Adam Hoar

Most butchers I know don't hang pork, you get the fresh pork back as soon as they are done cutting it up (a few days at most) then either the butcher or you brings the cuts you want smoked to the smoker for curing and cutting you pick that up from the smoker whenever they are done which can be a week, could be months....

Dogs aren't just to keep four legged predators away.

we were feeding a 5 gallon bucket of drops to our 5 pigs once or twice a day, I tried to bring a bucket to them every time I went down. they became picky pigs pretty quickly, they only wanted the nice red apples not the green crap apples. They also had free choice grain, the pasture and the household scrapes so they ate what they wanted. I was also bringing the deer a bunch as well and of course they were coming up and eating the drops. We had a bumper crop of apples this year and there were signs every where for free apples, we told all our neighbors they could come over and pick but none did. We turned ours into apple sauce, dried apples, pies and I was eating a few a day fresh.

I bought 6 persimmons from real tree nurseries and 4 of the 6 died two years ago and those two lived through last years winter but I think my area of Zone 5 B is marginal at best for them. If anyone has seeds from a zone 5 persimmon I would love to get some to plant out into my woods for the wildlife/livestock once we develop that area into paddocks.

Destiny Hagest wrote:

Adam Hoar wrote:If you are giving them feed you dont want to feed just scratch you need to feed them a layer ration for a better complete diet.

Ours get all the house hold scrapes but they also have a organic, soy free layer ration along with free choice kelp and calcium.

That's what I thought - the scraps are just so inconsistent right now. Is that something you toss for them to scratch at, or put in a feeder? We started out with one, but did away with it when we started tractoring them over the spring. Where do you get your feed? The stuff at the co op isn't the best quality, and that's the only place around to get any.

We use 50 lb range feeders that take a whole bad of pellets, we are also running around 60 birds or so so 50 lbs only last them 3 days or so when they are on pasture. I prefer something the birds can get to when they want it, when you throw them feed it creates a bird feeding frenzy, which may not be an issue with a few birds but with 50 they get crazy. We buy our feed from our local feed store but it is from Green Mountain out of VT. It is the only place I know of in our area that has certified Organic feed and tests for GMO's once it arrives at their place. If you order directly from them you can get their None GMO feeds but the feed stores don't carry that. I also think its important for the chickens to have free choice kelp and calcium in separate feeders. The layer is suppose to have calcium but supplemental feed isnt a bad idea. Also anything extra is just going to pass through them and help fertilize your land.

You will need a bow, and arrows obviously, the type of bow doesnt matter but you will need the draw weights required by your state (normally 50 lbs) also you will need arrows, you can spend as little or as much as you want.... once you get arrows you will need field points for target practice and then broadheads for deer (there is also a min cutting diameter, normally and inch and some change) they also make small game heads that are more blunt for rabbits and such, then you have turkey heads that normally are designed to kill the birds very quickly since its almost impossible to track a turkey, especially if it gets into the air.

after that practice, practice and practice some more, once you feel comfy at 20 yards start pushing the distance, and shoot further then you expect to shoot at a deer.

Then you need to start figuring out the deer and their habits. and then you can figure out how you want to hunt them either from the ground or a tree stand, and hopefully get close enough to put an arrow into one.

If you are giving them feed you dont want to feed just scratch you need to feed them a layer ration for a better complete diet.

Ours get all the house hold scrapes but they also have a organic, soy free layer ration along with free choice kelp and calcium.

I take Joel's opinion on this, if you cant put 1000 hours a year on the tractor its not worth the cost.

This has kept me from buying a tractor, when I need one I save up work and rent one for a day or two.

Awesome story, it is always great to prove to people how good real food can taste.

Normally when we have a drop off in eggs for several days at a time they are laying them in another area for one reason or another...

I have never used my dog for carting, however he does compete in Weight pulling and is a national champion.

We use a harness like these guys make: http://www.weightpullharness.com/Home.html

It is very size specific and if you can train on someone's harness before the dog is full grown and to figure out if the dog will do what your looking for.

When starting out you have to get the dog use to having something behind him, dogs don't want to be chased. If you are using a wheeled cart you need to have a brake on it and you NEED TO ENSURE the cart never touches the dog, if the dog gets run over its a bad day and you will never get the dog to trust that cart again (or it will take a long long time).

We do use my dog to pull sleds during the winter and other tasks but for competing in Weight pull the longer pulls aren't as good for him so we tend to focus on what we want him to do.