I know. Things are a little slow around this blog. But not in my life. See how the two are related? I heretofore pledge not to neglect Thee anymore, Oh Blog. At least not as much. That’s something, right?
So, animals. When we moved out here to our little ten acre homestead in late July, the first thing I wanted to do was buy a half dozen varieties of homesteady-type animals. (And plant fruit and nut trees, because that’s what you’re supposed to do your first year. They take so long to fruit! But I digress…) But see, there was the *small* matter of ripping out all of the nasty carpet and installing new pine plank floors (so fast to type, yet so much work to execute! and so many details!)…mixing up the laundry room a bit and installing a new front loading Bosch set…painting maaaany a wall and ceiling….installing bathroom and kitchen fans…installing a new fireplace insert…light fixtures…blah…blah…you get the drift, eh?
The kids and I didn’t actually end up moving in for a month, or late August. Then we began unpacking, and homeschooling, and settling in…and I don’t have to tell those of you with young children that there are still boxes unpacked, empty walls begging for some pretty pictures, windows screaming for coverings, and cold fingers begging for mittens that Mama can’t find.
With winter around the corner, we have many indoor-type goals: finish unpacking and decluttering, decorate a bit, mini-renovate the bathroom (rip out moldy cabinet, install new floors, paint again), unpack and declutter some more, pick and install flooring for the lower level bedrooms…and I have high hopes of at least half that getting done. 
However, we are quickly realizing that we should have bought the chicks as soon as we moved in, in late summer. That means we’d have full grown laying hens by spring. And let me tell you, we are in dire need of some homegrown, free range eggs around here. All five of us eat eggs almost daily (including Asher, who loves him a scrambled egg for breakfast), and it’s an important source of protein for us who can’t afford free range, locally produced meat every day.
And then we also realize pretty much daily that dairy products pretty much kill our grocery budget. Milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, sour cream, buttermilk…I have to ration these like crazy. We need a dairy animal, too!
So our tentative plan is to start with the smallest, easiest to take care of, and most needed creature: fowl. Chickens or ducks. (I say “or ducks” because our neighbor has 22 ducklings that are starting to feather out; he wants to sell them to us for a great deal. They would start laying in the spring! If we buy chicks in the spring, they won’t lay until fall.) Then, we’ll work up in size from there.
While we hope to sell any excess, our primary motivation in raising homestead animals is to provide our own family with high quality, ethically produced food.
Here’s the list, as worked out in my head during many sleepless nights with Asher:
- Ducks - late fall/early winter 2008; eggs and meat
- Chickens - spring 2009; eggs and meat; looking to buy a cold weather-hardy dual purpose heritage breed, like the chantecler
- Turkeys - spring 2009 or 2010; one of the rare breeds, as on this ALBC list
- Goats - fall 2009; perhaps we’ll buy a bred doe next fall (we’re thinking LaMancha), with a wether for a companion, and start milking when she kids in late winter/spring; this will provide us with milk, cheese, and yogurt
- Dairy Cow – fall 2009/2010; if we choose not to do goats, we may do a dairy cow; we could have all the milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, buttermilk, sour cream, whey, etc. that we could ever need, plus extra to sell or feed to the poultry; we could raise the calf for freezer beef every year
- Beef Cow – spring 2010; whether or not we choose to milk goats or a cow, we will want to have a steer to raise for the freezer; we can sell the extra to family or friends, as a whole cow is probably a bit much for us; we could also buy a dual-purpose (meat and milk) breed like a Mini Devon or a Dexter, and have both dairy and meat cow possibilities
- Bees - spring 2010 or 2011; honey!
That’s “all” for now. Something for milk, something for poultry, something for eggs, something for beef, and maybe honey down the road. A lot of these plans need to be worked with finances and life circumstances in mind, of course. And our barn needs lots of work, so we can’t have any animals until we learn how to fix it up. Anyone out there a barn expert? Help?
As for goats v. cow…we can’t decide on this. In the goat column: We happen to live near two very wonderful small-scale goat dairies, and plenty of other goat breeders/keepers, and could get some good goats with knowledge and support to go with them. Goats are browsers more than grazers, which means they prefer small trees and shrubs over pasture; we happen to have one very brushy, overgrown “pasture” that needs cleaning up (not to mention our little overgrown wood). Goats are smaller and easier for me to handle. Smaller also means easier to transport; they can be hauled in a car, if needed. With children around, smaller also means less dangerous for children (though caution will still need to be exercised, obviously). I have milked a goat and know I can do it, with a little practice. Goat’s milk is naturally homogenized and is more easily digested by most humans (imporant with cow dairy intolerances in our family). And here’s the bottom line: goats are much more affordable than a cow. Like, a good dairy cow will cost upwards of five times what a good dairy goat will cost.
