I love Dexter's. They are a great little triple purpose breed, and the fact they do better on tough feed than on concentrates is fantastic. I plan to have several when I get my land.
Greg H. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Garth & Kim Travis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <Biofuel@sustainablelists.org> Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2005 6:20 Subject: [Biofuel] Moving to the land was The Saudi oil bombshell > Greetings, > > First I would like to say good luck on your new venture. Have you read the > entire small farms library at JTF? It is a great place to start. > > Are you aware of just how much land 15 hectares is? To farm that much > land, you are going to need some serious equipment. That is, if you plan > on doing it sustainably. You would be running thousands of chickens and > hundreds of pigs in order to create enough manure to bring back depleted > land. > > The real beauty of sustainable farming is how little land you need to raise > enough food for several families. I do belive that the quoted figures are > 1 hectare for a family of 6, and that includes income. > > Assuming that you understand the above, then I would suggest that you look > into breeds. Many of the old endangered breeds are best for sustainable > farming. For example: Tamworth pigs. These are a smaller bacon pig, not a > lard pig. They do not survive factory farming and being enclosed and are > therefore endangered, but they are a fabulous pasture pig. They live in > the pasture, year round in snowy areas and in the heat. And they are no > more expensive than good breeding stock of any other breed. The trick is > to know what the challenges of your area are and to pick stock that can > thrive where you are. Then, you don't have all the expensive medicines and > upkeep that factory farmers put up with. > > The other thing to look at is what is your feed going to? While I know > that you don't want to do cattle, they are the easiest explanation of what > I mean. When comparing live weight to dressed weight, if you can find > animals that can hit 60% of the live weight in dressed weight, then your > feed has been well used. Dexter is an excellent example of this kind of > cattle. But if your dressed weight is only 40%, then your feed has gone to > growing something that is in the waste stream and this is not profitable. > > The most important thing, unfortunately is regulations. How do you get to > market with your animals? What costs of processing do you have to > pay? What will the government let you do? > > Bright Blessings, > Kim > > At 06:53 AM 7/28/2005, you wrote: > >Hi All, > > > >It looks like I've finally convinced the wife to make the investment in > >some land and do some sustainable farming. I've been practicing in my > >garden many years and would like to begin with pigs and chickens since > >everyone else seems to be raising cattle and sheep. I live in Uruguay. > >There are quite a few small holdings (7 to 25 heactares) available at > >prices I can afford. I am doing vermiculture and have a fair understanding > >of soils but I've never raised animals other than pets. Do I purchase good > >land that's arable or marginal land and improve it with the pigs and > >chickens? What sort of water flows, either underground or surface, will I > >require? How many pigs and chickens can I raise sustainably on say 15 > >hectares. I want to be self sufficient or at least as much as possible. I > >want to be low tech but profitable. Any suggestions out there would be > >appreciated. > > > >Tom Irwin > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Biofuel mailing list > Biofuel@sustainablelists.org > http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): > http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ > > _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
