Surviving Off Off-Grid: Chapter 12 - Food, Part 2

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Chapter 12: Food, Part 2

What we call “meat” today (generally the muscle, tissue, and fat of animals) has been a food staple for humans for many thousands of years. Our word “meat”, which is derived from the Old English word mete (meaning food), has not always been restricted to identifying the edible flesh products of animals. Historically and even Biblically, the word “meat” was used to represent all types and kinds of food. Basically the progression of the meaning of the word (to most people) has gone like this:

1. First, it was general term meaning all food.

2. Next, it began to represent all food except that which is derived from plants or trees.

3. Next, in some cultures (such as the Jewish culture), it began to mean edible animal flesh except fish.

4. As individual terms for the flesh of birds and fish developed, in some cultures, trades, or segments of society, or in most situations, the term “meat” took on the meaning of “the edible flesh of mammals”.

So we will understand one another, in this chapter, unless I indicate differently, I am going to use the second definition of the term. I will be referring to all the edible flesh of all animals, even fish as “meat”. I will also be including eggs (such as chicken eggs) in this chapter on meat. In most cases, unless I am speaking very generally (as in the 2^nd definition), I will indicate what type of meat I am speaking of within the discussion.

As I have mentioned before, this chapter is not meant to be a “how to” on the different kinds of animals, nor is it a manual on raising, breeding, or processing animals for meat. Again, this is a book on philosophy and how to think and not what to do. When we started on our own path of off-grid living, there were notoriously few books on homesteading, and on the “how to” of living off the land. The late Carla Emery’s Encyclopedia of Country Living was our only book back then, and we used it almost every day (and I still recommend that everyone have a copy of it). Since then, there have been literally thousands of books published on homesteading, animal care, pasturing animals, food production, food preservation and processing, etc. Do take the time to procure good books, and study hard to learn the “how to” of managing your farm.

I do not plan on spending the time to provide an in-depth or exhaustive history of meat, although it would be a fun project for me to do. I am concerned that to do so might invite unnecessary controversy which might take away from the overall philosophy of the book. In most cases, the history of food can be related without inflaming emotions or creating opposing or warring parties or factions, but our understanding of the history of meat (and of eating meat) is often very much intertwined with some of our most cherished and firmly held beliefs. Of all the categories of food, our historical concept of meat is very uniquely tied to our personal understanding about God, the creation of the earth, and the age of the earth, and it is also indicative of any religious or cultural beliefs upon which we order our lives.

By way of warning and full disclosure I will first say that I do (very gladly) eat meat. I live in a community of meat eaters, and this chapter is about meat raised and used for food. If you have serious problems with man using animals for food, just go ahead and skip this chapter. I am also a Christian, and I am of the belief (contrary to many modern Christians and Jews), that man has eaten meat since (at least) the fall of Adam, and that animals were raised and killed for food even before we see the first mention of the practice in the 9^th Chapter of Genesis. I say this, not by way of argumentation, nor do I intend to prove such claims in this chapter (this is not a Biblical commentary), but so you will know what historical beliefs inform my worldview.

