Butchering day.

[JDGreen]

Freewheat. There is zero money in raising a few birds. I get what your trying to teach your boy but be careful it isn't so far left you leave him behind. I admire your spirit often how ever there's a fine line between righting and wronging them. It's 2015 and sometimes you still think it's 1960. However I built my wife the nicest little chicken barn this spring and throughout this year have been maintaining 17 chickens for laying. The lesson hear isn't money as they are peanuts in The broad scale of things. I LOVE THEM...... I have never had so much enjoyment out of anything on my farm as I do these few hens. Just started laying by the way and I am really excited by it all. Have some ultra friendly STAR variety red hens that both annoy me on my deck and still make me laugh daily.. This has been the best thing in a long long time in my backyard and yet I have ZERO interest in eating them. Personally I spend a few bucks with the loval hutts and buy my broilers

[fjlip]

Yup, it's 1960 when I think about what it was like when the parents butchered yearlings/pigs/chickens. I never got comfortable with butchering and so my sons never saw that either, it's lost now. However the wife experienced it all on a mixed farm also, more than I. So we had 20-30 hens for 20 years, just for the eggs cause the bantams were like pets. Some were tame as could be. Very colorful roosters, that's what the sons grew up with. Good for you free, that is a disappearing art on most farms!

[cottonpicken]

Had chickens pigs and cows. Pigs where my favorite.

Probably more of a reflection of cheap food prices why people dont do it anymore and time is expensive now.

[freewheat]

JD Green. To each their own I guess. I have not had the greatest of fortune farming, so I have different ideals than average maybe?

I do worry about holding my kids back, but have never considered the animals we raise together to be one of the things classed as such.

I am well aware it is 2015. It is precisely part of the reason I do what I do. I like not being normal, average, boring. lol

[farmaholic]

Pigs.....scalding and scraping. Over scald and you had a pastey mess under scalded and you were basically shaving a pig. Don't miss that either. I didnt mind butchering beef but if we did several a year killing them and slitting their throats got old real fast. Got to the point I did my job and would leave for ten or so minutes.

Kind of funny talking about this on a public forum. Where's the protesters? I'm glad I had the opportunity to both learn and do it.

[farmaholic]

There are some things money just can't buy. In the event of a world catastrophe I would move up beside freewheat. First thing is we would likely freeze to death here, Very little bush on my land would have to steal some from the neighbors I guess.

[freewheat]

Yes, Cotton, time is expensive indeed. And most people would rather head out for a holiday than feed a few table critters.

I dunno about the cheap food comment. I know I can raise a pile of meat and eggs, have a far superior product, and raise it very cheaply, with little time input. Chicken feeding takes ten seconds a day for the laying hens. For the meat birds, 2 minutes. Many people have the perception that it is a labor intensive and time consuming past time to raise a few table stock. It can be, but if you set it up right, it is pretty easy.

We are already tied down raising lamb, so we may as well have more animals.

I guess I was raised in the 80's by parents who made it seem like the 40's. I was the only kid in my class who milked cows, shipped cream and fed pigs, etc.

The older I get, the more I enjoy the little things around here. Our farm is a very popular visiting spot for people who wish to see a diverse operation. I should start charging! lol

Enjoying the memories on here...

[freewheat]

lol. Farmaholic, do you know how many people have said they are coming to be with me if something bad goes down?

Yeah, I do my share of wood cutting and burning too. How did you know? lol

[Tucker]

LOL Freewheat I have some friends who say the same thing. 'If the shit hits the fan I'm coming to your place' 'really Bitch? What exactly are you going to be bringing to the table here?'

[farmaholic]

Tucker, their appetite, what did you think?