Introductions

Entrance to great grandparents' ranch

As a child I spent a few years on the Wyoming Hereford Ranch surrounded by cattle.  In our yard though were a couple ducks, rabbits and chickens as well as a pony.  Ever since, actually we have to go farther back to...  maybe when I was born.  Honestly I can't put my finger on WHEN I knew I wanted to be surrounded by some kind of livestock.  My great grandparents (Middle Creek Ranch Inc) descended from family that landed on the shores of the US back before the revolutionary war.  I think we've probably been "homesteading" ever since.  My great grandparents were shepherds involved in the establishment of the Columbian sheep breed primarily and sometimes they raised cattle from what I understand.  Horses, sheep, rabbits, ducks are all at the top of my own homestead/farmstead list.


After a lot of research my husband and I decided that the best thing to do first off would be to raise the rabbits, our meat eating is really mostly just chicken.  Rabbits, unlike chickens, breed year round for the most part and well, they breed like rabbits meaning that two does and a buck should be able to feed my family a meal of meat three times a week at least, probably more.  I also feel like if I waste any part of my primary meat source I am not being a good steward so I wanted to make sure that the rabbit breed I chose would be one with a good pelt, and temperament because if the rabbit likes us the end of his life will be less traumatic (for him, not us I'm certain).  I'll talk later about the adventure of choosing a rabbit breed, housing and other specifics.

One morning while making my kids their breakfast eggs my daughter recognized that those are eggs like she saw on a program she was watching.  She commented it's like the egg that she saw where the chick came out of it.  I said yes, and she said, "Those come from the store though so won't have any chicks in them."  I said "oh?" and she further explained that the eggs with the chicks in them come from chickens.  I tried to explain the concept that all eggs come from birds etc...even the ones from stores but she just couldn't wrap her four year old head around the idea.  My local feed store had a batch of chicks, including ducklings so I began to research.  I dislike chickens generally so I decided to get ducks for egg production.  There are breeds of ducks producing up to 300 eggs a year!  Ducks are productive egg layers for up to 4 years where chickens are usually done after two.  We decided to include ducks for a source of food for the family.

THIS brings me to the subject of heritage breeds.  Because I'm a sucker for a cause and the fact that I'm very interested in sustainability I am doing my best to keep to the Heritage breeds of the stock I choose to raise here at Little Foxtail.  For a self sustaining family farm that may or may not branch out into sales of meat or livestock etc...  Heritage breeds are the best choice.  They are more hardy, they tend to be better mothers/breeders and have superior meat quality.  By breeding these animals and selling even tiny amounts of stock or meat it can help keep their numbers going, possibly raise their numbers and share with the public that they are a great asset.  Production livestock are really only good at growing quickly.  Not as lean as your heritage breeds and they often don't breed, especially production ducks.  They won't incubate eggs well at all.  Visit the Livestock Conservancy website to learn more about heritage breeds if you're curious.

Stay tuned for blog posts regarding the specifics of how we came to choose the breeds we have chosen and what we'll be doing for housing them.  The adventures of raising and of slaughter and butcher as we re-learn the things our great grandparents were doing as second nature.