I'm just curious if those of us with livestock could post what we raise. I'm not talking about dogs, cats, or hamsters, etc. but actual livestock. If you would like to, please tell what species, breed(s), and how many you have, and whether you are interested in buying or selling them from time to time.
(Moderators, is it ok to do that casually outside of the marketplace forum? Not specifically listing sales, but just whether or not you are interested in buying and selling?)
My wife and I have six sheep, which are crossbred, but most are at least half Katahdin. We raise them to eat and sell. I butcher ours for our own use.
We have approximately 25 chickens, including two leghorn hens that are laying quite nicely, an old easter-egger club-footed hen who lays about every other day, a couple old white rocks, one of them lays fairly regularly, or they alternate-- and a bunch of easter-egger pullets and a few roosters-- the pullets should start laying within the next month or so.
We also have 3 guinea fowl, and I just put down a deposit on two cross-bred piglets, which I hope to pick up next week after I get the garden fence better secured to keep them in. They are supposedly 1/4 landrace, 1/4 Poland China, and 1/2 Russian Boar. I saw both parents today-- the boar is one wild-looking varmint!
Why do you want Russian Boar in those pigs?
Do peacocks count? Lindy has 5 of them, my old horse and a young donkey, couple of black angus cows and some pigs. we got rid of all the chickens because they had a disease that was making the peacocks sick. Didn't harm the chickens, just a carrier. I don't know how many guinies we have. Too many when they go to cutting up.
We haven't had much for livestock lately but the freezer is full! :D
Right now it's just some pullets we bought this spring for eggs. They are a mix of layers we bought from the hatchery and there's a little bit of everything there. Other than that we have a draft I affectionately call the fat horse and a young jenny to keep Becky (the fat horse) company.
Quote from: Tom on August 28, 2010, 10:36:15 PM
Why do you want Russian Boar in those pigs?
I don't really. That's the way they came from the guy selling them. I would prefer that they didn't have RB genetics, but pigs are hard to come by around here.
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but pigs are hard to come by around here.
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The things are running wild around here, free for the taking.
Do fish count? I have a good many catfish, a few cows, way too many horses, and a few RI reds.
My daughter wants goats and pigs, I am resisting. Anyone want to trade some goats and pigs for horses? :D :D
Nothing purebred around here except for us. ( i hope) ::)
Got a couple of goats, a few hens, a few donkeys, and last but not least,about 20 head of mixed bred cows. Got to increase the cow herd (retirement plan) too much grass! ;D
P.S. for those of you thinking of getting "critters", take it from somebody who knows, don't name anything!!!!! I can't stress how important this is on sell day.
Tony 8)
Quote from: Woodwalker on August 29, 2010, 08:52:02 AM
but pigs are hard to come by around here.
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The things are running wild around here, free for the taking.
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Yes, they are here, too, but not the domestic type, so in response to the question of why I wanted Russian Boar in it, I didn't, but that's what was available was something that was half farm pig. Half a pig is better than none. . . . . .
Half a pig is best on a spit roasting over an open fire. Cook a while, eat what's done let it cook some more till more is done, eat again. Continue till pigs is all et or you can't stand any more.
I grew up helping raise cattle and pigs for the market and horses. When my Dad finally retired at age 80, he said that the happiest day of his life was when the tail of the last one of them went out of the gate.
Now, when a storm blows a tree across a fence I don't worry. I haven't had the first tree to get out yet. :D
I have about 12 deer, 85 wild turkeys, 40 cows with a bunch of calves, 1 bull and no pigs. I just don't understand why I go by pigman. ::)
22 cattle mostly Wagyu/Angus cross 16 off to the sale on Wednesday, we have most of one in the freezer. 29 sheep of which 13 are newborn lambs with 9 still to give birth we have two in the freezer. We just killed our 2 pigs and have heaps of bacon, ham and sausages in the freezer, 7 hens and one rooster. We have 4 freezers, almost all full at least until the kids start scrounging again :)
The Wagyus are what are left from the days when we leased a few out for that movie The Last Samurai which was shot on a friend's farm. Great eating ;D. In Japan, they call it Kobe beef. They feed them beer and massage them every day :o Needless to say, I have no interest in massaging cattle or wasting beer :)
I have 70 or so angus pairs, 2 horses. Grew up raising hogs and cattle, got out of the hogs in the late 90s early 2000? Can't remember for sure but never looked back 8) We really didn't have much of a set up for them, it was farrow to finish the old style. My fiance is big into the PBR, she pretty well knows all the bulls and the riders. She has this dream of raising bucking bulls the funny thing is there is guy here that raises mini bucking bulls for the kids circut. My fiance has a miniature horse and a mini poodle (which actually does think it's a cow dog) so I have to tease her she needs to raise the mini bulls so she can ride out on her mini horse with her mini cow dog to round up her mini cattle :D :D :D :D
A hard-learned lesson my ole dad taught me...if you have to feed it, you don't need it ;D
Free range chickens might be ok.
