Hello from Southeast Tennessee!

[BarnOwl]

Hello! I’ve been lurking a while and finally decided to join. I live on 5-ish wildly overgrown acres in Southeast Tennessee with my husband, two young children, two German Shepherds, 12 chickens, and a formerly stray tabby cat. I’m also a member of Backyard Chickens and very much enjoy the community. A family member raises American Guinea hogs, and we are excited to be adding several to our menagerie mid-June. I’m a novice to pig-keeping and grateful for a place to learn, ask questions, and share the experience. Thanks for adding me!

 

[Baymule]

Welcome from Texas. @frustratedearthmother raises American Guinea Hogs and has for years. I’m sure she can give you some pointers on raising them. You will like it here, lots of friendly people!

 

[Mike CHS]

Welcome to a great community.

 

[BarnOwl]

Thank you everyone for the welcome! It's nice to know there are others on the forum who have Guinea Hogs. I know I will need all the advice I can get. I will try not to ask too many questions!

 

[D and L Meadows]

Welcome from Ohio! Sounds like you need some goats to help clean up your land

 

[BarnOwl]

Welcome from Ohio! Sounds like you need some goats to help clean up your land

I like the way you think! We definitely do! We are actually pretty confident we want to add goats next year. I can’t decide what breed I want or even if I want meat or dairy goats. I kind of want both! Haha!

 

[D and L Meadows]

We have dairy, so of course I’d say get dairy. You could always use the wethers for meat. Or get both! What’s a few more goats?
Here's just one of the many things you can do with the milk:

Queso Fresco: fresh cheese with herbs. Super easy to make and so good!
Nigerian dwarf and mini Nubians have high butterfat, so you get a high yield of cheese. And their milk tastes better than other breeds

 

[BarnOwl]

That cheese looks fantastic!---my mouth is watering just looking at it. Both those breeds are on the top of my list. I just have to figure out if I'd be able to milk twice a day on the weekends. Monday-Thursday are not a problem, but I work 12-hour shifts Fri-Sat and I worry I might not be able to manage milking twice/day on those days on top of other daily chores....once a day I could probably handle. :-/

 

[D and L Meadows]

What a lot of homesteaders do is let the kids nurse for four weeks or so, then separate them at night, milk the doe in the morning, and let them back together in the day. Then if you can’t milk on weekends, just don’t separate them. Works out great for vacations and so on.