Preppers - Goats/Cows/Sheep - what animal will best help you survive?

Discussion in 'Survival and Sustainability' started by The Rhetoric of Life, Nov 23, 2018.

  1. The Rhetoric of Life

    The Rhetoric of Life Banned

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    Cow milk's is harder to digest than goat milk.
    Goat milk's doesn't have iron in it though...
    Goat milk's has vitamins though.
    Both cow's milk and goat's milk have about the same protein...

    I was just thinking...

    I've seen goat curry in Caribbean places (restaurants/takeouts) in my South London community, but have yet to order it/try it... I don't know what goat meat tastes like.
    I just assume it tastes like lamb/mutton, but, IDK...
    Does goat taste like beef?

    ...

    All three, have meat.

    Sheep have wool...
    Cows have leathers.
    Sheepskin too actually...
    Maybe even goatskin too maybe, IDK.
    - These things keep you warm/protected against the elements and can be fashioned into bags and packs and satchels...


    These things all eat grass right?
     
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2018
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  2. jmblt2000

    jmblt2000 Well-Known Member

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    You do realize that unprocessed milk (buttermilk) does not taste the same as what you get from the store. You also realize that an animal has to remain pregnant to produce milk.

    Chickens are easier to maintain and eggs are far more beneficial than milk.
     
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  3. Guess Who

    Guess Who Well-Known Member

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    We keep eggs our hens are healthy an happy they free range all day and locked in large pens at night. Only have 6 but really just need 3.
     
  4. 557

    557 Well-Known Member

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    Goats are much more efficient than cows. I think goat milk is preferable to cow milk in every way except cream will not rise on goat milk. To get cream to make butter, etc you must have a seperator for goat milk.

    Sheep are stupid.

    Goats are too smart for their own good. Goats will make you wish you were dead if you don’t have exceptional fence. But they can be trained to pack, pull carts, etc if you are patient. If you are looking for efficiency and for survival purposes goats are the answer.

    All three are ruminants. Goats are browsers not grazers like a cow. This means they will eat just about any plant material including tree bark. They will kill young trees and mature fruit trees.
     
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  5. Mushroom

    Mushroom Well-Known Member

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    Rabbits.

    Are small and easy to transport, reproduce quickly, require little outside food, and can easily be penned in. Just set up an outdoor enclosure, put netting across the top to keep out raptors, and you can have an almost endless supply of meat. And the size is great for a single day, so less worry about preservation when it comes time to harvest them.
     
  6. 557

    557 Well-Known Member

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    Good advice. They are hell to milk though...
     
  7. JakeStarkey

    JakeStarkey Well-Known Member

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    depends on the terrain the type of domestic animals you want
     
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  8. Right is the way

    Right is the way Well-Known Member

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    I agree 100% and would add goats have more will to live than sheep. A goat will stand with its head in a fence for days a sheep will give up and suffocate themselves in an hour. Goats just seem to be bulletproof.
     
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  9. 557

    557 Well-Known Member

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    Yep. You have to be speaking from experience! :)
     
  10. Mushroom

    Mushroom Well-Known Member

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    Milk is needed primarily for calcium. We have evolved to require a lot of calcium, and milk is used because it is an easy way to get it.

    But there are other ways. More meat is one. Also you can grind bones and make bone meal. This was once a common way to provide calcium until rather modern times. Simply grind up the bones of any animals you eat and add that to the food, and you get a great secondary source of calcium.

    Hunter-gatherer cultures were known for using almost every part of the animals they killed. Bones were used for their marrow, and the bones were commonly ground up for other bone meal (eating as well as fertilizer).

    If you are in "survival mode", you can not afford to throw any part of an animal away (or even plants). Most innards can be added to soups and stews. Even if you do not eat liver or kidney, the addition to a soup or stew adds more nutrients and vitamins. The same with bones. Dry them out, grind them up, add them to your soup or stew. More calcium in your diet without the need of milk.

    People often look at me funny because I eat the skin of a potato. But the skin is high in iron, potassium, and calcium. Just the skin has more of these nutrients than all of the flesh does. Plus I simply like it. So while most leave the skin alone, I eat it every time.

    Native Americans lived here for tens of thousands of years, with no real domesticated livestock at all. No cows, no goats, no sheep, just dogs. And they did not use milk as part of their diet until Europeans arrived with their cattle. They never even developed fermented horse milk after horses were introduced. If they could survive without milk, anybody can. You just have to find another source of calcium.

    Another source is eggs. Chickens, turkeys, ducks, almost any bird. Bring or capture them, if they are flying birds clip the wings, keep them penned. Eggs are high in calcium, and you can grind the shells just as you would bones and add them to food. If you are near the coast, any mollusk shells can be ground up also as a food additive.
     
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  11. Mushroom

    Mushroom Well-Known Member

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    Simply watch the Basque.

    Every time I saw "free range" sheep herds in Idaho, there were always a few goats with them. The Basque did this because goats were smarter, and had more of a survival instinct than sheep did. And in much of South-Western Idaho, it was hard to not see the occasional random herd of sheep with nothing minding them but a few goats.

    Heck, in a true apocalyptic situation, around the Owyhee's you could probably cut off a handful of sheep from one of those herds with no problem. When I was out in the boonies in the 1980's they seemed to be everywhere. Just do not be greedy. The shepherds might not notice a ram and a few ewes missing, but if you take more than that they would probably come after you with a shotgun.
     
  12. modernpaladin

    modernpaladin Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Chickens. They turn virtually anything into eggs. Eggs can make up 100% of your diet for longer than any other food item, and chickens are one of the lowest 'maintenace' livestock. Their manure is useful both medicinally (as an antibiotic when boiled) and as a source of nitrates for gunpowder or explosives.
     
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2019
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  13. 557

    557 Well-Known Member

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    I don’t know if they still do this but high volume sheep sale barns used to have goats trained to lead pens of sheep in and out of the ring.

    Interesting about the Idaho flocks. I’ve not seen that. Goats and sheep often complement each other well though. We have sold a lot of dairy does to sheep dairies. They graft the lambs on the goats and milk the ewes for cheese production.
     
  14. 557

    557 Well-Known Member

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    Good advice. Eggs can be stored long term as well. There are a few methods the old timers used that can keep eggs unrefrigerated for months.
     
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  15. 557

    557 Well-Known Member

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    I say this partly tongue in cheek and partly serious. If I had to live without dairy, especially cream, I would just as soon be dead! :)

    I make yogurt and cheese and eat cream with everything from soup to chocolate cake. Mmm I’m making myself hungry...

    Oh, concur on the potatoe skins. As kids we ate everything, couldn’t afford not to. The habit has stuck with me. They taste good. Especially a crunchy baked potato skin.
     
  16. Richard The Last

    Richard The Last Well-Known Member

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    I think you have been misinformed. Unprocessed milk is not buttermilk. Animals do not have to "remain" pregnant to produce milk they have to be bread annually to maintain milk production.

    Rich
     
  17. Richard The Last

    Richard The Last Well-Known Member

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    I was going to reply to the OP with something but this post by 557 pretty much sums it up. Goats!
     
  18. Guess Who

    Guess Who Well-Known Member

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    True and the climate. IMO livestock of any kind will be more work than they are worth. A few dual purpose hens and a rooster will be best bet far as feed. Plus they lay eggs.
     

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