When we first moved to the country, I didn't give much thought to goat vs cow. I thought we needed a goat to make "goat cheese" and a cow for all of our other dairy products, such as milk, cream, cheddar cheese, yogurt, and so on. Before I learned the error in my thinking, we had already purchased two cows, in addition to three goats we bought. If you grew up drinking … [Read more...]
What’s the difference between alfalfa and grass hay?
When I got started with goats I barely knew the difference between hay and straw. Although I quickly learned that hay is food and straw is bedding, I just assumed that all hay was the same. That is definitely not the case. Alfalfa, clover, and peanut are legume hays, while timothy, oat, bermuda, and orchard are examples of grass hays. If you're sitting there thinking … [Read more...]
A Beginner’s Guide to Sheep
Are you considering getting sheep or do you already have a few? In addition to providing an introduction to raising sheep, this post also includes some of Thrifty Homesteader's most useful posts about sheep... Getting Your Sheep When it comes to choosing a breed of sheep, I'm partial to the breeds on the Conservation Priority List of The Livestock Conservancy, and it's … [Read more...]
What Nobody Tells You About Raising Ducks
If you've ever thought about raising ducks, this guest post by Rebekah Pierce of J&R Pierce Family Farm will help you get started successfully and if you already raise ducks, please share your tips in the comment section! Here’s how our decision to start raising ducks happened. I was waitressing at the time, and my now-husband (then my fiance) sent me a text … [Read more...]
Alfalfa pellets vs cubes and hay
Even though I have written about feeding alfalfa pellets to goats, I still get a lot of questions about exactly how pellets are different than cubes or hay and how they should be used as part of a goat's diet, as well as other livestock. Can alfalfa pellets or cubes totally replace hay? If you are asking about sheep, goats, and cattle, the answer is no. Ruminants cannot live … [Read more...]
Who wants to raise geese on the homestead?
Once upon a time, I said I would never have pigs or geese. Well, you know my stance on pigs turned around 180 degrees. Today I'm a huge advocate of having pigs on the homestead, and especially American Guinea Hogs. But what about geese? Until I received a review copy of Kirsten Lie-Nielsen's new book, The Modern Homesteader's Guide to Keeping Geese, I didn't realize I had never … [Read more...]
Rabbits and the Home Garden
Below is an excerpt from Storey’s Guide to Raising Rabbits, 5th Edition © Bob Bennett. Used with permission from Storey Publishing. Rabbits can help your garden grow, and your garden can do the same for your rabbits. The manure is great for growing most anything, and some garden produce can help you feed your rabbits. Rabbit manure contains higher proportions of nitrogen … [Read more...]
Feeding alfalfa pellets to pigs
In modern agriculture, pigs are fed a diet of mainly grains, but heritage pigs love grass, and our American Guinea Hogs are no exception. In winter, we used to feed them hay, but they wasted it terribly! If you think goats are wasteful, try pigs! You can't use a hay feeder with pigs. You have to put it on the ground because their mouths are below their snouts, and they leave … [Read more...]
BioWorma: A New Weapon Against Roundworms in Livestock
Later this month, there will be a new product on the market in the US and New Zealand that farmers and ranchers can feed to their livestock to reduce their burden of roundworms. In goats and sheep, that includes the infamous barber pole worm, as well as bankrupt worm and brown stomach worm. The good news is that BioWorma is not just another chemical dewormer, which worms can … [Read more...]
Kelp: Friend or Foe
Opinions on kelp for livestock vary about as much as they do on politics and religion. While one person says it's a savior, others say it's dangerous. The truth is somewhere in the middle. And as always, keep in mind that conditions vary from farm to farm, so what works great for one farm may not work as well on another farm. Before we dive into the nutritional analysis of … [Read more...]