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The reason we chose to only raise livestock we could eat

Raising livestock
Picture of Kody Hanner
Kody Hanner
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The Topic of Homestead Livestock

How animals are raised and what kind of animals are handled or bred is a controversial topic across many platforms. When it comes to homestead animals this conversation can be even more diverse. This is because when looking at a commercial operation, it would be improbable to raise hundreds of animals for a market where they are sold as pets. Where in a homestead setting, even pigs that are primarily a meat production animal can be raised for the pet market especially when looking at small heritage breeds (I know these can be meat animals as well). Also in a homestead setting, multiple species are raised together which can be a very sustainable practice.

When we shifted our focus

Homesteads can be very profitable, but sometimes are strictly a hobby which a notoriously an expense. We needed our operation to be profitable to maintain the size we want to be for providing the products we want to our community. So, when feed costs went through the roof in 2021 and massive heat wave in the Pacific Northwest wiped out every hay field in a 200-mile radius, we had to make some serious decisions.

Our Livestock Options

We didn’t mind paying the price to have a truck load of hay brought in like many of our neighbors were having to do. But we sat down and discussed who we really wanted to be feeding this to and how it was going to benefit us and our farm. At this point the majority of our hay was going to our horses. Horses that we loved having, but like many other, just didn’t have the time for. We decided to sell our horses in the fall of 2021 before we needed to start feeding hay for the winter and invested the money in a pair of pure-bred angus heifers to start a small beef herd.

boy on horse at sunset

So, you may ask why we didn’t just use the money from the horses to buy hay? Great question!

We chose to rather than spend that money on a consumable product, we would invest in the future of our farm. That same hay will be eaten or worthless in a year’s time but, the heifers will be of breeding age in that same years’ time to provide us with future beef for ourselves and customers.

Let’s face it, we are living in unstable and unprecedented times. Anything that we put our time and money into needs to provide something for us. All of our animals needed to produce an edible product. At the end of the day, just with the animals I have on my homestead right now, I could put a meal of the table for my family.

Truckload of hay

How we make all our decisions

We treat our farm like the business that it is. As an example, I love to garden. It’s a beautiful and rewarding hobby. Also, one that costs a large amount of money yearly. When we decided to expand to the point that we did, I sold 750 plant starts that first year which pretty much paid for my whole garden. So, when we began to harvest in the fall, I wasn’t out a single penny and we had food in the pantry until fall. I need our animals to be able to do this too. I will invest extra funds into incubators, semen and an AI technician, or supplies for healthy delivers over an animal that does not provide a product or a service (ie. Herding dogs). Reading “Livestock Breeding” to help make your breading plans.

Its paying off to only have livestock that can be eaten

Because of good practices, our farm provides for us at this point is…

Milk, eggs, chickens, pork, beef, venison/elk, vegetables, herbs, fruits, berries, wild forages, hay, and grains for milling or feeding to our stock.

In the future, we hope to expand into bees for our sugars and possibly some mushrooms.

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