One question that I see a lot for confined animals is: "what is the best type of bedding to use?" So I will address this for as many of the common livestock species as I can. First, most of the large livestock: horses, cattle, sheep, goats, pigs; will require no bedding if they are pasture kept. In barns or birth jugs, it's best to bed down with either pine shavings or sawdust as that is the easiest to keep clean.
If you have an enclosure for your poultry that involves them being confined indoors on a concrete or wooden floor, I recommend using sand, as that is the easiest to keep clean for birds. For cage-reared rabbits indoors, first I recommend keeping them on a metal wire floor, for sanitary reasons, and second I recommend using either wood pellets or wood shavings. If outdoors, there's honestly no reason to use any bedding at all! If you clean the pan out weekly, it will be sufficiently ventilated that you should never notice any odor. Newspaper is absorbent, but it will do nothing beneficial for your garden, nor will it aid in odor reduction in any way.
Some alternatives, pros/cons:
Cat litter: (clay), absorbent, little odor control, VERY heavy!, hard to dispose. (clumping), still heavy, hard to access, expensive!
Wood or newspaper pellets: can be heavy (depending on type), excellent absorption, can be put in compost pile or directly on garden, little to no odor control
Equine fresh: very good odor control, expensive!!
Cedar shavings: NEVER use! No good as a bedding type due to phenol content
Pine shavings: (regular) shouldn't be used other than as a barn additive for larger livestock (kiln dried) preferred bedding for smaller animals
Carefresh: this one is put here as a joke! Homesteaders, save your money and steer away from this entirely! There are much more cost effective beddings out there!
Cut up cardboard: I cannot recall the brand, but this is an excellent bedding material for small animals. Somewhat hard to clean out, would be fine on the compost pile, cost effective and 'different', it works best laid over top a single layer of wood pellets.
Shredded/layered newspaper: Layers seem to work better in pans and carriers, nicely absorbent, no odor control at all, needs to be changed frequently.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Friday, June 17, 2011
Breeds: Rabbits for the Homesteader
The American Rabbit Breeders Association recognizes 47 pure breeds for showing purposes. The homesteader will generally have little purpose for most of them. Generally, most of these modern breeds were designed for the modern person: they are small and slightly ostentatious. For the homesteader there are 3 general categories of interest: meat production, fur/skin production, and wool production. There is another aspect of rabbits, pet production, though for most homesteaders this will be a rare and generally unnecessary aspect. If you can sell a few extra youngsters as pets, great! But don't expect much of a market for the breeds that work best on a homestead. Many breeds can/will give you multiple purposes.
For instance, you can eat any rabbit of any breed you raise, however certain breeds and breed combinations will give you the best tasting/quantity of meat for the lowest expense. The 2 best known for meat production are the New Zealand (known best for it's maternal abilities) and the Californian (known for it's terminal abilities). The cross of these breeds is often known as a Smut. These 3 breeds will yield the highest meat quantity, at the youngest age, utilizing the least feed, with the best meat to bone ratio of any other breed in existence. Don't be fooled, bigger is not always better. The most common temptation is to find the largest breed, the Flemish Giant, and cross into the meat herd. Resist the urge, Flemish are one of the slowest growing breeds with some of the worst meat to bone ratios of any other breed (they have very large and heavy bones)! If you don't mind holding the growers to an older age (increasing the 'texture' of the meat), you could also utilize these rabbits for their furs.
Some of the more common breeds raised mainly for their furs are the Havana, a medium breed with a luxurious smooth coat, and the Rex, a larger breed with an extremely plush coat. Rabbits raised primarily for their furs generally need to be kept until around 10 months of age, when the fur would be "prime" and full. Compared to meat rabbits raised to around 2-4 months, this can feel like an eternity! However, on a younger rabbit the skin would be too fragile and thin to work. Conversely, rabbits kept for their furs until an older age will not have meat as tender as that of the younger animals. It is truly a paradox! You can certainly keep the skins of younger animals, though they will be much more fragile, but you will have tender meat. You can certainly eat the meat of the older fur animals, but it will likely be 'tougher'.
