Livestock Thread

[Cirrhosis_of_Liver]

I'm not gonna go kill every coyote I see walking up the side of the road lol.

You might be surprised how many people do exactly that. It's worth mentioning, no personal reflexion intended.

 

[Nique la mere de Macron]

Please 2 help me. I have to figure out how to catch my goat. He got bitten up by a dog attacking him about six months ago and now he's afraid of EVERYTHING. He has also broken through the fence (which I have tried to fix myself several times and I can't afford to get help on that) and is eating the winemaking neighbors' grapevines. We have been trying to catch him since March.

Unfortunately he is VERY FAST. I've tried luring him with food. I've tried being nice. I've tried sending the kids up (because he likes them) to grab him. I've tried bringing friends he doesn't know (because this goat is smart enough to know what I'm trying to do, but maybe he won't be so vigilant with people whose agenda he hasn't caught on to). We tried a few days ago with a big group of people from a local stable (who know how to use ropes to catch horses).

Current Plan B is to humor my man, who apparently had to catch goats "all the time" in the slum where he grew up, and let him try it in a week or two. I am dubious about this working.

Plan C is to get sleepytime drugs from the vet and leave a big bowl of fruit where I know Mr. Goat likes to sleep. (Vet is currently researching the drugs.) Plan D is to get the pompiers out to shoot him with a tranq dart. I am unenthusiastic about Plan D.

Am I missing any options here?

 

[Cirrhosis_of_Liver]

Please 2 help me. I have to figure out how to catch my goat. He got bitten up by a dog attacking him about six months ago and now he's afraid of EVERYTHING. He has also broken through the fence (which I have tried to fix myself several times and I can't afford to get help on that) and is eating the winemaking neighbors' grapevines. We have been trying to catch him since March.

Unfortunately he is VERY FAST. I've tried luring him with food. I've tried being nice. I've tried sending the kids up (because he likes them) to grab him. I've tried bringing friends he doesn't know (because this goat is smart enough to know what I'm trying to do, but maybe he won't be so vigilant with people whose agenda he hasn't caught on to). We tried a few days ago with a big group of people from a local stable (who know how to use ropes to catch horses).

Current Plan B is to humor my man, who apparently had to catch goats "all the time" in the slum where he grew up, and let him try it in a week or two. I am dubious about this working.

Plan C is to get sleepytime drugs from the vet and leave a big bowl of fruit where I know Mr. Goat likes to sleep. (Vet is currently researching the drugs.) Plan D is to get the pompiers out to shoot him with a tranq dart. I am unenthusiastic about Plan D.

Am I missing any options here?

Do you have any panels you can make into a pen? Depending just how skittish your goat is, in increasing levels:

1. Put some feed in there and then corner him. Sounds like this is something you've already tried.

2. Put feed in there and don't corner him. Just get him used to there being chow there and no fine print. Then corner him when he's gotten complacent.

3. Make a pen around his water source and take your time. Make yourself visible to himz without making him run. Give him time and move in gradually more each day. Like taming a damn crow. I've had goats that skittish when I first bought them. They either finally learned to relax, or they got sold on.


One of the least productive things you can do is chase a goat. Thor had them pull his Chariot for a reason. They will start to perceive you as a predator and will be far less likely ever to trust you. Unless you're catching them one last time to go to the sale barn, it's way better to get close enough to a calm goat that you can dart your hand out to grab them. The rear hock is the best place; they won't go anywhere without that leg, and it's way less likely to end in a broken finger than grabbing at their horns. Horns are good handles once you have control of the goat.

 

[Nique la mere de Macron]

Good advice thanks!!!

 

[LowlyPheasent]

Beginning to pitch in and help with some cows and cattle more, any tips for dealing with true and honest bovines that I should keep in mind?

 

[Cirrhosis_of_Liver]

Beginning to pitch in and help with some cows and cattle more, any tips for dealing with true and honest bovines that I should keep in mind?

Be calm. Don't ever reach for a hot shot as your first move, even to use as a tappy stick. Use a tappy stick for that; cattle are plenty smart enough to know the difference.

It really depends on the individual animal, but most cattle are only assholes when they get upset. They also get stupid when they get upset. A calm bovine understands simple hand signals like pointing or "get along you." They may not *give a shit* what you want if you don't have an established relationship with you, but they will know what you want.

