Rabbits, chicken, lambs or, goats?

Lets see.......

Right now I have saanen dairy goats, I've been raising them since 1988.

Had chickens since 88 too.

Have a flock of muscovy ducks too.

About 10 guineas.


Livestock is a major committment.

Unless you have a very large farm and equiptment you will be buying hay and feed so you will still have some dependency on stores.

Chickens could possibly live on leftovers and garden scraps and grazing but your egg production will be really low.

Goats have to be milked twice a day as close to 12 hours apart as possible so if you have a social life serious adjustments are needed.

While I don't have any problems raising my goats I would like to say that I disagree with the majority here that they are easy to raise. They are fairly labor intensive. Even if you are just raising meat goats unless you have housing and fencing already you are talking some money.

That said I love my chickens and fresh eggs and love my cheese and yogurt.

By the way in reference to some other statements up thread goat milk and cheese does not taste "off" unless there's something wrong.\
 
Yeah, I didn't think about milking the goats as I never had to do that. (Wasn't "my" chore). We have about 175 acre hunting farm that we run cows, or goats or other type animals on. The large livestock wouldn't be an issue. Fences and gates are all up, barn and sheds. Two hay pastures and a tractor. So it is ready to go. I just need to find a job upthere and move on to it. Until then...Hunting camp and summer hide out is what it will stay.

we know of a water buffalo farm and they sell the meat to local restaurants and butchers. they also share with family and friends. I think it could work out, but freezer space would be a must.
 
Tasselhoff said:
Teotwawki - look at raising water buffalo. (The kind mozzarella cheese comes from)
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Wait... what?

:confused:

You must know something I don't know about cheese. That sure sounds like you're suggesting that the normal milk source for mozzarella cheese is water buffalo. Am I just an ignoramus?



Back to the subject at hand, I really love duck eggs. When we get a permanent place, I'll be raising some ducks. :thumbup:
 
MSCantrell said:
Wait... what?

:confused:

You must know something I don't know about cheese. That sure sounds like you're suggesting that the normal milk source for mozzarella cheese is water buffalo. Am I just an ignoramus?



Back to the subject at hand, I really love duck eggs. When we get a permanent place, I'll be raising some ducks. :thumbup:
Click to expand...

True Mozzarella di Bufala is NOT made from dairy cow milk. As noted true Mozzarella di Bufala comes from Asian water buffalo milk. Cheap Mozzarella can be made from dairy cow milk.

The cheap stuff listed with part skim milk is a poor representation of Mozzarella IMHO.

Mozzarella is a generic term for several kinds of Italian cheeses that are made using spinning and then cutting (hence the name, as the Italian verb mozzare means "to cut"):

- Mozzarella di Bufala (buffalo mozzarella), made from domesticated water buffalo milk
- mozzarella fior di latte, made from fresh pasteurized or unpasteurized cow's milk
- low-moisture mozzarella, which is made from whole or part skimmed milk, and widely used in the foodservice industry
- smoked mozzarella

Mozzarella di bufala campana (PDO 1996) is a particular type of mozzarella, made from the milk of water buffalo raised in designated areas of Lazio and Campania; some consider it the best for flavour or quality. Unlike other mozzarellas, 50% of whose production derives from imported, and often semi-coagulated milk, it holds the official status of a protected designation of origin (PDO) under the European Union. It, not mozzarella made with pasteurized cow's milk, is an ingredient in Neapolitan pizza.
 
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Thanks for all the helpful information. I raised rabbits in hutches for a few years when I was a kid, but that was quite a few years ago. They tasted great but we traveled, hunted, camped, fished, etc. and it became too much effort to keep them. They did taste good though.

I often thought that 1-2 meat goats would be fairly independent and hardy. Of course I think my neighbors would complain. I know that they can be both nasty and annoying but if I ever get the room, they would be the 1st livestock I would give a try.
 
Tasselhoff said:
Yeah, I didn't think about milking the goats as I never had to do that. (Wasn't "my" chore). We have about 175 acre hunting farm that we run cows, or goats or other type animals on. The large livestock wouldn't be an issue. Fences and gates are all up, barn and sheds. Two hay pastures and a tractor. So it is ready to go. I just need to find a job upthere and move on to it. Until then...Hunting camp and summer hide out is what it will stay.

we know of a water buffalo farm and they sell the meat to local restaurants and butchers. they also share with family and friends. I think it could work out, but freezer space would be a must.
Click to expand...

If you have all those fences and facilities you are WAY ahead of the game!:thumbup:
 
It seems to me that in an EOTWAWKI situation you would look to form a small community and work together to get by. In that sort of situation some goats & chickens would be good for meat, eggs, milk & cheese - that would be pretty darned useful IMO. Obviously you would also grow whatever fruit & vegetables you could. But if there were several people then caring for goats & chickens shouldn't be too hard to cope with.

Aren't goats the most efficient milk producers? I seem to recall charities raising money to send goats to Africa for that reason. Cows produce more milk, but need more pasture, I think goats require less food for the amount of milk they produce. There must be a definite benefit to getting more than just meat from the animals, especially in an EOTWAWKI situation.

Similarly with chickens or ducks - having eggs available would be a great benefit over just having meat (like with rabbits). I would guess that where preditors aren't a big problem and you can set up a chicken coop and keep productive chickens easily then they would be well worth it.

For lambs I can see a great benefit to raising them if you are also getting wool - in an EOTWAWKI situation you may not have shops available to buy clothes from so spinning and knitting may become popular pastimes.

I guess a lot depends on how many people are in the group, how much land you have available, what sort of land (pasture, scrub, bush, etc) and various other factors.
 
Gadgetaholic said:
Aren't goats the most efficient milk producers? I seem to recall charities raising money to send goats to Africa for that reason. Cows produce more milk, but need more pasture, I think goats require less food for the amount of milk they produce. There must be a definite benefit to getting more than just meat from the animals, especially in an EOTWAWKI situation.
Click to expand...

A goat consumes way less water and feed and produces more milk per pound of body weight than a cow.

They are also way easier on easily erodable pastures.

However a cow can give a decent amount on pasture alone where a goat almost always requires some protein supplementation due to the greater milk to body size.
 
Here in Texas you don't have to worry about raising rabbits and hogs 'cause they are all over the place!!! :eek:

You can shoot them year round too, even without a hunting license if you are "exterminating" them from property ;)

Just saying, J. :)
 
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