Meat: A Very Short History

Paleontological evidence shows that men have engaged in the practices of hunting, gathering, husbanding, and butchering animals for food as far back as such sciences can determine. The domestication and management of animals for meat was an evident practice in every ancient civilization, and most of the animals that are used for their meat today were first domesticated by these early civilizations. Sheep, Goats, Cattle, and Pigs have been raised and herded, and particularly and purposely selected for their meat qualities, for thousands of years. In most instances, there still exist today both domesticated and wild (or feral) versions of many of these same animals, except, perhaps, cattle – though the pure Texas Longhorn is probably a fairly close version of what were once wild taurine cattle from the Iberian Peninsula (modern day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and a small portion of France). Originally, this domestication and specific breeding for meat purposes was a very good thing, and produced very hardy, more passive animals that produced large quantities of high-quality meat. Over the last 200 years, though, industrialization of meat production, genetic engineering and manipulation, and abusive selection criteria have produced unviable and probably unhealthy meat animals that bear very little resemblance to their wild ancestors. Keep this in mind when I discuss the peculiar species because most homesteaders do not take into account that many of the animals they are choosing by default may be structurally weak, genetically altered or inferior, and unlikely to produce well or keep producing outside of the “factory” meat production system. For example, what we call the “commercial” or “industrial” meat cow today will very rarely live more than ten years (even less, sometimes, if an optimum, controlled environment and supplemental food and nutrition is not made available). Since these cows often do not reproduce until they are two or three years old, and since they take an inordinate amount of time to “breed back” (or get pregnant again after calving), it is probably that the average meat production cow today will only produce 4-6 offspring in her life. Compare this with the pure Texas Longhorn cow, which will usually have her first calf in her 2^nd year, and which will likely produce calves well into her 20’s. It is not out of the ordinary for a pure Texas Longhorn cow to produce well over 20 calves in her productive life. I say this to emphasize the fact that all animals are not equal, and all animals are not even really “natural” representatives of their species. You must also be careful when you are getting information from people who earn their living as industrial farmers or ranchers, or who have a vested interest in pushing or selling modern industrialized or commercial animals. There is an old saying that “there are lies, damned lies, and statistics”, and that is true. But the saying, “let the buyer beware” is even more applicable. People engaged in industrial agriculture have had millions of dollars and many decades to create animals (using selective breeding, hybridization, genetic engineering, etc.) that seem to do well under the commercial conditions the agri-businessman requires. They have also had millions of dollars and many decades to learn how to “fudge” the numbers and manipulate the statistics. I told a man one time, “If you think used car salesmen are a bit shady, go talk to a modern beef producer.” There are accepted maxims in modern agri-business that are completely not true in a more natural setting, which is to say that what they are pushing will not work on an off-grid, sustainable farm.

The history of animal husbandry and meat production is a very interesting topic, and I encourage you to do your research and carefully select all of the animals you choose to bring to your off-grid homestead.

Meat Production

The production of meat on the off-grid homestead is a fascinating, fun, and sometimes difficult prospect for the small farmer. When most urbanites think of the traditional family farm, they think of cows grazing lazily in green meadows, chickens scratching for bugs around the farmhouse, maybe a few geese or ducks in the pond, and pigs wallowing in the mud to stay cool. Most people, however, do not really think about what is actually happening on the small homestead. The animals you see (or dream about) on your farm are pieces in the meat-production puzzle. They are, each one of them, being managed – from birth to butchering – for the purpose of providing meat, fat, and edible protein for the family to eat; unless they are intended for sale, trade, or barter. On the small farm, even the milk cows are being managed during their lives for eventual culling and use as meat. Farmstead animals are not “pets”, as most city dwellers see them. While the pig in the book Charlotte’s Web was eventually saved from the butcher block, we need to remember that 1) that was a fiction story for children, and 2) the rest of the animals (except maybe the rat and the horse) eventually went under the knife. On our farm, we must constantly remind ourselves that our animals are to be benevolently and kindly managed for their ultimate purpose, which is to be utilized for food and useful materials for our family. We advocate neither of the common extremes:

1. We do not humanize our animals by growing overly or idolatrously fond or affectionate of them. We care for our animals, but we do not treat them like people (actually, many very sick people treat animals far better than they treat humans). We know what these animals are for, and we always keep their purpose in mind, because too many people slide into an unhealthy or unproductive relationship with their animals (they think of them as “pets” or as family members) and then they have difficulty with (or outright refuse) the necessary slaughter of the animal when the time comes.

2. We do not become abusive or callous towards our animals. We do not give them the names of food or meat products (like calling a pig “Bacon”, or a cow “Hamburger”), just because we think it is funny, or because it makes it easier for us to remember what the animal is for. It is fine of others want to do this with their animals, but we do not do it here. We try to maintain a healthy respect and love for our animals, which results in a proper mindset and proper order.

We believe that these animals are given to us for our service and for our use, and we believe we are called to exercise benevolent dominion and to engage in the right management of them. We do not use the word “humane” when discussing the proper treatment of animals, because the word “humane” means “like human” and we believe it is wrong to treat animals as if they are humans. Sin is the abuse or maltreatment of any of God’s creation, or the abnormal or un-Biblical use of an animal or created thing for purposes other than its natural or commanded use. We constantly keep in mind that abusing an animal is sinful, just as humanizing an animal is equally sinful.

