What animal would you raise for harvest

[cycloneman]

I have 4 acres. I have some chickens now that i do enjoy raising. To me its fun, I enjoy the eggs, and one day will harvest some. I am also looking into raising something. So i would like to hear from you guys that have done this. What do you suggest? I dont want a cow or cows. To large and i dont what to deal with them. I will probably get to shoot an axis deer a year and all the wild hogs i could want. So I am thinking about goats. Something i can use to mix in with other meat or by itself. One more, what about rabbits? I hear they grow fast.

OK let her rip.

[jack404]

Goats and rabbits have the highest input / meat ratio

rabbits , shed them , conveyor under cage to remove waste

1 acre of what we call weeds ( long leaf and bread leaf weeds) will feed 30 breeders and siblings (150-200 at any one time ) , i saw this in the outback of siberia often

folks would grow wheat and the hay would be for rabbits for winter when they got too old to hunt game or where not allowed back when..

goats are good too but if you wild feed worm em well before you cull them

but dont pass up the milk and cheese either

[Infidel]

Goats are great, it a good idea. If you raise organic goats and chickens you can really make some money. I have a friend that has an organic farm and does goats and chickens but is expanding into beef. I have another friend that had lots of goats but raised them in wooded acreage and lost too many to coyotes. I and another buddy was invited often to the target rich environment to eradicate the varmints, but we didn't have the time to spend, though we did have some damn good hunts.

I would say you are on the right track though. My wife and i getting ready to move further out on some more acres and we are planning on chickens and goats and produce. We will get USDA organic certified(which is actually very easy) and get top money for our products plus getting ourselves top grage food.

[Jackman]

I have 2 acres so space is an issue chicken and Pigeons are all ways a thought but not to harvest just to see them on the property.

[JLA]

Id prolly opt for raising pigs. Easy to feed, easy to shelter. Heck all they need is a mudhole and feed twice a day. If you have room to turn em out theyll root out grubs and other edible delicacies below the surface. Only thing is they are rough on fences and they are smart. I just like me some bacon and sausage and porkchops.

[CampingJosh]

I would do rabbits before goats, but only because I love rabbit meat. My sister-in-law makes her own cheese frequently, and it's quite tasty, but it's more work than I would put in.
I have a neighbor who keeps a hobby farm. Chickens, goats, and donkeys are mainstays. Zee-donks, some kind of water buffalo (maybe?), an emu, and other exotic animals cycle in and out. Keeps the retiree busy, and it's always fun to walk down and see what he has.

[geds]

Chimps can probably out harvest any of the animals named so far!.....

[jack404]

emu would eat you outta house n home and the fences ya need if case they wanna go walkabout .. and they can get nasty ..

[CampingJosh]

Originally Posted by jack404

emu would eat you outta house n home and the fences ya need if case they wanna go walkabout .. and they can get nasty ..

I have no idea what he feeds the thing, but he's had the one here for about two years now. He just keeps it in with the rest of him animals.

[jack404]

most are mild mannered and get quite tame , but they get shirty with "things" and have big toe nails and beaks and they eat more feed that a horse if allowed they are gut's and most goes straight through ...


well roasted they taste good but! heck of a job plucking them though ...

drum stick is like a roast for 4 people ..

gotta net ? come on over and grab a few , this was on the way back from hunting not long ago

[jacksonco]

Rabbits would be my first choice. Second would be to build a pond and raise some catfish fish and sunfish.

[jack404]

now if your talking aqua culture .. thats cool and folks here making a big buck outta 1 and 2 acre places too ..

meet the yabbie

sweet like a lobster but bites size and no gristly bits

yuppie idjits would pay over $1000 for whats in this pic ..

[jack404]

shops in sydney ( asia is triple ) charge $45-50 a kilo ( 2.2 lbs )

the price is crazy , i'm told its like $120 a plate of 8 in LA

i dreg em outta the creek .. i think the posh name for them is marron ..

[jack404]

the local farmers association have a ad for yabbies farms , it shows this set up from 2002, and state in 2010 it was making the owner $2200 a month clear .. ( after expences and taxes ) i been looking hard at it myself but my land just too steep . but ...



i know a few small holder with similar , some fibreglass tanks ( cooler that steel ) some the cast nylon some with just ditches lined with clay and a top gravel layer

$2200 a month for that is a bit high , but do able , folks get $30-$32 a kilo at the co-operative and are happy with that

any protein meal pellet is fine as a main food , meat offcuts and i know folks who hunt for the food ..

the equation is 4000 babies x 200 kg's food , equals 200 kilo's of yabbies every 3 months , if you have enough organic feed in the water too

[geds]

Looks like crawdads (crawfish) Jack!

[jack404]

Australian Freshwater Crayfish, delicious

[joncutt87]

I would go with rabbits, but yaks are interesting

[joncutt87]

Jack, have you thought about algae farming?

[jack404]

sa harami is nice but how often you want to eat fish and algae soup ?

some algae's are excellent methane producers for alter energy

as a protein base for feed production , , energy expensive ( for me)

and my land dont suit , not level enough nor stable .. so it gets expensive again

but, theres some land i can see here i can rent for a trench setup , and if i do ok , the fella will partner with me , but the setup , pumps tanks for filtration etc aint cheap , i'll need some bucks back outta me cows before i can anything like that yet

some folks here are making biofuels from some types too

what you folks doing with algae ?

[woolleyworm]

Rabbits are ideal to raise; they grow to harvest size quickly and they're the perfect size for a meal without having to worry about waste or long term storage.

Pigs are easy to raise also.

Goats are a great milk source, but they're prone to eating everything in sight and require more attention than rabbits or hogs. If it were me, I'd still want to have a few around, they're useful in many ways. They're great watch"dogs" too.

[jlloyd73]

Goats............

[rosierita]

all livestock have their benefits & their draw backs. take a serious look at your lifestyle. what do you eat day to day?

that's what you should grow. picking something you don't eat or won't use is a waste of time & money.

or picking something there's no market for... same thing.

[carver]

Goats, rabits, and chickens would be the way to go IMHO. Goats, and chickens will forage for them selves, with a little feed from you, they will do fine. Rabits, well you can't just turn em loose! You have to keep them in a cage, and you have to feed them. Goats prduce meat, and milk. Chickens, produce meat, and eggs. Rabits only produce rabits! I don't look at what I will be raising as a source of income, but as a food crop for myself, family, and a few friends.

[jack404]

i like stuff you can spend a hour or two and your done , dont do cattle , even the just under 50 i got here have me back and forth half the day .. but they are friendly critters

[JLA]

YEah. ill agree with thet. Cattle are only good when its sittn on your plate seared medium rare beside a grilled veggie skewer.