To move cattle who aren't big puppies, understand that they follow your eyes, which have a sort of magnetic repulsion. There is a "tipping point" with ordinary, non-pissed-off bovines. This probably sounds dumb, but bear what I'm saying in mind when you work with them. It's like magic when you realize how easy calm cattle are to move to where you want them.

Now, pissed off cows, that's a different matter. Brahma will lie down and bellow and sulk, and you mostly have to await their pleasure, unless you're just that badass. Angus will try to murder you, and they're capable of it. Always always ALWAYS be mindful of your avenues of retreat.


As to using a tappy stick, or smacking them with your hand, or even twisting their tails, go with the flow of what the other people are doing. Cattle like what they are used to, short of being zapped or having dogs sicced on them. Some people go straight for those last resorts. Some people are stupid.

And some cattle are pricks who well deserve a zap. Just let them prove that, first. And if you have any spirit, zap yourself first and see how you like it.


Edit-- don't misconstrue my remark about dogs as a slight against cattle working dogs. Real working dogs who know how to act. In the right hands, trained working dogs are great.

It's just. I've seen people drive cattle with fucking pibbles. Don't do that shit.

 

[Klaptrap]

Any tips for how to get the best deals on Angus cattle/building a herd? I'm in TX if that helps.

I've got some family land that another rancher is currently renting space in, family members in the industry, and some extra fields on the land that could easily fit <100 head on. More when the other guys lease is up.

I'm planning to use them as my main long term investment since they're like walking shitting dividend stocks. They're also literally always valuable. No matter what kind of recession we're in, even if America turns into Fallout people will still need to eat.

 

[Salty Squid]

I've been thinking of getting quails since I keep hearing people say how easy they're to keep (compared to other livestock), plus I think they're kind of cute. But before I take the quailpill I thought I might ask here if people have experiences with raising them. How much work are they really? What are the upsides and downsides when compared to chicken? Anything else to look out for? I don't care much for meat here, I'm mostly looking for a good egg-layer.

 

[${Sandy}]

I've been thinking of getting quails since I keep hearing people say how easy they're to keep (compared to other livestock), plus I think they're kind of cute. But before I take the quailpill I thought I might ask here if people have experiences with raising them. How much work are they really? What are the upsides and downsides when compared to chicken? Anything else to look out for? I don't care much for meat here, I'm mostly looking for a good egg-layer.

They are super easy to take care of. You just gotta keep them in a big cage. The upsides is that they are smaller and they grow up quicker so if you hatch out eggs you can easily have up to 20 in just a few months. They are easier to slaughter than chickens too, imo. You just snip their head off with scissors, cut off their wings, then you cut open their back and pull out the innards. Quick and easy. With chickens I find its hard to tell if they are actually dead sometimes because their nerves will make them twitch around and do shit even after you twisted its head like 20 times. I found with chickens though, the best thing is to snap the neck then cut the throat, they die almost instantly if you do that and no twitching so you know its not still suffering. The downsides is that quail eggs are smaller than chickens there is less meat on them but the meat tastes really good, and they don't live as long as chickens and they will just die for no apparent reason sometimes. They are also really messy and waste feed which isn't too bad considering they don't need alot of food.

I'd recommend getting quail. They are small and kind of expendable compared to chickens imo, so if you make a mistake or something goes wrong its a learning experience and its not too much money if you need to get new quails. AFAIK there are no zoning laws restricting the ownership of quail, they are super easy to take care of and you can hatch eggs and raise alot of them quickly, and they are delicious and easy to harvest. I like to make noodles with the quail eggs and just recently I made baked quail stuffed with tomatoes and zucchini

Sometimes bad shit just happens with these birds though. I was incubating some eggs for meat, but unfortunately the eggs didn't hatch and for some reason the birds died before they hatched. Not sure why, but its a bummer because I was planning on making them into soup for my family. Also, I had a couple of quails randomly go into a seizure and die and I have no clue what caused it. They didn't have any signs of sickness and I take good care of them.

 

[Ethel_Blucifer]

With chickens I find its hard to tell if they are actually dead sometimes because their nerves will make them twitch around and do shit even after you twisted its head like 20 times. I found with chickens though, the best thing is to snap the neck then cut the throat, they die almost instantly if you do that and no twitching so you know its not still suffering.