Raising Meat on your Homestead

One of the greatest things about homestead meat production is that the animals generally act “naturally” and, if properly managed and cared for, will fully fill their purpose. Having animals on your farm is also the best insurance policy against hunger or starvation. The safest and best way to store meat for your family is on the hoof. Healthy, well cared for animals grazing, rooting, or scratching on your property, are absolutely perfect examples of emergency and survival food storage. This book is about survival, and you can do a lot towards increasing your survivability by having a well planned and executed meat production system.

Begin by thinking about what type of land/pasture, etc. you have (or will have) available and ask yourself specific questions about how you will provide protein for yourself and your family. Selecting the right species and choosing the right animals for your homestead is not as easy as it might seem at first. You cannot just say, “Well, this is a farm, and all farms have cows, chickens, pigs, etc., so I must have cows, chickens, pigs, etc.). We don’t do things one way just because they have always been done that way. Every kind or species of animal is not good for every situation. You must first look at the availability of pasture, crop land, water, shade, woods, etc. and then work from there in deciding how many animals (and of what kind) your homestead will support. If you are living, or if you are intending to live, on a small homestead (less than 5 acres), you will likely want to focus on smaller animals that reproducing quickly. In that case, consider pigs, rabbits, goats, sheep, chickens, turkeys, quail, and other small game birds. Also remember that there are often smaller “miniature” versions of most of these animals.

Do not do anything because “everyone does it”. Because of tradition, you may feel inclined or obligated to have a milk cow, but, if you have a very small farm, it might be better to milk goats and to use goats or sheep for meat as well, unless you are absolutely sure you are going to be able to produce enough food and harvest enough water to support a large milk cow. If you do have pasture and feed production enough to keep a milk cow, as a by-product you would get a calf every year that you could grow and butcher for meat. If you choose to keep goats for milk, then you will want to maintain a herd so you can always butcher some goats for meat, and you might want to look into a good dual-purpose goat breed. If your homestead is larger, then you might want to consider having cows – both for milk and for meat.

The point is that our situation and our intelligence ought to dictate what animals we choose to have, and how we select those animals. On our farm, we have been very careful to study and do research in order to learn what will do well where we live, and to learn the history of both the animals and our region. I will share with you what we have done, not because I think you should do what we do, but because it will help you to study the thought process that went into our decisions. I will also discuss the different categories of animals in the order that I think you ought to acquire them.

Chickens, Eggs (or is it Eggs and Chickens?), and other Fowl Animals

As I have said, for the smaller homestead, raising birds is an excellent option. One of the few generalizations that I am willing to make concerning homestead food production is this: If at all possible, everyone should own chickens, and preferably chickens that will both lay eggs, and that will get broody on occasion and hatch out new generations of chickens. Our chickens have, in the past, during times when we had very little or no money, kept us in eggs and meat through those tough times. I do not know what we would have done without our chickens. After a disaster or in the event of a major and long-lasting economic or social disruption, having chickens could easily save your life and the lives of your loved ones.

Make a decision on your meat bird production based on the availability of space and feed. If you will pen your animals then you need to provide enough other farm space to grow and harvest most of their feed. If you will free-range your animals (which I recommend), then you need to study on pasture management and rotation so that you can do this without constantly having to buy feed and supplements. Many, many new homesteaders have written me in shock and dismay at the price of feed grains for their animals. Feeding animals with store-bought feed has become one of those automatically accepted maxims that we off-gridders cannot afford to buy into. It is true that when you first get started, and for some time after that, you may have to buy feed, but you really need to have a plan in place to feed these animals without the store-bought feed at some point. If a disaster strikes or if a long-term disruption occurs, you may not be able to purchase feed from the feed store. What will you do then? Also remember that, so long as you are buying feed from the store, you are invariably relying on a system that is untrustworthy and unsustainable, and you are also having to earn money somewhere else (or doing something else) to pay for that feed. The easiest time to plan your break from the feed store system is when you are first getting started. It is much harder to separate from that system once you have invested in too many animals, and therefore you literally cannot afford to separate from the feed store.

