For all of you who have livestock (we don't yet, but are eager to get started) how do you take one to two week trips away from home without your animals starving to death?

You see, I moved down to the DFW region from Okla. (Thank God!!) when my folks lived down here. Unfortunately, they and my brother moved away. My folks now live near OKC, Okla and my brother lives in Chicago. My wife moved to DFW from Indiana and all of her family lives in South Bend, except for her mom, who we moved down here to live with us.

So, we are looking for an effective way to keep livestock alive long enough for us to go visiting/vacationing once a year.

Any suggestions?

AA

Sorry I cannot answer your question here....

but your situation sounds like a great base idea for a side home business.

we've thought about asking neighbors and coworkers if their kids would want to make a few extra bucks, but we were wondering if there are alternatives.

AA

My wife's best friend has a few cows. Find someone in a similair situation and form an informal co-op.

I guess I need to talk with my neighbors more.

AA

I just hope they don't tell you to leave them the fuck alone!

I know!!!



AA

Heidi and I are in the very same boat. We're champing at the bit to get outta here but haven't found a way yet.

Don't get me wrong, we love our place. Heidi says if she is away for more than 24 hours she really gets homesick. But we both truly miss our backpacking and canoeing trips.
We don't give a rats butt about visiting other civilized parts, but we miss our wilderness trips.

Horses are relatively easy. Many places will board horses. You'll need a big truck and trailer though, or get the boarding place to pick 'em up. All this costs plenty, but if you have to ask "how much" in the first place you probably shouldn't have horses. They are the biggest animal money pits on the homestead.

Rabbits and chickens - Eat them, then go on vacation. Seriously. Eat the excess.
I dunno, how long does a good layer chicken last? One year, two years, then the egg production tapers off, no?
If you time things right, just eat the birds at the end of their life and replace the flock next spring.

If you must keep a few breeders or the best of your layers, give them to friends and family to take care of while your gone.
Transport the beasts in the back of your pickup, and set up secure cages and food so all the temporary minders have to do is throw food and water at 'em once a day. This way you may get some folk to mind 'em.
Watch it if they have dogs though! Dogs not used to the little critters will have a field day wi' 'em.

Goats and cows - Good Freaking Luck!
Ain't no-one gonna hand milk a cow twice a day for you. Few will transport or board 'em.
This is a problem because the bigger milk and meat producing animals are at the heart of a self sufficient homestead.
If your real lucky you can get a neighbor to come over to your place and mind them. If you have neighbors. If you trust them. If they know how to milk and mind them.

Bottom line, whatever arrangements you make for any animals other than horses, get ready to come home to dead, missing or mistreated animals.

You may get lucky though. If you homesteaded near me, I'd certainly take care of your animals because then I could pawn mine off on you at some later date.

So, when looking at a homestead, nearby like minded homesteaders are yet one more thing to look for...

One solution we have come up with is separate vacations! Once or twice last year Heidi has gone to visit family for the weekend while I stay home. She has offered to do the same for me so I can disappear into the woods with a backpack or canoe for a week, but I haven't taken her up on it yet. I'd feel guilty leaving her with all the work.

Besides, all this is hypothetical. What back-to-the-lander can afford a vacation?

Sounds like we need to take care of each other. A couple of the city boys need to volunteer to visit a homestead and care for it while the owner goes out...

ooh, ooh, i like the country!

i promise i won't have buttsecks with the livestock.

frye

what about the local chapter of the FFA? Even if they don't have an organized program, I bet there will be kids there who know what they are doing and would be willing to help.

Yes, you do. That is one thing that most people don't "get" about country life. Solitude is great, but you need your neighbors' help occasionally, and it's important that you at least have a base of communication with them.

My wife and I have this vacation problem too, but the solution is pretty easy for us. We have a network of friends and neighbors, all of whom own horses and other livestock, so we help each other out. We work on the barter system.

One of my neighbors, who owns a horse boarding facility, has over 20 horses there. And she takes a lot of damn vacations. In fact, she's leaving next week to go to Europe for another three weeks. So my wife and I (primarily my wife, since she stays local all day) take care of the place while she's gone. We feed the horses, muck stalls, turn them out, put them up, feed them again, etc. We also take care of her dogs and cats while she's gone.

Another friend has 6 horses, cats, chickens, and even a freaking pet deer that need to be taken care of. And since she and her husband are retired (and semi-wealthy), they take a lot of vacations too. So we also take care of their animals when they're gone.

In both cases, we barter with our friends for goods or services, in exchange for looking after their livestock and pets while they're gone. It works out well, because when we need to leave town they are willing to help us out too. Our horses are easy to take care of.

The point of all of this is that it takes a network of friends and/or neighbors. If you try to go it alone, maintaining a "fuck you, leave me the hell alone" attitude with all of those around you, then you are making life much harder than it needs to be. With the exception of one neighbor, I have found that all the folks within a half mile of my property are good people, and would do almost any favor I asked of them. And I (we) have done many favors for them as well.

If you are only going out of town for a few days, certain livestock can be left to their own devices. For horses and cattle, as long as they have a continuous water supply, you can simply throw enough hay to last them several days, and they'll be fine. Assuming the weather is OK, that is. Even goats can manage just fine for a while on their own, if they can forage.