The last aspect for a homesteader to consider would be to choose a breed for wool production. The best part about raising rabbits for this is that the rabbit need not be killed to harvest the wool. In truth, many of them seem to truly relish the attention lavished on them! These rabbits do require a certain level of care that the other breeds do not, especially if you wish to harvest the maximum quantity of usable fiber from them. The only breeds that can really be used for this purpose are the Angoras: Giant, Satin, French, German, and English. Honestly choosing your Angora breed will come to a personal decision, as they all have the potential to give you beautiful fiber. The Giant will yield the greatest amount, though these rabbits tend to be the most expensive and difficult to locate. The Satin will yield a beautiful wool that has a shine to it, unique to that breed. The English is the smallest of the Angoras, though it also tends to have some of the finest wool. They are characterized by their general similarity to a "cotton ball". I'll go into raising rabbits specifically for wool at a later time.
Of course there are several other breeds one could consider. Rare heritage breeds such as the American or Beveren. Marked breeds such as the Rhinelander, Dutch, or English Spot. Giant breeds such as the Giant Chinchilla, moderate breeds such as the Lilac, or small breeds such as the Netherland Dwarf. Exotic breeds like the Britannia Petite or Himalayan, new breeds such as the Thrianta, and fluffy breeds such as the Jersey Wooly.
Take care to choose the breed for your homestead carefully so as to maximize your benefits.
For instance, you can eat any rabbit of any breed you raise, however certain breeds and breed combinations will give you the best tasting/quantity of meat for the lowest expense. The 2 best known for meat production are the New Zealand (known best for it's maternal abilities) and the Californian (known for it's terminal abilities). The cross of these breeds is often known as a Smut. These 3 breeds will yield the highest meat quantity, at the youngest age, utilizing the least feed, with the best meat to bone ratio of any other breed in existence. Don't be fooled, bigger is not always better. The most common temptation is to find the largest breed, the Flemish Giant, and cross into the meat herd. Resist the urge, Flemish are one of the slowest growing breeds with some of the worst meat to bone ratios of any other breed (they have very large and heavy bones)! If you don't mind holding the growers to an older age (increasing the 'texture' of the meat), you could also utilize these rabbits for their furs.
Some of the more common breeds raised mainly for their furs are the Havana, a medium breed with a luxurious smooth coat, and the Rex, a larger breed with an extremely plush coat. Rabbits raised primarily for their furs generally need to be kept until around 10 months of age, when the fur would be "prime" and full. Compared to meat rabbits raised to around 2-4 months, this can feel like an eternity! However, on a younger rabbit the skin would be too fragile and thin to work. Conversely, rabbits kept for their furs until an older age will not have meat as tender as that of the younger animals. It is truly a paradox! You can certainly keep the skins of younger animals, though they will be much more fragile, but you will have tender meat. You can certainly eat the meat of the older fur animals, but it will likely be 'tougher'.
The last aspect for a homesteader to consider would be to choose a breed for wool production. The best part about raising rabbits for this is that the rabbit need not be killed to harvest the wool. In truth, many of them seem to truly relish the attention lavished on them! These rabbits do require a certain level of care that the other breeds do not, especially if you wish to harvest the maximum quantity of usable fiber from them. The only breeds that can really be used for this purpose are the Angoras: Giant, Satin, French, German, and English. Honestly choosing your Angora breed will come to a personal decision, as they all have the potential to give you beautiful fiber. The Giant will yield the greatest amount, though these rabbits tend to be the most expensive and difficult to locate. The Satin will yield a beautiful wool that has a shine to it, unique to that breed. The English is the smallest of the Angoras, though it also tends to have some of the finest wool. They are characterized by their general similarity to a "cotton ball". I'll go into raising rabbits specifically for wool at a later time.
Of course there are several other breeds one could consider. Rare heritage breeds such as the American or Beveren. Marked breeds such as the Rhinelander, Dutch, or English Spot. Giant breeds such as the Giant Chinchilla, moderate breeds such as the Lilac, or small breeds such as the Netherland Dwarf. Exotic breeds like the Britannia Petite or Himalayan, new breeds such as the Thrianta, and fluffy breeds such as the Jersey Wooly.
