarter horses, not ones bred for showing or racing.
Because of care demands, three to five mares are as many as would be practical for one person to care for on a part-time basis. Stallions are difficult to keep. Because they have a long working/breeding life, 10 to 15 years, the best strategy to keep a line going under difficult circumstances is to hand-mate mares to local stallions and have enough people doing this that when commerce and communication resumes, bloodlines can be combined. A mature stallion can hand mate up to 100 mares a season; a two year old can hand mate 10 mares.
Asses are intelligent and tractable, and they are considered by people familiar with both horses and asses to be safer to handle. They can pull carts, plows, harrows, and weeders and pack loads. They are smaller and less powerful than horses, averaging 12 hands and 385 lbs. They are said to be able to carry 1/3 of their body weight and haul three times their weight by cart. They are also more amenable to boring tasks like threshing or operating a treadmill or wheel for generating electricity. A 150 kg donkey has a power output of 200 watts working four hours a day, while a 400 kg horse has a power output of 500 watts working 10 hours a day (www.fao.org/sd/egdirect/EGan0006.htm). Therefore, one would need two donkeys to do the work of one light breed horse. One can work an ass six hours a day with one hour rests after every two hours of work.
Asses are browsers rather than grass eaters, like horses, so they can survive on poorer quality, high fiber roughage. Mules require one-third less grain than horses the same size. Both asses and mules are hardier than horses. One could probably care for 5 to 10 jennies on a part-time basis. They are most valuable in arid areas, second only to camels in water conservation.
Regarding breeding strategies for these long-lived species, the entire males are difficult to handle and impractical for the average person. The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC) recommends a network of breeders and a minimum of three sire lines bred to a female band consecutively or sequentially, until suitable replacements are raised. They consider 10 females per line, 30 total, as a minimum. I will deal with their strategy in more detail with the next group of animals. A jack can hand mate 5 to 30 jennies a year.
For anyone planning on farming with draft animals, one must consider that plowing with animals requires more and certainly a different skill than driving a tractor. It is important to acquire this skill soon. Also, consider how few animals are trained for farm work. While horses will likely be easy to get when the economy gets really bad, a horse trained for riding is harder to train for pulling than one first trained to pull. I believe asses need training when quite young as well, and their training is not exactly the same as training that works for horses. Also, in most parts of North America, asses are not commonly raised. So if they are desired, a breeding network needs to be arranged.
When considering food animals in North America, the most numerous breeds have been selected for high production under heavy inputs of feed, veterinary care, and management systems. When these inputs fail, breeds not so selected will outperform them. We need to focus on animals utilizing feeds that are not directly useful for human food and animals that are easy to manage and hardy under less than optimal conditions.
Beef is a widely accepted and preferred meat. One hectare produces 57 to 65 kg of crude protein from grain-fed beef and 27 kg from grass fed beef. This is not very efficient, especially considering that grain, such as corn, competes directly with corn for human energy food and for fuel energy as ethanol. The grass-fed beef, on the other hand, if produced on non-arable land, does not so compete. In fact, on arid grasslands where rainfall is 600 mm (24”) per year, range cattle provide an efficient subsistence base in areas otherwise unproductive for humans.
There are two species of cattle, Bos taurus, a temperate climate species, and Bos indicus, the humped tropical climate species. They are fully fertile when crossed but were bred in isolation for so long they can be accurately categorized as subspecies. The Bos taurus species produces the most palatable beef. Habitat consists of brush free tall grass ranges, 8-15% slopes. A wooded area at the top of a hill provides adequate winter shelter. For part-time labor, 21 to 50 cows with offspring butchered off grass at 15 to 24 months of age is a manageable size. Most areas in the U.S. require hay-making equipment and storage space for winter feeding. Corrals and chutes are also needed.
In third world countries, oxen are the most commonly used draft animals. They tolerate hardship, mud, and snow better than many other animals. They are used to draw carts, to plow, plant, cultivate, spread fertilizer, mow, and rake crops, build dams and ponds, and operate rotary devices. They can work between four and nine hours a day for an 8-year working life. The Bos indicus species utilizes 3.3 joules of food energy from coarse crops, such as straw or sparse grass, per joule output in work energy.
