Ram seems to be getting aggressive.

[farmerjan]

Definitely didn't mean to offend anyone. I guess what I meant to say was at least I KNOW my animals have been fed and cared for properly. When you buy from the store you really don't know where the meat is coming from and how it was treated. People also have different ideas of what healthy feed and proper care is which is totally fine. Everyone has to do what they feel is best for their animals. I really appreciate the farmers who raise the food we eat even the ones who do it differently than me (not including the ones that actually do mistreat their animals because I'm sure it exists). I do enjoy my animals but I don't know if I consider it a hobby. I put a lot of money into them to be able to feed them and care for them the way I feel is best for me and my family. It can be a bit of a sacrifice but one I'm happy to do for my family.

I am not at all offended... and hope you were not either... Some days I just get a "bug up my *** " and it just hit me. Doesn't help there are other things aggravating me here at home right now...
I raise meat birds, have chickens for eggs and all that.. And TOTALLY AGREE, I like to KNOW what my animals have eaten and how they are taken care of... I am 100% with you on that...

And, I ALSO have a real problem with people who do not take care of their animals properly... Was not inferring your animals were a "hobby"... poor comparison on my part...it is just so many people do not really realize what the animals are costing them because they put some meat in the freezer... and not counting our time which is as much a way to just "connect" with our land and life.... yeah... we put alot into the animals we have in our care, even in the bigger size that we farm than most smaller homesteader type places. I am a homesteader at heart... self sufficient as possible, independent.... never planned to get as big as we have but son wants this to be his "retirement" business/income.... so we got bigger...
So many get some animals and have the "rose colored glasses" of being farmers/homesteaders and living off the land... so glad to know that you get the "reality" of farming regardless of the scale/size.

 

[halfacrehomesteader]

I am not at all offended... and hope you were not either... Some days I just get a "bug up my *** " and it just hit me. Doesn't help there are other things aggravating me here at home right now...
I raise meat birds, have chickens for eggs and all that.. And TOTALLY AGREE, I like to KNOW what my animals have eaten and how they are taken care of... I am 100% with you on that...

And, I ALSO have a real problem with people who do not take care of their animals properly... Was not inferring your animals were a "hobby"... poor comparison on my part...it is just so many people do not really realize what the animals are costing them because they put some meat in the freezer... and not counting our time which is as much a way to just "connect" with our land and life.... yeah... we put alot into the animals we have in our care, even in the bigger size that we farm than most smaller homesteader type places. I am a homesteader at heart... self sufficient as possible, independent.... never planned to get as big as we have but son wants this to be his "retirement" business/income.... so we got bigger...
So many get some animals and have the "rose colored glasses" of being farmers/homesteaders and living off the land... so glad to know that you get the "reality" of farming regardless of the scale/size.

I get it. I am just getting my feet in so I know I still have a lot of experience before I REALLY understand what all goes into it. It has already been an experience learning the cost that goes into everything and having to learn where I want to adjust expectations. When there is something i dont want to compromise on then I have to figure out a way to make it work without having to do so. It has been a process and I love that my kids and even myself have been learning the work that goes into the food that doesn't just magically appear on grocery store shelves or on the kitchen table. I know it probably gets frustrating as someone who has done this for years and especially on a larger scale. The plus side is eventually rose colored glasses have to come off and when they do people are going to start appreciating what you do a whole lot more. I try to raise my animal as natural as I can but in doing so it has helped me to understand why it's not always feasible at a larger scale farm and that's okay too. We are all just out here trying to do the best we can. I have learned so much from the ones who have been doing this for sooooo long and on the flip side I hope that maybe my fresh set of eyes might be able to bring something to the table too.

 

[Ridgetop]

No responsible breeder will rent out a ram. That can either bring disease to your flock or take disease back to the owner of the ram. Or both.

When we started out 30+ years ago with 4-H animals, ranchers would allow you to bring in a ewe for breeding, particuarly if you bought her from them. With more and more animal diseases around that stopped. I wont take back an animal I have sold. I won't let it back on the property in case it picked up something from the owner's place. Better safe than sorry.

That's kind of what I was thinking. I had heard that inbreeding isn't really a problem so long as the offspring is used for meat which is what we will be doing.

You can breed father to daughter for 2 generations without a problem. The 3rd generation MUST be terminal to avoid defective animals. I would not breed a ram to his granddaughter unless I was famioiar with the bloodlines on both sides. The up side of keeping a ram lamb and using him for years is that when you sell him on you will have a breeding record for him.

I love that my kids and even myself have been learning the work that goes into the food that doesn't just magically appear on grocery store shelves or on the kitchen table.