I was taught to do the pulling/beheading method. I've heard it called 'the Philippine method', 'the Mexican method', 'the Russian method'... might be all of them, IDK. But it's pretty easy, fast, and all you need is a concrete step or edge.

You get a bag (I use an old pillow case), and hold it in the hand you're holding the chicken's feet in (so you can pull it down over them, once the wild headless flapping starts). Hold the chicken upside down until they pass out (this happens naturally, it's passing out from lack of oxygen because of their chicken breasts weight--it's not really hurting them, though I wouldn't do it often or for funsies). Once they're out, you have about half a minute, so don't dawdle. You pull the bag down, and brace the head on the edge, under your foot (just to hold it there--you'd not stepping down), then just pull upward and back. If you do it right, you end up with a headless chicken in a bag, and a chickenhead on concrete.

The chicken-flapping is a spinal-nerve reaction, and there shouldn't be enough blood in a chicken's head to keep its brain alive long enough to wake up.

 

[${Sandy}]

I was taught to do the pulling/beheading method. I've heard it called 'the Philippine method', 'the Mexican method', 'the Russian method'... might be all of them, IDK. But it's pretty easy, fast, and all you need is a concrete step or edge.

You get a bag (I use an old pillow case), and hold it in the hand you're holding the chicken's feet in (so you can pull it down over them, once the wild headless flapping starts). Hold the chicken upside down until they pass out (this happens naturally, it's passing out from lack of oxygen because of their chicken breasts weight--it's not really hurting them, though I wouldn't do it often or for funsies). Once they're out, you have about half a minute, so don't dawdle. You pull the bag down, and brace the head on the edge, under your foot (just to hold it there--you'd not stepping down), then just pull upward and back. If you do it right, you end up with a headless chicken in a bag, and a chickenhead on concrete.

The chicken-flapping is a spinal-nerve reaction, and there shouldn't be enough blood in a chicken's head to keep its brain alive long enough to wake up.

The first chicken I harvested was messy.

I snapped the neck and really twisted until the skin on the neck tore. When I was certain the thing was dead, I hung it upside down with fishing line and cut its head off and the corpse (I hope) started flapping around and spraying blood everywhere the second I cut into it.

The next chicken (I did two that day), I grabbed it by the legs. Held it upside town and carried it over to the spot. Snapped its neck, and then just slit the throat. After the blood drained I cut the head off, and the chicken did not flop around.

I'll look up the details on that method, but from my personal experience, snapping the neck and draining the blood gives me the most confidence their death wasn't needlessly painless.

Tl;dr When I harvest an animal I

 

[Salty Squid]

-snip-

Thanks for the informative response! Glad I asked because I feel like if some started randomly having seizures/dying on me I would have been super bummed out about it, good to know it's just a thing with them sometimes. I'm gonna start looking into livestock bird cages/pens next then and once all is set up I'll toss some quails in there. Might post some updates here once I'm starting my quail raising journey proper.

 

[${Sandy}]

Glad I asked because I feel like if some started randomly having seizures/dying on me I would have been super bummed out about it, good to know it's just a thing with them sometimes.

Well, I'm gonna do some research on why things went sideways with some of my birds tomorrow because I'm honestly fuckin' clueless. They had no signs of illness, I keep their cage clean, and they get plenty of food and water.

Nothing dies for no reason, so If Its my fault that shit happened I wanna know what I did wrong so I can prevent it. Hence

They are small and kind of expendable compared to chickens imo, so if you make a mistake or something goes wrong its a learning experience and its not too much money if you need to get new quails.

But you shouldn't worry too much. I only lost two quails to Sudden Quail Death Syndrome and that was after having them tiny birds for a few years. They aren't just randomly dropping dead on the daily and both deaths were spaced apart by a few months.

 

[Corydoras]

I wanted to share this extremely autistic educational video about the cost and effort of growing your own chicken feed. For me, the fact that chickens require so many human-grade calories to thrive kinda turned me off to them as a long-term food solution. But, if you are planning on making a go of it, I think this is a great resource.

 

[Cirrhosis_of_Liver]

I wanted to share this extremely autistic educational video about the cost and effort of growing your own chicken feed. For me, the fact that chickens require so many human-grade calories to thrive kinda turned me off to them as a long-term food solution. But, if you are planning on making a go of it, I think this is a great resource.

