Best Animal For The Apocalypse?

Until Keith gets back on this thread, I would like to show you what I would probably do with rabbit skins, if I had enough of them to make a blanket. Because rabbit hides are notoriously thin and tear easily, especially if sewn together, some Native American tribes rolled strips of rabbit hide and used them to weave with cordage.

Here are some ways the First Americans did it:

http://www.primitiveways.com/rabbit_skin_blanket.html

https://books.google.com/books?id=jp0EKqkWfTkC&pg=PA124&lpg=PA124&dq=make+coat+from+rolled+up+rabbit+skins&source=bl&ots=O2Qn10i_XE&sig=ACfU3U2lVO4b9fYU243HeL10ujGtClbtjA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj367j__dvgAhVLd6wKHQlzC1o4FBDoATAJegQIARAB#v=onepage&q=make coat from rolled up rabbit skins&f=false



(scroll down this site just a little for a brief description of another way of weaving with rabbit skins)

https://books.google.com/books?id=jw_zVl0ULsUC&pg=PA129&lpg=PA129&dq=make+coat+from+rolled+up+rabbit+skins&source=bl&ots=ENbc4ceXAq&sig=ACfU3U08ivXyJ_cPLtXiEweIVvewJzoHPA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjxxKih_dvgAhVEnq0KHbspAtc4ChDoATAFegQICRAB#v=onepage&q=make coat from rolled up rabbit skins&f=false

Here is a handy description of the different rabbit breeds and their fur quality. https://www.raising-rabbits.com/different-types-of-rabbits.html

Of course, you might want to also take into consideration that which of these breeds would be the easiest to raise under less than optimum conditions, as well. Some purebred rabbits will not thrive under certain conditions. For example, the super longhairs may not thrive in hotter climates than their shorthair cousins, etc.

Good luck and have fun researching your rabbit projects!

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Thank you, kind sir!

I enjoy helping folks, so it was fun. Coffee's post jogged my memory of the traditional ways our First Americans made blankets with rabbit skins...and off I went in Google land to bring back the loot!


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I think the best animal for the apocalypse depends upon where you live.

Here in Florida, I would gravitate toward goats, or wild pigs.

Up north in New England?

I would try to cultivate deer, and yes....it can be done.

Out west, I suppose cattle would be best.

In desert areas in New Mexico or Navada? I would say that goats will be best.

Just stay away from fainting goats.

And learn about how to castrate goats, keep their milk going, poultices to put on sore udders, and so on.

 

The best animals for the apocalypse are small mammals and pigs. You can eat them, produce them on the farm, hunt them.
But in order to cook them correctly you will need the right kitchen appliances.
I use special knives for cooking meat. Have you ever used best boning knife? This knife is very convenient, the blades are very sharp and it is easy to cut any kind of meat. The handle fits comfortably in your hand and when using it the hand does not get tired. Blades sharpen very well. You can also see best knife block. These knives are also very comfortable and very easy to handle with cutting everything.

 

I've never had rabbit. Goat/lamb is just too gamey for me to enjoy. I'd definitely eat it, in a eat it or die situation. Guinea Pig? I've heard of eating them and I wonder how it tastes. Out here in Colorado, we have a problem with prairie dogs. Anyone know if they are good eating? I see some fat ones crossing the road a lot. Might be a decent food source.

 

I have never cooked or eaten prairie dog, but it is said to taste a bit like squirrel but kind of oily and gamey.

So, my Cajunfied Creole way to solve that problem would be to parboil it, then add it to a good gumbo or sauce piquant, or smother it in a Creole sauce. Or, if your culinary resources are scarce, parboil the meat in water for about thirty minutes, drain and add fresh water along with, salt, wild field garlic, and onions. Cook until it begins falling off the bone. Debone the meat and add it to whatever you have going on... soups, stews, etc.

Bon appetit!


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m


been wanting to make a rabbit skin blanket for some time. My indian friend tells me I need about a hundred rabbit skins.


On another note I would imagine prairie dog would taste a lot like woodchuck and wood chuck is a good meat.

 

I’m surprised that no one mentioned guinea pigs and their kin. High protein, used by many in South America, fast prolific breeders. Quiet

 

Fish ponds with the inhabitants not on the list ?

 

For the sake of leaving suitable habitat and a breeding population wild rabbits are an easy food source.