The dairy cow is the most efficient animal protein producer at 33.1% conversion. She produces 118 kg crude protein per hectare. Her habitat is grass pasture on gently sloping (3-8%) land and 700 mm annual precipitation or cheap irrigation. Dairying requires high labor and management skills. Hand-milking takes 40 minutes per cow per day; unweaned calves require 20 minutes per day; and weaned calves take 7-10 minutes per day. In high rainfall areas, silage or haylage is used if hay is too costly to make or transport. Bull calves can be raised to 200 pounds at 6-8 weeks for veal, kept 6-12 months and sold as feeder or draft calves, or grown out for beef at 12 to 16 months of age. For part-time labor, consider three to nine milk cows or eight to ten dual-purpose cows.
In temperate climates, if one desires to raise cattle strictly for beef where the amount and quality and/or consistency of nutrients is low, the medium-sized British breeds are better choices than the large Continental European breeds. The Hereford is the ideal range breed and makes an excellent draft animal, especially if horned for head yokes. The oxen average 2200 lbs. and are among the easiest to train. The Angus and Beef Shorthorn are also good beef breeds, but they do better on pastures than rough ranges. The Saler is a beef breed that tolerates sub-optimal care and nutrition and is the only Continental breed really suitable for range life. Native to France, it was once a triple-purpose milk, draft, and beef breed. So, if one wants primarily beef but also a cow that produces a bit more milk than her calf needs, the Saler is a good choice. In France they give about 11 quarts of milk a day, which is used to make a good cheese. They have had a reputation in this country for wildness but are currently selected for docility. So select from stock with good docility scores.
Among the milk cow breeds, the Black and White Holstein is the most productive and most numerous. They have high upkeep requirements, produce too much milk for a family cow, and are not good rustlers. During the dry season in Guatemala, I observed Holsteins at a milking. They appeared to give no more milk than the goats I milked in Oregon. They do make great oxen at 2500 lb. mature size and are fairly easy to train.[1]
The Ayrshire probably produces more milk on poor pasture than any other breed. One can graze 2.5 Ayrshires per hectare (one cow per acre). The oxen reach 1600-2000 lbs. and have wonderful horns, but they are difficult to train.
The milking Shorthorn is a productive milk cow, which produces better beef than the Ayrshire and is also very desirable for draft with oxen reaching 2300 lbs. They are fairly easy to train, so this can be considered a triple-purpose breed. Be sure to get pure American strains, as those crossed to produce greater quantities of milk do not produce as well on grass-based systems.
Another triple-purpose breed is the Brown Swiss. They are good rustlers, tolerating rough conditions. They produce better meat and 2400 lb. oxen that are among the most trainable.
Another triple-purpose breed is the rare Dutch Belt. They are 2000 lb. oxen and very trainable. The dual-purpose milk-meat breeds, due to high solids nonfat milk, make good cheese. The Dutch Belt produces well on grass.
Some special purpose breeds to consider are the small breeds. The Dexter is the smallest breed, requiring only 2/3 of an acre (3.25/ha) for grazing, producing a third as much milk as the average milk cow, and it’s an acceptable beef calf. Oxen are only 1000 lb. and hard to train. The Guernsey is strictly a milk cow but produces milk high in butterfat and is more easily managed than the Jersey, another small cow that produces milk high in butterfat. These all have value as family cows.
In the subtropical U.S., the Bos indicus breeds and crossbreeds, such as the Beefmaster, can be considered for beef production. Breeds like the Red Sindhi Zebu are bred for milk production, and the Gir Zebu is a triple-purpose breed. Miniature Zebus, available in the U.S., mature at 400 lbs., graze at 5/ha, and are said to give a gallon of milk per day. The Bos indicus cattle work harder and faster than Bos taurus and conserve water better in hot temperatures. I would be concerned about temperament. The wildest domestic animal I ever encountered was a Brahman-Jersey cross.
