Christine Wolf

steve bossie, well i was trying to avoid trout and go for something less carnivorous. But since it may be more efficiant to just rais sheep ill probly skip the fish thing.

As for wood tast, has anyone tried cooking with wild honeysuckl wood? i discovered this camping in MN. it gives it a sweet tast.

Thats a good idea with the freezer. Ill try that. Thanks

Kyrt, if I slaughter my sheep in fall I dont have to feed them through winter so we deff need to go that rout vs. killing them as needed. But last winter up there in coeur dalene it was pretty warm. Like 30s and 20s, often above freezing. Even though it was mostly freezing ive heard meat wont keep as long in those temps. The fat idea is cool but im not sure where to get all that fat without growing a lot of pigs. Those sheep are lean...

Sandpoint area. I do plan to have birds but for eggs. I plan to have sheep and rabbits as meat for sure. I was hoping i could get more pounds of meat per acre with fish than i would with sheep but im not sure about if i can or not yet. with fish i wouldnt have to use a freezer like i would with sheep becaus they are small enough i could catch just enough for the day so thats the benafit there. Same with rabbits. i would still plan to have some sheep though but i wouldnt need as big a freezer/ as much electricity.

Steve, yes feeding cats more makes them grow more, uless there not taking as much food becaus its cold. I may go with cats, not sure yet. cant find cool water farm growth rates. most of the growth rates ive beet looking up was for farm fish not wild. In the southish its 14" in 3 years for channal cats.

Feww just got off work. Ok so i think i understand why people dont comonly grow buffalo fish (by that i mean any Ictiobus, bigmouth or small) They have those "Y" shaped bones like carp that go through the meat but they dont have as much of this as carp i understand. so they are not as bony as carp but still a fuss. The meat tasts good so to many its worth it but some people only take the ribs and leave the backstraps which is where the bones are. I would find that too wasteful. People grow then with catfish as they eat the leftovers that sink without eating the flaoting food the catfish takes so when you get the numbers and ratios right you dont have to add any more food to grow the extra meat.

Jay I dont have a pond or land yet because i am looking for land to buy but in order to know how big of land i need i must know how im going to grow my meat so i need to know if a pond will be more or as efficiant as sheep. Im not interested in eating chicken just caus gutting them sucks more than usual. I want to take up less space as im on a budget and cant aford huge land so if i can have 4-5 acres of sheep and 1-2 acres of fish and feed what might grow into a larg family withought ever buying meat that would br graet.

I just started reading this which gives some detail
http://www2.ca.uky.edu/wkrec/BigmouthBuffalo.pdf

Do you know how many pounds per acre breem produce?

Me neither. The one sit said buffalo grow 5" the 1st year, another said they grow 3 lb in 2 years, are the cheepest fish to grow and are commonly raised with catfish. They can live in oxygen depleated water. I keep hearing that they are one of the most important commercial fish becaus of their fast, easy, cheap production. But i cant find anyone growing them in their backyard or much detail on it

On 2nd thought, i just read they take 3 years to get half a pound. i think the cats would have a better growth rate even in idaho water