What livestock did not work out and why?

Muscovy ducks----probably not again, not free-range, anyhow. They poop in the horse trough, their poo on the ground is slimy and smelly. They are highly overrated as fly controllers, and duck poo smell attracts as much insects as the ducks eat and more. They would take every opportunity to sneak into my horse barn, and poop all over the aisle.....so I would be constantly avoiding "'landmines" or slipping in them, and the barn smelled horrid! And the ducks would also raid the cat food bowl. Argh. The amount of poo you get in an indoor pen in one day is amazing. There will be NO bowl or puddle of water that you won't see get mucked up and pooped in.

I did like their personality, and initially decided to keep one mated pair, but even that amount made a mess I couldn't stand.

I may get a few if I could pen them up separately, on natural ground so the mess can seep away for the most part....I wouldn't mind a few for meat, but I don't want to do any incubating of eggs....ducklings are messy also. Would rather pen and let the mom raise them, and then I butcher the lot.

Guinea hens---forget having a quiet barnyard. Their screeching is NOT a peaceful barn sound, like a horse nicker or a cow's mooing or a chicken's clucks. About as enjoyable as listening to the table saw running. They're not worth processing for meat. I didn't even find them a "likeable" bird. Very dumb, not clever enough to get out of ice rain, would perch on the frozen metal bars outside and freeze to the post, and stand right in the way of the car. Duh.

My favourite "productive" animal": our chickens! They leave eggs every day, their poo is "drier" than a ducks, they leave the water alone, and they eventually give us a nice dinner.

Plus, if you allow the chickens to breed, just let the hens raise the chicks (no incubator, etc required) and process the chicks as they mature. I found chickens to be better parasite control than ducks because chickens will dig around more than just "sift", and everything buggy is fair game! Slugs and earwigs are history.

Chickens are also cheap to feed, are "easy care", they don't run away from home, and they don't require massive amounts of drugs, vaccinations, vet care, etc. If raised by hand, they are easily caught and sometimes will let the kids pet them. If you don't like the roo's crowing, just keep one long enough to fertilize some eggs and then put him in the freezer. I like my roo, though, he's purty, sings quietly, and watches out for dangers.

I noticed a few people said goats and pigs smell? Maybe it's about the surroundings? I don't "bank" bedding (ie, let it build up in heaps to decompose, just laying new bedding on top). I clean mine right out and add new. If you clean up manure daily with pigs, there is no real smell. Goat manure, if from healthy animals, is pretty dry and not overpowering as smells go, unless it builds up over weeks. I think the key is to have enough space for each animal. On the other hand, intact bucks and boars will smell, which is easily "fixed".

(With ducks, one duck pooping in the barn is enough to stink the whole place up, GAG!)

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"The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese in the trap."

Guinea fowl. The sounds they made were atrocious, I felt so bad for my neighbors. They wouldn't stay at home and they badgered my hens. We finally got rid of them after we caught one pulling feathers out of the wing of one of the laying hens. Guineas just weren't worth the annoyance.

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Im going to stand up for Khaki Campbell ducks.No bigger than the chickens,and they poop on the dirt,no problem for us at all.

And cute and fairly friendly too.

Eggs coming any day.And we only have 2,so the massive poop problem isnt.

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Goats were it for me. I have cows, too, though, and while I could see having goats if I had no cows, right now I don't want them. I found their personalities a cross between a cow and a dog with the bad qualities of both! Hard to keep in, and destructive. Found out that if I do have goats again the fencing/penning has to be way different than I originally thought. Cows just seem easier.

I had peafowl for awhile and they were also PITA mixing with other poultry. The turkeys would go after them a lot of the time. Just not worth it. Tasted good, though.

Jennifer

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-Northern NYS

Well, I hope you all have, by now found out something bad about EVERY farm animal known to man, OR woman. If any newby is reading this post prior to starting up a small farm or homestead, this ost should do the trick. Theyll want to only have a garden, a cat and dog and maybe 2 canarys, as I didnt see any post dowqning them, but im sure there are people who wouldnt have them either,

Love my Jerseys and Dexters, fond of the chickens and BR turkeys, like the donkeys, and the swans are okay.

Don't like Muscovy ducks, they had 30 acres to roam but they insisted in huddling around the front door. On mornings after cold nights we literally couldn't open he door because of the frozen duck crAap.

