Killing them is the hard part. They die very quickly with a pellet to the brain. I have it down to 2 minutes on the cleaning, and 7 Minutes on the de-boning, mostly I just pressure cook them and the meat falls right off the bone. Rabbit Fajitas, stir fried, deep fried, cassarole......
Dad was a veterinarian. I was raised on a farm. Still kinda tuff. That disconnect has alluded me all my life. Gets worse as you get older. Especially when you have to put pets down. Damn.
My 13 year old daughter gets out there and skins them from time to time, you'll get it! I don't like it, but then again I don't like going to work either, if I want to eat I have to do it though! Same thing I guess. The bigger animals are definitely harder to dispatch, I put feed in the trough and wait for a minute them a 22 to the head and the fall right over. But unless you've ever skinned a deer its hard to explain, but, a deer only weighs 120-150 lbs. 250 is a bigger deal!
Did the same for my 1st home back in '83, except I was part of the young couple buying the house and the money was going into a retirement fund for the sellers. Sold my 1st corvette for the cash down payment. My house payment was $331.34 and we didn't know if we could afford it at the time, bought that house for $33,000.00. 1,500 sq ft with a one car garage on a 1/2 acre.
My father cured me of getting attached to farm animals at a very young age. We had a steer that was to end up in the freezer. I was warned not to get attached, but did anyways. Named him, played with him, the whole bit. Come fall I tried to hide him, lol. My father made me shoot him. I'll never forget that. I was crying so hard I could barely hold the rifle. I've never had a problem killing anything again. I don't enjoy it, but I do what has to be done.
LOL! I swear to god I heard somewhere sheep milk was ok to drink! Although I suppose I could drink any things milk if I really wanted to. Maybe I'll open a cat dairy farm.
hmmm....ya ok...might as well... I thought you had 3 daughters? Keep 1 prego at all times and you'll never run out of milk. /me runs
You have a really great spot there Dont. Not sure exactly where your at, but I have 40 acres and a cabin, not too far away 7 miles SW of Clark Fork one mile from the Montana border. That place is at 3000 ft. and we get a lot of winter there too. I actually live near Garwood (between Hayden and Athol on one acre but spend 2 to 3 days a week at the cabin. I love it up there and its where I want to be, but my wife has about 4 more years before retirement.
There are quite a few properties that offer owner financing. Not much with housing on it though, no way they are all going to be locked up until they are 45! Lol!
Bought this place 15 years ago and moved the wife and three teens in.. Teens are all adults now and building their own lives.. Wife didn't like living "WAY OUT THERE", so we bought a place in the city.. I go visit and the rest of the time I am left alone.. And there is the other lesson of Prepping.. Have a spouse that shares that same thinking, or it can result in no prepp's being made or slow it down significantly. @BlueDuck , you know what I am reffering to about the people in this area and prepping then.. An underground olympic sized swimming pool??? Not fooling anyone...
Cats, bats, and daughters milk? I think I need to make a call to my shrink, I'm going to take a pill and go to bed.
I had ten feeder pigs in a small pen, I noticed a small hole in a board and told my wife we had to fix it when we got home that day! Fast forward to the end of the day, wire fence in hand and those stupid pigs got out and started running all over the Property! " Quick get my 22, the last thing we need out here is a herd of feral Pigs running around." She took about a minute and showed up with the gun "Bam" nailed one, (squealing like a shot pig) 22's not doin it, " Quick get the shotgun!" another minute. All the siblings rally around the wounded piglet" Shhhhhhck BLAMMM. BLLLAM, BLAAAM...... Reload. BLAAAM< BLLLAAMMM,,,, Piglets massacre all ten laying dead or dying. "Oh crap, now I have to clean them all." and that's the way it Happened!! I'd rather have the dead chickens!!
That was just about as intense as a story about escaped piglets can get. Also, is a pond a good natural source of water? Or should I look for land with something like a stream on it? My dairy sheeps are going to need somewhere to splash and frolick, after all.
If you have the option of a year round stream, you can have both. The stream can feed the pond, and keep the water flowing. It can also be turned into power (depending upon flow volume). With a pipe and valve between stream and pond, you can also cut the connection, should the stream dry up, without losing your pond as well. (Two pipes, two valves)