Take care to choose the breed for your homestead carefully so as to maximize your benefits.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Cutting up Chicken into Fryer Pieces
This is a task that every person, regardless of homestead or home-maker should know how to do. Especially given the ever increasing cost of food. Cutting up a chicken really helps when you have birds that aren't quite "pretty" enough to be a roaster, and it increases the usefulness of your carcasses. Starting with an entire cleaned bird, place the carcass with the legs facing you. Using a flat-blade, well-sharpened knife, cut down through the skin beside the legs to free them up. At this point you are only cutting skin. Take both legs in your hand and push down flat against the back to 'pop' the joints loose, it makes it easier to remove the thigh bone later. Look into the carcass and find the rib cage, cut down the ribs to the spine. Then bend the carcass in half, bending at the back until the spine breaks. Use your knife to cut through the soft tissue and separate the carcass into front and back halves.
Take the back half and bend it backwards at the point of the spine. The bones should break, allowing you to separate the leg quarters from each other. Bend the leg at the joint and cut around between the leg and thigh muscles, cutting through the joint to separate the leg from the thigh. Wash and put these aside.
Next pull the front half of the bird to you. Place breast side up and wing side towards you. Start cutting around the ball of the wing, pulling the wing down as you go. There is a joint that will separate and the wing come away from the rest of the carcass. Repeat with the other wing. Set these aside. You have remaining the back and the breast. You can leave this whole, or separate the back and de-bone the breast.
To separate the back simply turn the carcass breast side down. Using a pair of butcher scissors or pruning shears (well cleaned), insert the shears into the side of the bird and cut through the ribs. Push in farther until all the ribs have been cut. Repeat on the other side. Turn the carcass around, insert the shears beside the neck, and cut through the clavicle bone on both sides. Then use your knife to cut through the meat, releasing the back. Set aside.
Finally you have the breast. Turn the breast up and sharpen your knife, it will need to be very sharp to de-bone the breast meat. I highly recommend de-boning the breast since it is very easy to do. You'll see a demarcation line between the breasts, this is where the keel bone is located. Make the first slice along this line, from top to bottom. Remember there is a bone there, angle your knife in towards the bone so that you can be sure to shave away as much meat as possible from it. Slice by slice, carefully deepen the cut down the keel bone and along the ribs until you have freed the meat from the bottom of the rib cage. There is another small rib bone below the keel that you'll need to scrape along. After freeing the bottom of the breast, work on removing the top with as much meat as possible. Remember this is where the 'wishbone' is located, so you'll have to work around it. Try to leave as little meat behind as possible. After freeing up the first side, repeat the process on the other side. When you are finished, you should have 2 large boneless breasts.
Wash the parts, separate as desired, and store or cook as you wish!
Take the back half and bend it backwards at the point of the spine. The bones should break, allowing you to separate the leg quarters from each other. Bend the leg at the joint and cut around between the leg and thigh muscles, cutting through the joint to separate the leg from the thigh. Wash and put these aside.
Next pull the front half of the bird to you. Place breast side up and wing side towards you. Start cutting around the ball of the wing, pulling the wing down as you go. There is a joint that will separate and the wing come away from the rest of the carcass. Repeat with the other wing. Set these aside. You have remaining the back and the breast. You can leave this whole, or separate the back and de-bone the breast.
To separate the back simply turn the carcass breast side down. Using a pair of butcher scissors or pruning shears (well cleaned), insert the shears into the side of the bird and cut through the ribs. Push in farther until all the ribs have been cut. Repeat on the other side. Turn the carcass around, insert the shears beside the neck, and cut through the clavicle bone on both sides. Then use your knife to cut through the meat, releasing the back. Set aside.
Finally you have the breast. Turn the breast up and sharpen your knife, it will need to be very sharp to de-bone the breast meat. I highly recommend de-boning the breast since it is very easy to do. You'll see a demarcation line between the breasts, this is where the keel bone is located. Make the first slice along this line, from top to bottom. Remember there is a bone there, angle your knife in towards the bone so that you can be sure to shave away as much meat as possible from it. Slice by slice, carefully deepen the cut down the keel bone and along the ribs until you have freed the meat from the bottom of the rib cage. There is another small rib bone below the keel that you'll need to scrape along. After freeing the bottom of the breast, work on removing the top with as much meat as possible. Remember this is where the 'wishbone' is located, so you'll have to work around it. Try to leave as little meat behind as possible. After freeing up the first side, repeat the process on the other side. When you are finished, you should have 2 large boneless breasts.