At our old homestead in West Texas (before we moved to Central Texas) we produced quite a bit of our meat by raising turkeys, geese, and chickens. Eggs are considered meat in our economy, so I will include them in the conversation. All of these different types of fowl have differing positives and negatives: some will produce a large quantity of both meat and eggs, while others will produce one resource more than the other. As I said, if you are able, you should have chickens. Do your research and find a good dual-purpose bird (one that is good at producing both meat and eggs) that will also do well in your area. Chickens are easy to keep and raise; do not require a lot of care once they are adults (after a couple of months); and will naturally do most of the things they need to do without your help. If you can free-range your chickens, they will learn to get most of what they need nutritionally from what they can find on your land. Some supplemental feed may be necessary, and most people find that their chickens lay a lot more eggs when they are supplemented with nutritional grains. Again, if you can grow grains on your own property, you will be way ahead of the game and you will not find yourself spending a large amount of money on chicken feed.

The first structure we installed here on the ranch was a chicken coop. I built the first coop out of a dilapidated hunting blind we found on the back of the property. I put a new floor in it and built it into a small, workable coop and moved our 50 or so chickens into it. We built a fenced pen around the coop with some old hurricane fencing that had been donated years earlier. We are still using this coop as our main chicken coop today. We had egg production immediately (since our chickens were already producing), which means that we had protein growing from the land almost from day one. You may have to start your chickens from chicks, or by hatching your own with an incubator, but you still could be producing eggs within 5-6 months of getting started (depending on the season). I would put in a chicken coop and get chickens started even before beginning to think about where you are going to sleep and what you are going to live in. How many chickens you will need is really based on the size of your family and how many eggs you eat (By the way... EAT MORE EGGS! They are very good for you, no matter what the modernists say.) We do not eat eggs every day, but on the days we do eat eggs, my family of six will eat up to a dozen eggs for breakfast. We also often have egg sandwiches or omelets for other meals during the day. We do not keep commercial snack foods around, so an egg burrito or an omelet is often our version of a quick snack. We usually keep between 30 and 60 producing hens. During the winter, when the hens are usually not producing as well as normal, we still will generally receive more than 6 eggs a day, which allows us to have eggs at least every other day. Eggs are good and wholesome and provide a large portion of your regular daily nutrition. Eggs can also be stored for longer term use. They can be dried and powdered, waxed, larded, stored in waterglass (sodium silicate), etc.

Once you have successfully started chicken and egg production on your land, you might consider diversifying into other types of fowl. In the past, in addition to chickens, we have raised turkeys, geese, and guineas. Each type of bird has very particular attributes that you will need to consider when you are deciding what types of birds to keep. With turkeys, you can raise large amounts of very good meat, but they are not as rugged and hearty as chickens. We suffered through a lot of mistakes and bird loss when raising turkeys, although I know people who have successfully raised turkeys for many years with no problems. We eventually were able to raise quite a few for eating, but they are certainly not as easy to raise and as “hands off” as are chickens. Male turkeys, like male geese, can be very territorial, and you will have to put some attention into fencing and housing. We raised geese for many years, and really enjoyed it; but having a male goose (or many male geese) around can be quite a challenge, since the goose is very intelligent and often will see you as either competition or as a predator. There is a reason our language has the phrase “getting goosed” in it. I have been “goosed” many times, and it is something you have to live with if you decide to raise geese. Historically, geese were a very popular homesteading animal, and in Europe the ubiquitous flocks of geese, often seen being herded down roads or from pasture to pasture by young “goose herds” were evidence that the goose was a very common food item there. In America, where there were very large tracts of land and farms were generally larger, the goose fell out of favor as a flock (or herd) animal. Eventually, the mass industrial production of turkeys (for holidays and special meals) basically doomed the goose as a popular form of food in America. The point is that geese are “flock” animals who like to stay together. They are herded quite easily, thrive on green pasture grasses, and they reproduce well and plentifully.

Geese are quite good at reproducing and hatching out offspring, though the goslings we had would often drown in very small amounts of water or they would get trampled to death. Turkeys, though, are a whole other issue. Most (but not all) breeds of modern turkeys that are available today will NOT reproduce naturally. They are almost all born through AI (Artificial Insemination), and will require AI if you plan on hatching out eggs. There are some very good breeds available (like the Midget White, for example) that will still reproduce naturally, though they do not get anywhere near the size of modern commercial breeds.

Both turkey and goose eggs are edible, and taste much the same as chicken eggs, though they are much larger.

