Mad Cow

[Matt In Oklahoma]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47162247/ns/health-health_care/?ocid=ansmsnbc11

well here we go again. I'm not where I should be in homesteading or ranching by any means but this is a real strong argument in my mind for it. Year after year the food is unsafe in one form or another. I remember a few years ago it was tomatoes and I was already growing my own and it paid off.
The good news is i'm a hunter as are my children and I still got deer to supplement.
Where are you at if it were to all stop and we had to make it on what we have or could get?

[Karen]

In addition to food storage, we have chickens for eggs and meat as well as cattle for meat, milk, and butter, vegetable garden, honey bees, fruit trees and a few nut trees that are finally starting to produce. I'm trying to provide everything I can for a well balanced diet, but we are lacking grains. It would probably be a good idea to have a well stocked pond too.
I feel pretty strongly about having more than one food source. And I'm sure the food we produce will be great for bartering.
On the down side, we have pretty much outgrown our 5 acres, our property is way too visable and would be diffficult to defend. We need to find a better location.

[miked2345]

I live in the city suburbs... We got plenty of cats and dogs roaming around... And with the right sauce....

[xdpatriot]

Luckily here in Texas we have a lot of hogs and deer as well. Cottontails are plentiful. I think my family would be ok. We've go some canned meat as well.

[WiseOwl]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/florida-man-mistakes-girlfriend-hog-shoots-her-211904311.html

This guy had the right idea, wrong execution

[SCinPNW]

Although we live in a small developed neighborhood, we are still in the country. We have lots of deer, some bears, coyotes, bobcat, raccoon, frogs, possum, squirrel, etc. However, it might get a little harry if everyone around her starts heading out into the woods to do a little hunting. It would be especially scary with those who have had great grandpa's rifle stashed in the closet for the past however many years with no training, but heck they learned to shoot when they were young so this will be no problem. Right?

As for other edibles, I am working like a crazy woman in growing as much food as i can in our yard. We also have lots of wild edibles around that we can harvest in the spring and summer.

SC

P.S. I just saw WiseOwl's link he posted. That is exactly what I am talking about above. Yikes!

[Matt In Oklahoma]

And with the right sauce....

Sweet n Sour LOL

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow...211904311.html
This guy had the right idea, wrong execution

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say he's single now because even mistaking your gilrfriend for a hog is grounds much less shooting her LOL

Seriously though good discussion here folks, just a little real food for thought thats looking right at us.

[WiseOwl]

Now back to the topic........

The animal population would go extinct real quick around here. We are in the country, a city of 500, in between 2 cities that have tens of thousands. I know of some folks that have cows in my area but they would not be able to protect their stock. The folks on the corner have goats, chickens, pigs, horses, etc and I would gladly barter or even help protect those animals if allowed.

I live in a city of about 550 in between two cities of tens of thousands, when their resources deplete, I know where they will come

[miked2345]

Actually, even though I live in the suburbs, we got wild turkeys all over the place! I saw 3 of them walking thru my backyard a few weeks ago. You can see them in the fields just outside of town quite often. I think Michigan must have some new turkey program or something, cause there were not this many around here 10 -12 years ago..

[Karen]

We have wild turkeys around here too. one of them sang me to sleep a few weeks ago :-)

[MustangGal]

We are working very hard to be independent of the grocery stores when it comes to meat. Right now we have a hog and a half in the freezer. 18 meat birds and 24 egg birds (chickens), I want to grow out a second batch of meat birds later this summer, plus I have a hen sitting on eggs right now for dual purpose birds. I've lost count of the rabbits, but we are going to have to butcher a half a dozen this week. We have goats for milk and to sell the kids. We have kind made our goats into pets, so we don't want to eat them, but under the right circumstances.... chevon anyone? And we have a bottle calf. Hopefully this fall we can get another bottle calf, then get one each year. That way we can butcher a steer each year.

One of the reasons I want to store food for more than just us, is to be able to protect our livestock in a SHTF situation.

[xdpatriot]

Now back to the topic........

The animal population would go extinct real quick around here. We are in the country, a city of 500, in between 2 cities that have tens of thousands. I know of some folks that have cows in my area but they would not be able to protect their stock. The folks on the corner have goats, chickens, pigs, horses, etc and I would gladly barter or even help protect those animals if allowed.

I live in a city of about 550 in between two cities of tens of thousands, when their resources deplete, I know where they will come

I think you're absolutely right. Game will become more scarce. Especially since people won't have the good sense to not abuse the game population. I know, you'd think they would learn their lesson, but I'm not sure. It makes me feel better knowing my daughter has started raising her rabbits. They don't eat much and they're easy enough to throw in a cage in an event where you have to BO.

[Grand58742]

Now back to the topic........

The animal population would go extinct real quick around here. We are in the country, a city of 500, in between 2 cities that have tens of thousands. I know of some folks that have cows in my area but they would not be able to protect their stock. The folks on the corner have goats, chickens, pigs, horses, etc and I would gladly barter or even help protect those animals if allowed.

I live in a city of about 550 in between two cities of tens of thousands, when their resources deplete, I know where they will come

This does bring up a very good point. In a complete breakdown of society type event, folks are going to come out of the major urban centers looking for "food." And some probably make the connection that beef doesn't actually come from the supermarket. So ranchers, farmers and the likes are going to be hard pressed to protect herds of animals since it isn't exactly easy to hide a cow (minus the occasional Dexter lol) much less a whole herd of them. And folks that are armed will end up blasting away at anything that moves. And unfortunately, cattle tend not to get too spooked around humans and would be in pretty serious danger of random people thinking "steak" although having absolutely no clue on how to properly slaughter a cow.

Lucky enough, most of the wild game should be in slightly better shape since they are generally cautious of humans and are pretty decent at hiding. I'm not saying there won't be a wholesale slaughter, but at the same time at least wild game have a better than even chance of hiding and/or getting away as opposed to domesticated animals. And hunting takes skill. Take your average urbanite type that doesn't hunt, not former military or tactical at all but knows how to use that AR they bought in a pre-election frenzy tromping through the woods. Deer, elk and others are easily scared off and random dude stomping through the woods is more than likely going to scare off the game.

My guess is wildlife and game animals will be pushed further back into national forests and heavily wooded areas that are not as accessable by these actions. It will stretch the food supply in those areas, but I could see game moving away from danger areas before a complete slaughter could be accomplished.

Good thread to start the thinking.

[arcangel911]

I guess it also depends on the time of year too. If the SHTF in Winter, it could be a long while before anyone shows up to your door step or looking for where the beef is. Also, due to the morbid obesity ruining this country, some people may be mistaken for cows..... "moo" ;)

And yes, although we will have a lot of influx of "hunters" let us not forget that some will not know how to shoot, how to track and above all else know what the heck to do with animal once it has been killed (hopefully, humanely). But again back to the obesity, some people can't walk 5 miles tracking or even go into the woods without help. So there will be that crowd as well. I personally see a lot of "accidents" - accidental shootings, accidental fires and also accidents with animals. Some people, I am sure if hungry enough, would go into a bears den while sleeping. I am not saying everyone will do this, but there are a lot of silly people out there. Also, some animals when frightened will attack as well and people may think to run rather than to fight or better yet, shoot.

[monkeybird]

John Clifford, the USDA's chief veterinary officer, said the case was "atypical" and that there was "no cause for alarm" from the animal. Cows can contract the disease spontaneously in rare cases and that it cannot be transmitted unless the brain or spinal tissue is consumed by humans or another animal, according to scientists.

The government tell us there "is no cause for alarm".