45 years ago I was horrified to read an article that said most city children didn't now where our food comes from. They thought it was made in factories Even kids that knew milk came frm cows and eggs from chickens had no idea how the process worked. DH and I bought rabbits and chickens and ate our own oroduce The rabbit poo was perfect for my organic garden and we had bumper crops of vegetables which I canned and pickled. The first thing my grandmother told me was when you move into a new house immediately plant fruit trees, so we had apricots, peaches, plums, figs, lemons and oranges galore. Again I canned the fruit and made pickles, jam and jellies. It was a lot of work, but worth it to know what my kids were eating and how it was raised. When we moved out of town, the soil was terrible and wouldn't grow anything except nettles. However we had goats for milk, sheep for amb, and raised pigs for the fair. Again we knew what we were eating.

When it comes to largeer producers, they raise their animals to be as healthy as possible. It is expensive to medicate sick animals. They don't grow well, and when you realize that the producer is paid by the lb. for his animals, the right weight is important. Sickly animals don't sell and injured ones are not usually accepted so producing healthy animals is not just important but it is a necessity.
The profit margin for most ranchers and farmers is so slim that most of them must have a secondary job off the ranch to support the family.

 

[farmerjan]

I get it. I am just getting my feet in so I know I still have a lot of experience before I REALLY understand what all goes into it. It has already been an experience learning the cost that goes into everything and having to learn where I want to adjust expectations. When there is something i dont want to compromise on then I have to figure out a way to make it work without having to do so. It has been a process and I love that my kids and even myself have been learning the work that goes into the food that doesn't just magically appear on grocery store shelves or on the kitchen table. I know it probably gets frustrating as someone who has done this for years and especially on a larger scale. The plus side is eventually rose colored glasses have to come off and when they do people are going to start appreciating what you do a whole lot more. I try to raise my animal as natural as I can but in doing so it has helped me to understand why it's not always feasible at a larger scale farm and that's okay too. We are all just out here trying to do the best we can. I have learned so much from the ones who have been doing this for sooooo long and on the flip side I hope that maybe my fresh set of eyes might be able to bring something to the table too.

You will do.... decent, SENSIBLE AND SMART... and yes, sometimes us "older , BTDT types" can benefit from a fresh set of eyes... We need more like you and your common sense approach.

I believe in as natural a way as possible to raise and take care of things. Got my son to realize that some of the ways he is making hay and such, some of the chemical fertilizers and the different sprays are actually detrimental to the ground... and the crop... and that some things are actually causing more damage... ie certain herbicides on the hay that have residual effects on the hay, through the animal to the manure...used for fertilizer, to cause deformities in subsequent crops in the garden... and to lose earthworm activity...
I have not used a chemical, on purpose, in the garden in over 40 years.... the "tainted hay" luckily will have degraded and the effects should be mitigated completely now...
We use some antibiotics... not wholesale use, but individually tailored for a specific animal's problems... only when needed. Most farmers are like that since the whole ag industry has stopped preaching using drugs for prevention instead of using them only for treatments.... but it was standard procedure in many segments of the ag industry for many years.
I work with dairy farmers; and have spent years of explaining that the milk supply is safe, does not have antibiotics "tainting" it... unbelievable what people "hear or read" and then just believe without even doing any true research on it...the testing that goes into every tank of milk that comes off every farm to make sure it meets all the restrictions is unbelievable.... and that the milk industry cannot tout their milk as 96.75% FAT FREE whereas every other food and beverage can say whatever percentage their product is... Whole milk is 3.25% fat.... low fat milk is 1 or 2%... yet you can't say it is 98 or 99% fat free... and rBST is not added to milk yet is naturally occurring to a certain amount from the cow's system... There was a short period of time it was used in the dairy industry and quickly abandoned for several reasons... it did not affect the milk properties, yet was touted as the worst thing to come along... Yet they allow almond and other nut extractions to be touted as "MILK"..... with all the chemicals that go along with making that FAKE and illegally labeled liquid as milk.

I get so mad when people talk about "organic" like it was the UTOPIA of everything... yet they will take their kid to a dr and demand an antibiotic for them... but let an animal suffer through an infection because an organic farm cannot treat an animal with anything to help it fight an infection... or if they do treat it, that animal can NEVER again produce milk for that farm because it has been "tainted".... or cannot ever be sold as organic meat even if it is 2 years before that calf is grown big enough to be ready for slaughter...

So it was refreshing to read your post (#32) that I cited in this reply.... because that tells me you will be one of the sensible people that will do right with your animals; that they are special and yet you understand their purpose and they are not "substitute children" as some make them out to be; and you are down to earth reasonable and sensible about farming and what goes into it.

By the way, please go to your name top right of the page, down to account details, down to location, and put in your location... you can say the state or like most of us, the general area of your state or area... sometimes it helps with helping out for advice on feed or grazing or other things... we have a very varied group and it is interesting to read about other climates, see the pics of weather (@Alaskan has some GORGEOUS scenery that he posts...) all that sort of stuff...