In the cow column: cow’s milk is not naturally homogenized, meaning the cream will easily separate from the milk. That means not just milk, cheese, and yogurt, but also butter, buttermilk, whey, whipped cream, sour cream, and I’m sure many other products I haven’t thought of yet. (Some folks say it’s possible to make butter with goat’s millk, it’s just very difficult). A family dairy cow (I’m thinking Jersey, or a dual purpose heritage breed like a Dexter) will produce anywhere from 1.5 gallons to upwards of 6 gallons of milk a day, with Jerseys being on the high end. We would be able to make any dairy product we could ever need, plus have extra to sell. Due to familiarity, it’s easier to sell cow’s milk than goat’s milk. And we would have a baby cow every year to either raise for beef or sell. (I’m still not sure what we’d do with baby goats; I’m really unfamiliar with goat meat, but I can’t waste anything, so we’d probably learn how to cook goat, too.)
Those are my thoughts on animals right now. If I’ve missed anything, or you have any advice or questions to throw my way, please do. I can’t wait to get started!
(Maya just peeked over my shoulder and said, “Can you say, ‘Maya wants ducks?’ Because I do.” So there you go.)
[...] Homestead animal acquisition/timeline – done [...]
hi! i was missing you with no updates or posts! my compy has been VERY SLOW, so i’ve been out of the loop for a few days until we figure it out. anyway… muscovy ducks are great for eggs, and they go broody, too. they are very ugly, but that’s ok… i don’t see pigs on your list? don’t you want any? dave says that if you have a milk cow, you can feed the pigs the extra milk. they absolutely LOVE it, and will climb all over each other to get at the trough. we have our pigs fenced with one of those electric tape fences, and it works great. they are rooting up my garded for me, getting it ready for spring. hope that helps. i’m doing a give a way, if you’re interested. pay it forward. take care.
oh my, the kids are going to love all these animals! I hope you get to start the “farm” soon.
Maybe by the time I have my kids, youll have a full farm for them to come visit! (“Aunt Serina’s Farm?”)
Why do you have to figure out what to do with the goat? Does it only produce milk for a short period of time? What good is taht?! Goat is used a whole bunch in Indian food! mmm…tandoori goat? Curry Goat?
I vote for the Cow.
And the ducks. If you get ducks, Ali will come over and help you eat them.
I hope we end up in K-zoo just so we can visit all your little critters. FYI – Our friends have a litter(?) of bunnies who need good homes. I know they aren’t real useful-but they are cute! Can’t wait for your little farm to start! Take pictures! In your research, how much do you estimate in vet bills for your long term animals?
Serina, you are incredibly cool.
I’m so jealous of your plans! I can’t wait until we have more land and can raise more animals.
I just wanted to comment on the chicken and turkey plans. You’re not supposed to raise them together. In fact, you’re supposed to keep them seperated entirely and change boots, etc before you go from one pen to another. Apparently one can make the other very ill.
I’ve been thinking about you and this post lately – I have a patient who is an organic farmer and raises heritage breed chickens and turkeys. He’s trying to get me to raise my own chickens “They are easier than cats or dogs and the kids love them!”
He’s also designed a portable chicken coop for 4-5 chickens that you can keep moving to fresh grass and they get all the fresh air and sunshine they need. He just gave me some eggs but I haven’t tried them yet. Have you finalized plans on what you are doing with fowl?
well, we decided to pass up on the ducks for now. couldn’t decide if we liked the eggs or not. we are almost certainly ordering a batch of chicks this spring. probably a dual purpose breed for eggs and meat. i’m hoping to raise a few turkeys, too, but that remains to be seen. i can’t wait for chickens!
still thinking about goats for the fall. one of the local goat dairies is putting together a family milker package that includes two goats, stud service, birthing assistance, etc. sounds awesome to me!
will you be getting chickens, cyndi? you should! we plan to design a moveable coop, too, because i can’t imagine enjoying chicken poop all over the yard.
This guy’s chicken coop was half wooden sled (with a coop above it) and an attached box of chicken wire (top, sides, and on the ground too) so the chickens could go out in the wire box and get at the grass. The sled part was to help slide it around. If you are interested, I could see if he has e-mail and would consider selling the plans to make it.
He also recommended having different kinds of chickens for meat and eggs – I guess by the time the laying chickens are done making eggs, they are kind of tough – so he said they were good only if they were crock-potted.
I am only 30-40% seriously considering raising chickens at this point. We’ve got plenty of grass – but I just don’t know how cost effective it is v.s. buying store bought chicken and eggs. But the grass-fed is supposed to be healthier… so I don’t know!!
yes, many folks recommend a separate meat breed. problem with that is, the meat-only breeds have been breed to be such production machines and gain weight so efficiently that the natural ability to forage has been bred right out of them. though, i’m certain that home-raised broilers are better for you than store-bought chicken, no matter what breed you buy.
going with a dual purpose means waiting longer to butcher and perhaps having less meat per bird. i’m okay with that. the flavor is supposed to be richer, and there are some dual-purpose breeds that grow to be a nice size for eating.
i bet that it’s more cost effective to buy eggs at the store, if you’re buying the cheapest eggs. but organic, free-range eggs bought at the store will likely be more expensive than your own home-raised ones, and yours will be better (“free range” is such a variably interpreted term).