breeds and types animals for smallholdings a review

[El Presidente Hillbillios]

Hey guys n ladies,

The chicken thread made me think about other animals that we may have on our little farms. Some breeds seem to be best suited for what we do compared to others. So i thought is would be good to start a thread were we can all collaborate our knowledge and experiences, what worked and what didnt. Here are my experiences so far and are just what i have encountered, you might find different in different areas and circumstance.

Goats, Very good for eating anything vegetable and converting it into manure. wont dig and till the soil. Will become very friendly and have characters of their own. A good companion from a lonely person out bush IMO. Tethered or confined can do a reasonable mowing job without need for mower fuel. Seem to not spread seed in manure, i think due to chewing a cud. Short hair goats also dont pick up burrs too much. All round can be very helpfull weed control and buddies.

Feral :- Will survive well in pretty much any place. Can be hard to keep inside fences once they learned to escape, but all goats are like this at least a little bit. Not too hard to tame, especially the males that hang round in groups of males and not with the girls. Not a brilliant meat goat and pretty terrible for milk. But will eat pretty much anything cellulose and survive.

Anglo Nubian:- Big strong goats that produce good milk (2-4 litres a day) and not too bad for meat. They seem to live longer than ferals in my experience too. very agile and can and will eat trees to about 4-6 foot high off the ground. Seem to really seek out African olive to eat and have pretty much eradicated it where they can get to it at my place.

Boer/ boer cross feral :- solid chunky goats but not very tall for eating scrub. Goats can be a good tool for clearing scrub, especially nubians in my experience. Good meat goats and very hardy but not so good for milk.

Cashmere:- pretty hardy gorwn mostly for wool so i dont really know about meat of milk for these fluffy fellows. Will need to be shawn or something regularly (some people say brushing out loose coat is sufficient, but i have never had much success) The ones i have had seem to not have as sound feet and need a lot more trimming and such to keep them sound. They also have problems getting flyblown.

Chickens, very very good for converting scraps into eggs and meat. Manure is also very fertile although usually too hot to use directly when fresh. Will eat almost anything and will do a reasonable job of tilling softish soil.

Faverolles :- my fave chicken. Good big heavy duel purpose chickens (good for meat and eggs). Will lay round about every other day, but will keep laying for years maybe as many as 6 or 7 years but generally around 4-6. Very friendly and passive chickens not very flighty at all, but this can also be a slight disadvantage around predators. Will become very friendly easily and a good chicken for those that are scared of chickens. Will go broody and look after babies reasonably wel. but will not generally go broody too much.

Isa browns:- It may be my clouded judgement because of my love of faverolles, But these chickens seem nasty to me. They will pick the ground to bare dirt everywhere they can. They fight and can be quite agro towards each other often picking on each other and needing human intervention. Will lay pretty much every day but will only lay for a few years and then drop off in production. Dont go broody very much at all but can sometimes be reasonable mums. Not much meat on them compared to the bigger faverolles.

Alpacas, I have only ever had a couple of alpacas, so i have limited knowledge. Fleece seems to be hard to use. Altoguh they have a reputation of keeping away foxes i have still had fox problems with alpacas in the yard. Nothing nastier than being spat on by a friendly alpaca LOL.

Sheep, again i may be clouded by my love of goats. But IMO inferior to goats in most ways. They seem to need more water, nicer fodder and not as good in thick scrub as goats. Also need shearing and get flyblown and bad feet pretty easy. Not as productive for milk or meat as nubian goats in similar habitat.

Horses, All horse have thier own faults and advantages regardless of breed however some breeds seem to be prone to more problems than others. They can be a good way of checking fences and moving stock without costing fuel money. A good horse is a big asset but a pain in the arse horse will hold you back more than having one leg.

Quarter horses:- expensive to purchase, but also good money to sell any bred ones. Most modern lines are not as hard working or sound as the older lines, although the breeders wont tell you that so much LOL. Not the best feet usually

Ex trotting horses, These are cheap to buy and if theyre going through the sales as an older horse will most prolly be very sound and bomb prooof, ex racers can be stubborn but usually sensible. Rough to ride and hard to break into a lope or canter again usually, but somtimes will do it no worries. Usually not bad feet but somtimes can be dramas

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Thoroughbreds, usually not good feet. not so sound legs mostly although some have decent bone. Can be total crazy maniacs (more nut jobs than sensible ones) Can be very cheap and can be big strong horses for the amount of money if your experienced enough to buy a sound one and turn it into a usable steed.

Whalers/feral horses. These make damn good bush horses. Usually not too big in height, but solid with good feet. Dont usually need shoes unless on hard and rocky ground constantly.

[El Presidente Hillbillios]

I have to add, the horse comment are very general and can vary wildly within the breeds.

[Yeti101]

Don't know much about goats for meat, but the Saanen is a great dairy animal, and tougher than it looks. Possibility of out crossing with a cashmere strain for a larger amount of lower quality fiber exists, but I don't know if it's ever been perfected.

Love Bantam chooks - those things breed like crazy, even if they are some of the stupidest chickens I've ever met.

You also forgot Ducks! I'm not a fan of duck meat, so I favor the Indian Runner or Khaki Campbell - if you can get or breed a cross of these varieties you will have more eggs than you know what to do with and they are the nemesis of slugs & snails. Also, Indian Runners don't fly (and neither did our crosses), which is handy.

[teonanacatl]

Pigs!