 

When I had rabbits and chickens, I had a bit of an eco-system going on. I kept earthworms in beds of garden soil beneath the rabbit cages. The worms recycled the stuff that fell from the cages plus my donated kitchen scraps. The chickens loved eating the numerous black soldier fly grubs that often showed up and the occasional earthworm that they managed to reach. Worm beds that were not disturbed were home to the finest nightcrawlers ever! (Nightcrawlers will stick around and multiply if their home base is not frequently disturbed.)


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Whatever type of animal , bird or fish someone wants for the apocalypse it needs to be obtained now if they don't already have it . It takes preparation to be able to care for a critter , such as fencing , shelter or proper environment . Then after S.H.T.F. there is the problem of finding someone willing to give up the critter you seek . Another problem , if the power is down , how are you going to get it with no fuel ? Another consideration is feed for your survival critter , especially during the winter months , with no fuel for motorized equipment or feed store to run to . This is where someone already bugged in has a big advantage over someone planning to flee to another location . I consider a survival critter to be a very important key to long range survival . I grew up on a farm where we produced nearly all our food manually , using a horse and plow and caught fish from the river that run through our property so I don't have to speculate on what substance living would be like .

 

Just want to say that I cannot add one thing of value to this thread, but I have learned a lot, and thoroughly enjoyed you sharing your knowledge. Thank you all for posting.

 

Bugging in is made a lot more viable if you begin a program of planting semi wild edibles that you allow to naturalise and can then forage at need. I've been adding to local hedgerows for years, you can plant in ponds, woodlands, wherever...as long as it's unobtrusive, this also benefits wildlife.
I know for a fact I'm not the only person on this forum who has been improving the potential for foraging near their home.

 

Simple fact is you need fat in your diet. Vegans will suffer if it hits the fan. I like rabbit stew, plenty of veg and lots of diced smoked fatty bacon, yummy.

Keeping animals for food? Chickens are not that hard to look after, goats are simple to look after and you get milk, meat, cashmere wool and leather. A mate has a smallholding and makes cheese from the milk off his goats; its pretty good.

 

Like everyone was saying rabbits would be great for meat protein but not a great source of plentiful fat. Guinea pig I could see, I heard they're a delicacy in Peru and other SA countries. I learned that one time watching some reality show about "US Customs". They had these two 20 something year old guys about a package in their luggage. Turned out was smoked guinea pig, they blurred it out but it appeared to be a full pig split from end to end like you'd do for a spit and I think it said it's dried and smoked. The custom agent was like oh yeah that is a common food in Peru. Guess these guys were coming to visit family and were bringing a little taste of home.

Ducks and geese are great but can be a lot of inputs and not always quiet and will take almost half a year before they start producing eggs. Think I mentioned elsewhere on this site, an often overlooked bird is coturnix quail. From hatch to freezer camp in 6-7 weeks and also start laying eggs around the same time. they're bred to be kept in small crates so can pack them 4 to a 2x2 cage and stack the cages high. Can do all this somewhere like a garage, or shed or build a small aviary. You can feed them grass clippings, scraps, hay, etc. and the hens will pump out 1 egg 1 per day for about a year and a half. Yes small eggs and meat but fast growing and self replenishing if you manage it correctly.

I'm a believer in function stacking and I think if you went the route of rabbit and quail, you can design your system where you feed and rabbit pellets to the quail to pick thru to get nutrition from it plus process the waste into valuable compost for your garden and other edible plants.

I do think that it is important to have a milk source, especially if kids are involved. Where I'm at we have a lot of dairy farms so I think will have sources for a while but I think it'd be good to have a few goats more so than a milk cow. Cow's tend to be stupid and can have all sorts of health issues where as a goat is freakishly tough as nails and can eat anything (which means keeping a tight reign on them) which makes them very self sustaining. Park them out on the edge of the woods or a field and they will mow it down and turn those weeds into milk and meat. I'm not a huge fan of goat meat but I eat it and in SHTF it'll be the best thing I've ever tasted.

I see milk as a very critical item in post SHTF diets and I don't see people talk about it. Milk is a huge wealth of fat which is often a component lacking or difficult to provide in a survival scenario or subsistence diet. From the milk we get, well milk but then butter, cheeses, cream, yogurt, kefir etc... so like with cheese gives the ability to make it longer term store-able since milk will go bad pretty quick without refrigeration. Lack of refrigeration also brings up don't forget root cellars and spring houses to help preserve foods.