Meat

As I've strained in previous posts, We are attempting to be self sufficient. Here is my topic on meat.

We, as an Ohana, are carnivorous. Sure, we eat all that comes out of the garden, next to a nice piece of seared, juicy meat. Chickens were our first into meat. Our first flock we intended on being just layers (only for laying eggs).  15 white rocks. 8 months into that flock, they started to get sickly. We culled 6 to try and stop the progress. That time of the year the garden had just put out the last of the harvest, so Erick put 3 into the garden to weed out and destroy the bugs and larvae. With the last 6 we butchered for practice and meat for the winter. Soon after, we ordered the only chickens available at that time, Cornish X rocks. little did we know what a mistake we made. They arrived, healthy and happy. Within two months they were full grown, and we were faced with a problem, some of them stopped walking. Scrambling to find answers, we talked to several people about it. Tried Vitamin B- known to give extra energy, nothing. tried several medicinal ideas, again- nothing. Thats when we found our answer; they were meant as broilers from day one. You see, a broiler is not made to lay or even live past 3 months, they are strict meat bird. With the medicine I gave them, we had to wait two weeks before butchering that flock. In December, you have two choices on getting new birds. You can pay a lot of money to order some under strict regimens (required quantities, required breeds of bird) or wait till spring. The cost of simply heating their coop and ordering that time of year made us wait till now, March. We have a new flock, three actually. Our mistake taught us a very good lesson- know your breed. We purposely bought 10 more of the broilers, after we made them their own area, strictly for their meat. We also got 25 assorted layers this time around. and 12 ducks whose main purpose is to destroy bugs throughout our yard. 

They offer more then food though. Eggs are eaten by everyone here. Egg shells are cleaned, crumbled and made into grit for the birds, egg whites make mayo, egg yolks are split between our feeder pigs and our dogs. When we have far too many eggs to eat- we make a souffle out of them and freeze it. they can be dehydrated as well for skinny times or added to recipes for extra calcium.

We had hemmed and hawed about raising pigs. They are called feeders because they only live to slaughter time, about 6 months. Our first year we simply didn't have enough time or manpower, but that next winter we decided that it would be a great time. our harvest and canning were done, chickens were frozen or already eaten, and we finally picked a decent spot for their pen. We had been getting pretty good at using pallets and fencing, which is what the majority of their pen consisted of. After speaking to a friend at work, we had three new piglets heading home in the smelliest car ride Chris and I had ever taken in our life. Note to self- use pickup truck next time. They will be ready for their trip to the slaughter next month, which will leave their pen up for grabs by peanuts, corn and potatoes.

The rabbits serve a purpose as well other then meat. Babies produced can be brought to trade shows for sale, the furs of those we keep and eat can be sold or made into items.Our dogs are here for protection and use. The oldest is best at digging up roots that are in our way. Another is great at grabbing sticks off the ground for kindling and mower protection. One of the girls is great at protection and guarding the home, and not one person could get past this barking security of a combined 350 lbs of teeth and snarl.

We had adopted a new saying this year for the farm. Only feed what will feed you or serves an intricate purpose for the home.