Convert carbs and protein into meat. The ferals are the hardiest but will have a low food conversion ratio and will find food anywhere, they are also very smart and not docile. Large whites and durocs Ive found do well on commercial feed and are easy to tame with great food conversion and meat distribution. Durocs are better in the sun then the whites which get sunburnt. Large english blacks are my latest trial and have an excellent FCR, are really tame and docile and dont dig too much as long as they are fed. I let mine roam free sometimes and they love eating grass and plant material. They also seem easier to train to not challenge fences, dig etc then the others. Also do well in the heat and the sun being black.

[bullit]

pitbuls r good herders 4 real also they put them bad 1s to bed ...

[quarterflesh]

Whats the situation with duck eggs, are they good for general everyday eating like chicken eggs?

[Anodyne]

^^^

Yes! They can taste a bit different, but that varies with the birds diet anyway. I reckon they're superior to chook eggs in every way - bigger eggs with a richer taste, a firmer texture that makes them really good for making fluffy omelletes/cakes/etc, and supposedly they keep better than chook eggs as well because of the thicker shells.

And ducks are just cooler than chickens Downside is you need to give them access to clean water - a little pond at least, so they're a bit more effort for small spaces. Bigger places with creeks or whatever are good, but means they'll more exposed to predators than chooks would be. They'll usually favour insects over your veges so you can turn them loose as garden pest-control without losing too many plants.

[waterboy 2.0]

Nice thread HB, I'll tap a favourite one:

Geese - (Embden)

Big white bird, with bright orange beak. Become a very strong bird.... can get the odd one with a take no shit attitude - a big one can dish out a good flogging......

Excellent eye sight and hearing....Do not take to kindly to snakes...lol...great "guard dogs" (better than the dogs!)

If you have a patch of grass they will keep in down better than sheep.

Need access to water for mating.

Sheep Vs Goats ....gimme goats as well - you have to pamper sheep.

Edited February 15, 2014 by waterboy

[spooge]

I got sheep.

Lawn mowers all of them and wont be eaten.

Suffolks - black sheep with white fleece, good for hilly and steep ground.

Shawn n cruched once a year.

Wiltipol - white, shedding sheep that dont need shearing or crutching.

Very good for hilly and steep areas with no acces to yards.

Fenced the paddocks so theres enough feed for each flock to last 3 months then move them to the next.

4 paddock rotation per flock each year should mean worming may not be necersary.

They all like a feed of sheep nuts and the suffolks summer paddock is near the vege garden so they get a good scoff.

Not here, in another place i bred guinea foul, they were a hoot.

[waterboy 2.0]

guinea fowl not to keen on snakes too...lol...got a unique snake call

[spooge]

^^^ can write cluck for chooks, quack for ducks unsure if its posible to translate guinea foul into english.

Angora Goats.......may be classed as/under cashmere, unsure goat noob here

Acquired 2 yesterday, free to good home.

Fluffy with horns, lge poodles.

Both males (need to check, cant see no balls) now called Augustus and Tiberius,

Been a bit hesitant to get any goats as a place down the road has goats n their fences are huge.

Bloke i got them off assures me they'll be fine with 'normal fencing'.

Told me that he once came home in the arvo and saw one hugging the fence and thought rightio gotta check that out. He got side tracked, as you do, and next morning the goaty was still on the fence, he checked it out and found that the goat had got stuck on a run of barbed wire, its long hair had become entangled.

I'll be watchn out for this, as well as keeping them trimmed underneath as they can get flyblown as El Presedente Hillbillios says about Cashmere goats.

The 2 i got are really tame and were eating out my hands soon as they were off the trailer.

Very easily led by their horns, only gotta lead one and the other follows, our psudo sheed dog will not like this.

Their in with the suffolks who have quickly become the underdogs.

[Yeti101]

I found that 5 ft multi-strand electric fences worked well for goats. Watch out though, as they are smart enough to push you into them .

If the fleece is longer and more curly they are Angora - Cashmere is less curly, shorter and fluffier (and finer). Only really makes a difference as you can brush out cashmere rather than shear. Post some pics. (Not enough goat pics on this site).

Good that they are tame. Goats that don't like people are a pain in the arse (and hip, leg, knee, head, groin etc).

Also, duck eggs are the bomb for baking - once you have made a cake with them you will never want to go back!

[Darklight]

Ducks: Muscovies

Not true ducks, closer to geese apparently. Breed like hippies, one year we got over 300 ducklings from 5 ducks and a drake.

You'll get a lot of eggs out of them, and they're large framed. Flesh is a bit game-y and oily, but with the right stash of recipes they are delicious

Capable of being reasonably self-sufficient, need clean water to clear their nostrils but don't need to swim. Downside of them free-ranging is the humungous amount of duck shit everywhere. Seriously

If you cross them with Khaki Campbell ( smaller ) ducks the offspring will be mules- sterile- and much better tasting. If you do this, make sure you have more than 5 ducks per Muscovy drake. Muscovy males are large, and relentless priapists and will half kill their partners- if there aren't enough ducks to keep one happy I've seen them almost kill the much smaller Khaki with repeated matings. The skin at the top of one duck's head was so distorted after this happened a few months when it deflated it obscured one eye

If you clip their wings a few times when they are young they'll usually be unable to fly after 18 months or so, as they won't progressively develop the muscle strength during growth- and by the time their wing feathers grow back it will be too much work to lift their large frame

Best thing about them is they eat ticks and leeches. It was ten years after I got rid of the last ones before I found a tick or leech here