I want to revisit a topic I have really hammered on throughout this book. It is a very common tactic for modern homesteaders to engage in bulk purchasing and processing of meat birds. What I mean by this is the practice of buying a large number of young birds, raising them to butchering age, and then slaughtering them all to fill the freezer. I’ve done this before, and there is nothing wrong with it so long as the homesteader knows that this is not a sustainable practice, and is basically just the industrializing of home meat production. As far as producing a large amount of meat, possibly cheaply, in a short amount of time for storage, as I said – there is no real problem with the practice - but too often homesteaders truly believe they are going to be able to maintain these industrial practices under survival circumstances, or after the economic or social situation deteriorates. Believing this would be a huge mistake. The negatives of bulk buying and butchering are these:

1. This system prevents us from developing (or adapting) animals to our particular situation, climate, etc. The age old practice of raising a herd and then culling selectively, allowed the animals, through time, to become adapted well to our area. Bulk buying and butchering practices short-circuit this natural system, since all of the birds are killed at the same time.

2. This system relies on the false-idea that there is always going to be someone out there selling bulk birds or hatching eggs. This is a false premise. If one relies on the bulk buying and butchering system, what will happen when the system collapses and the homesteader has butchered all (or most) of his animals?

3. Since this system is designed to happen fairly rapidly in order to maximize yield per animal, the ancillary benefits of having animals as a part of the homestead permaculture system are lost (think of the constant need for manure, bug control, etc.)

The Pig: The Poor Man’s Golden Goose (mixaphorically speaking)

Some folks have problems with eating pigs, and if you do, then just skip this section - but for the rest of us the pig is the answer to a whole lot of questions. Pigs are easy to keep; they reproduce fast; they are cheap to buy; they are clean if they are allowed to range and fend for themselves; and they produce an enormous amount of meat in a very short time. No homesteading animal produces more meat (and more types of meat) in a shorter time for less money than the pig. We have been raising pigs for almost six years, and our problem is not "how will we have enough meat?", but "where do we put it all?” Pigs are excellent citizens in an animal/pasture rotation system. They plow up the ground, deposit very rich manure, and do great benefit to the soil.

Most of the problems you hear about pigs are not really problems with the pig as an animal, but problems brought about by the mass production of pork by industrialized processors. The modern commercial pig is an unhealthy monstrosity. Modern commercial pigs are sickly, weak, and are generally not a good source of meat. When people exhort you to make sure you cook your pork well, you should know that bad pork is the product of the way pigs are raised today. I recently read an article where a writer was interviewing a modern commercial pork producer, and the article literally made me feel ill. The pork producer talked about how sickly the animals are, and how susceptible they are to diseases. He said that his animals were so susceptible that they were only permitted to be in contact with one human for their whole lives! He said if another human were to come into contact with his animals, all of his pigs would die! And this man is raising meat that he hopes that you will buy and put on your table for your family to eat. It’s sickening. But all of that is the product of modern industrial pork production, and not the product of some intrinsic flaw in the animal. The fact that wild and feral boars are reproducing at an alarming rate; a rate so high that it is said that there are over 3 million feral hogs in the state of Texas alone, many times more than could ever be controlled by wide-scale hunting, should prove to you that pigs, as a species, are not sickly and weak animals. If you buy your pigs from a homesteader; and if you make sure they are healthy and strong pigs, raised in contact with nature, with access to soil and water; you should have no problem raising strong, healthy pigs. Do not buy your original stock from any commercial producer. Do not buy pigs that are kept inside in a sterile environment, without access to dirt and mud. Do not buy pigs that are penned in tightly together, and that have never been able to run or walk around. It is an absolute truism that a dirty pig is a happy pig, and a muddy pig is an ecstatic pig. If you can find someone who raises and sells pastured pigs, you will have really found a homesteading goldmine. Be willing to pay more for pigs (and for pork products) that have been raised naturally.

Virtually anywhere you go in the world, you will find the pig as a central animal in almost every homesteading plan, and as a primary article in the homesteading diet. Pigs are valued for their meat, for it is from the pig that we derive such delicacies as bacon, ham, sausage, and other delectable eatables. Pigs are also valued for their fat, because they produce copious amounts of it, and because it can be used for food preservation (as in “larding”), for lighting, for fuel, and as a food supplement for other animals. Possibly more importantly, the pig is a miraculous producer of meat from the excess or waste products of the rest of the homestead! Do you have excess milk from your milk cow(s) after you have set some aside for drinking, for cheesemaking, for yogurt, and sour cream, etc.? The pig will be glad to turn that beautiful (or even spoiled) milk into meat for you. In fact, I have read that many small homesteading farmers raise pigs all the way to butchering weight purely on milk and pasture! Do you have excess eggs, turnips, beets, potatoes, grains, or greens? The pig will be more than happy to turn those things into more meat for your table or your smokehouse, and more fat for your larder. The pig absolutely loves root crops, and one of the great things about root crops is that they can usually be left (or stored) in the ground or root cellar until they are needed by the pig. Root crops are some of the easiest and cheapest crops to grow, and the pig will thrive on them.

