COMPARING THE FIVE BEST BACKYARD ANIMALS
(Page 3 of 8)
SHEEP
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Calm, quiet, almost odor-free, and easy to keep penned, sheep are a good addition to nearly any meat-producing homestead, especially rural households: pith an acre or so of unused pasture. Sheep are ex cellent grazers: They can be raised entirely on good grassland (in season) without supplemental grain. When pastured exclusively, they're probably the most economical critter to raise on your back yard farm. You can harvest about 100 pounds of meat and 8 pounds of wool from each adult ewe . . . and an acre of lush pasture will support four or five of the animals and their lambs. (Some Euro pean breeds, by the way, are raised for milk in addition to meat and wool.)
The woolly creatures don't require much regular caretaking, either. They do need to be shorn every year, however, and this can be a problem for the backyard homesteader. Shearing must be done correctly if it's to produce a quality fleece for spinning, and few smallflock owners have the time to learn the skill . . . or the money to buy the expensive equipment. Since it may be difficult to find a professional shearer who's willing to work on just a few animals, you should contact—in winter, well before the shearing season begins—someone who shears larger flocks in your area and arrange to have your sheep included in that person's rounds.
Labor requirements for your backyard flock can also be high at lambing time. Ewes will need to be watched (and assisted, if necessary) to be certain they care for their lambs properly, and you'll have to guard the timid creatures constantly against predators.
Overall, though sheep require less daily maintenance than do either rabbits or chickens, raising them demands more livestock husbandry skills than managing those smaller species. The pasture, for instance, must be managed to prevent overgrazing, and your flock will require a good veterinary care program.
GOATS
Perhaps the most intelligent—and certainly the most companionable—of backyard livestock animals, goats are highly efficient milk producers and good friends to have around the homestead.
A good doe will yield a gallon of milk each day from a feeding of three to four pounds of grain and a few pounds of hay (the latter helps keep her rumen—part of the animal's digestive system—healthy). Goat's milk tastes similar to cow's milk, yet many folks who can't drink Bossy's best can tolerate the smaller creature's givings. Then, too, although the popular breeds in this country are not usually raised for meat production, caprine meat (called chevon) is delicious . . . and tanned hides from the animals can be used for rugs, vests, jackets, and other garments.
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