BYH Official Poll: What are the things that you should consider before buying herds?

[greybeard]

The Merck Vet manual is available online now for download and viewing...was free last time I looked.
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/
https://todaysveterinarybusiness.com/free-download-merck-veterinary-manual/
(a57mb download that is stored on your device)
Even veterinaries and human doctors use computer resources and iPhones nowadays.

Home Libraries are great unless and only if, said books are updated by a new edition every 6 months or every year. Technology, nutrition, and medicine moves fast in 21st century.

But the same is true for many of the U studies. Watch the dates they were done or published. Many are woefully out of date and/or their study results have not been repeatable.

 

[AllenK]

The cheapest thing you can do to get ready to own animals is to buy books or get them from the library about the species, breed, etc., that you are interested in owning. The computer is fine, but nothing beats a home library of information that you can look up time after time. Most (not all but most) books published about the raising and care of livestock have current information in them. Sometimes what you get from a computer search is not completely factual. If you do computer searches, I prefer the ones that are from university studies. By reading up ahead of time, you can ask good questions without having to cover the basics.

I agree totally here when I was researching Black Sumatra as a breed. I never read anything factual. They lay an egg per day not 90/year. We bought this breed because we didn't want eggs. We did fall in love with them. I really love my chichis.

 

[Ridgetop]

The Merck Vet manual is available online now for download and viewing...was free last time I looked.
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/
https://todaysveterinarybusiness.com/free-download-merck-veterinary-manual/
(a57mb download that is stored on your device)
Even veterinaries and human doctors use computer resources and iPhones nowadays.

Home Libraries are great unless and only if, said books are updated by a new edition every 6 months or every year. Technology, nutrition, and medicine moves fast in 21st century.

But the same is true for many of the U studies. Watch the dates they were done or published. Many are woefully out of date and/or their study results have not been repeatable.

This is true as to making sure the edition is recent, but over the years I have found that much of the basics in housing, feeding, vet, breeding, birthing, and care of young stock have not changed much. If you are looking to start a herd, you need to read up on the species, and requirements before investing. Once you are established, some people prefer to have a hobby situation where they just enjoy looking at their animals, while others get much more involved and want to learn much more. For those starting out general information may be enough as long as the book is up to date. You do not need to know updated methods of intensive breeding, AI, pasture rotation, nutrient content, etc. until you are fully invested mentally in livestock production. Please Note! I said mentally invested. This can happen with small number of animals, and people who just like to learn more about their own.

And lets not forget, some of those "old wives' tales" (or "old farmers' tales" here) is often good advice, gleaned from generations of raising, feeding and doctoring livestock without access to study results. For instance the saying "green grass makes milk". In a dry year no grass, small growth rate. Good rains, green grass, high growth rate. The University study will explain the nutritional breakdown, but we all know "green grass makes milk" is true. And how about cutting protein levels to control scours? I learned that 30 years ago from a guy in his 80's. Some things never change, they just get fancy explanations from University studies. LOL

 

[AllenK]

I wish I had an 80 year old farmer to advise me. Just saying. I have some really poor dirt. I don't know what was done to this earth but someone stole all of it's nutrients.

 

[Ridgetop]

Are you trying to plant a vegetable garden? Or do you want pasture for livestock? How many acres do you have?

Do a PH test on your soil to find out if you have alkaline or acid soil. Once you know, you can adjust your amendments to the right mix to help it.

Start a large mulch/compost pile. Dig an 18" deep furrow about 3' x 12' wide. Collect grass clipping, leaves, manure,
shredded newspapers, sawdust, BUT NOT meat, fat or bones. Layer all this in the furrow. If you don't have enough of your own, get some from your neighbors. They may consider you insane, but you don't care because you are going to have great soil. Put everything in this compost pile until it fills up. Water this every couple days. When it is full, shovel the dirt back over it and dig another one next to the first. Start over again. Remember to water your compost every few days. After several months, toss it around a little with a garden fork. After about 6 months, more or less, depending on the care you give it you should have nice dark brown soil.