Our homestead currently produces enough meat for us to never buy meat from a store again, and much of this bounty is thanks to our pigs.

Cattle

The word “cattle” comes from the word “chattel” which identifies any property or value that is moveable. Bovine animals, because of their intrinsic value and portability, became synonymous with “money”, or “portable wealth”, thus the name “cattle” was adopted and applied for these animals. In the Bible, the term “cattle” may still refer to any valuable, moveable animals.

Writing or talking about cattle can be difficult in English, because in English we don’t have a word for a single bovine animal (the word “cattle” is plural); we only have words for single female cattle (cow), or single male cattle (a bull or steer). It is technically wrong to say, “I came upon a cattle in the road”, though we do not have a word for a single animal where we have not identified the sex of the animal. Originally (and Biblically) the term “ox” was used to identify a single bovine animal, but since that time, the term “ox” has come to mean a bovine animal that has been trained to pull and work and that has reached five years of age. So when you read about an “ox” in the Bible, it does not automatically mean an animal that plows or pulls a wagon. It merely meant “a single bovine animal”, where the term “oxen” meant more than one bovine animal. Again, the world “cattle” in the Bible, meant all valuable, moveable (or herded) animals.

In America, most people will call all single bovine animals a “cow”, even if that is not technically correct. If you say, “I saw a cow in the road”, you may be right, but then again you may be wrong – and if you are talking to a person who owns cattle, they will automatically assume that you saw a female version of “a cattle” in the road. So bear with me because sometimes talking properly about cattle can be difficult.

For those of you who are new to this, a quick primer on how I use the terms, so that there will be no confusion:

A heifer is a female bovine animal who has yet to birth a calf. In some societies and cultures, an animal is considered a heifer until it has birthed two calves, but in our community, we call a bovine animal who has given birth a “cow”.

Once a heifer has qualified by birthing a calf, she is called a “cow”.

A bull is an intact (or uncastrated) male bovine animal, presumably capable of impregnating a female bovine animal.

A steer is a castrated male bovine animal.

An “ox” is a bovine animal trained to pull or work, and that has reached five years of age.

Being so readily identified as moveable money, cattle have long been symbols of wealth and prosperity. In the Bible, and in the world, having many cattle has traditionally been a sign of power and prestige. I personally believe strongly in owning cattle because of their inherent value and many uses, but I do not believe that homesteaders ought to automatically assume that they must own cattle in order to succeed. This is not true at all. All decisions about purchasing and raising cattle, need to be carefully studied, after a thorough consideration is made concerning how much land will be needed, how much feed can be produced, and what utility the homesteader will receive from the animal. As I have said before, some homesteaders on smaller land parcels may not want to own cattle. Some beginners wrongly assume that they can own a single milk cow, and that there milk concerns will be solved. This is hardly the case. Every milk cow must be routinely impregnated so that she will produce new calves and continue to produce milk. Most milk cows must be “dried up” for at least a month or more before they drop a new calf. Cows also may get infections or diseases, causing the milk to be undrinkable for a period of time. Any homestead that relies on milk from cows will need at least two milk cows if they plan on having an uninterrupted supply of milk, and they will need a bull (or the seasonal access to a bull) if they plan on getting their milk cows pregnant each year. Seriously study your needs and your available resources before you decide on what kind of (and on how many) cattle you will own.

