Privacy   |    Financial   |    Current Events   |    Self Defense   |    Miscellaneous   |    Letters To Editor   |    About Off The Grid News   |    Off The Grid Videos   |    Weekly Radio Show

letters to the editor

Uses For Farm Animals You May Not Have Considered

Don’t forget goats. Goat meat is better tasting and less greasy than mutton and has a texture similar to beef. Good in stews, or as chops and ground meat dishes. Also, goat milk and cheese is an extra delight.

“Cyber”

**********

I learned a great deal about how the previous generations lived, ate and raised stock mainly from the Laura Ingalls-Wilder books. The one about her future husband, Manny, was the best one of all in that regards (If I recall correctly it was called “Farmer Boy”). Also, I grew up on a dairy farm in southern Idaho and knew the tricks of the trade, but I still learned an enormous amount from those fantastic books. Thanks, Laura!

Damon

**********

You left out the most desirable trait of donkeys. We raise donkeys, and keep a couple in the pasture where the cows are. They keep the coyotes out of the pasture so they don’t kill the calves. Donkeys and coyotes hate each other. Donkeys will kick a coyote and kill it. They do the same for dogs, so you can’t have a herding dog with a donkey in most cases. Donkeys are famous for being mean to people, but that’s usually only if they have been heckled. My donkeys are really gentle.

Masquita

 

2 comments

  1. i did a paper in college a few years ago on meat goats. the United States imports goat meat to meet the demand for it. problem is the demand increases exponentially every year as the number of immigrants increase and more Americans start eating goat meet. i do not remember the numbers right now, but the trend is similar to this : if we imported 1000 lbs this year we need to import 2500 pounds next year, it does not just double. the supply never catches up to the demand! so raising goats to sell as meat animals is a good source of income as well as supplying your meat requirements today.
    also i read an article in “Farm Show” Magazine many years ago about selling live animals for meat to different ethnic groups. it said that if you have an area where the buyer can slaughter and process the animal to meet the requirements of religious practices and customs of the people, you can not only charge more for the animal , but also word of mouth advertising will mean your customer base will increase. also meeting the minimal requirements for Governmental agencies for this kind of area is very easy and not expensive or hard to maintain. and you get most of the unused parts of the animal for free or even charge a fee for disposal of the unwanted parts such as blood, hide and internal organs. if you have chickens or fish, you can construct a wire basket to hang above the water or high above the chicken yard so the smell of rotting things are not noticeable, the flies will lay their eggs and the maggots that are presently consuming the waste products will fall out of the wire baskets to feed a high protein food to fish and chickens. or you can use them for bait to attract some fur bearing animals. there is a company that sells fishing lures and supplies to make your own lures that buys squirrel and deer tails, and hackle feathers from chickens. it is “Mepps” and you can find their advertisement in outdoor magazines. they will double the price they pay you if you will take lures for payment. they will reimburse you for shipping cost for squirrel tails!
    also if you investigate the ethnic groups around you and within 50 miles of your chosen location, you can grow and sell vegetables to the ethnic groups, that are hard for them to get. yes, they have their own ethnic centered stores, but go into one and see just how much fresh vegetables are available. for Asian stores there are not many fresh vegetables available. so growing vegetables that
    they enjoy eating but are not available to them is a niche market to increase income today.
    i would advise that you buy or lease a small property to have the buyers come to and not where you live as you would never want your “farm /home” location to be known to the general public, because when people know you have food and things get bad ……..

  2. Growing up, we had a miniature donkey as a pet. She thought she was a German Shepherd. Donkeys are GREAT animals! Intelligent, fun and loving.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Off The Grid News