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08/12/12, 10:09 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 4,353
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do you grow feed for your critters on small acreage?
If so, do ya'll mind me asking you 5 quick questions? Thanks in advance for the answers!
a) How many acres?
b) How many acres alotted for feed?
b) what and how many critters?
c) what do you grow for them to eat?
d) how much purchased feed do you need to use?
TIA,
Cindyc.
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"Relish your reading. Make note of the melody of the phrases, the architecture of the page. Let the joy of discovery soak right down to your bones!" Dr. George Grant (paraphrased)
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08/13/12, 06:07 AM
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Join Date: May 2011
Location: WV
Posts: 1,624
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I have a small area just out side the chic pen of about 40'x60' that I let
the grass & weeds over grow. It invites all kinds of bugs and the chics
spend most of their time out there. Wild rabbits like it too, their safe from
my dog :-).
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08/13/12, 06:18 AM
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: middle GA
Posts: 16,654
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We only have two acres, but this year we did plant part of it with green dent corn and sunflowers to supplement the feed we buy, we also have kudzu planted in kiddie pools for the goats. We have 9 goats and 9 chickens right now.
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08/13/12, 07:21 AM
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Central WI
Posts: 5,399
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we have 9 acres with a little over 5 tillable.
this year we have 3 acres in corn and the rest in pasture.
We squeeze the garden and chicken run in around the buildings.
The corn will be pig food next year and whatever is left will go to the cow.
We drastically reduced our animal population this year as we lost access to almost 30 acres of hay ground that we normally can make 3 crops on.
All we have are 50 meat birds, 2 bulls, and a cow. Down from 20 goats, 4 various cow type animals, 100 meat birds, 12 or so layers and numerous rabbits.
Feed prices are putting the kibosh on things but we are discussing some options...
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Deja Moo; The feeling I've heard this bull before.
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08/13/12, 11:22 AM
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 703
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No really, but all we have is poultry (right now) on our 3 acres. We keep lot of it uncut and the birds happily graze, eating grass and bugs. Unfortunately, they also think that our tomatoes are grown for them. Sigh. When we had pigs (only a pair at a time), we didn't grow anything special for them, but supplemented there feed with garden and kitchen waste, and that saved us a bundle.
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08/13/12, 12:41 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: SW Michigan
Posts: 16,408
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We have 7 acres. 3 are in hay. I also have a very large garden that I feed the castoffs from to the animals - from lettuce to broccoli to pepper plants to corn stalks. I also grow sunflower seeds for the chickens. I still buy grain for them all.
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08/13/12, 04:13 PM
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Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Tennessee
Posts: 2,963
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25 acres, 10 in pasture and the rest in hay land that is electric fenced and grazed in winter after fall hay is cut.
I switched from a 50-head meat goat herd back to cattle in 2011. Currently one Angus/Charolais bull and four bred mixed/Angus black baldie cows due to calve Sept.-Oct. There is adequate grazing room for a higher stocking rate but I am waiting for the drought cattle price crash first before adding to the herd.
I feed nothing but grass, hay and mineral salt block. I do treat them now and then to a few range cubes to keep them trained to the bucket so they are easily moved. Much less work and less drama with cows, and a better financial return through lower inputs as well. I've run 10 head on this place before and probably will get up there again. Ten head would be $5,000-$7,500 in calves sold each year gross depending on weights and prices. It helps out.
Anyone looking to get into cows, this fall and winter should be some good prices to start a small herd as droughty area farms liquidate.
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Jim Steele
Sweetpea Farms
"To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing." -- Robert Gates
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08/13/12, 04:52 PM
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More dharma, less drama.
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: Texas Coastal Bend/S. Missouri
Posts: 30,490
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I plant winter browse for the goats every fall. The no-till deer browse seed is wonderful!
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Alice
* * *
"No great thing is created suddenly." ~Epictitus
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08/14/12, 05:13 PM
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gracie88
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Join Date: May 2007
Location: OR
Posts: 913
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Interesting thread, I'm trying to grow more feed this next year too since feed prices keep going up. It is helpful to see what is working for other folks. Currently my father and I cut about 8 acres of grass hay that we split and that covers our grazing livestock, but we also keep goats, chickens and pigs. They get excess garden stuff, but I have to buy about a ton of alfalfa and about a ton of grain (including pig feed and the occasional bag of layer pellets) per year. Next year I plan to plant mangel beets, sunflowers and sweet clover as well which will hopefully replace much of the grain and alfalfa.
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"I am not absentminded. It is the presence of mind that makes me unaware of everything else."
- G. K. Chesterton
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08/14/12, 06:15 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Southern Idaho
Posts: 4,032
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10 acres, 8 in pasture out back. 2 with house, garage/shop, lawn and huge garden. We could feed our chickens here, although they are not free range as they'll eat anything and everything.
But for our little dairy goats, we buy three way grain mix and also pure alfalfa hay. But we're real close to having enough kids each year to cover that cost and/or make a little profit. If the SHTF we could pasture graze them out back, but only during the day under supervision because of the coyote/wolf problem here. 
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08/14/12, 06:33 PM
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Singletree Moderator
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: Kansas
Posts: 12,974
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Spring was cool and wet and I was able to get a little alfalfa going in my garden. This will give me a reliable souce of seeds so I can (hopefully) make a little alfalfa patch for the chickens.
My goal is to feed them corn, alfalfa, and scraps during the summer months. I would cut some alfalfa every morning and keep the corn in front of them and balance it out with scraps.
Maybe in 2 years time?????
Right now I am pleased to have a few alfalfa plants, and they are in bloom.
I spend more now in feed than the worth of the eggs. I can afford it because I only have 5 birds, but, I like to save money as much as the next homesteader! And, there are too many predators to free range.
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08/14/12, 06:40 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 16,312
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I have NOW 20 acres. I plant 5 acres corn and 8 acres oats. When there off the ground I replant in haygrazer/gotcha grass/sorgum sudan grass and get one cutting and regrowth for plowdown. I havnt farmed this or last year. I grew the corn for the chickens and pigs. The hay I sold. I bought pellets mainly for the rabbits
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08/14/12, 06:41 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 16,312
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Goats dont like haygrazer unless there really hungry.
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08/14/12, 06:42 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 16,312
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goats dont like pararie grass hay unless there really hungry
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08/14/12, 06:57 PM
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Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Central S. C.
Posts: 8,005
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Buckwheat is a good cover crop, is easy to plant and harvest small scale, and works real well as chicken feed. In rotating my garden area I always wanted to plant peanuts on a section, and when mature turn some pigs in it to fatten and till up the soil. Never got the chance to try that, but bet it would work great for next year's corn patch.
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Vicker
If you're born to hang, you'll never drown.
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08/15/12, 06:14 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Louisiana
Posts: 3,604
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For many years my wife's family had a collective corn patch. 10 acres planted in corn, all work shared by 5 brothers and their families.
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08/15/12, 08:30 AM
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Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Appalachia
Posts: 61
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We have 7 acres, a few chickens and 4 alpacas. Our chickens graze about half the day but we don't grow anything specifically for them, still buy scratch and feed from a local farm up the road. We have about 5 acres of hay, a neighbor cuts and bales it and leaves us some for the alpacas and takes the rest for his cattle. Our alpacas have about 1.5 acres of pasture, no hay during the summer, but we do have to supplement their diet with bought food because of some of their nutrient needs. They eat a small amount of that food, a couple handfuls each a day.
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