Wolfemomma - Our Homestead Journey

[Latestarter]

If cost per pound of meat, production time, space requirements, time/effort expended are the issues, really, going bigger isn't the best way to go. You can produce a lot more meat, in a shorter period of time, for less cost, using less space, by going smaller. Chickens and rabbits mature fast, take less space, cost less to raise, and can fill a freezer pretty quickly. With the chickens, depending on breed, you might have to wait a little longer but you'll have the eggs as a benefit and if you pick a breed that goes broody, you have self made replacement birds. During the warm months, you can free range them (chickens) or tractor them to cut down on purchased feed requirements. As for the sheep vs cow situation, jeeze... that's a tough call that only you can really make. Sheep mature to slaughter weight a lot faster than a cow. So for meat I'd think it would be cheaper and faster to do sheep.

Since you want cow milk, I guess you could get a cow in milk, with bull calf @ her side and castrate him to make him a steer for beef 18-24 months from now. You can share the milk with the steer and breed her back. Hope her next calf is another bull to make into a steer. And then just keep doing that over time...

 

[WolfeMomma]

We have about 12 acres, the pastures are decent quality, but because we have a smaller acerage we rotate so that they are always on fresh good pasture. We don't eat 2 steers each year, only one will be ready to go this fall/early winter. The other will stay untill next year. We easily will eat a whole steer in a year.
Lamb....I don't like it. My husband likes it ....my kids like it. I think its gross. I will "tolerate" the roasts and chops but honestly Its just not my thing.
I like the sheep for their ease on the pasture, ease of handling ect. But I find having a steer ready to go each year much more economical because it gives us way more.
I do really like the idea of having feeder pigs. We did 2 a couple years ago and it worked out great! husband doesn't want to raise chickens for meat, not interested in all the plucking of feathers ect lol Can you take those to be processed ?
Keeping sheep in the end would mean I would still be buying meat from a local farmer. So now im paying for upkeep of the sheep AND spending 1000$ + for half a cow.
The amount of meat I get from raising our own beef is appealing. So i can't help but lean that way .

 

[WolfeMomma]

Just thoughts since I've never done anything like this.
Sheep, keep the sheep. Why? Because *I* love lamb No one else in the house wants to eat it.

How much do the cattle hurt the pocketbook to get them in the freezer? More than if you bought at the store? Less? A LOT less? Do you eat 2 full steers worth each "period"? I THINK it takes more than a year for a steer to get to slaughter weight. I found something that says grass fed take 18-24 months. Maybe get on a rotation that has one getting to size every time your freezer is about empty of beef?

How are your pastures? Sheep are a lot smaller and maybe easier on pastures that are soft/wet. My Dad and step mother raised both for a time in Oregon. Gave up on the cattle due to their size. Sheep are a lot easier to handle though they do need to be sheared unless you have hair sheep.

Are there postings in your local area on Craig's list of people looking to buy/sell sheep/cattle for meat? If so perhaps you can see if there is a market for excess.

If your farmers that want ewe lambs in trade for hay and you can raise the sheep "mostly free" on your pasture, that hay could be quite handy. I don't know how many bales/head they are trading and ONLY ewe lambs? I'm pretty sure you can't tell your ewes to produce ONLY female offspring I guess you eat the boys. But then if you ONLY have ram lambs, you have to buy hay for the sheep and cattle.

Yep, you are right, it is a quandary!

Yes only Ewe lambs lol I was like great.....mother nature will give me nothing but Ram lambs for 5 years
The cows have actually not be horribly expensive. When we got them we had to get some grain in to them to improve their condition , they were underweight at their last farm.
But now they get mainly just grass and are doing very well holding their condition
They said For 2 ewe lambs they would give us around 400-500$ worth of square bales.

 

[Baymule]

That sounds like a good trade! I traded a slaughtered lamb (meat) for getting my Sheep barn roof built. I got way more in labor than I paid for having the lamb slaughtered.

Feeder pigs are great. You only have to keep them 6 months or so and they give lots of meat. Thanks to @Simpleterrier i now have a fantastic pig set up. I copied his shelter, feeder and water ideas.

I have always skinned chickens, usually old layers. Sometimes I had young roosters, but they were 6 months old to get to slaughter size. We raised the Cornish cross for the first time. We hand plucked them, their feathers are sparse and come out rather easy. It wasn’t so bad. I let them get big and averaged 5 pound, 1 ounce carcasses. I would at least try a few, a roasted chicken would make a good meal for your family.

 

[Latestarter]

Sounds to me like keeping a few sheep for hay trades and meat for everyone else might work out but focusing on the cow aspect for overall future development is the way for you to go. Since (from my understanding) sheep and cows eat different plants and parts of plants, you should be able to keep them together or maybe let the one follow the other in rotation. Hope you let us know what you choose to do and I guess we'll all find out how it's worked out for you over time.

 

[Bruce]

I was going to mention that some people skin the chickens so they don't have to scald and pluck but Bay beat me to it. You might want to pluck some as roasters but skin and part out the majority of them.

 

[Latestarter]

Not sure why everyone has issues with plucking chickens... You can get most feathers out right after bleeding them out just by pulling them. Dunking in hot water for a bit and the rest generally come right off as well. I personally love crispy chicken skin. I know it's fatty and supposed to be bad for us but it is SO good!

Now skinning a duck? absolutely! I HATE plucking waterfowl!

 

[RollingAcres]

I personally love crispy chicken skin. I know it's fatty and supposed to be bad for us but it is SO good!

X2!

 

[WolfeMomma]

we raised turkey once, hubby processed them. He said NEVER again lol. Im not the processor in the family...I get to emotionally attached to everything . Other then the guineas, those guys i would have to problem with
Finally some pictures
First one is my favorite steer "Meatball"
Second one is a couple of our sheep out on fresh pasture, And the third is my new buddy, Our Lemon Orpington Roo named popcorn lol

 

[RollingAcres]

I was always told "You're not supposed to name your food", that way you don't get attached. When we first got our girls(the heifers) they had no names for a couple of months because at the time our plan was to raise them as our food. Then we changed our plan so now they have names.
Looks like a nice place you have over there. Is that your garden I see near the sheep pasture?