Sustainable meat production when the merde hits the ventilator.. (pic heavy)

[Boyd]

This is a subject I've thought long and hard on for the past decade. I've tried many methods and types of meat production.. Rabbits, Chickens, Coturnix Quail, and soon to try goats n pot bellied pigs.

Life being as it is I find myself in a new career in a new town with a little more land than I had before. I am outside of a large city, but the way I have set things up, even the rabbit hutches don't stand out and unless you walk within 50' of them you won't know they are there...

PS, the continuing story of Cow Battles has really helped me hasten my plans.

Quail are great, but with no power and no solar capabilities as of yet they aren't sustainable enough for me as I have to incubate all eggs.. Rabbits and Chickens I love.. Rabbits for meat, fur and their ability to turn anything they eat into the best fertilizer around. Chickens.. They'll eat anything that won't get out of their way.. Plus the gals lay eggs....

See? I like the duplicity my critters bring me.... But new town, starting over..

Rabbits..... Here is my start over pics











Now this is what most of my land looks like as of a week ago..





After yesterday....













Now the question is.. How do we maximize the use here? I left mature trees n all evergreen trees in the clearing we made. I want to use this for pasture for forage for rabbit tractors, goats, PBP's etc. Looking for ideas.. Planning on Clover, Vetch, Alfalfa, Timothy Hay and some Winter Wheat. Perhaps some Barley.. I've had enough rabbits to go through 100lbs of pellets a week, and I cut back by winter.. But by next spring/summer I plan on filling that field with critters. Any input would be appreciated!

[thedreamers]

Nice place. With all that you have many options. Its going to be up to you and your budget as to what you do. We like a few hogs cause they eat anything you can give them. We use them as living garbage disposels. They get every left over we have and any bread gets split between them an the chickens/guiniees/turkeys/ducks. You could even do some aquaponics.

[Boyd]

Nice place. With all that you have many options. Its going to be up to you and your budget as to what you do. We like a few hogs cause they eat anything you can give them. We use them as living garbage disposels. They get every left over we have and any bread gets split between them an the chickens/guiniees/turkeys/ducks. You could even do some aquaponics.

Being in central Mi we are considering that although it would be seasonal. I am considering those metal sided plastic crates (food grade) cutting the tops off and setting up my basement.. but that's in the future...

[610Alpha]

You might consider using some of it as hay and if you can find one of those mini balers (used of course) you could bale your own hay for the rabbits.

The concern I would have for letting the bunnies loose in that area would be predators especially birds of prey.

just a couple of quick thoughts

[Boyd]

You might consider using some of it as hay and if you can find one of those mini balers (used of course) you could bale your own hay for the rabbits.

The concern I would have for letting the bunnies loose in that area would be predators especially birds of prey.

just a couple of quick thoughts

I generally use 4x8' wood framed tractors with 5 sides of wire. Older rabbits like to dig, but for the babies, I think they'll do all right.

Anybody got any ideas for a mini-food plot for the deer? I am thinking turnips, radishes and lotsa lotsa clover n vetch..

[610Alpha]

Anybody got any ideas for a mini-food plot for the deer? I am thinking turnips, radishes and lotsa lotsa clover n vetch..

Go look at one of the bags of seed for "Deer Plot" that are in hunting sections...usually clover, you could always plant some corn and beans.

[Klayton]

You might consider using some of it as hay and if you can find one of those mini balers (used of course) you could bale your own hay for the rabbits.

The concern I would have for letting the bunnies loose in that area would be predators especially birds of prey.

just a couple of quick thoughts

Yep, my redtail or any of my former redtails if they made it up there, would gladly take one of your bunnies if you let it free run... Just FYI

[Klayton]

I generally use 4x8' wood framed tractors with 5 sides of wire. Older rabbits like to dig, but for the babies, I think they'll do all right.

Anybody got any ideas for a mini-food plot for the deer? I am thinking turnips, radishes and lotsa lotsa clover n vetch..

Lets try this again, got a time out last time??

OK, contact your states wildlife office, they have TONS of free 411. Here in Texas the state assigned wildlife biologist will actually come to your land FREE and make suggestions on how to attract and supplement feed for deer.

Most importantly though, they will tell you if your state has any specific deer plot plantings listed as invasive, and if so if there is a fine for planting them. Would really suck if a game warden flew over your property and noticed a good number of deer in your vicinity and investigated and found you were planting unauthorized invasive plants and ticketed you. That would SUCK!!