A common system of mating beef cattle in a closed herd (no introduction of outside stock) is the clan system. Three or more dam families are set up, A, B, and C. A family sons mate B family cows; B sons mate only C cows; and C sons mate A cows. Bulls are used for two seasons and always to the next family in rotation. Females stay in their own family and are kept as long as productive. One could easily go 10 years with this system. This requires three breeding pastures, so if one chooses to run a 30 cow herd, it would mean one bull with 10 cows per enclosure. If one runs three bulls with 30 cows in one pasture and selects out three bulls and 30 cows at random each generation, theoretically inbreeding would increase about 5% per generation. However, matings would not likely be truly random, as the more dominant bulls would breed more than their share of cows.
The ALBC system proposes the three family system, using as a minimum three bulls on all 30 cows sequentially. The A bull breeds all cows A, B, and C the first season and the A/A bull calves are kept to select a replacement for the A bull. The other bull calves are not used as replacements, but all the heifer calves can be replacements. The next year the B bull is used on all 30 cows with B/B bull calves kept to replace him. No other bull calves are kept, and all the heifers are potential replacements. The third year the C bull is used on all the cows and also the 1st year heifers, the As, A/Bs, and A/Cs. He will be replaced by a C/C son and his daughters out of A/C heifers, being ¾ of the C line will then be considered C line dams. The 4th breeding season uses the A/A bull, now two years old, on all the cows and replacement heifers. Offspring produced each year are considered linebred if more than ½ A, B or C line or line crossed, if no more than half of any one line.
The advantages of this system are two-fold. First, it requires only one breeding pasture. Secondly, with inbreeding occurring in different directions, genetic differences between different lines are maintained within the population. Animals that are inbred to the A line may be mated to a B or C line to produce an outbred offspring. The clan system minimizes inbreeding over random mating but only slows it down. It still occurs through the entire line and always in the same direction, so no outcross is available within the herd[2]. Of course, you will want to keep the best two or three bull calves of each line to ensure against losing a line bull. It is easier to house a few young non-breeding bulls together than to divide a pasture into three or more breeding units. The bulls can be retired after their respective breeding season.
Currently, dairy cattle are almost always bred by artificial insemination. The advantages are:
A Holstein cow can supply three to five families of four with as much fluid milk, butter, and cheese as we are used to eating. Since many of them will be around as the most numerous breed, the main problem will be milking them without electricity. Dairy farms probably have back-up generators, but how long will fuel for them last?
The Ayrshire, Milking Shorthorn, Dutch Belt, Guernsey, and Jersey will supply three families. The Dexter is just right for one family, and the Miniature Zebu and perhaps Saler would supply one person with enough dairy products for them plus a calf.
My recommendation would be to organize an informal community supported dairy of say 30 Dexter cows and 10 cow caretakers, each milker with three cows supplying two other households. Six bulls (two minimum for each of three lines) need to be kept somewhere within 16 miles of where the cows are. When a cow is detected in heat, she should be bred eight hours later. This means a trip to the bull on foot and 16 miles is probably as far as she will walk within eight hours. A coordinator can divide the cows and bulls into the three ALBC system groups and plan the appropriate matings and replacements.
If people in the community desire to use the bulls as draft animals, the better breeds to use than Dexters would be Brown Swiss, Dutch Belt, or Milking Shorthorn. One person can manage ten dual-purpose cows on a part-time basis, so any of these breeds could be maintained sustainably by three individuals with ten cows each. Half the cows could raise two calves each, and the other half milked for human consumption. Alternatively, each cow could suckle her own calf plus be milked. The milker milks out two teats into the bucket and leaves the other two for the calf to suckle for one-half hour after each milking. These techniques save on labor but milk yield will be less than bucket feeding calves for 10 weeks.
