odd ? What animals should we buy first?

What are you ready for in terms of commitment and expense?

A dairy animal is almost as much of a commitment as getting married, except you can get rid of it easier! You have to be there twice a day, same time every day, whether you feel sick or not, and your schedule pretty much has to revolve around milking times, or else you work the milking times so that it fits with your schedule. Either way, every 12 hours, you have to be there for her- unless you ae going to let her nurse her calf/kid...then it can be once a day but she'll still need to be fed twice a day. Forget about vacations most of the time, and most especially in the summer. I only got time off for a week or two in the winter (if lucky) and even then, I was worried about them the whoe time and whether they were being cared for properly. Finding someone to babysit a dairy animal is just really hard.

Poultry: you mention chickens, ducks, and turkeys. If it were me, I would start with one of these, and keep only one type of bird, at least for a year or two. Chickens and ducks are both dual purpose- eggs + meat, so I guess it'd be one of those. Besides, turkeys are nasty birds...So- I think what you shoudl do is to go out and buy a dozen eggs from ducks and chickens and cook them up to see which you prefer. You might also try to buy a chicken and a duck that are being culled and butcher them, and see how that goes, which one you prefer processing and which tastes better to you. It is easier/better to do this now than to spend months raising ducks to laying age, only to realize that you don't like duck eggs at ALL, or to butcher a chicken, decide it's a monumental hassle, but alas, they are a dual purpose breed and you still have 20 more cockerels to go....(whereas if you dislike the butchering, you could just get pullet chicks of an egg laying breed instead of straight run chicks of dual purpose).

A pig? I don't know...I've never been brave enough to get a pig...LOL!

Alpacas- I probably sound like a party pooper, but I would probably rather go to a farm that has alpacas, pet them, admire them, enjoy them for an hour or so, and buy the fiber from their owner and go home with it, than to feed and house them 365 days a year for one fleece per year. I would enjoy them more that way!!

Seriously, whatever you do, don't overload yourself with animals, and don't let people dump all their cull animals of every species imaginable onto you. I love animals with a passion, but have learned the hard way that I'd rather have just goats and maybe chickens.The more species you have, the more nerve wracking it gets and the eaiser it is to get burned out.

Where are you in OR? We used to live ten miles from Brookings in CA. We started with chickens and then got our goats. Definitely do not get any animals for free unless you know where they came from. Sheep will mow your grass and the pigs are also fun to watch. They are very clean animals but must have shade and a mud hole to cool off in. NW Oregon should be a great place to garden. Check into this forum often to learn all you can about your animals. Remember, there is no dumb question so don't be afraid to ask. Dairy animals are a total commitment every day twice a day. I love our goats but do get tired of milking them sometimes. Our customers are just starting to find us after 3 years so don't give up on your desires. If you work hard to give them adequate fencing and housing, they will reward you in the end.

Chickens..to be moved around in pens during the summer. Goats, MILK and Meat type (Boer). Rabbits and for FUN, TWO DONKEYS.

I'd say poultry. That's where we started. In Feb o fthis year we got our first chickens. Now we have chickens, ducks, geese, guineas, and turkeys and we're hatching eggs now to help replenish the ones we've eatten or we've lost to predators.

Hardest part for poultry is predator-proof housing. Even that can be overlooked if you are willing to accept the losses associated with free-ranging (though you'll still want to provide them with some shelter). Start up cost is low. Maintenance costs are low and turn around is pretty reasonable. And, hey, they provide more than meat and eggs. They're darned entertaining. The only birds I have that I would consider not getting again are the guineas and geese. Just too much noise. The turkeys are hilarious. The ducks are too cute (They know something but they aren't telling - their little knowing smile proves it). The chickens are fun as well.

You can get an order of broilers (Cornish/Rock crosses) and your commitment will be very short. These aren't birds you'll want to keep around but they'll give you a good into into poultry and fill your freezer nicely 8 weeks later.

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Sheep will help keep your pastures mowed and if you don't get hair sheep, you'll have fiber for your knitting passion. They are easy to fence and handle and generally have very few medical issues; plus when you want to get rid of them - off to the auction. Have them bred and put lamb in your freezer or there are several ethnic populations that have a high demand for lambs.

Chickens are a no-brainer. Just be sure you have a secure building they can go to at night and during the day to lay eggs. Consider some of the slow-growing broilers for meat instead of the Cornish X - just nicer to raise. And watch those dogs! LOL

Before you get alpacas, have someone I.D. the grasses in your pasture to make certain that you don't have any of the fast-growing rye grasses - they're supposedly highly toxic to alpacas/llamas.