Wash the parts, separate as desired, and store or cook as you wish!
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Raising Rabbits
Rabbits are a wonderful way of getting your feet wet raising your own meat on limited space and budget. They tend to be less smelly than chickens and their reproductive methods are not only faster, but easier on the homesteader. Of course, it's a good idea to actually keep both rabbits and chickens, and while they should not be kept together openly, there is nothing wrong with your chickens and rabbits sharing a barn. Of course one of the biggest hurdles for many new homesteaders is actually killing and then eating your own rabbits. A few tips I offer, first do not name any offspring you intend to butcher, naming tends to increase a bond with the animal. Keep personal interaction with your grower rabbits to a minimum, lavish that attention on your brood rabbits instead.
A few things to keep in mind about rabbits: First, the meat is highly nutritious and lean. The meat will have a texture and flavor similar to chicken and can be used in exactly the same recipes. To make ground rabbit or rabbit sausage you will need to add some fat from other meat as it is too lean by itself, also it grinds easier if it is slightly frozen. Meat is not the only product your rabbits can give to you! Rabbit manure is very valuable as fertilizer in that it requires no composting, just add straight from the pan to the garden. Some rabbits can produce fine wool that can be spun by itself or combined with other fiber for luxurious yarns. Rabbit skins can be preserved and given a great number of uses, or sell them as green or tanned hides. Worms can even be raised in manure beds.
Rabbit feed can be supplemented by "green manure" from your garden: beet/carrot tops, melon rinds (in moderation), cut grass, radish greens, even honeysuckle, fresh green pine branches, and bamboo greens! Be careful not to feed too much fresh foods to rabbits less than 6 months of age. Overall, rabbits require very little input as compared to potential production of any livestock species in existence today.
There are two main methods and ideology for raising rabbits for production. One allows you to minimize your space needs and also identify exact parentage, this is cage rearing. The other will maximize overall production output by allowing the rabbits to "do what rabbits do" through colony rearing. Both methods will need some planning and basic materials to get started. Cage rearing you will need enough cages to comfortably house each brood rabbit individually. Each cage should be twice the length of the rabbit, stretched out, though larger is always better. Bucks should have ample space to mount a stretched out doe to breed. Pregnant does and growing brood juniors (bucks and does after weaning, but less than 6 months of age) require less space. Does with litters will need more space even than bucks. And you will need to account for at least 1 very large cage per litter for rearing your growers to butchering weight. You will also need enough feed and water bowls for each rabbit, and a large feed hopper for each grower pen/cage. I recommend your cages have a wire floor, but be prepared to also add a plank, tile, board, or mat of some kind to give the rabbits' feet a rest from the wire.
Cage rearing is fairly simple, always take the doe to the buck's cage for breeding. Rabbits do not have a 'heat cycle' they can breed anytime of the day or year, though they tend to be more receptive during the spring/summer than fall/winter. Perseverance is key though, if you want off-season litters, keep at them! The buck should mount the doe and attempt to breed. If she is receptive, she should stretch and lift her hindquarter. The buck should grunt and fall over, this is how you know the breeding was successful. Allow the buck to breed her 2-3 times more, then remove the doe. Take her back about 8 hours later to increase litter size. Mark your calendar for 31 days hence. Move the doe to a kindling (birth/litter) cage after about 2 weeks and offer her a nest with straw/shavings in it about 3-4 days prior to her due date. Then watch carefully. She should pull fur for the babies, if you see a pile of fur in the nest, you can carefully pull back to see if the babies are ok. If so, leave them alone. The doe may not even go back to the nest for up to 24 hours, this is perfectly normal. Check them daily for the first few days to be sure their bellies are rounded out. Well-fed babies should appear plump at all times, if they begin to appear slim and wrinkled she isn't feeding them. We'll go into that later though.
Colony rearing is slightly less labor intensive, though a little more space consuming. You would actually setup and prepare a large area fully fenced on all sides (don't forget the floor, rabbits can and will try to dig burrows! If they are successful, you will not be able to control the population and might not even be able to have a handle on total number or catch the young for consumption!) The rabbits would need to have sufficient feed and water available at all times. They will also require nest boxes or a well kept area of straw/hay for rearing litters. You will still need to check litters to be sure that any that die early are removed promptly. In this method you may use one buck for several does. You will know which is the sire of any given offspring, but will never know which is the dam. This is a great way to let "rabbits be rabbits" in a controlled way.
