# I've got this pregnancy downsizing thing backwards



## indie (Sep 7, 2013)

I'm so excited!

Currently, I have 15 chickens giving me not nearly enough eggs. When hubby is home we eat 9 every breakfast and I'm getting half that. I hate molt etc. So, I just found 18 free laying hens I'm picking up tomorrow - this year and last year's hatches. A friend is giving me some she just got for free too. SCORE!

But wait! I have 2 goats I just hate. I don't like going out with the goats because these two are just so rotten. I may have found a trade deal for them where I get 2 sheep and don't have to butcher high quality purebred goats. SCORE!

But wait! A friend approached me offering to sell me her bred milk cow. I've wanted a cow for like...ever. My only concern is the sustainability of a cow in a SHTF scenario because, if it survives, I don't have a bull, which is why I went for goats instead. But why stop at goats when you can have a cow? SCORE!

So, the original plan was to get rid of all but one goat, replace the small herd with one other full size. Instead, I'm only getting rid of 2, adding a cow, more than doubling my chicken flock and giving my pregnant self a whole lot more work. So why am I not bothered by all this? :lol:


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## Jeep (Aug 5, 2014)

Milk cow you don't need a bull. All you need to do is learn the auction. you get 3-4 bum steers for 75 each. Now you got stuff to butcher and sell and you got a milk cow.


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## thepeartree (Aug 25, 2014)

Good money in beef cattle these days. We're looking at buying a quarter or half for next year's summer.


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## indie (Sep 7, 2013)

Jeep said:


> Milk cow you don't need a bull. All you need to do is learn the auction. you get 3-4 bum steers for 75 each. Now you got stuff to butcher and sell and you got a milk cow.


But to keep having milk, at some point said cow has to have a date! My dad raises beef, so we've got all the beef we need, thankfully. $2/# live right now, insanity! Used to be tickled to see $1/#.

This one's bred to a highland, so I'll keep a heifer and eat a steer. Cows are so much _easier_ than goats, I just can't wait!


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## Jeep (Aug 5, 2014)

Indie, no way a cow is easier than a goat. I have a dozen, they do not equate to 1 cow for the troubles


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## indie (Sep 7, 2013)

Trade you goats then.  I grew up with cows. They don't get sick as easy, carry as many infectious diseases and--most importantly--require grain to produce. Well, we live in the bottom lands where there isn't browse for goats. In their preferred habitat, they're surely just fine, but down here, cows rule. 

I never did get why goats have multiple kids but only 2 teats and cows have generally singles but have 4 teats. Guess it means we're supposed to milk them.

There's also the rather major detail that, when pregnant, I can't stand the taste of anything that has goat milk in it. I mean, it's the worst tasting crap on earth. If I were starving and pregnant, I probably still couldn't drink goat milk. But only when I'm pregnant. :lol:


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## Wise Prepper (Oct 2, 2014)

Milk doesnt produce without a baby. You can find a bull to use as a stud around. Depending on acres if you can keep enough around. To be completely self sustainable you need 2 bulls. or a combo of stud/ one of yours. Or 2 stud. We are working on building up our cattle now, have learned a lot.


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## Jeep (Aug 5, 2014)

Nope you can keep an animal in milk year round if you don't let it dry up. Not sure about all of them but I know Alpine and Saanen goats will produce till they die after the first Kids.


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## Wise Prepper (Oct 2, 2014)

Jeep said:


> Nope you can keep an animal in milk year round if you don't let it dry up. Not sure about all of them but I know Alpine and Saanen goats will produce till they die after the first Kids.


Thought we were talking about cows?


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## Jeep (Aug 5, 2014)

NO, milk. And a Dairy cow will also stay in milk if you keep it flowing and feed proper. No babies required


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## thepeartree (Aug 25, 2014)

Goats are a p.i.t.a. What you get next depends if you like cow's milk and beef better than sheep's milk and mutton. Any animal comes with its own set amount of work. I find that goats tend to be aggressive and prone to escape, while sheep just seldom want to cooperate with anything you want them to do. They also will do amazing things to get out of the pasture. Haven't had a cow. Yet. But they probably won't 1) jump over or tunnel through a 5 foot fence, 2) they one for one have the edge on how much food they produce. As a prepper, leather has the edge over cloth. We're going to need new shoes. Shoes these days are designed to fall apart and we'd best be ready to repair or replace what we have.


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## Jeep (Aug 5, 2014)

All mine so far are pets. The sheep are are good for 2-4 Lambs each, the Goat does twins 90% of the time. But I raise mine currently for FFA and 4H. So not meat animals primarily.


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## Wise Prepper (Oct 2, 2014)

You have to have a baby or they will not start lactating. Once it is lactating/ after birth, they will produce for 7-8 months. Why would milk producers/production farms, keep getting there milk cows to birth if they didnt have to?


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## Deebo (Oct 27, 2012)

I try to learn something new everyday, and today I learned a lot from this thread.


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## thepeartree (Aug 25, 2014)

Wise Prepper said:


> You have to have a baby or they will not start lactating. Once it is lactating/ after birth, they will produce for 7-8 months. Why would milk producers/production farms, keep getting there milk cows to birth if they didnt have to?


Hmm. Maybe they like cute calves?


