Small Acreage Livestock

[Beaners]

I have seen people mention how keeping livestock on a smaller property has allowed them to be more self sufficient. However, a lot of these people still have feed bills, because they can't grow all of their feed on site. You have more control over your food, but you are still dependent on outside sources.

So who has animals on small property that they feed entirely or almost entirely from their own site? What do you have, and what do you feed? Does anyone use intensive gardening methods to grow feed for their livestock?

I think with some creativity, some luck, and less lawn I could feed my rabbits entirely with our current property. It would be a little tricky to put feed back for the winter, but possible. I am not sure how easy it would be to add in other animals, like poultry. If I were to add in some worm bins, and decrease the lawn even more, I could probably add in a handful of ducks or chickens. If I am willing to buy a couple dozen hay bales, it becomes a lot easier to provide the rest of the diet from my property.

So what is your set-up and how do you make it work? Could you do it on even less than you do now? How much easier would it be with a little more property? And last but not least, what is your trade-off point where you find the balance between self sufficiency and dependence on outside feed sources?

Kayleigh

[Jenn]

Think of chicken scratch. Hay you need a lot of and lot of land, but I supplemented only my chicken feed with some feral milo I got from mulching with the milo hay. Chickens loved it. A small patch of corn and the other grains if you can grow them would do a lot- don't need enough for a human's bread and cereal and pasta!