First Farm Animal Recommendation?

[/pine]

...thats too much work for us...

having raised chickens, rabbits, pigs...and some experience with cows...pigs are by far the least amout of work for the return...

and honestly, pigs are hardly more work than the average pet dog...
...just my opinion but if you are not prepared to put your heart into an endeavour that concerns livestock of any kind...you should think twice about animal husbandry...

 

[arrabil]

...you should think twice about animal husbandry...

Noted. Any other soapbox sermons you'd like to get out of the way? Or can I go back to making my decisions based on what everyone has posted and not just your opinion?

 

[aczlan]

We have 4 Llamas (1 "Broken" male and 3 females), 8 Goats (1 Alpine, 1 Toggenburg and 6 pygmys) and 15 chickens (various kinds, 14 hens and a rooster).
Of the animals, the chickens are probably the least work, but I like the llamas and goats better.

Aaron Z

 

[/pine]

...making my decisions based on what everyone has posted...

...Out of the mouths of babes...

 

[arrabil]

Why do you have to booger up a perfectly good thread with insults because we had a disagreement in another thread?

 

[MikeD74T]

arribil, For what it's worth, I agree with /pine on the committment aspect. animals will undoubtably take over your time at some unexpected time. You'll have to make decisions whether to commit money & time to recovery VS just letting them die, or just spend time capturing loose animals when you're leaving for work, etc. all /pine's saying is , if you can't meet the commitment to animals simply don't start. I don't know any foul was intended. MikeD74T

 

[dcyrilc]

arribil, For what it's worth, I agree with /pine on the committment aspect. animals will undoubtably take over your time at some unexpected time. You'll have to make decisions whether to commit money & time to recovery VS just letting them die, or just spend time capturing loose animals when you're leaving for work, etc. all /pine's saying is , if you can't meet the commitment to animals simply don't start. I don't know any foul was intended. MikeD74T

Well put Mike.

arribil,
Having any animal will put demands on your time at some point. Doesn't matter if it's a dog or cat or livestock. Some are worse than others. The worst for me, came when I was at work and busy in the middle of something important and got a call that I had cattle and llamas loose in the road and eating neighbors flowerbeds in the housing development behind us.:ashamed: I had to leave work, spend 4 hours rounding up and catching livestock, then figure out how they got out and make repairs. All I'm saying is that things happen.

 

[bp fick]

I cannot imagine anything easier to raise than two barrows (cut pigs) in a good pen, with a good feeding/watering system. Done it countless times.

Regardless the choice, all livestock do indeed intrude into one's life in countless and innumerable ways. What was that parable about counting the cost before beginning? Likely, that is all /pine was referring to and no harm was intended. I've seen him get a whole lot meaner than that!!:laughing:

That last bit was also meant in humor /pine.

 

[arrabil]

Thats awesome. A number of people said how much trouble the manure is. Mentioned the easiest ways to feed them is by having a large garden. Talked about how they destroy all the land they inhabit. How its hard to wrestle 200lbs beasts. Etc, etc.

And one rude comment (that was intended to be rude whether you want to believe it or not) makes a handful of you think I'm irresponsible and not ready for caring for animals because I decided that I agree chickens or quail are simpler/less trouble/easier for ME to care for. Which was the unanimous consensus if you read all the posts. That is, until I said something about the pigs.

 

[Redgoatea]

I think about two months after we got the cows and goats the thought finally occurred to us that we can never go on vacation again. I have also been late to work countless times because either the goats got out, no one fed the cows, or we were calving and I just wanted to watch.

Still don't regret it. It's time well spent IMO. 7