What livestock did not work out and why?

The worst I've had was pheasants. Even when just a few days old, they will kill each other. They are excellent at escaping, too. For a few years, we had an opportunity to get free pheasant chicks after the local game farm had hatched all they needed. We would start with 100 and were lucky to end up with 6-8 adults.

I may be the lone duck fan here - they do tend to decide to stay out overnight and get killed by owls though.

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I love my ducks! They keep the slugs and grasshoppers under control and keep us supplied in excellent eggs and occasionally meat. Since they're in the garden or tall grass most of the time manure isn't a problem.

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Robin

Had ducks a loooong time ago when unprepaired and knew nothing, so I was very unsuccessful with them, but will definitely try again when the pond has been dug.

Chickens are awesome. We sell eggs, chicks, and meat birds. This is by far the most successful and fun livestock we have.

Dairy goats...tougher to keep as they require more everything, but as soon as I am set up again on our new property...DEFINITELY!

Pigs...never in summer, but love to raise them in winter! Will be better prepared this time.

***The success and and enjoyment of any livestock are closely related to how much you educate yourself about the animals and how well prepared you are for them!!!

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Hazell

Some pursue happiness--Others create it ~Unknown~

Sheep - we had great ones, but our fences were just not good enough to hold them. We have very hilly, rocky areas where posts would have had to be set in concrete to go in, and where you couldn't get a tractor or powered post hole digger in to set them in the ground. Dh calls me a wool farmer now. I buy fleeces when I need them from people who are glad to have a buyer. Then I work them up as time/need permits.

Llamas - they were great sheep guards, but we lost both of them. Meningeal deer worm is a major parasite in our area. In order to prevent it, we would have had to inject them with ivermectin every 3-4 weeks! I just couldn't see medicating them to the edge of death to prevent them from dying. We were lucky for over 2 years administering the drug only every 5-6 weeks, but had a particularly wet summer one year and they both got it. We treated them, and they recovered somewhat, but the next major stressor that came along caused them to relapse and they died. (Good lesson in there about stress)

Horses - we adopted 3 older Quarter Horse mares, which came with full tack. I adored horses when I was young and was excited to get them. However, I discovered that it was a whole different thing, being the Mommy In Charge, instead of a carefree teen. So trail riding became an exhausting event for me, making sure every person and every animal was ready, happy, and behaving properly. Then I discovered that while I had been a horse lover, 10yo dd was only a horse liker. Her passion is dogs. So we found another family with horse crazy kids and gave the horses to them a couple of years ago. They were just too expensive to keep as pasture ornaments and provide proper medical care and senior nutrition.

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I think that proper fencing and housing will minimize a lot of the problems that people have with different animals -- if you look at the posts above, you'll notice that a lot of the problems mentioned were caused by poor fencing (for that type of livestock), or by too small an area to keep them in, or by keeping them in the wrong area (ducks, for instance, don't belong in the yard right around the house, been there, done that!).

That said, I have no interest in keeping llamas, and no intention of keeping pigs. I like chickens, ducks and geese if I have a good location to put them where we aren't walking in their poop, goats, sheep, cattle, and horses. I'd like to try a donkey someday (DD would love to have a donkey). I keep rabbits, but mostly for raw dog food.

Kathleen

Never again will I raise meat birds (ei Rock -X or Ross) They smelled so bad I almost died!!!

The egg layers are worth their weight in gold!!!

Goats never again
Jersey yup a zillion of them

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Why didn't they work out in the summer? Ours did fine here in NC, even butchered in August with no trouble...

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I detested the rabbits. couldn't keep the water bottles unfrozen in the winter (unless I changed the bottles 4 times a day) and they were just so stressed from the heat in the summer. unless for a pet, I'll never have one on the farm again... knock on wood.

Ducks....they ate my waterlilies!

Sheep. I can't shear anymore. It's easy enough to just buy wool. Ducks, too messy. If I could, NO more Cats.

I'm sure the pigs themselves would have been fine, but I couldn't stand the smell in warmer months. Don't mind the smell of any other animal, but for some reason, pigs knock me out. In the winter the smell in minimal.

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Hazell

Some pursue happiness--Others create it ~Unknown~

Ducks- very messy, I would only keep them if I had a place just for them, where no one else walked or needed clean water nearby.

Geese- I don't know if I was around the wrong kind or what- but they were suicidal, aggressive, and annoying. I saw the big male chase a stallion around a pasture, then grab him by the tail and hold on flapping like maniac. About 30 seconds later, he was kicked in the head point blank. I was sure he died (his neck snapped back and sideways like a snake), but he sprung back up, stood for a minute rebooting, and then went back after the stallion again.

Rats/Mice- I raised them for snake food back when I used to raise reptiles for the pet trade. I had a rack system made for them, but they couldn't handle temperature changes at all, would randomly become cannibals if they perceived some stressor, are just too darned prolific, chewed their automatic water valves until they broke and flooded their cages, and they somehow managed to escape from time to time, too.

Now, give me rabbits, chickens, horses, goats, pigs, cattle any day.

Lauren

Springfield is around 50 miles further N than I am here in NE OKLA> I am switching to gal cans for my rabbits, and like them much more than the bottle waterers. I only had 2 last year that the bottoms froze out of last winter, outa 6 or so. As there is a higher volumn of water in them, I suspect it stays cooler than a bottles water, There easier to fill, easier to clean, and the babies dont jump in them to cool off, or occasionally drown as they did in my little rabbit troughs. When my babies are over a month old, I put in tuna cans with water for the babies. Mom drinks outa it too, but that teaches the babies where else to get liquid refreshment, and helps wein off the babies from mom. When I see that there, or at least 1/2 of them are drinking, And they are a month old, I wein them

ducks-they may have ate the slugs but they ate thecabbage too so what is the point.

guineas- I might have these again if they can be housed seperately from everything else and still free range for bugs. nothing more annoying then going out for a peacful check of your stock in the evening only to be bombarded with the echoing cackling of the guineas in a metal barn.

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I put the young on regular trough waterers with a water bottle above it. Sooner or later, the trough will go empty, and the young wein themselves off of it to the waterer. When I see them drinking off of the waterer, or at least 1/2 of the litter I remove the trough. When they are seperated and the females bred, I use the gal cans. No weining needed.

Field mice. They just don't seem to get the hint though...

Ducks here as well, WOW what a mess with the water.

would do sheep again but only if we get different fencing

Llamas. Intact males can be NASTY! 'Nuff said ...

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turkeys to much hassle to breed an raise

Jersey - too much milk leading to too much eating. Dexter - too little milk. Jersey/lowline angus cross - just right.

Goats - goaty flavor and smell. Don't tell me I did it wrong - cows no problem.

Pigs - tried a couple little porkers for a week and decided they were disgusting and destructive things.

Turkeys - not worth the hassle, but I might do again as they were somewhat fun to see toms strut and they'd follow us around like dogs.

Rabbits - okay for kids pets, but for meat, chickens are easier and convert feed better.