Quote from: pineywoods on August 30, 2010, 04:42:36 PM
A hard-learned lesson my ole dad taught me...if you have to feed it, you don't need it ;D
Good thing he didn't think that way about his kids :D :D
We have a couple dozen chickens, 3 horses and 3 mules, and a dexter cow. Also a few ducks live around the place if they count as livestock. One of my horses is a well bred, well built, well mannered quarter horse stud that I have bred a handful of times. The rest are just your regular packstring variety. The stud lives with the herd and goes on almost all my trips, until I say something no one seems to notice he's not gelded.
one angus bull two hefers two duroc sows ready to pig out one boar 20 to 30 flemish giant rabbits 30 some chickens 4 turkeys one nubian nanny goat one sonnin nanny 2bohr billygoats 3bohr nannys one lahma oh i forgot about our ducks 15 right now pekin runner mallard and hairdoos (crested) and one 11yr old bluetick coonhound named puddin .and one 3 month old bloodhound named erma.
Quote from: saltydog on August 31, 2010, 05:38:21 PM
one angus bull two hefers two duroc sows ready to pig out one boar 20 to 30 flemish giant rabbits 30 some chickens 4 turkeys one nubian nanny goat one sonnin nanny 2bohr billygoats 3bohr nannys one lahma
:) That's quite a zoo ya got there!
I don't have or want any stoopid cows ... That being said , we have three horses, two pigmy goats , two miniature goats , of those two have had there kids , so add three kids to that, chickens two rhode island reds , one plymouth rock one brown leghorn rooster and one sussex rooster and 14 young chicks from this spring of wich many have been named Hotchicken. There are give or take 40 rabbits at different age stage , most have been named either Freezer or Oven. One has Mushroom Sauce for a name. There is also four ducks wabling around the yard during the day , I should get a pick of them , ever see a duck with a hairdoo ::) a few of these have a feathered hat on there head . :D Oh and a lake/pond with a pile of bass in it . There is a moose out there , he shows up every now and then shy thing though.
That moose probably was aware of you naming things Marcel and didn't want his written on freezer paper. :D
I have eight chickens and a dog. Yup big time farmer here, think it's time to retire. :D
We have about 130 head of angus cross cows. We are also starting a Boer goat herd. 16 does right now. We should start kidding in a few days. I am looking at expanding both herds. I need more pasture to expand the cow herd. I can expand the goat herd without much trouble. Three horses that are pretty much in retirement.
Faron, do you pasture the goats with the cows?
We run 85 pairs of mostly registered Angus and sell as grassfed/finished beef. And produce bulls for a ranch in cheynne wells, colorado.
We've always had hayburners (horses) and are down to 1 cripple, 1 30 yr old dead broke roping/kid horse, and 1 Shetland pony that founders just looking at green grass.
1 very fat pygmy goat that I purchased from a student.
And this year we ventured into chickens. Did the free range thing on the chickens and butchered 75 and kept 25 for layers.
To help keep the cash flowing we also custom graze b/t 75-100 of fall calving cows each summer.
Might add goats into the mix next year to help with the brush, but hate to feed to coyotes and bobcats too well ;)
woodsteach
To help with the predators I would suggest you get a young donkey or two to raise with the goats so they bond with them. Ours will kill a dog or coyote that goes after what they consider part of their family.
Quote from: Norm on September 08, 2010, 10:36:23 AM
To help with the predators I would suggest you get a young donkey or two to raise with the goats so they bond with them. Ours will kill a dog or coyote that goes after what they consider part of their family.
One would be better than two. Two donks together get cliquish sometimes and ignore the other animals. My boss's two donkeys let the yotes get a goat our of the same pasture-- evidently they weren't near enough by that night, didn't care. Hanging out w/ each other.
We just added the two little piglets Saturday. 8) 8)
They are reported to be 1/4 Landrace, 1/4 Poland China, and 1/2 Russian Boar. I saw both parents-- that Russian Boar daddy is one mean looking varmint! The piggys are white. We got them around 15 lbs. I put them in the garden but they kept getting out through the wire >:( So I built an 8x8 enclosure for them out of OSB (2' high) and they calmed down and got happy. My incorrigible kids have named the little blighters (Yeah, I know, don't start) Arthur and Samantha. Why, I don't know.
