1st Generation Farmer

sailorman · Oct 23, 2012

Welcome to TBN ! Sounds like ya got a real adventure ahead of ya !!

MIKE R · Oct 23, 2012

Welcome to the forum. Have fun.

crowbar032 · Oct 26, 2012

IndyIan said:
Sounds like a great place and lifestyle. We have goats and chickens and get a couple pigs every couple years and my Wife also talks about getting a Dexter cow too at some point. If you haven't had a whole lot of animal experience I would recommend starting a bit slow and small and see which ones you like and what you are going to do with them. We like the goats as they are manhandleable and taste good, the only real PITA is trimming hooves a couple times a year, but we do it with no special/expensive equipment.
Also we find a couple Maremma livestock guard dogs keep the predators away, eat very little for their size, and can happily dispose of goat and chicken carcasses for you if you do your own butchering.

Interesting. You feed the livestock guardian dogs that protect the goats, goat meat leftovers? Won't they get a taste of what they're protecting and do some self service? Just curious. I have goats, but use donkeys as guardians.

To the OP, start slow. We all have big dreams and thoughts of where we want to end up, but it always takes more time and energy to get there than what we plan on. Also don't get discouraged when something goes wrong. It happens to everyone, it will be unpredictable, it will most likely be expensive but you will learn from it and you will move on/forward. Also, there are some other forums geared toward animals that would be worth joining which will save you some mistakes (not that I want to run you off from TBN). Also with a garden like that, get the biggest chest type freezer you can find. Congratulations and happy farming.

skylarkguy · Oct 26, 2012

Welcome, that is good country up there. I'm in a similar boat, starting from scratch after growing up in a semi urban environment. My grandfather was a produce guy but it skipped a generation. Best of luck.

IndyIan · Oct 27, 2012

crowbar032 said:
Interesting. You feed the livestock guardian dogs that protect the goats, goat meat leftovers? Won't they get a taste of what they're protecting and do some self service? Just curious. I have goats, but use donkeys as guardians.

To the OP, start slow. We all have big dreams and thoughts of where we want to end up, but it always takes more time and energy to get there than what we plan on. Also don't get discouraged when something goes wrong. It happens to everyone, it will be unpredictable, it will most likely be expensive but you will learn from it and you will move on/forward. Also, there are some other forums geared toward animals that would be worth joining which will save you some mistakes (not that I want to run you off from TBN). Also with a garden like that, get the biggest chest type freezer you can find. Congratulations and happy farming.

No self serve yet for the dogs, we usually wait a few days before feeding them the bones and it seems they forget by then. We have butchered in our yard and then the dogs will guard the parts when it's fresh, but we try to avoid that. They are pretty easy to train, and they don't even go after the cats once it was made clear to them.
How do you handle feeding grain to the goats with the donkey? Or does the donkey not try to eat it all?

crowbar032 · Oct 29, 2012

IndyIan said:
No self serve yet for the dogs, we usually wait a few days before feeding them the bones and it seems they forget by then. We have butchered in our yard and then the dogs will guard the parts when it's fresh, but we try to avoid that. They are pretty easy to train, and they don't even go after the cats once it was made clear to them.
How do you handle feeding grain to the goats with the donkey? Or does the donkey not try to eat it all?

Well, I'm probably luckier than most. I have enough pasture that I don't have to grain much. As long as everyone gets a bite or two or sweet feed each day, everyone seems happy. We'll see how it goes this winter if there is any snow on the ground.

Toekneeserrano · Sep 10, 2013

Re: 1st Generation Farmer ***UPDATE***

Our first pig went to butcher hanging weight of 196!!! Kinda proud of that
We bought a bottle feeder calf. Little Jersey steer... got my first experience with banding and after helping casterate in the past Im going to be sticking to the banding method for sure

Were down to 6 laying hens started with 10 Hens and 2 Roosters. The roosters were shot after attacking the family and our neighbor hood racoon and coyote have eat'n 4 hens

Got an unbelievable amount of food from the garden and have bailed over 180, 70+ lb bails with the final and best looking crop still in the field growing.

We traded some local farmers hay for pig and with the hay only costing me about 2 bucks a bail I traded 16 bails for 2 more pigs

We have planted 10 more fruit trees and some walnut seeds the trees look good but Im not too sure the seeds made it...

I could go on for days! I love it out here... my wife and kids love it out here and we love raising kids out here so much were now preping to have number 3 in February

)

Hope all is well in everyones adventures and life cheers from a mason jar to the good life