Pigs are a snap... Just use electric fencing and train them to it when very young. Whatever space you fence them into will be totally denuded of all vegetation (unless you have one pig per 200,000 acres) which is good as you can plant pretty much anything you want in it the next year. Pigs are herd animals, and although you can certainly raise a single pig, they are much happier with two or three 'buddies' to hang with. Plus there's more entertainment value. I sell my pasture-raised porkers for $3.50/lb (hanging weight) and the customer settles up with the processor. A 50 lb feeder pig will take about 5 months to grow out (target is 240 lbs) and yield about 140# of pork for your freezer (7 cu ft of freezer space). Get pigs in July and you can use them to clean/till/fertilize your garden in December. Have two garden plots and you can rotate your gardens between them using the off year for a cover crop and meat chickens behind the pigs.

Goats are pretty easy keepers, but not many folks have my luck with keeping them fenced in. Lot of very marketable products can be made from goats' milk and again many ethnic markets crave goat meat. Plus it's really good meat for your freezer.

Then there's rabbits. If you're a fiber freak you probably have spun or knitted with angora fiber, and there is a growing market for rabbit meat in many parts of the country - can't tell ya about the Northwest.

Lots of money making opportunities for pasture raised poultry - heritage turks are high-demand most everywhere, and if you can find someone to process them, ducks and geese can bring in a few bucks and are easy to raise (ducks need a water feature - the bigger the better and easier to keep clean).

Other folks are going to have to give you ideas about cows - when we get some, I'm going to get Highlands and that's probably not what you want for milk, although they are considered a dual purpose breed.

Pigs, sheep, cows and alpacas are large animals - keep a close eye on those pre-teen boys around them. And teach them early about geese and ducks biting ... LOL

Get a book titled "Small-Scale Livestock Farming" by Carol Ekarius. Great thumbnail overview of raising different livestock.

Good luck - you're gonna love this adventure....

"We would love to have a milk cow"

if the milk cow is for your own personal comsumption .. may i suggest instead getting some milk goats. goat milk is MUCH more 'friendly' to humans, and far less mucus-forming also.

we dont actually drink milk in our family, but instead use goat milk (or cow when we cant find goat milk) to make kefir, yogurt, etc.

What you really need is a high fibre grazing dairy chicken.
A yak perhaps, that lays eggs and chews down trees.

Seriously though, I would start with something multi-purpose that would adapt itself most readily and naturally to the land and climate to graze it and to fertilize it. As the lands productivity develops you could work into other animals that fill particular needs and niches, or you could go the other way and focus on a different or more self sufficient plant/animal mix of agriculture. Whatever develops the lands productivity in the longer term for the level of intensity you are willing and able to put to it. A well developed 7 acres should be able to support a small family quite sufficiently without having to import a lot of fuel, feed, and fertilizer. A shetland pony can provide considerable pulling power and fertilizer while grazing a rugged climate. Might be justified if there is tough work to be done in the first few years and it eliminates the need for an oversized tractor and truck and the leasing of heavier equipment. Of course it depends on what works for you and what good animals are available.

What do you have in mind in the long term for trees? Thinning gradually into agriculture, or developing eventually into some mixed of plant/animal agriculture with some orchard/coppice woodland mixed in. How might that affect you choice of animals in the short and long term? What about managing wildlife? If you can attract animals that you can hunt, you might be able to gain more than you lose by them, and provide a means of extending the scope of your lands available productivity. In addition to meat, they provide fertilizer, clothing, and even eggs. Milking squirrels might be a dubious endeavour, but some thought should be given to what wild animals might be encouraged, and what others discouraged.

I am not sure how the availability of a good resource for wind or hydro power might effect your choice of plants, animals, and trees. Certainly the availability of water can have an impact if it is in critical supply, which it probably isn't in your case. Your remoteness and frontage on a good river and a good road for transportation and access to markets can also have an impact. I would think if there was some potential for microhydro development then plants and animals and trees that take advantage of the headpond would be useful. I wonder if beavers have ever been farmed while producing hydropower? If wind is available on a hill, it might be better not to have trees on the top of that hill, but perhaps something like berries or grazing land. As far as making use of such cheap energy if it is available, you could sell it if you have access to the grid or even just a few neighbours that are also off the grid, or you could build a sawmill and/or gristmill and/or wood splitter and sell that service in exchange for some lumber, flour, cordwood, or cash. That might mean you need to produce less of what you can obtain through barter, and produce more of something else. Electricity can also be used for transportation short distances, by road or by river, so you would have less of a need for biofuel, or a horse.

