Obviously this is going to take a lot of time and it's just a hobby before I get good at it but I really want to get educated on this topic. I'm asking it here because there's a lot of gatekeeping and misinformation.
Resources and ideas on raising organic cattle for personal consumption?
>buy cow
>watch it eat grass
>Shoot it
If only it was that simple.
The whole process, I don't have any knowledge at all. I just want to learn it properly. For an example, the optimal place I should look for, the type of grass they should feed on etc. I understand if you can't write it all and instead you could give me the name of books, videos etc. that are trusted.
You can't learn it from a book only some of it.
You've got to physically experience it especially for anything involving livestock, so my advice is going to involve getting as much practical experience before you lay out any captical.
Chickens are pretty bombproof entry level stuff so maybe start there if you really want to get stuck into it now, all you need is a big enough garden.
But if you want to get into anything bigger you'll need to either volunteer or get job experience on some sort of commercial farm.
I see, thank for the reply. Obviously practice is the most important but I still want to get prepared as much as possible for it so I can get the most out of it. Also I will definitely try to get some chickens now that you said it.
Even with chickens you need to ease yourself into it. When I say "now" I'm talking about a timescale of weeks or months after research and funding.
If you've never cared for an animal or a pet before it's stil a jump.
Vegetable or herb growing are easily the simplest, quickest, lowest risk entry into anything food related.
You'll learn some basic skills from this, possibly reduce some household costs and give yourself time to familiarise yourself with related topics.
What sort of background or experiences do you have?
>If you've never cared for an animal or a pet before it's stil a jump.
Exactly, I'm like a blank slate. I have no experience, that's why I want to do it proper way even if it requires way more effort.
>Vegetable or herb growing are easily the simplest, quickest, lowest risk entry into anything food related.
I might look into it but they are of no use to me, that's why I didn't mention them.
I think you should probably start with a pot plant.
Why do you feel plants are of no use to you? Get livestock wrong and worse case scenario they die or you get injured.
Hey anon, how much feed does a cow feeding on 1 acre of land need? Is it possible that the cow (and potentially a calf) could live purely off of pasture? If I was to keep 1 cow + calf on an acre of land, is it sustainable, or would the land need to be repaired after a while?
the most efficient way is to move them every day because grass grows logarithmically but if you're a lazy homosexual like everyone else you just let them eat the whole pasture then give them corn chips and shit also grass doesn't grow in winter so you have to kill them or feed them hay bales (you do have some spare hay bales right?)
I'm fine with doing that, but how much total acreage would I need and how would I partition it off in a way that could be sustainable? Say I have 2 acres total to work with for pasture, is there any way to rotate that in a way that would work? I'm fine feeding them hay bales during the winter.
>but how much total acreage would I need
it depends on how you're managing it in terms of cultivation practices and in terms of rotation practices, also there is seasonal and regional variation etc
2 acres may well be enough or close enough to be workable anyway, and if you have access to hay to bridge the gap then you'll be fine
check out https://beef.unl.edu/beefwatch/2023/how-much-pasture-do-i-need-and-what-are-aums
It's doable depending on the size of your animal, you won't want a big breed for that sort of area, feed requirements scale with body size so maybe something smaller like a dexter or you could raise something smaller like sheep, of course breeding is a headache and giving birth is stressful and prone to go wrong so you could just buy a calf at a market or from a farmer. It gives you a lot more flexibility in breed choice and what you can do with it without the longterm cost and management issues of a cow.
I can't offer great advice because land productivity and variability of different locations and then your usage requirements do vary and we're used to thinking in terms of herds not smallholding/homesteaders.
Rotation isn't essential you can set stock, depending on the species it'll adapt to the tighter grazing with more denisty and tillering out. your ultimate grazed area will be about the same, leaf size and sward height at grazing will be smaller so your average intake speed won't be as high, the stock will spend more time wandering the paddock and the nutrient profile of the sward will be a little diferent.
The main benefit of a rotaional grazing system is that it lets you adjust to the grass growth rates and feed requirements of the animals through the season, with a possibility to leave the excess regions ungrazed and take them as a cut crop when the weather is good to use later in winter or a dry spell.
From a management perspective daily fence shifts might not be ideal so you can be flexible with the area you assign. ot you just set up a linear system a few days in advance with several wires across.
A disadvantage is that you'll need to move the water trough each time too.
It's okay, I understand.
I just consume raw animal products, don't see anything hardcore about it. But that's not the point, really.
>Flowers or herbs are piss easy and as long as you get the basics right you are gold, veg are more of an investment and need more care but you get more out.
I see.
You seriously never eat anything made from a plant?
>never
I never said that.
farmgay here, what do you specifically want to know?
Google Joel Salatin.
I'm doing it right now. Anything specific?
>Why do you feel plants are of no use to you?
I meant it in the sense that I don't consume them so they are of no use for me personally. But if they are needed for the process or are good experience to have I will do it.
Are you some hardcore exclusive carnivore do you not cook your own food?
Flowers or herbs are piss easy and as long as you get the basics right you are gold, veg are more of an investment and need more care but you get more out.
>if (plants) are needed for the process
No, you're good; you just set some of your cattle off to one side to be eaten by the other cattle. Who doesn't like steak?
That's not exactly what I said but okay, it was funny.
I don't have land yet but am trying at the moment.
Do you have any land at your disposal that an animal can graze? That would be the #1 thing needed. And that land needs to have a reliable water source and a good fence around it.
Do you have any of that?
>move to Austria
>Buy big plot of land on the alps
>Buy cows
>Put cows there and wait
>Put the cows into a barn during winter
>Shoot the cows when ripe
>???
>Profit!
>cow falls off mountain
I don't understand why people aren't pushing you towards chickens. Unless you're looking for milk or are obsessed with only eating red meat chickens are so much easier and practical. They can be raised on any land, even suburban lots if you don't get a rooster, they produce an infinite supply of eggs while they're alive, and the effort to take care of more scales super well. The only infrastructure you need is a coup which really only requires a junk shed with some horizontal poles in it for them to roost on and some wood boxes for them to lay their eggs in. If you're worried about predators you might want to create a fenced-in area but that is it. You fill up their feeder once a day and pick up the eggs, boom free protein from the things you will eventually turn into more protein. Plus, after you kill and butcher them you can turn the remains into an amazing stock super easily.
>First act
>Buy land for six gorillion dollars
You can't just butcher and process a cow as a "hobby". Even ignoring all the parts of having livestock, it's an enormous amount of work that requires years of training to get good at.
If you have no idea what you're doing with and then are faced with a 700lbs carcass you're just gonna make a mess of it and waste a huge amount of time, money and meat. It's honestly disrespectful to the cow.
He could buy a quarter or half of an animal and butcher it himself?
Yes but it still requires a lot of practice. I've butchered a couple of pigs and I am complete garbage at it.
You'd be much better off paying a professional to do it for you.
Yeah also true. He'll have all the necessary gear too.
I wonder how you could go about buying or sponsoring a specific animal for a farmer to raise then have that animal custom butchered?
Just ask. You could buy a pig from us for the same price we'd get selling it.
Custom butchering you'd have to figure out on your own, no farmer has time for that lol. We'd shot and bleed it and the rest is up to you.