Animals we eat, get nutrition from in some form or make products from them or what they produce: eggs, meat, dairy, aquaculture, pelts, hides, leather & textiles, wife just made $500 selling 3 lambs. 2 wethers and a ram. we already have two 14cuft freezers full of lamb, hogget & mutton, so we didn't need them for butcher. they were just taking up space and consuming feed. we already have 3 select breeding rams. we only keep the ewe lambs for dairy. ewe lambs sell for a premium price but like many species, males tend to be more numerous than needed, so $500 for a trio of males is spectacular. they went to a "pet" home so definitely worked out in their favor as well. what are you raising and for what purpose(s)? what would you like to raise? what do you just have questions about or a general interest in?
I'd like to raise utility pigeons. They seem quiet and easy to keep.
>>5137403I want to get into keeping heritage turkeys I just don’t have the space for it right now
>>5137433we did turkeys for a few years. couldn't make the balance sheet work. their voracious intake vs their value juat couldn't pencil out. the flavor of turkey, in general, is mediocre. sales were difficult because you had to price high to offset inputs, which turns away lots of potential customers because people are dumb, can't math, and dont value quality product vs cheaper, mass produced/marketed big-box options. they can go through 50lb bag in a matter of days.we raised bourbons & standard bronze. they were fun. they are friendly and curious. >>5137410interesting choice. I have considered it as well. im honestly concerned about escapees starting a pest/invasion scenario. Im sure the ones I have seen at apartments and bridges are different, but the amount of filth, mite and disease i witnessed have made me shy away.we do quail instead. if i want something a bit more squab-like ill shoot a dove hanging around the poultry coops.
>>5137403Piggies, chickens, cows, and a few goats.Getting ready to finish 6-8 pigs. I had a bunch of them ready to sort and hold in segregation, but they busted through the gate holding them in. Post was rotted at the bottom and they just ripped the gate screw out. -_- Swapped the screws over to the other non-rotted side and will try again today or tommorow.
Got the numbers back from the feed store today. 42k lbs of organic pig feed the past 12 months. Nearly 18k dollars in feed cost. Lost out on 2.5k because we weren't buying bulk feed for a while. Thankfully the math still works out favorably for both whole hog and farmers market selling. 4 whole hogs confirmed sold so far, but I think maybe one or two more after we post about it to our newsletter. We will also have 2 slaughtered and cut/wrapped for selling at the farmers market. I'm putting most on a finishing ration for one month to improve fat quality/marbling, but one guy who does cured meats with the pigs doesn't want them finished. Very interested to be able to compare the finished vs. Unfinished meat. Recently the cured meats guy one an award for charcuterie he made with our pork!Finishing feed is my pig grower blend cut with corn, black oil sunflower seeds, and barley.If the thread is up in a couple weeks I'll post some pictures and a review of the unfinished and finish meat.
>>5137433>>5137529How much space does one need for turkeys. They seem like fun pets. I’m not sure I’d even bother with meat, I’m not crazy about it
>>5138483when we lived inside city limits we kept them in a 10x12" enclosure, but let them out into the full backyard daily. once we moved to the new rural acreage we built a 60×80 pen an no longer let them roam free. in both instances they seemed healthy. no fighting or stress plucking. we would limit adults to 1 Tom and 2 hens, but would periodically have poults or adolescents in a grow-out pen.
Bump
First 3 pigs went to slaughter without giving them a finishing ration. Firmer fat is a lot better for cured meats.Average weight 204lbs, which is perfect and better than expected.Already have 4 sold at 5/lb. I decided to take one for myself to get a little headstart on selling at market. The pig we took for ourselves is a kune kune x red wattle x yorkshire cross. Very excited to see how the meat turns out.
>>5141294Investing in this to see the finished product
19 piglets were born last night. Total of 27 from the past 5 weeks. 35 born in february. 12 born in april. The most ideal spread is to have them born every three months because the ideal slaughter window is from 12-15 months old. Meat quality should remain quite good after that, but your margin drops due to reduced feed conversion.Got the very pregnant looking one into the stall. I thought the other one had a week or so left, but she also decided to give birth.The larger brown pig is a super runt, so I'm letting him chill in there and steal some milk. She's alone in there so I can give her plenty of food to support one extra.>>5141371Hoping to get the meats either tommorow or next week. Getting a variety of sausages made with the leg meat + ground to see how they sell at market. A couple people ask for sausage almost every market, so they should sell okay.
Here is the other new sow. Mixed race litter.
And here's the calf born last saturday. Doing quite well so far. The mom is our dairy cow so he has more than enough milk to drink, and soon we will as well. We were getting 2-2.5 gallons from her a day last lactation cycle.
Okay, well I got some chops from the charcuterie guy. He got his pigs yesterday and has almost completely sold out of all of the chops he packaged. Two pack is kune kune x red wattle and the single is yorkshire cross.Kune kune x red wattle had lard pig levels of backfat, which was expected. The yorkshire cross actually had more meat even though he was 50lbs lighter.Marbling is a lot lower than my previous pigs, which is somewhat concerning, but I have a few ideas why that may be. Thankfully exceptional marbling isn't all that makes an excellent chop. Dinner will be done around 7 where I will post a review.
>>5141575Couldn't tell a lick of difference in taste between the two chops. I think finished vs. unfinished pig is going to make a more significant difference and I will be testing that out in 5 weeks when I send off the first of the finished pigs to slaughter.The chops were really good overall. Juicy, pretty tender, and a nice sweet pork flavor. Very clean fat flavor as well.My biggest goal is to keep pushing up the intramuscular fat to the level I had before.The apricot peach sauce I made was amazing with the pork. Harvested fresh fruit from my trees for it. Added a splash of the rose I had with dinner, vanilla bean, star anise, thyme, ginger powder, a little brown sugar to balance the acidity, and a touch of salt. Gently simmered until the alcohol cooked off and the flavors melded together.All in all I'm a bit dissapointed with the level of marbling I got from these pigs, but I wasn't expecting perfection from the very first batch of pigs born and raised on my farm.
Well, I got some of my pig back yesterday and the chops look much nicer in terms of IMF prior to their finishing ration and I had a bunch of people saying they looked quite good. My guess is that people picked out the nicest looking chops from the charcuterie store and the four or so that were left over were the least marbled from the bunch. The shoulder pieces have excellent marbling on them.I was actually feeling a bit of despair over my pig's genetics the past couple of days, but reframing, informing the consumer and selling the value of a lard/half lard pig to actual prospective buyers at market today made me feel a lot better. People who were interested in buying a whole/half liked the idea of getting a bunch of top quality lard to cook with as well as great quality meat.Despair is always the enemy.
This thread is NOT kosher
>>5142133Us when the apple pie isn't kosher.