We always used to name our piggies after cuts of meat...pork chop & hammie were my favorites. :D
Those work fine with me Patty ;D :D
I have horses,Mr Gennie,one big brown hen that lays eggs but mr gennie eats them. A few barn cats an dogs. Lookin for a donkey so maybe I quit loosing the little animals
Quote from: fishpharmer on September 02, 2010, 07:54:05 AM
Faron, do you pasture the goats with the cows?
Yes, that is what we are doing. I think it would work to keep one big group of goats and move them to different pastures on a regular schedule. I am learning that our humid weather and damp grass are not ideal for goats.
:P It's ideal to have your pastures divided up (permanently or temporarily) to where you can move the animals every 1-3 days. That translates into about 15-30 different paddocks or subdivision plots. Some of us wouldn't have time to move them that often. . . . . . Anyway in that case you would leave them in there just long enough to eat everything down to the target level, then move them out before they overgraze.
I rotate cattle some, but have never been able to do it the way it should be done. One problem is getting water to that many enclosures, and the other is it costs a lot for fencing. We used to fence cattle with a single hot wire. In recent years, our cows will find a way out without at least three strands of electric barbed wire.
Quote from: Faron on September 23, 2010, 06:52:46 AM
I rotate cattle some, but have never been able to do it the way it should be done. One problem is getting water to that many enclosures, and the other is it costs a lot for fencing. We used to fence cattle with a single hot wire. In recent years, our cows will find a way out without at least three strands of electric barbed wire.
Yes, that can be a problem. For water, consider setting up a lane system allowing the cows to go through a narrow lane dedicated to always letting them get to the water. (should be at least 16-20 ft. wide or the cows will feel claustrophobic in it). For temporary fencing, consider electric netting. Only thing about that is, you have to make sure you take a weed eater, lawn mower, etc, and cut the grass out of the path of where you put the netting, so it doesn't short out. With cows you might be able to put it off the ground a few inches, unlike with sheep.
We rotate also, with our largest group but the lane idea wouldn,t work in this country unless you wanted a really long blow out. ;)
I rotate my cows about every 4 or 5 days most times.
Faron, I have the opposite thing happen. I started with three hot wires and am now down to only one wire on all new fences. The only difference is that I finally bought a good charger.
That moose afore mentioned .. wellll it came back last night and took two fences out in his wunderings >:( I had to fix um this morning to put the horses out to pasture, both fences are in two different pastures , he walked up from the river both places .... He/she is quite high on list of things that need be put in Freezer.
Quote from: isawlogs on September 23, 2010, 11:39:02 PM
That moose afore mentioned .. wellll it came back last night and took two fences out in his wunderings >:( I had to fix um this morning to put the horses out to pasture, both fences are in two different pastures , he walked up from the river both places .... He/she is quite high on list of things that need be put in Freezer.
I had one that kept visiting my calves when I lived in Maine. I learned to build certain spring releases in the fence along the trails he used to get in there-- that way I didn't have to rebuild the fence-- only pick up the wire and put it back in place. Spiffy. (I mean, the calves were going to get out whether the moose knocked the whole fence down or just the release gate, right?)
Right now I'm down to about 40 horses and one mini-mule. I'm smart enough not to own any of them, I own a stable. At one time I was up to sixty here and managed a brood mare operation down the road with another 60. That was way too much. I don't mind taking care of the horses, they don't complain much, but most seem to be an accident waiting to happen. The owners require a lot more care. There's nothing worse than a older woman with no children,that horse is her baby and most of the time I can't seem to do anything right.
Now we have three roosters and around 35 hens. Can't count them, they won't hold still long enough.
Today we collected 3 (count them) eggs. :-\
Add five red chickens to the lot.
Also , today I found out that goats can swim. ;) One of the kids fell into the pool and made it to the steps and got out . Seeing as the goat is only a foot high off the ground to the tip of its ears and maybe a foot anf a half long standing on its hind legs, it had to swim in the two feet and deeper water it was in.
I have yet to see anything a goat can get itself into that it can't get out of :D. And Oakra if yer having trouble counting the chickens the best I can suggest is get a job at the local salebarn for oh, about 15 years or so, things never slow down there either and you still have to count them all, about 20 times before they leave usually :D.
Quote from: sandhills on October 13, 2010, 01:40:35 AM
I have yet to see anything a goat can get itself into that it can't get out of :D. And Oakra if yer having trouble counting the chickens the best I can suggest is get a job at the local salebarn for oh, about 15 years or so, things never slow down there either and you still have to count them all, about 20 times before they leave usually :D.