My soil here is very alkaline, heavy clay and shale. In the Valley (our old house) it was beautiful neutral/acid loam. I have spent 30 years improving areas of the soil, but it will never be really good, since we can't water enough. Best idea is to build raised beds for some of your veggies, and improve the soil where you plant fruit trees for several feet around. Then fertilize with aged manure, possibly with either lime or acid base fertilizer or amendments to adjust your soil. Lots of things you can do to help nature but you need to know what kind of soil you have. Some land has just been packed down over the years and just needs to be fluffed with a rototiller and have a few amendments (like your homemade mulch) put in.

 

[AllenK]

I am thinking of having a Mac truck full of compost delivered, It is just that we have that Mack truck here around the corner and the next time he is in McAllen he can pick up a load of compost.

 

[Ridgetop]

That sounds good. If you have a rototiller, roto till your future garden, then dump the compost on top, spread, and rototill in. Depending on your planting season, you can either plant for a winter crops, or cover the prepared plot till spring to avoid a crop of weeds when you want to plant. You can sometimes get cheap hay that is no good for feeding to livestock (ruined by wet) to cover it over At our old house one year I got 6 bales of alfalfa cow hay. I peeled the flakes off and laid them like stepping stones, In the spring DH rototilled them into the soil. I would have liked to bring several dump loads of dirt with me from that garden. After 5 years of putting all the rabbit manure and shavings back into the soil, along with my compost, I would put my garden fork 3 feet down with no force needed! I miss my dirt!

But 30 years of fun and adventures here No, I would never go back.

 

[greybeard]

Depending on your planting season, you can either plant for a winter crops

Winter? Growing season?
AllenK is from Laureles Tx, subtropical planting Zone 10, near Brownsville, the southernmost point n Texas and about 22 miles north of Matamoros Mexico. Veggies can and often are planted there in the fall.

https://www.almanac.com/gardening/planting-calendar/TX/Brownsville

 

[Ridgetop]

Really? Do they have lots of water? I want to move to Texas but don't know where anything is there! Probably need GPS to find the grocery store! LOL I am a several generations born and bred San Fernando Valley girl! Texas is a big state! Remember that I thought East Texas started between Austin and Dallas? Ask me planting seasons, weather seasons, and what grows here and I am your girl, but anywhere else?

However, lucky Allen K, because we have the same year round planting season here! In fact, we have to plant very early in the year because our summer growing season ends in August when the killer heat hits. Our garden dies out in August depending on the heat, and limited (no) irrigation allowed, so a lot of our stuff just dries up and dies. We can plant again in October for stuff like peas, cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce, etc. We just need to watch for bolting. Everything grows here, except fruit requiring winter chill. But it I a trade off for oranges, lemon, avocados, fig, and apricots.

You can get ready to start planting your winter veggies as soon as you turn over that compost! Remember to throw all weeds, dead garden plants, etc., into compost heap for next year.

 

[AllenK]

Really? Do they have lots of water? I want to move to Texas but don't know where anything is there! Probably need GPS to find the grocery store! LOL I am a several generations born and bred San Fernando Valley girl! Texas is a big state! Remember that I thought East Texas started between Austin and Dallas? Ask me planting seasons, weather seasons, and what grows here and I am your girl, but anywhere else?

However, lucky Allen K, because we have the same year round planting season here! In fact, we have to plant very early in the year because our summer growing season ends in August when the killer heat hits. Our garden dies out in August depending on the heat, and limited (no) irrigation allowed, so a lot of our stuff just dries up and dies. We can plant again in October for stuff like peas, cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce, etc. We just need to watch for bolting. Everything grows here, except fruit requiring winter chill. But it I a trade off for oranges, lemon, avocados, fig, and apricots.

You can get ready to start planting your winter veggies as soon as you turn over that compost! Remember to throw all weeds, dead garden plants, etc., into compost heap for next year.

I really thought your state was on fire.