With ten families managing three Dexters each, the group would need 20 consumers. With three families managing ten dual-purpose breeds each, the group would need 44 to 87 consumers
[1] Information on ease of training and working draft oxen from Oxen: A Teamster’s Guide by Drew Conray, a Rural Heritage Book, Gainesboro, Tn. 1999
[2] A Conservation Breeding Handbook, American Livestock Breed Conservancy, 1995, Pgs. 80-85
Dear HJL,
I’m a female and had some thoughts regarding C.B.’s letter on moving females. On one level, I was a little surprised that we needed special handling but agree that there are predators who do look for the most vulnerable victims out there, whether it’s TEOTWAWKI or not. I think my concern is that if someone is attempting disguise and the expectation is conveyed to them that they will be more vulnerable, it may pump up the fear level in them and that fear will show. I don’t think it is all that easy to truly disguise a female as a male, as we tend to have smaller and more delicate physical features. It’s also difficult to disguise a woman because of how she sits and postures herself. Many men will spread their bodies out to take up more space around them. We’ve all seen men who will spread out their arms across the back of an arm chair, spread their legs, and lean back. Women have often been taught not to spread out their legs and tend to keep their bodies a little more closed up, even crossing their legs. This closed posturing does make women appear even smaller and more vulnerable. To complete the disguise as C.B. proposes, it would require lessons to the women about making themselves larger in their posture and holding their bodies more confidently. (A lesson from the book, “Games Mother Never Taught You“.) A woman would need to make more direct eye contact as well. Obviously these are some generalizations and don’t fit every one, but we do tend to socialize men and women differently.
I admire C.B.’s protectiveness as a man; it’s a great quality. Why not take it a step further and train up those gals who would be in his group? Despite the idea that they might be outnumbered, it’s still a good idea. How about shooting lessons and karate lessons? I’ve seen young girls get their black belts! Boosting confidence this way can lesson their vulnerability. How about teaching them that it’s okay to risk rudeness when someone doesn’t have the best intention for them, or teaching them to trust their gut so they can avoid some situations? After all, our men folk can’t be there for every situation that arises in life.
What about installing a back seat/ bench seat that flips up and becomes a hiding spot for the gals in the back, if approaching a “check point”? Or what about, in the back seat upholstery, making a hidden crawl hole to the trunk?
I can’t wait to see other folk’s ideas on this! – Mrs. RLB
Real Heroes: The “Justes” and the Good
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Russian Roulette – Derivative Style. – G.C.
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Items from Mr. Econocobas:
Japan Inflation Quickens to Fastest Since 1991
Japan Monkey-Hammered By Abenomics: Goods Inflation Up 5.2%; Vehicle Sales Down 63%
Video: Interview with John Williams of Shadowstats ‘Fed Will Prop Up System Until it Falls Apart’
Some disjointed thoughts from the Emergency Management of the Oso Mud Slide. Some things worked, and some things didn’t. Those of you involved in Emergency Management may be able to pick up a few things from a non-fire related incident. – R.J.
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ATF’s purchase reporting requirement gives lie to ‘military features’ test. – B.B.
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Holder announces task force on ‘homegrown’ terrorists – B.B.
HJL adds: I have concerns over this administration’s willingness to declare domestic violence perpetrators “terrorists”. Case in point, the Feds still won’t call Army Major Nidal Hasan’s assault on Fort Hood a Terrorist Action, yet a drunk neighbor who pulls a shotgun on a father teaching his daughter how to ride a bicycle is somehow “terroristic”? Do we not have those backwards? It seems to me that the Feds are minimizing the human aspect of its own citizens and emphasizing global citizenship. If it quacks like a duck, waddles like a duck, and looks like a duck, let’s just call it a duck. Nidal Hasan was a terrorist, and this man’s neighbor is guilty of drunken domestic violence. I suspect the government’s perceived confusion over the issue is related to their militarization of the local law enforcement. It’s a whole lot easier to fire your weapon upon a terrorist than it is to do so upon your own brother or neighbor.
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Another police intervention gone wrong: Minneapolis police used Taser on pregnant woman. – R.B.
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I’ve seen this video before (or one similar to it) sent in by T.P., but while we are still under a shortage of .22LR ammo, it’s good to watch to remind us that CCI alone produces 4 million rounds every day from its Idaho plant. The U.S. Government is not a significant consumer of .22LR ammo, showing that we are our own worst enemy when it comes to the ammo shortage. The law of supply and demand is in full force.
“As touching nature I am a worm of this earth, and yet a subject of this commonwealth; but as touching the office wherein it has pleased God to place me [head of the Reformed church in Scotland], I am a watchman…For that reason I am bound in conscience to blow the trumpet publicly.” John Knox, As quoted in World Studies for Christian Schools (2000) by Terri Koontz, Mark Sidwell & S. M. Bunker, ISBN 1-59166-431-4