The only way to count chickens is before they hatch-- they don't move around then. ::) ::) ::)
Quote from: isawlogs link=topic=45605.msg667358#msg667358
date=1286943286
Add five red chickens to the lot.
Also , today I found out that goats can swim. ;) One of the kids fell into the pool and made it to the steps and got out . Seeing as the goat is only a foot high off the ground to the tip of its ears and maybe a foot anf a half long standing on its hind legs, it had to swim in the two feet and deeper water it was in.
Goats are very resourceful. Sometimes I think they are like monkeys trapped in a deer's body. I did see one about 6 feet up in a tree one time, eating the leaves. It was standing on relatively small branches.
One of the happiest days of my life was the day the last cottonpickin' goat left this place! 8) 8) 8)
Quote from: DanG on October 13, 2010, 11:36:19 AM
One of the happiest days of my life was the day the last cottonpickin' goat left this place! 8) 8) 8)
But-- but-- but-- who picks your cotton now?????
??? ??? ??? ???
:-X
Aint my call on them goats ::) They are kinda cute :D :D I did get me five laying hens earlier this week .. I have some hens in the makin' but they are too young and the older hens we have aint laying much anymore. Hotchicken anyone ;D
Quote from: isawlogs on October 14, 2010, 08:56:08 PM
Aint my call on them goats ::) They are kinda cute :D :D I did get me five laying hens earlier this week .. I have some hens in the makin' but they are too young and the older hens we have aint laying much anymore. Hotchicken anyone ;D
hmm-- anybody know how to jump start their laying? I could use that about now.
For starters you could regulate the daylight in the coop .. 18hrs/day . I dont bother with it but it is the optimum for laying hens. Temperature would be good to control too ... Another thing I dont do , the barn is heated by the animals in it , so at this time of the year it may get a little chilly at night but never cold.
Alright I'm not allowed to post here because I don't have any livestock, but I want to someday so does that count? I want to start off with a couple goats and some chickens, then go from there.
By the way, can we get some pics here please! ;D
48 posts and not one picture, I'm disappointed in you guys :D
Quote from: Piston on October 15, 2010, 07:35:23 AM
Alright I'm not allowed to post here because I don't have any livestock, but I want to someday so does that count? I want to start off with a couple goats and some chickens, then go from there.
By the way, can we get some pics here please! ;D
48 posts and not one picture, I'm disappointed in you guys :D
Sorry, I'll try to work on that.
Nicky has 40 Buff Orphington chicks coming out of the incubator tomorrow :(
In the paddock there is 25 cows, Murray Greys and Angus with a Santa Gertrudis Bull, 14 yearling steers, 500 Boer Goats and a couple of Maremma Guard dogs.
We have 250 does 3 weeks into kidding and the cold wet weather is playing havoc with them, the twinning does suffering Preg Toxemia and a lot of miss mothering going on. Last night was our worst night yet with a sheep graziers alert issued, wind gusts to 110 km/hr on the back of 65 mm of cold rain. This year fortunately the girls are in a 100 acre paddock that has really good shelter trees.
The trials and tribulations of Livestock ownership,"hard to live with em, can't live without em"
Rob
We have about 20 chickens. Two roosters. They are mixed variety, they all came from the eggs of our last generation of chickens. We get a dozen a day on good days.
Piston .. man ya don't need no permission from anyone to post on here, having livestock or not got nothing to do with it. You could be the first to post a pic of what you want to have ;D :D
I will try and get some pics of the critters over the weekend ;)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/17127/1748/DSC05136.JPG)
;D
Are those both goats, Piston? The one on the right looks like a sheep. The one on the left definitely has a goat tail, and no head. I've seen a lot of strange goats, but never a live one with no head.
:D :D
Actually I have no idea. I took that pic at my favorite dairy farm. I was just posting it to add a little color to this thread.
Here is one of my absolute favorite goat pictures I've taken, I laugh every time I look at it: :D
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/17127/1748/100_0497.JPG)
:D :D :D
Another one with no head.
Here are my piglets.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/22845/3027/piglets.jpg)
On our 26 acre family plot we have 5 families and between us we have four goats, five horses, five geese, 20 +or- chickens, three dogs, three cats and a partridge in a pear tree. All pets. All we eat are eggs. We also have many skunks, possums, ground hogs, foxes, deer, squirrels, etc. ::)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/22845/2945/Our_animals_Oct_2010_006.jpg)
Here the piggies are today. Happy to see me so they can get food.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/22845/2945/Our_animals_Oct_2010_002.jpg)
Here is Patrick the Great, checking out my scrap metal pile.