Cattle are valuable for their meat, for their ability to produce milk and fat, and for their importance in producing manure for fertilizing fields, crops, and gardens. As I have said before, not all cattle are the same and not all cattle will thrive on every type of land or in every region. Being in Texas, we have settled upon the pure Texas Longhorn as our preferred homestead cattle. The pure Texas Longhorn is not to be confused with the industrial/commercial Texas Longhorns that are everywhere today. The largest Longhorn registries routinely register Longhorns that plainly and clearly have evidence of inter-breeding with modern commercial cattle. These registries encourage the breeders to breed for “meat and horn”, which are what make their cattle more valuable to other commercial breeders. We are not interested in corrupting the breed in order to commercialize the animals, so we are not interested in impure Texas Longhorns. We especially ascribe to the philosophy and the practices of the Cattleman’s Texas Longhorn Registry (the CTLR), a registry that is committed to maintaining the purity of the original Spanish cattle. In order for you to see the thinking and philosophy that went into choosing what kind of animal would do well here in our situation, I will discuss the pure Texas Longhorn and why we think it is the perfect animal for us. Remember, I am not trying to sell you on Texas Longhorns; I am trying to sell you on the right way to think about choosing animals for your situation.

The Pure Texas Longhorn

True and pure Texas Longhorns are profoundly different from the commercial cows (actually European breeds) that are available today. So it is not just a few minor trait differences we are looking at, but actually the Longhorn is really "a whole different animal".

The pure Longhorn is a smallish example of cattle. The female rarely tops 800 lbs., while the Steer or Bull may get upwards of 1800 lbs.; but it will take him 5-6 years to get that big.

The Longhorn thrives on stuff other cows will not even eat. They will eat weeds, thistles, scrub brush, etc. as well as grass when it is available. It is very common for our friendly and gentle Longhorns to come up to us with cactus spines all over their faces… and it doesn’t seem to bother them a bit. YES, they do eat cactus. And they like it. The result of these traits is that you can generally keep three pure Longhorns in the same are where you could only keep one commercial cow. The commercial cow is designed (by humans) to live a fairly short life. Finding a 10 year old commercial European breed cow is very, very rare. As I said in the beginning of this chapter, the commercial cow will likely only produce up to five or six offspring in their short lives. Contrarily, the pure Longhorn can live very long lives, and it is not unheard of to have a cow still producing a calf (every 10-11 months) well into their 20's and even their 30's. The pure Longhorn “breeds back” (or gets pregnant again after calving) faster than any other cow. The old saying by ranchers is that the “Texas Longhorn will calf every 9 months and 15 minutes.”

The Longhorn survived and thrived in the deserts of Texas and Mexico without any aid from (or crossbreeding by) man. The commercial breeds, however, are concoctions of man. The true Longhorn is a product of God. After hundreds of years living wild in Texas and Mexico, there were literally millions of pure Longhorn cattle free for the taking. This is what started the "cattle drives" of western fame. The Longhorn saved Texas after the disastrous war of northern/industrial aggression.

So how is the meat?

Longhorn meat is higher in "good" fats, lower in what the world calls "bad" fat, and higher in protein than any other beef. It is naturally one of the tenderest examples of beef, even though it is also the lowest in saturated fats. After eating some Longhorn hamburger I had to say it was some of the best hamburger meat I have ever eaten.

Longhorn steers can be made into oxen (and have for centuries). Longhorns can also be ridden and milked. We have been milking Longhorn cows for several years now, and although they do not produce a large amount of milk when compared to commercial milk breeds, they do produce enough for our purposes.

Longhorns are the only breed where almost 100% of the cow is usable and profitable. Not only is the meat great, but the horns are regularly sold for between $400-$1500. The hides are often sold for between $400-$700. On the Internet, I have seen sites where you can by Longhorn pillows, couches and blankets (try to buy an Angus blanket!) Prior to any emergency or economic collapse, industrious Longhorn owners have been able to sell the hides and horns for more than a whole commercial breed cow will sell for at market. This doesn't count the meat at all!

The main points for the homesteader in our area:

1. 3/1 ratio of Longhorns to a commercial cow in the amount of cows per acre.

2. There are no known cases (of which I have either read or heard) of a Longhorn cow having to have a calf "pulled". Ease of calving is a famous trait of Longhorns, and it is why many, many commercial breeders now have their cows bred to a Longhorn bull for their first calf.