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## Jeep (Aug 5, 2014)

Easy, you can get them Ai'ed and keep a baby on them, it works


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## Wise Prepper (Oct 2, 2014)

Jeep said:


> Easy, you can get them Ai'ed and keep a baby on them, it works


Not in a SHTF situation! Even with a calf on them they dry up after time! I have a cow outside my front door to prove it. Plus just having a calf milk doesn't keep cows mild to top production. You need to milk them twice a day also.


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## thepeartree (Aug 25, 2014)

Not to mention that that way you don't have to buy more cows...


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## Wise Prepper (Oct 2, 2014)

thepeartree said:


> Hmm. Maybe they like cute calves?


They sell them to slaughter after birth so they can collect more milk. They dont care about the calfs.


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## Wise Prepper (Oct 2, 2014)

thepeartree, have you ever ate veal? It comes from dairy farms for a reason...


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## Jeep (Aug 5, 2014)

Post SHTF I have no answer


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## thepeartree (Aug 25, 2014)

Wise Prepper said:


> thepeartree, have you ever ate veal? It comes from dairy farms for a reason...


I know what it is and where it comes from. The choice of using the calf that way is their choice.

I have had it. Once. It wasn't prepared well. Or maybe it was, but in any case, I haven't gone back for round two.


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## Jeep (Aug 5, 2014)

I will not raise veal or any other baby for meat.


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## MrsInor (Apr 15, 2013)

I won't eat veal because of the way they raise them. I will eat lamb. Sheep are so dumb they deserve to be et.


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## indie (Sep 7, 2013)

MrsInor said:


> I won't eat veal because of the way they raise them. I will eat lamb. *Sheep are so dumb they deserve to be et.*


Agreed. My brief foray into sheep a couple of years ago taught me that I can much more easily and cheaply get fleece from all my hoarder fiber friends.  But, I'd do just about anything to get rid of this goat and her kid and I planned to eventually get sheep again, also for SHTF.

I'll get my cow and if things go south, I'll still have my goats so either way, I'm in the milk! Oh, the butter. I LOVE butter!


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## BagLady (Feb 3, 2014)

indie said:


> Agreed. My brief foray into sheep a couple of years ago taught me that I can much more easily and cheaply get fleece from all my hoarder fiber friends.  But, I'd do just about anything to get rid of this goat and her kid and I planned to eventually get sheep again, also for SHTF.
> 
> I'll get my cow and if things go south, I'll still have my goats so either way, I'm in the milk! Oh, the butter. I LOVE butter!


So you make your own butter? From goats? BTW, goat meat, imo, if done right, is good meat.
Are you using the old fashioned butter churn? I've always heard that was a lot of work.


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## Wise Prepper (Oct 2, 2014)

thepeartree said:


> I know what it is and where it comes from. The choice of using the calf that way is their choice.
> 
> I have had it. Once. It wasn't prepared well. Or maybe it was, but in any case, I haven't gone back for round two.


I dont agree with veal either. But that is what dairy farms produce for a reason. They have to keep milk production up...


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## bigdogbuc (Mar 23, 2012)

I had two Lamancha Goats as pets once. Both female. An older one, Amber-Dolly, and a younger one (less than a year), Whizzer (pee'd all the time), to keep her company. I dig Goats. Those two were fun and very playful, more so than the dogs. Except for eating all of the bark off the fruit tree's, they were great pets. They used to go crazy every time I came home from work like a couple of dogs. Couldn't go in the house until I spent about 10 minutes with them...

Had to give them up in the divorce as I moved into town but they went to a nice farm of some friends of the ex...after all these years, I miss them.


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## tirednurse (Oct 2, 2013)

I love my goats and have absolutely no problems with them. they have no desire to break through their fences, they come when I call them and follow simple commands or hand gestures. I raise for milk but keep some of the Boars for meat if needed. Right now as of the last 3 kids born last week we are up to 40 goats. I have a calf I'm raising for meat also and have to say she causes more issues than all the goats combined. what a stubborn beast she can be. Cows eat a heck of a lot more than goats and goats can be packed up and taken if you need to bug out. Not so easy with a cow. my goats are mostly free range with hay to supplement in the winter and about a cup of grain each a day.


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## Kahlan (Sep 16, 2014)

Congrats on your new additions! I've been wanting goats for quite a while now. I know a lady who breeds them and she offered to give me a couple. Maybe someday...


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## Zed (Aug 14, 2014)

We had goats for milk only..it was nice...but when we shifted to city we sold them..They are good and compared to cows or buffaloes..they are damn easy to rear..only problem is winter!


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## indie (Sep 7, 2013)

BagLady said:


> So you make your own butter? From goats? BTW, goat meat, imo, if done right, is good meat.
> Are you using the old fashioned butter churn? I've always heard that was a lot of work.


Goats are harder to get cream from because their milk is naturally homogenized, but they actually have a higher butterfat content than cows, so if you can extract it, there's more of it. That being said, it's easier to get more cream from cows because it all just rises to the top.

Once you have the cream, you can throw it in a blender and it will turn to butter, or give the kids a jar with cream in it to roll around on the floor.

We eat organic, and the cost of quality organic butter is out of this world, so this will be one of the best things about a cow.


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