Quote from: isawlogs on October 13, 2010, 12:14:46 AM
Also , today I found out that goats can swim. ;) One of the kids fell into the pool and made it to the steps and got out .
On the last "training sesion" with "Turd" the pack goat we took on river crossings. The first attempt looked more like and old miner with a stuborn mule (both of their butts just off the ground) But the goat was no match for his trainer and he was soon enjoying swimming in the river with the kids. At one point the six legged goat was crossing the river when he dunked his rider face first in the water :D
This goat is a good swimmer and seems to enjoy the water.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/17725/PART_1402239349148.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/17725/PART_1402239324785.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/17725/PART_1402239376927.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/17725/IMG_20140607_164328.jpg)
livestock hmmm.. 65- bison, 43 angus cows with calves, 21 angus stockers, 3 angus breeding bulls, 17 cross bred sows. i finish out about 200 butcher hogs a year. 103 laying hens 50 meat birds
3 mini horses 7 dwarf goats, and a partridge in the pair tree :D
4 minature donkeys with a jenny about to drop another one and a calf that we bottlefed from a day old , now about 450 lbs . Had a half dozen chickens but something killed them all one night . Would love to have the land for 40 or 50 head of cows but my neighbor is being stubborn .
Quote from: red oaks lumber on June 10, 2014, 10:22:32 PM
livestock hmmm.. 65- bison, 43 angus cows with calves, 21 angus stockers, 3 angus breeding bulls, 17 cross bred sows. i finish out about 200 butcher hogs a year. 103 laying hens 50 meat birds
3 mini horses 7 dwarf goats, and a partridge in the pair tree :D
Did you lose a lot over the winter with the cold?
i was very fortunate, no loses acured :) the only lose was the money i spent buying alot of extra feed just to keep the energy intake high to combat the extened extreme cold.
Well...right now we're at 8 Clydesdales on the ground, 1 Percheron, 3 quarter horses, and about 50 pair of black Angus cows, 23 black Angus heifers and 2 bulls. I say "8 Clydesdales on the ground" because we have a baby or 2 on the way at this time.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/29418/1231077_729516670398795_1788033943_n.jpg)
You have some beautiful horses John, my daughter, nieces, and nephew had their first horse show a few weeks ago in a neighboring town. We pulled in with our old 20' stock trailer full of $500 horses and I looked at my wife and said what the heck are we doing here (she used to be the 4H leader), she said it's good experience for the kids and their horses, all I said back was the first time I see any of you clipping fake hair onto our horses I quit :D. They have a hometown show today and we unloaded at 7, most of the trailers there were hauling cattle yesterday ;D, I feel a little better about this one.
Hey, it's not the equipment, nor the paint...but how much fun you have!! I feel the same way you do, Sandhills! Our trailer needs paint and so does the '94 Dodge that drags it along! Best example I ever saw of that is when I got to go to the National Horse Show at Madison Square Gardens.... outside are all these awesome stainless steel, nice new rigs and trailers and such...by now I'm feeling pretty out of place...then I spy a '72 Chevy 3/4 ton 4x4 (that lime green they had then), and an old 2 horse Miley trailer (powder blue, of course) both accentuated with rust, with Wyoming plates..... my kind of rig! haha I got to talk with the guy inside...his daughter was riding... we had a blast and decided that our Tony Lama's were probably the ONLY ones there that had actually stepped in cow crap! hahha
90 some spanish meat goat nannies w appx 135 kids at their side.75 Katahdin ewes w around 50 lambs yet to be weaned. 4 Akbash guard dogs. 2 Pyrenees guard dogs. Three kelpies and a blue heeler.
Just dogs. We've got a Siberian Shepherd, a Jack-A-Bea, a Chi-Weenie, a Cocker Spaniel, and a Pug.
Just chooks and chicks right now. We hatched 23 chicks out this spring-- our first time to incubate. Fun, fun!
3 white face, 1 Scotish highlander, 4 cross bred sheep, whole lot of chickens, mostly NH reds, sometimes meat birds and pigs not at the moment though two goats. We eat most of them, sell some or trade too.
My wife has a cat. Does that count? :D
We try to keep the freezer full of Elk, and deer, and occasionally buy a 1/2 beef.
5 feeder calves for freezer beef.
14 piglets for freezer pork.
2 hens, 1 tom Royal Palm turkeys.
2 saddle horses, 1 mule (dual purpose), 1 draft cross and a team of Norwegian Fjords. We farm with our teams.