How do you choose your livestock?

[SilverFlame819]

So I plan to be back on the coast and looking for a place to call home this fall. In the meantime, I am planning my dream farm in my head. Animal husbandry is one of my passions. I just love raising animals. I'm curious, for those of you who already have animals, or plan to get some, what your criteria is. I know that some types of animals just attract some of us more than others, but past that... What are you looking for? Something that tastes good, something that produces quickly, something you can make a profit from? Of the different types of animals, which do you prefer, and why? And among those animals, are there certain breeds that you prefer?

I really like the idea of raising rare heritage breeds, because I like knowing that I'm helping to preserve something that is disappearing, and cannot be replaced. I like to have a hand in continuing traditions. People at some point put a lot of time and effort into creating those breeds, and I just think that the cause is a worthy one.

I also really like to have fun with colors and genetics, so I like a variety. For instance - why have Toggenburg goats when you can have Alpines, which are almost identical type-wise, but come in every color of the rainbow (including the standard Toggenburg pattern)? For this reason, I really enjoy creating mutt chickens (their colors are ALWAYS a surprise!), and creating new colors of rabbits in my breeds of choice.

I like oddities. I don't like the same old boring thing that everyone else has. In a world full of Holsteins, I'll take the Belted Dutch. In a world full of Californian rabbits, I'll take the Rex. In a world full of enormous, homogeneous pink pigs, I'll take some Kune Kunes, or maybe even a GOS.

I like animals that do well without a lot of human intervention. I have no interest in sheep that require help to lamb. I don't want animals that require a ton of supplementing and grain to survive, etc.

I like animals that stay relatively small. That works well for me, since I do like a variety, and the smaller they are, the more you can fit in less space.

One of the main things for me is that an animal be good for more than one thing. If you can only make a profit off a critter a single way, it loses some of its appeal for me. For instance, I really enjoy showing rabbits, and know that I can make good money from selling papered rabbits in the show world, but what do I do with sub-standard rabbits, rabbits that are just not show quality? They either have to be standard-sized that can be butchered out, or dwarf-sized that I can sell easily to the pet trade. Chickens need to be rare breeds that I can sell day-old chicks from, or mutts to raise for my own enjoyment. Eggs can also be sold, and roos can be butchered out.

Anyway... Tell me what you prefer, and why! I'm interesting in getting to know you all, and knowing what critters you have or fancy is a good place to start.

[matt walker]

My answer is really boring and mundane. They were the animals close to me. That's it. At least, for the sheep. I'm really glad I found the Jacobs though, they taste great, forage well, and are hardy. And they have handles, which is crucial for me. I don't wanna stick my thumb in their mouth to handle 'em.

The cows, I did want Dexters, and they were close to me. Mostly because they are small, tasty, and hardy.

[mannytheseacow]

Welcome Silverflame! My answer is pretty boring too. I just take in free critters. I store some in my freezer though.

For rabbits I've got some French Lops and Californias. I'm going to weed out the lops though. I just butchered another litter and the Calis dressed out twice as heavy, with smaller bones.

For pork there's plenty of folks raising tams and berks around me so that's what I'll continue to use, I think. I just got some sheep and I have no idea what they are. It sounds like I'll be getting some goats soon, too, Boers and Alpines, again... free.

Chickens.... kind of a run-on sentence. I'm currently down to two, that were free, and I've got 30 random ducks, chickens and geese on the way leftover from a 4-H leader's hatching project. Someday I'll dial in the breeds that work, but in farm country there's always random little ones that need a home.

[Frenchy]

myself I like to find things that will be good for more than one goal but I like different too ....... but even that does not always happen hahaha .... I raised rabbits for the 4H kids around here so I went with the Dutch breed so as to have color variables and small enough to show an still have enough size to make a decent butcher for the ones who didn't make the cut as shows....... as for my chickens I raise mostly heavy breed egg layers to sell eating eggs to pay for my feed but with the price of feed I have cut back big time on my hens as of right now only have about a dozen layers and a few breeds to still be able to hatch out some for the 4H kids ( bantam- Silver Spangled Hamburgs ) ( standard- Sumatra ) ........ then I have my guineas last few years haven't done well with sales of those like I was doing (normally sold close to 300 keets @ $4 a piece to the feed stores in a summer) but I also use them for eating as well as tick an snake patrol even low on their count right now only bout 20 usually run close to 40-50 around here ..... neighbor an I are going to go in together on raising couple pigs this year normally just get a pig from another friend who raises show hogs for 4H'ers but I will tell ya right now now a days the show ring want long an lean at least here those kinds DO NOT make a good butcher hog in my book so this year we are going to a fella who has the ol' time style meat hogs ................

[SilverFlame819]

[SilverFlame819]

Agreed on the pigs, Frenchy. I like more heritage/old style pigs. I also prefer my pigs smaller. Who needs a 1,000-lb pig wallowing around in their fields? I can't imagine trying to contain one, let alone feed it! But I do wonder if maybe the newer style pigs would be healthier for dogs to eat, since they don't tend to have the marbled meat (which is worse for you, but tastes better - of course!). I would never want one though. Pigs are known to take an owner down and eat them for a mid-afternoon snack. No way would I want one wandering around that was more than twice my size! I'll stick with the little guys, if any at all! I do wonder though if butchering out when they're younger would mean less fat though... I'll have to look into it. Perhaps I could just not raise pigs, but buy a couple of the industrialized pigs every year to raise up for meat... Decisions, decisions!

[SilverFlame819]

Manny, that sounds like a good setup! I've had lots of random critters given to me over the years. The only problem with taking in all the leftovers is that you never know what kind of diseases each new animal will bring with them, so it's harder to ensure a safe, clean herd/flock on your own place if you're always bringing in new ones. Of course, I can never turn down a cute, free chicken so... Also, since I want to feed them to my dogs, I also wonder what their backgrounds are. I suppose once you keep them for a while though, it's long enough to make sure they're healthy and free of anything too scary.

[Lollykoko]

From the reading I've done on nutrition, the reason marbled fat has become a problem is chemical fertilizers. If your meat animals are pastured on untreated ground and not being "finished off" with grain products grown with lots of pest control products, there shouldn't be any reason to not enjoy that fat, which makes hair shine, skin supple and joints to bend as they're supposed to.

[George Collins]

So far, there has been only one criteria that I've used to select the varieties we keep: taste.