One thing, though, when it comes to choosing someone to look after your livestock. Don't have just anyone do it. The person needs to know horses or cattle or whatever you have. Don't let the neighbor's kid, for example, be responsible for caring for your livestock if they don't know anything about the animals. You need someone who can identify signs of colic, for example, when they feed your horses. They need to have basic medical skills like being able to dress a wound, take a horse's temperature, etc. And they need to be trustworthy - it should be someone who will pay the necessary amount of attention to the animals. Not someone who will just throw feed into a pan and walk away while listening to their mp3 player or yakking on a cell phone.

I think I should amend my FYLMTHA statement to more of a "fuck you, don't be meddling in my affairs" statement. I keep having to eat those words. Regardless, I hope to establish a more country feel to our life in the near future, but I have a hard time of it as NOONE is ever out and about. It's a little daunting to have to walk up and knock in order to get to know your neighbors.



Yeah, for long weekend trips, we aren't that worried. We are mainly concerned about trips that take us out for a week to two weeks. They don't happen often (once a year, maybe) but they do happen. Mainly to visit family.



I agree. But at the same time, I'd love to give some neighbor kids both a small sum of cash in exchange for labor as well as an education on farm animals. We'll probably try it out for the rabbits/chickens/cats/dogs first and see how it goes. Cows and horses may never happen here, but goats most probably will roam Aeroanthony Hills. Until then, I don't think we'll have a problem having neighbor kids take care of the animals.

AA

Yeah, it can be. But there are other ways to approach it. Throw a party and send invitations to all your neighbors in the mail. That's one way to open the door to see who is friendly. Or bake 'em a pie and just take it over there to introduce yourself. If you see someone out doing yard work or something, stop by and ask if they would like some help. Once you get to know one neighbor, they will likely start introducing you to the others in short order. Unless everyone around you is a hermit.

That's one of the problems. It's not that they are hermits. I have met all but three of them. Two of them hate each other (One's a bigot and the other is asian). One just moved in and is building a new home. I met him a couple of times and like him well enough. I just need to wait until he gets settled. One that I have not met has been staring at my son when he waits for the bus, so I won't be beating the fuck outta...I mean...meeting him any time soon. The other two are hermits and rarely are caught out of doors.

Also, my wife is an introvert, big time. So parties are kinda out.

AA

Up here, you never ever walk up to the door!!

You hike up to the homestead and halloo from as far away as possible. When someone shows, then you can walk up ( ifn they ain't pointing a gun at you. )


+1.
This is one of our favorite methods. Only had so-so success with it though.
If you use one of your best pyrex glass pie plates it can be a useful test of their character to see if they return it or not. Good way to see what kind of folk they are.

Best method for producing good friends that I've found is stopping when I find 'em stuck in the snow late at night, or when their car has broken down.
When you break down up here, you either walk out or build a log cabin and homestead on the spot...

In the past we've snow shoed back to cabins where we know newbies are snowed in for the winter, just to bring them a gift of food and see if they have carved each other up with steak knives yet.

OK, so maybe this isn't very helpful advice for most people ...



I think I'm one of the biggest introverts going. It's a wonder I even post on the internet.
I like it under my moss covered rock.
I don't look for outside help of any kind, ever. The whole bloody world can step off for all I care.

Yet, we have a neighbors up here that live farther up the mountain. They are true hermits indeed, and make me look downright chummy by comparison. They just about never socialize.
They waited a year after we'd moved up into the woods in a tiny travel trailer before the husband bothered to say "hello" to us as he hiked by our place.
They will accept no gifts of any kind. We know, we've tried.

After the first winter, they figured we'd be staying and we must have proved ourselves, so both the husband and wife hiked up one day to introduce themselves.
They will almost never come into our home or eat any of our food. They've even spent a day helping us stucco the exterior of our house, but brought their own canteens to drink from, their own food to eat, and they walked off into the forest to lunch by themselves...

These folk are so bloody self sufficient and withdrawn from the "everyday" world it ain't funny!

But, given time, you can get to know even people like these. You just have to accept them on their own terms. Recently the man surprised me by stopping as he was snow shoeing by and helping me wrestle with my snow plow. He wouldn't come inside to warm up or dry off afterwards, but he did help me out when I needed it. Some folk are just that way.

Our modern society is so isolated and compartmentalized. It is very difficult to get to know people.
The moment you try, the other feller is automatically thinking "I wonder what he wants from me? "

I think my best bet at a good neighbor are the Asian folks behind us and the Hispanic guy that's building a house next to them.

Maybe we can get somekind of interracial co-op going...

AA

I guess we are the anti-social misfits. I have plans for and have already started to put together automatic feeders. We will be raising rabbits. But if we need to get someone to look after the place my sister will. Shes a country mouse in the city. I even have the dog set up on auto feeder. Academy Sports has deer feeders I have adapted for such a issue. Takes some slight modifications. They are good for a week only though. When I get time to dig them out of the mass of stuff I have invented I will share some pics. But that will be quite some time. I have an over active ability to adapt or thats what people say. Anyway look at a deer feeder and you can figure it out easy enough. Time a couple of them and you can double your time away from home.

Slight modifications, lol. I hope you're not broadcasting dogfood in a 12' radius!

Not at all. I have it down to a measured amount and works very nicely