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Let's learn about forage

submitted by spamlife to Homesteading 3.5 yearsOct 20, 2021 17:43:22 ago (+9/-0)     (Homesteading)

My home internet is so slow that I can't login but today I have returned to civilization so I let's make a post.

Today, I want to share an introductory lesson on forage. What is forage? It's the plant material that your animals consume. We have to have this conversation because many people start homesteading with no idea of how to feed their animals other than to go to the store and buy feed. You will be very broke very fast and make having a homestead redundant if you heavily rely on external inputs.

Development of your forage strategy should begin before you get your animals. You need to have a good idea of the nutritional needs of your critters and what your land can grow.

Let's take chickens as an example. Maybe you want to have a decent size flock and you find that corn just doesn't produce that well for you and your are stuck in a cycle of buying cracked corn at the co-op. Did you know that chickens are more than happy to graze pasture? If you can grow some Timothy grass or alfalpa or any weeds that chickens think are tasty that is 70-80% of their dietary needs. Suddenly the sub par amounts of corn you can grow makes do. It is also very easy to take offal or any carcass and get some nice maggots going to fulfill the protein needs of your birds. Chickens are a forest bird and are happy to go scratch around in the leaf litter if they have access to woodlands.

Doing some tree trimming? Many trees have tasty leaves and fruits you might not want to eat but you animals will happily devour.

But what about winter? Chickens are happy to eat sillage (fermented grass). You can make sillage throughout the growing season and pull it out as needed. A lot of animals love sillage.

I'm gonna go now. Just wanted to get the noggins jogging. Maybe next time I'll post about making pasture.

I'll leave this my favorite resource for finding new things to feed farm animals.

https://www.feedipedia.org/


6 comments block

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[ - ] 1Icemonkey 0 points 3.5 yearsOct 25, 2021 01:37:02 ago (+0/-0)

Regarding chickens, you are correct. For those who don’t know though, the old adage of “chickens will eat anything” is true. However, this does not mean they should. Chickens should NOT be fed table scraps of fatty foods. The only thing they should have from our kitchens are veggie and some fruit scraps. No citrus, and no avocado. If given old bread, it should be good wholesome bread, that you wither baked yourself, or is of high quality, with no shit tier ingredients. Remember, they have little tiny hearts, livers and kidneys. They can’t eat the garbage we can. I have chickens over eight years old by giving them good stuff.

[ - ] Zyklonbeekeeper 4 points 3.5 yearsOct 20, 2021 19:00:32 ago (+4/-0)

Grew up with chickens, rabbits and livestock including horses. The only feed we purchased for the chickens was mashed corn and oyster shell other than that they were free range and loved worms. The rabbits got pellets 4 times a week but they too roamed, in the winter we fed them grocery store trimmings and veg scraps from the root cellars...and we shot every nuisance animal that threatened them including stray cats and dogs, raccoons were the worst, coyotes, martin and weasels were next...no problems with bear but wolves were bad during the calving, my father saw a pack of wolves pulling a calf right out of the cow and before he get the 30-06 up to eye plane there was a mess but he got 3 before they could bring down the cow...nature is ruthless and that is how I grew up and tonight I'm going to try and get the last 3 coons that come in after dark, I got 2 the other day. Last year I shot a coon and I it was so fucking big I thought at first it was a bear cub, it didn't even flinch with the first 2 shots in the chest with a .22.

[ - ] ZorbaTheGreek 2 points 3.5 yearsOct 20, 2021 21:03:13 ago (+2/-0)

I feed my chicken anything. ANYTHING. They will eat anything offered, and they're plump as hell. Leftovers from a family of 4 will feed 20 chickens every day.

The worst part is: they eat other chickens too. In fact, they love leftover chicken bones more than grass.

[ - ] beece 1 point 3.5 yearsOct 20, 2021 23:15:21 ago (+1/-0)

Haha, was just going to say the same thing. They'll kill and eat the mice and rats at times as well. I always get a kek out of egg cartons marked "vegatian feed only". LOL Chickens are not vegans, they'll eat grubs, worms, flys and all kinds of meat and will scratch most plants as well.

[ - ] 1Icemonkey 0 points 3.5 yearsOct 25, 2021 01:38:36 ago (+0/-0)

Fatty foods are bad for them.

[ - ] ZorbaTheGreek 0 points 3.5 yearsOct 30, 2021 23:10:03 ago (+0/-0)

Oh well, it's not like the point of raising them is so that they have a full, long life until old age. They make eggs and when their egg production slows naturally, they make soup. The bones in the soup feed new chickens and the circle of life goes on.