Easiest farm animals to have on farm?

Collect them more often and the snakes won't get them!

__________________
Be a fountain, not a drain!

^()^
http://tubbsfarmstead.com/

Chickens, Ducks, Geese followed distantly by pigs. Sheep are easy too but are harder to fence and not as productive. All of our livestock forage for their feeds. We don't buy commercial hen feed or pig feed. Their doing their work makes it easy.

__________________
SugarMtnFarm.com -- Pastured Pigs, Poultry, Sheep, Dogs and Kids

Once you get the fences in place, beef cattle seem fairly low in maintenance requirements. As noted above, they just go off and pretty much do their thing. Birthing, especially the first one, can be an issue, but I've had much less birthing problems with cows than goats, exponentially less. Honey bees were noted above, but around here, it's been very difficult to maintain hives. Mites are especially a problem.

__________________
"Luck is the residue of design" - Branch Rickey

Ducks, definitely! Got 5 muscovy hens and one drake earlier this year, and they have done nothing but reproduce. They are absolutely no work aside from tossing them some cracked corn a couple times per day to supplement the grass and bugs.

The ducklings are so self sufficient compared to the meat chicks (Cornish X) we've raised in the past. These muscovy duck mamas have really impressed me. I think we have around 25 baby ducks of various ages running around now, with one hen still sitting on a nest.

Maybe it is beginner's luck, but we are going to be eating a lot of roast duck.

lol omg, that is to funny, your worm herd. lol. that is great. think you might have the easiest critter.

I would say that geese and muscovies are the easiest animals I've raised. They forage and graze for the bulk of their food in the summer and reproduce well plus brood their own young.

__________________
"Do you believe in the devil? You know, a supreme evil being dedicated to the temptation, corruption, and destruction of man?" Hobbs
"I'm not sure that man needs the help." Calvin

They also "carp" all over everything

For some reason they especially like sidewalks and front porches.

I considered it my herd because I maintained about 1000 pounds of biomass which population varied between 100,000 and 200,000 worms depending on stock age, breeding cycles and fattening bin populations , in my indoor 20 bin worm farm. My outdoor worm ranch portion I estimated at 2 to 3 million worms when I was actively selling bait and running the green waste dump.

At the height of my bait route supplying days I generally made $200-$400 a week just for the time spent picking worms , boxing them and delivering them to the gas stations with bait counters I consignment supplied.

I never considered it too shabby a return for 30 hours or so a week second job.

Now that I am retired I just keep a few bins for my garden and hobby interests.

__________________
"I didn't have time to slay the dragon. It's on my To Do list!"

Very True...

Have been reading this thread with interest-- For those of you with goats, have you noticed CAE and CL to have impacted your herd?
We have been thinking of getting a few goats to eat our pasture down (only 2 acres but fenced and with lots of nice brush on the sides)-- but all the info around these 2 diseases, how stubborn they are to eradicate, and how many goats are infected (you have to pull the kids off the doe at birth before she licks them! for prevention)-- makes me wonder what the average person's expereince is with them-- we are out in the Sierra Foothills of CA....
And so far, are laying hens have been the best, and easy too (they even put themselves up at night, our dogs watch over everything at night and they freerange all day)....

In my opinion, not true. Including requiring fencing for certain wildlife.
Beekeeping is not just throwing bees in a stack of supers and coming back in fall for harvest. Spring buildup, swarm suppression, disease management, fall maintenance incl possible feeding if required, and extraction can be a messy prospect.

I would suggest a few chickens.

Always buy your goats from a breeder who has tested their herd for CAE and CL. Breeders are proud of their goats and will tell you if the herd is clean. Ask to see the test results.

__________________
Dorothy Kaye Collins

As we are building up our homestead, the goats have been real prizes. We have 10 acres and 6 miniature goats (more babies on the way).

Reasons we got goats:

1) brush control: worked wonderfully. The pastures have been clear this year (before the goats it was hip-high in tumbleweeds, mesquite, catclaw, etc.), and the grass got a head start.

2) the miniatures are small enough to not damage our orchard and other trees too badly.

3) excess wethers are good for meat. Easy to process one, about like a deer, and not too much meat at one time. It stores on the hoof so to speak.

4) we milk them. Not as efficient perhaps as standard goats or cows, but while I am learning about milking, it's easier to handle smaller amounts of milk and figure out what to do with it.

5) marketing: we have one baby doe right now, and 2 of the neighbors have already wanted to buy her. They are good pet, dairy, and meat material, all of which would be saleable. A few bulletin board advertisements up around town and I doubt we'll have trouble getting rid of any little blue-eyed darlings we want to sell. Now, I don't expect to get rich from selling little goats, but the market is there and supplemental income is supplemental income.

6) economy of upkeep. They eat brush all day and are as fat, healthy, and sleek as can be. We don't have to feed them a darn thing, which means no cost there. They haven't had any diseases or illnesses, except one started coughing when the corral was dry and dusty, and we moved her to another grassy pen and she was just fine then.

7) for me, getting the homestead thing figured out, the little goats are so easy to work with. We have a buck as well as the does (self perpetuating herd!!), and he has a super nice personality. But even if he didn't, his head barely comes up to my knee. Much less threatening than a 200+ lb standard meat goat. Easier than a larger animal to hold, trim feet, check for thorns, etc.

8) entertainment value. The way they play is always good for a laugh, and that's nice to have during a hard day's work.

9) this is purely personal, but I really like these little goats. They are smart and friendly, like dogs (at least mine are). Hard to fence in...but they're intelligent.

Next on the list will be chickens, in a few months. They will be simpler to keep than cows or other large animals, just by being small. I have also been doing research about guineas. Noisy, yes, but they can forage very well, maintain themselves, and eat lots of bugs. Being a gardener, I like that.

Turkeys take some management, but can have a very efficient return on investment in the form of meat and how much you get when you harvest.

Since we have a smaller acreage, the cow takes more upkeep. We have to feed hay in the winter, and everything (milking, grazing space, breeding--since we have to borrow a bull) will be supersized with her compared to the goats. But the amount of milk and meat to work with would be worth it to me.

I've never had sheep, but did research the Navajo Churro breed. The people I talked to said the Churros are quite hardy and self-sufficient living out on pasture. Maybe we'll look more into those someday.

really nice post on goats and why you would want them (espec the dwarfs) thanx!!!! We only have 2 acres and these sound like a good fit for that amount of space!

Yay! Glad it helped!