Easy to Care for Animals

Discussion in 'Animal Husbandry' started by ColoradoHippie, Apr 28, 2016.

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  1. ColoradoHippie

    ColoradoHippie Member
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    When it comes to taking care of animals, most people understand the basic concepts of how to care for pets such as dogs and cats. However if you find yourself in a survival situation where you are going to have livestock to take care of you will see that it is just a little bit different. Just because you are in a situation that may have changed like the power may no longer exist doesn't mean that life will completely end. It will just change.
    Cattle is a major source of food in many places. However, these cattle do consume large amounts of water as well as food in order to survive. This doesn't mean that they have to have bottled water and bags of grain brought in to them daily, though. Ranchers have been driving cattle across the open range for decades now. To the inexperienced person animals such as cattle are not going to be recommended for your first farm.
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    Stick to animals that are easier to care for such as chickens, goats, pigs, and perhaps one dairy cow. Chickens will provide eggs while goats and cows will provide milk. Pigs will help to eat every leftover scrap of anything that is around and in the end make a tasty meal themselves. Caring for animals is a lot like caring for yourself. You must remember they require food and water along with shelter. Also, remember that shelter doesn't always mean building them a house or barn sometimes it is a building and enclosure to keep them in and help keep other predators out
     
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  2. Keith H.

    Keith H. Moderator Staff Member
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    We have kept goats, sheep & pigs, the pigs were the most work. We have no stock at present accept chooks, but intend to get more sheep later on.
    Keith.
     
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  3. cluckeyo

    cluckeyo Well-Known Member
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    Quail are real easy to keep. We have 10 right now, all hens. Learning to take care of them has been interesting. If they are not happy, they will let you know by not laying eggs. These most recent quail were hatched from eggs we bought online. They have been the most persnickity quail ever. But overall, they are a lot of fun to raise and keep. 5 eggs are equivalent to 1 chicken egg. They are extremely easy to butcher and their meat is delicious. 2 birds make a good meal.
     
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  4. Corzhens

    Corzhens Master Survivalist
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    In the start of the thread, there is a line that says cattle consume large amount of water. That's also what I know. In our province when I was young, I would take a vacation there and sometimes ride on the carabao. From what I know, carabao or cow needs 4 buckets of water in a day especially during the summer time. However, when I went on a vacation in Batanes last year, I learned that their cattle are self supporting. The province is mostly hills that have grass like a prairie so you can imagine a vast rolling prairie where cattle is scattered. In one prairie, I was able to ask the caretaker of the cattle. He said that the cattle are on their own, eating grass and sleeping there, rain or shine. With water? They provide just a bucket for each cow. The caretaker added that in the morning, the grass is wet with dew and that moisture gives water to the cattle. What a trivia.
     
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  5. joshposh

    joshposh Master Survivalist
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    I would think that any fowl would be the easiest to care for. Chicken, geese, ducks, ginny's.......all can pretty much live off of a big piece of land with minimum water source. Once you hit the big animals like horses and cows, then you run into water and vegetation problems. Of course I personally would test my hand at all options but I would lean more towards the fowl direction. The constantly lay eggs and and reproduce year round. It's a never ending process.
     
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  6. remnant

    remnant Expert Member
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    I suppose the ability to raise livestock depends on one's determination, resources as well as resourcefulness. I have seen peasants or subsistence farmers raising a grade cow on a small municipal plot with no source of fodder but they still made it. It is easy to rear cows if one has a means of personal transport for the purpose of soliciting fodder from distant localities. There is currently an initiative in my country for farmers to rear the ilama for milk production since its feed requirements are low and produces substantial milk for its size.
     
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  7. BeautifullyBree

    BeautifullyBree Active Member
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    Chickens would be easy to care for. I think it would be an excellent idea to stock a pond with fish. Throw a few cat fish in a small pond. They can reproduce and be caught for food. Another good one is rabbits. They reproduce rather rapidly and don't eat much food.
     
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  8. judyd1

    judyd1 New Member
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    You don't mention sheep, although they also keep the grass and weeds down, and are pretty good as a meat source. Is there a particular reason why I might not choose a sheep to add to my menagerie? Everything else sounds good. I like the idea of building up a herd, but I think that might not be the best thing in a survival situation, since I imagine a lot of people will be coming after edible anything.
     
  9. Kya Cooper

    Kya Cooper New Member
      3/23

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    My thinking is more in tune with yours. In addition, they are also quiet and don't draw attention. In my mind, in a serious widespread survival situation, I wouldn't want to draw the attention of possible desperate people by hearing the sounds of certain wild stock. I'd prefer to stay well hidden. I would like the availability of eggs, and am wondering which bird is most quiet, and also would like at least on milk producer.
     
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  10. Karen Martin

    Karen Martin New Member
      8/23

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    I agree with you all on the easy to care animals and what they produce for a family in the wilderness! I would most definitely get my a chicken for my eggs and the protein and eggs can be eaten with the shells to give you even more protein to survive and I would also have a cow for my milk and eventually thicken the cow up for meat products; hamburgers and steaks and I would also get me a pig to help eliminate some of the additional waste around and to have a pork feast later after feeding and fatten up the pig!
     
  11. lonewolf

    lonewolf Societal Collapse Survivalist. Staff Member
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    depends on how much land one has or has control of, in the UK cows, pigs and other large animals are required to have 1 acre per animal, I know the amount of land available in America is much larger so maybe this isn't a problem.
     
  12. Tom Williams

    Tom Williams Moderator Staff Member
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    All animals take food water and shelter its twice a day daily work just to care for them and much more time to store the food for them
     
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