Wednesday, April 23, 2014

The Animal Question



When you get married, the first question everyone starts to ask you is, "when are you going to start a family?"  When you buy country property, the question everyone starts asking you is, "when are you going to buy some farm animals?"

We successfully dodged this question for quite awhile by stating we wanted to put in our orchard, vines and berries first, which people pretty much accepted because it was sound logic. The things that will take the most time to accomplish, like raising a tree until it's large enough to produce, should be the first priorities when growing a homestead. Besides, we already had chickens, and as everyone knows, they are the gateway drug to farm animals, so getting more animals was pretty much a done deal.  

But now that the permanent crops are in and growing, we've begun to ask ourselves the question again....when, and if, we should be getting some animals.

I think at this point, it's safe to announce we've decided the answer is "yes" to the when question, and "soon" to the other.  It's spring, so there's lots of goats, sheep, donkeys, llamas, and alpacas available. And our lower pasture area has never been more in need of some critters to munch down the spring grasses, before they dry out and become a fire hazard.

But its an exciting prospect, the idea of being able to head down to the pasture and see some animals grazing.

Rest assured, updates will be published as they happen.

2 comments:

  1. Do you think EPT makes a test for this? Yay! I'm so excited to read about what you choose and why. Are the front runners sheep and goats? You'll never have to mow again! I was recently looking at electric mowers and was shocked at how expensive and weak they are. $2500-3000 and it can only now for 75 minutes before needing to charge for 16 hours! I'd rather put that into a goat or sheep house.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I feel the same way as you. Goats and sheep are much quieter than all the mechanical mowers, too! Right now we are looking into Dorper Sheep, which do not need shearing. Might be a good fit for us, since we just want manure and brush control. It's exciting!

      Delete