"I will eat the bugs, human, and you shall have my eggs."

 

[LowlyPheasent]

Contemplating picking up Guiena Chickens for pest control for pastures with cattle not so much anything else. Any of you lot have experience with them? Would be interested to hear first hand experience and any reccomendations. There's fox, coyote, and redtail hawks actively in the area so I'm not sure how long for the world they'd be but if they can be a benifit and are low maintenance I'd be down.

 

[Rakovnik]

Contemplating picking up Guiena Chickens for pest control for pastures with cattle not so much anything else. Any of you lot have experience with them? Would be interested to hear first hand experience and any reccomendations. There's fox, coyote, and redtail hawks actively in the area so I'm not sure how long for the world they'd be but if they can be a benifit and are low maintenance I'd be down.

They do a decent job of alerting you, I have some roosters that are better at spotting predators than the guinea and some that are worse. One of my roosters runs up towards the house to make sure we hear him, he's the best out of all of them but I do regularly have to fight him. The guineas won't attack you.

I had 3 guinea hens with a group of turkeys and they all got along great, either a hawk or owl got a guinea one night but couldn't carry it away. After the turkeys were taken to freezer camp, the 2 remaining were moved in with the chicken flock. Apparently they were male and female, the female had a nest with a few eggs out near the hay field but the day after we found the nest she was killed by a coyote

 

[Honored guest]

I'm getting 6-8 chickens in the next month, what breed(s) do you have? I was thinking half buff Orpingtons and a few fancy breeds my supplier has.

Orpingtons are pretty good for beginners, thats what I got for my first flock and they're very friendly. When picking breeds make sure they're appropriate for your climate, some breeds are more suited for cold climates and other are more suited for hot. Orpingtons do well in cold weather but they can suffer if you live in a really hot and humid area. I've seen people in Florida with them, so if you do live in a hotter area make sure you have shade, and ways for them to keep cool.
As for having a mixed flock it might be worthwhile to check the temperament of the breeds you're picking. Some breeds are more aggressive than others and if put a more passive breed with an aggressive breed you might have problems with bullying. From my limited experience most egg and duel purpose breeds should be ok together, but some of the more ornamental can be assholes and the more "wild" game fowl are definitely assholes

All in all I highly recommend getting chickens if you can, they're great recylers of both kitchen scraps and yard waste, if you interact regularly with them and give them treats they'll seek you out and can be treated like pets. Also "chicken math" if a real thing I started off with 6 buff orpingtons last year and despite saying that was all that I'd need I ended up picking up 4 more chicks this spring bringing my small flock to 10 hens. Be careful with bantams, they can't be properly sexed since the chicks are so small so all merchants only sell them as straight run which means that you'll likely get a 50/50 mix of hens and cocks, even sexed chicks can have about a 10% chance of being a male. So have a plan on what to do if you end up with a cockerel and you can't keep him.

 

[${Sandy}]

Gonna necromance this dead thread to talk about my quail.

Last time I tried to hatch eggs I used an incubator and none of them hatched. Some of them had half developed quails that died somehow.

I have a few quail left, and I've been keeping them as pets essentially but I had an idea to try leaving their eggs in their cage with them.

My logic is, that even though its a colder season the area I live is still pretty warm this time of year. Im going to try to leave it up to god. He made quail the way he did for good reason, and I think that if the quails are meant to have any offspring, then the eggs are best left to the care of the bird that laid it.

I've never observed any of my quail become broody like my chickens do. But I have found them sitting on the eggs so hopefully I'll have up to 12 Quail by the 11th of next month.

 

[McLean Deluxe]

They have sideways planting pots or containers to sleep in. I also use PVC pipe tunnels for toys that they sleep in also.
If you give them hay, they're going to use it for a toilet, not a bed.
Do an image search for "rabbit farm cage" you'll see it's pretty typical. Most won't even have amenities like the tunnel.

If you wanted an outdoor free range style set up, you won't get much manure, and you'll need to bury fencing since they are burrowing animals.

How small did you start with your rabbits? Is a couple hutches in a backyard a reasonable way to raise the things? I live in the suburbs with a pretty small yard, but it sounds like your setup doesn't take much space.