I doubt these musings are as useful to you as they have been fun for me, but what you neighbours are already producing you might be better to obtain by barter if you can produce something else that they need in exchange. If someone nearby has Alpacas, that means they are available, but it also means there is less demand and you can get some wool if you need it in exchange for something else. Then again, it is also good to do as neighbours do because what works for them can work for you.

You could always start with a couple of cashmere goats for your knitting habit and milk supply.

Lynda

We were in your place a few years back - pastures, three-stall barn, new
to farm animals except chickens. We started with Pygora goats. They are
pygmy/angora cross, so they are fairly small, nice spinning fleece (though
not easy as easy as wool for a beginner to spin, and not as high yeilding as
a sheep), and VERY easy healthwise and kidding-wise. If you get goats,
my advice: get de-horned goats. We just gave away one of our two
original goats, she had horns and was tearing up fences (literally).

To clarify some other points: milk goats, at least, can be milked just once
a day. Even once a day milking DOES get old, but the milk is nice. If you
have a huge family, or little else to do so you can spend it all making cheese,
a cow would work; but even one good milk goat milked once a day milk
accumulates relentlessly. The bull problem is another thing, although I guess
everyone AIs now.

For grass, sheep and cows are better than goats. Goats do work down the
grass but slower. Also note that it's very difficult to stock your fields so you
have enough grass all year round. If you stock so many animals that they
keep up with the grass in the grass-growing season, in the dry season or in
midwinter they will overgraze and damage the pasture.

Sheep are a little harder than goats since you'll need to find someone to
shear or learn how - Pygoras are easy to shear with electric clippers. Sheep
also are much less friendly and somewhat more likely to have problems with
lambing.

Ducks are smelly filthy things. DH likes them but I don't want to clean out
their water twice a day. We like turkeys, although we've only raised the
BBB meat types until eating size... maybe next year some heirloom types.
My rule starting out was no animals that weighed more than me, so that
has ruled out pigs, we might do it one of these years but DH works with
someone who sometimes raises some, so maybe we'll get some from him
instead. It's really hard to keep up with what we have now. After a while
the maintenance becomes a grind, especially on these short muddy cold
winter days.

Lisa in Ashland Oregon

we have chickens, ducks, goats, rabbits, dogs, cats, and pigs. raised several turkeys this year, and some guineas, also.

i'd advise starting small, and only adding one project every few months. i vote for goats-if you rotate pastures (elec fence works for cross fencing) you can more easily manage the grazing issue. do some research on it. with goats, you can have a milk doe or two, a couple of boers for meat babies, and an angora or two for your fiber.
pigs will till anything you put them in, and they raise good meat quickly.
rabbits are easy to care for, and the angora rabbits could supply you w/additional fiber.
ducks may be dirty, but they are so much fun to watch, and i only empty and refill their water trough once a week, they do just fine.

__________________
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I heard somewhere the American pioneers had chickens & pigs. Mainly because these critters could forage for themselves. It is also why americans traditionally had Bacon & eggs for breakfast.

I would say that it is useful first to start off assessing what you want the animals for. If it's just for fun, great, but if you want to "live off the land" or make money off farming you will need different things. Also, fence and build shelters before you get the animals. I can speak from experience that the other way is a pain in thr butt!!!!

For us, we started with two ducks, went up to a dozen and will have twenty in the spring.

We are thinking about alpacas - just because, not because I think I'm going to get rich off them Also, they are supposed to be as good as llamas for flock protection I've had llamas) and I'm a knitter who'd love to learn to spin. If you do think about alpacas or llamas make sure you have at least two, IME at least three is even better and four is great.

Definitely thinking about goats for milk - and the thread about the pygoras was interesting and a possible alternative to the alpacas.

Do keep in mind - if you are raising and family and/or working outside of home in addition to your livestock it is a bigger time commitment than it may seem. E.g. just with the dog, cats and ducks I have near to half an hour of chores morning and night - at best, especially in winter. There's adding fresh straw, feeding, water changing, hanging out with them, that sort of thing. In the morning it's geting eggs, fresh feed etc. You also have to add in a good hour p/ week or so for bizarre things that come up and need attention - for us right now it's having a great pyr who is h*ll bent on escaping and has been destroying our fences. Ugh!

Anyway, the time commitment isn't a big deal on a day off but man, if I sleep in it's hard to get done everything that needs doing before heading out to work - and it's rushed and the animals don't get what they're entitled to. Granted, we've made some choices that add to the time - like not using automated water or water heaters for the duck water. But, we want to go solar and so are always looking at how we can cut back our power consumption. We also only have wood heat so the firewood chores etc. are part of that as well.

What's worked for us is to try out some small scale things and do lots of research on the bigger scale things - the only one we've taken on is the Great Pyr - and that has been great.