I absolutely despise goats. Almost impossible to contain, even if you have a good fence, it takes at least 9 people to get through a gate without some of the misbegotten creatures escaping. When they get out, and they will, they will destroy everything in sight starting with fruit trees, going on to shrubs, flowers, and of course the garden.

Then when they finally get their bellies full they start clambering on the vehicles
lawn and porch furniture, roof, any place they are not supposed to be. Goats are the most destructive and annoying livestock that we have ever had.

Containment is the key to enjoyment. Start out with proper containment and you can enjoy almost any animal. And goats are anything *but* impossible to fence for........just a little more difficult than cattle.

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Emily Dixon
Ozark Jewels
Nubians & Lamanchas
www.ozarkjewels.net

"Remember, no man is a failure, who has friends" -Clarence

Me, I don't like poultry of any kind. I understand their usefullness, I just don't like their manure or butchering.
My favorite chicken comes wrapped and cooled from the free-range poultry farm down the road.

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Emily Dixon
Ozark Jewels
Nubians & Lamanchas
www.ozarkjewels.net

"Remember, no man is a failure, who has friends" -Clarence

How very strange!

My experience with goats has been absolutely wonderful.

The most important aspect of goats (and any animal, for that matter), IMO, is to PLAN AHEAD.

Also, you have to genuinely like the animals, or you won't have a good experience in caring for them.

Before we got our goats, we made sure they had a good, sturdy enclosed area of woven wire, and plenty of browse in the area to keep them entertained and happy.

We built a three-sided shed for them, built a milking stand from a couple of wooden pallets, and actually made the gate out of a wooden pallet as well. The gate is working well, and I've never had to call for back-up when entering/exiting the goat area.

They are fed grain when we milk, and of course we make sure they have fresh hay and water, and alfalfa pellets are free choice. We occasionally give them "treats" when we go out there. Their favorite this week is fresh green beans.

Our goats are delightful and have brought us great pleasure. It's a pity you had such a negative experience.

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Je ne suis pas Alice

http://homesteadingfamilies.proboards.com/

We have a Khaki Campbell duck. She runs with our 2 Pekin hens and our Rouen drake.

She was the first to start laying and, until the drake matured, she was the one who ran the little flock. She still tries to get them into mischief by taking them on trips to the drainage ditch next to the road. LOL!

Duck poo hasn't been a problem for us, but then, none of the manure from our fowl has been unwelcome. As long as they're allowed to free range, they do very well. Our meat chickens are in tractors that we move through the orchard, and that ground is very nicely fertilized.

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Je ne suis pas Alice

http://homesteadingfamilies.proboards.com/

Emily oh no ya just didn't say that Everyone has their own likes and dislikes.

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"A life removed from the soil is one that quickly loses touch with reality. And a culture with no agrarian context becomes arrogant in it's cleverness, and loses it's humility"-Joel Salatin

we have a jerrsy/ angus cow. We just love her. we milk her 1Xa day since we both work ful time and get 2 gal a day. More then enough for us. We milked a jersy fora friend for a week once. I thouugth I'd die before she ran out of milk...lol We have great butter and cheese from her milk

We tried milk goats for awile. My hsuband didn't like the milk after it got more than a day old and he hated the cheese I made. I liked the dairy goats....but you just can't keep that little ball rolling with our a Billie. I find billy goats to be one of the most disgusting, nasty, vile and revolting animals on this earth. The last one we had I treatened to shoot him and let him rot where he lay if it didn't get taken to the prosesser. He made some good barbeque.

I love our chickens. They supply us with a lot.

We have rabbits. I usually do most of the killing and cleaning of them. It is easier if yiu do it when they are young. They get real partial to that hide after a certain age and are very hard to skin. I don't have much trouble with the water. I use bowl..I don't care for the bottles. It does freeze up in the winter, but they seem to get it out anyway. There's always little holes they have licked in it that i refill when we feed them.

Sharon

I also want to stick up for ducks! i have had all different kinds, except for Muscovies, but would agree that Khaki Campbells are the quietest and most productive. They free range on our place and sometimes we do find that we have to fence off our front porch with wire fencing about knee height, making it easy to step over. But they are the easiest animal to keep -- completely able to take care of themsleves in any weather. Only need protection from coyotes, coons and large raptors, but they make that pretty easy by going into their house every dusk to await closing up.