Whichever method you choose to keep your rabbits, have fun with them! Rabbits are a joy, and they're mighty tasty too!!
A few things to keep in mind about rabbits: First, the meat is highly nutritious and lean. The meat will have a texture and flavor similar to chicken and can be used in exactly the same recipes. To make ground rabbit or rabbit sausage you will need to add some fat from other meat as it is too lean by itself, also it grinds easier if it is slightly frozen. Meat is not the only product your rabbits can give to you! Rabbit manure is very valuable as fertilizer in that it requires no composting, just add straight from the pan to the garden. Some rabbits can produce fine wool that can be spun by itself or combined with other fiber for luxurious yarns. Rabbit skins can be preserved and given a great number of uses, or sell them as green or tanned hides. Worms can even be raised in manure beds.
Rabbit feed can be supplemented by "green manure" from your garden: beet/carrot tops, melon rinds (in moderation), cut grass, radish greens, even honeysuckle, fresh green pine branches, and bamboo greens! Be careful not to feed too much fresh foods to rabbits less than 6 months of age. Overall, rabbits require very little input as compared to potential production of any livestock species in existence today.
There are two main methods and ideology for raising rabbits for production. One allows you to minimize your space needs and also identify exact parentage, this is cage rearing. The other will maximize overall production output by allowing the rabbits to "do what rabbits do" through colony rearing. Both methods will need some planning and basic materials to get started. Cage rearing you will need enough cages to comfortably house each brood rabbit individually. Each cage should be twice the length of the rabbit, stretched out, though larger is always better. Bucks should have ample space to mount a stretched out doe to breed. Pregnant does and growing brood juniors (bucks and does after weaning, but less than 6 months of age) require less space. Does with litters will need more space even than bucks. And you will need to account for at least 1 very large cage per litter for rearing your growers to butchering weight. You will also need enough feed and water bowls for each rabbit, and a large feed hopper for each grower pen/cage. I recommend your cages have a wire floor, but be prepared to also add a plank, tile, board, or mat of some kind to give the rabbits' feet a rest from the wire.
Cage rearing is fairly simple, always take the doe to the buck's cage for breeding. Rabbits do not have a 'heat cycle' they can breed anytime of the day or year, though they tend to be more receptive during the spring/summer than fall/winter. Perseverance is key though, if you want off-season litters, keep at them! The buck should mount the doe and attempt to breed. If she is receptive, she should stretch and lift her hindquarter. The buck should grunt and fall over, this is how you know the breeding was successful. Allow the buck to breed her 2-3 times more, then remove the doe. Take her back about 8 hours later to increase litter size. Mark your calendar for 31 days hence. Move the doe to a kindling (birth/litter) cage after about 2 weeks and offer her a nest with straw/shavings in it about 3-4 days prior to her due date. Then watch carefully. She should pull fur for the babies, if you see a pile of fur in the nest, you can carefully pull back to see if the babies are ok. If so, leave them alone. The doe may not even go back to the nest for up to 24 hours, this is perfectly normal. Check them daily for the first few days to be sure their bellies are rounded out. Well-fed babies should appear plump at all times, if they begin to appear slim and wrinkled she isn't feeding them. We'll go into that later though.
Colony rearing is slightly less labor intensive, though a little more space consuming. You would actually setup and prepare a large area fully fenced on all sides (don't forget the floor, rabbits can and will try to dig burrows! If they are successful, you will not be able to control the population and might not even be able to have a handle on total number or catch the young for consumption!) The rabbits would need to have sufficient feed and water available at all times. They will also require nest boxes or a well kept area of straw/hay for rearing litters. You will still need to check litters to be sure that any that die early are removed promptly. In this method you may use one buck for several does. You will know which is the sire of any given offspring, but will never know which is the dam. This is a great way to let "rabbits be rabbits" in a controlled way.
Whichever method you choose to keep your rabbits, have fun with them! Rabbits are a joy, and they're mighty tasty too!!
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