Although many people say that goats are the most challenging animals to keep fenced in, I find pigs much more challenging. It only took us a couple of years to figure out how to keep goats in their pastures. However, we’ve had pigs now for thirteen years, and we still have problems with them escaping. They are ridiculously smart and seem to continuously come up with new ways to … [Read more...]
Milking Shorthorns: Dual-Purpose Cattle for Grass-Based Production
At The Livestock Conservancy conference in November, mother-daughter duo Winifred and Martha Hoffman (BestYet A.I. Sires) gave an excellent presentation about Dutch Belted Cattle, which I wrote about in this post: 5 Reasons to Add Dutch Belted Cattle to your Homestead. Well, it turns out that there is another breed of milk cow that the Hoffman's recommend even more for people … [Read more...]
Goats and Sheep and Cobalt
You may have seen a cobalt block at your local feed store, or if you're on social media, you may have seen goat or sheep owners talking about them. People have stated that it helps goats utilize their feed better or that their particular breed requires more cobalt than other breeds. Even though my goats and sheep seem to utilize their feed just fine, I started to wonder if my … [Read more...]
Heat Lamps, Safety, and Livestock
Every winter I see articles like this about a barn fire or other structure that burns down because of a heat lamp. In fact, we almost had two fires here because of heat lamps. Yeah, not just one, but two! Many years ago we had a heat lamp hanging on a nail, and the goats knocked it down. That was definitely a rookie mistake made by someone who had no clue how curious goats … [Read more...]
5 reasons to add Dutch Belted Cattle to your homestead
After reading Keeping a Family Cow, I've been considering adding a cow or two to our homestead. So I was easily hooked when I learned about a beautiful heritage breed of milk cow - Dutch Belteds. At The Livestock Conservancy conference in November, mother-daughter duo Winifred and Martha Hoffman (BestYet A.I. Sires) gave an excellent presentation about this breed. Three … [Read more...]
Tips for Protecting Your Livestock from Predators
One of the biggest challenges for anyone raising livestock is preventing predator attacks. This is true whether you have 300 head of sheep in Wyoming or 3 hens in Chicago. Predators are not simply big scary animals like lions and tigers and bears. They can also be your neighbor's dog or cat. All carnivores have an instinct to kill animals. I'll never forget how surprised I … [Read more...]
Stall cleaning: A necessary part of homesteading
It's not fun or sexy or exciting, but it is necessary -- cleaning or mucking out stalls. If you asked ten people how they do this, you'd probably get ten different answers, and our answer has changed over the years. The answer may also vary based upon the animals occupying the stalls. When my daughter had a horse years ago, it was easy to simply scoop out the poop each day … [Read more...]
Tuberculosis in cattle, goats, and sheep
If you are raising any type of animal for dairy, it's a good idea to know their tuberculosis status. TB is a zoonotic disease, which means animals can transmit it to humans. Although most states are TB-free, the disease does still pop up sometimes in random slaughterhouse testing or in routine herd testing, mostly in cattle, and it is spreading. When I got my first goats in … [Read more...]
Growing an Agrihood
Have you heard about agrihoods? I've seen this term popping up more and more recently. Short for "agriculture neighborhood," essentially, an agrihood is an urban or suburban neighborhood built around farms. Here's a video about one of the largest agrihoods in the country located in Ashburn, Virginia and another agrihood in Detroit. There are thought to be more than 200 … [Read more...]
Livestock Handling to Reduce Stress and Keep You Safe
If you've ever wished you could read your animal's minds, then Temple Grandin is the person who can get you closer to that goal. Before reading her books, I never thought about how being a prey animal affects the personality of livestock. Imagine how nervous you would be if you knew intuitively that you could literally be someone's lunch. Understanding that one fact has helped … [Read more...]