[Not_Yet_Prepped]

Byod,

Thanks for sharing... I have noticed acros the WEB many suggested rabbits for meat, thanks for sharing part of your setup... I like the rabbit as being multi-purpos (food, furtilizer, and skin/fur).

On other meat FISH is really really good for proteins and vital fats. During my research I found these guys (I have not had time to do read much or watch many of their videos) and they MAY share an idea of taking a fish "pool" and hydroponic farming together. It appears that only a small power supply is needed for the water pumps (maybe even possible for off the grid).

http://theurbanfarmingguys.com/about

[eeyore]

Nice set up, i used to have pygmy goats, never was super happy (for long term) with their meat productions, but at the time i had other things that plans that made meat production secondary. Regular goats would do well there, especially the woolly type, they would clear the under brush for you. But you will need to wrap wire around the trees you want to save or in their quest for food and minerals will strip the bark off every tree and kill them. I have not seen them eat a tin can, but was not any under brush they did not eat.

[Grinnan Barrett]

those hutches are nicely done. I raised rabbits as a kid and you have done an nice job. How many acres do you have?

[Boyd]

5 directly and another 100 with a railroad easement. It makes it bearable with 2 neighbors within 300 yards of me, and only one of them hunts. When we made that clearing the neighbors were curious but couldn't see what was going on till I invited them over. They are part of my plan if the stuff its the fan, and they have complimentary skills that I lack. All in all they like me for a 30+ year younger hippy type who keeps them in veggies and fixes their computer problems while the grid is still up.

[LdMorgan]

....I generally use 4x8' wood framed tractors with 5 sides of wire. Older rabbits like to dig, but for the babies, I think they'll do all right.....

Here is a method I use for a chicken tractor that I think would work well for bunnies, too. The advantage of it is 1) zero carpentry, 2) very fast assembly, 3) very easy to move.

A 4X8 tractor has 32 sq. ft of protected space. A 10' diameter circle cage has 78.5 sq ft, so you can either populate it 2X or move it half as often. So here's how to make a really good circle cage:

Lay 40 feet of 4ft horse wire--that's the kind with the rectangular wire pattern--flat on the ground.

Using scrap tent poles from old dome tents, assemble two 41' "super" tent poles

Tying at about 2' intervals, attach the super poles to the top and bottom edges of the fence wire.

Attach 40' of 24" chicken wire to the lower portion of the fence wire.

Stand the assembly up on edge, and bend it into a 10' circle. The chicken wire should be on the outside, and the super poles should be on the inside of the fence edges.

Tie the fence ends together, and cut a door in the fence wall opposite the join. Do not cut the lowermost strand of fence wire.

Make a top for the cage out of old bed sheets. Get those from auctions, yard sales, thrift stores--anyplace cheap. You can hem them together, or pin them together at 2' intervals with a twist of scrap wire. (I find pinning easier.) Do not use a tarp: the top must not collect rainwater. It's just for shade and to keep hawks out. And flying chickens in.

The top will only be good for a year or two, but it's so cheap and easy to make that it doesn't really matter.

Let some sheet hang down on one side to make a better late afternoon sun shade.

Being spring-loaded and circular, the wire cylinder will be really sturdy.

Attach it to the ground with about a dozen 12" pegs--j-pins made from 1/4" wire work well. I cut mine from abandoned shopping carts. That way they are already bent, chrome plated, and free.

To move the pen, just pull the pegs. Then two people can pick it up one-handed and just walk away with it. VERY easily.

I tie the pegs to the pen frame with macrame cord so all you have to do is pull the cords to pull out the pegs, and then the pegs will travel with the pen--all ready to just restart and stomp iback into the ground.

With this pen, the lower super tent pole is optional. You can also put in a horse wire floor to keep bunnies from digging out and it will still be very easy to move.

[Boyd]

That sounds like a fantastic idea! I don't know how sturdy the horse wire is, so It's off to google :) Just want to make sure it's sturdy for stray dogs or raccoon's not to be able to push over.

[Boyd]

Byod,

Thanks for sharing... I have noticed acros the WEB many suggested rabbits for meat, thanks for sharing part of your setup... I like the rabbit as being multi-purpos (food, furtilizer, and skin/fur).

On other meat FISH is really really good for proteins and vital fats. During my research I found these guys (I have not had time to do read much or watch many of their videos) and they MAY share an idea of taking a fish "pool" and hydroponic farming together. It appears that only a small power supply is needed for the water pumps (maybe even possible for off the grid).

http://theurbanfarmingguys.com/about

Thanks for the links, these guys are giving me lots of ideas!