3. Low feed costs and the ability to keep a cow on land that might not be good enough for a commercial cow.

4. Multiple uses of the Longhorn: meat, milking, riding, pulling, work, etc.

5. Easy sale of all the "parts".

6. Quality of the meat.

Many people of scared of Longhorns because they can look so frightening, but anyone who owns pure Longhorns will tell you that they are the most gentle cattle in the world. I know homesteaders who would not dare go near their Jersey, Holstein, or Angus bull, but we have never had an aggressive Longhorn bull, and most of our animals are so gentle you can walk right up to them and pet them. The old Jimmy Stewart quote that the Texas Longhorn is “meatless, milkless, and murderous” is not true at all – even if it is funny. It is the industrial mindset that caused meat producers to abandon the Longhorn years ago. The Longhorn is for the rancher or farmer who truly wants to live closer to nature, without chemicals, antibiotics, or supplemental feeds. At a meeting once, a commercial cattle breeder asked a pure Longhorn breeder what he fed his cattle during the recent drought. The pure Longhorn breeder looked at the man quizzically and said, “I don’t know what you mean. I didn’t feed them a thing. They fed themselves. If had wanted to feed cattle for a living I would raise Herefords or Angus or any of those other commercial breeds. I don’t want to feed cows. I want them to feed me.”

Sheep and Goats

Many homesteaders keep goats, and in my family we raised goats for well over a decade. We only recently moved away from the raising of goats in exchange for raising sheep.

Goats are adequate meat producers, and, depending on the breed, you can really do well raising goats for meat. If you like venison, you will love goat meat. Our goat meat, when it has been processed and canned for long-term storage, is almost indistinguishable from beef. We have also made very tasty sausage from goat meat.

We have found that, if goats are kept solely for meat purposes, a fairly large herd must be maintained in order to utilize goats as the primary source of meat. Many homesteaders are wisely considering goats primarily for milking purposes, or they are purchasing dual-purpose goats. Some of the goats that are milked in our community produce more milk per day than our milking Longhorn does! And goat milk is a very high quality milk, said to be the closest in makeup to human breast milk.

The downside in raising goats (at least for me) was that they are very destructive. There is a reason that the Bible uses the goat as a “type” of the damned or the reprobate (this is also why we never call our children “kids”). It is said that “a fence that will not hold water, will not hold a goat”, and this is quite nearly true. If you want to learn how to build and constantly repair fences, then get goats, because goats do not respect rules or fences. Some people love and are very successful in raising goats, and I applaud and encourage them. We did it for a long time, and we have a high level of respect for those who are able to successfully manage a good goat herd.

We transitioned to sheep for several reasons, but primarily it was because sheep (when kept in a fenced pasture) are easier to manage, are far less destructive, and the meat breeds produce better meat faster than do goats.

Several years ago, my wife, our oldest daughter, and I, traveled to Australia, where we stayed for about 6 weeks. While we were there, we toured an expansive “sheep station” (basically a huge ranch of over 4000 acres). The station was so big that the sheep were herded by dogs… and helicopters! The family that owned the sheep station invited us to stay with them, and while we were there we were served a dinner of roast lamb. In all my travels I have never been more impressed with a “home raised, home prepared” meal. It was delicious, and I have never forgotten it.

Sheep have historically been raised for their wool, and if you are ready and able to process wool, there is really no good reason for you not to be raising sheep. The fact that an animal can produce such valuable material just by living is quite a testament to the value of the animal. However, I stayed away from sheep for many years for just this reason: because we were not ready to manage and process the wool from the animals. Wool-producing sheep must be sheared at least once a year, and we did not know how to do it, or what to do with the wool once the sheep were sheared. Frankly, I wanted to eventually get into wool production, but I really wanted the sheep for their meat, their temperament, for their ease of management, and because they wouldn’t tear up my fences. Enter the “meat breed” of sheep… for us it was The Dorper. We received our Dorpers not too long ago and we have been very pleased with them. Dorper sheep are indigenous to South Africa, and they are very well acclimatized to our heat and to our dry summers. Best of all, the Dorper is primarily a meat breed, and if you do not want the wool, the Dorper is kind enough to drop its wool naturally so you do not have to shear them! We have also discovered that the Dorpers are very easy to manage, they do not destroy our fences or our young trees, and the young lambs reach butchering age and size many months earlier than do our old meat goats. For us, for right now, the Dorper Sheep have been a very good solution to our needs and concerns.

Rabbits and other Small Creatures

My children raise meat rabbits, and they do their own butchering. My oldest daughter is in charge of rabbit production, and she is doing very well with it. She has often trained other homesteaders in our community how to butcher different animals, and the rabbit is usually a good starter animal for learning how to butcher. Oftentimes these smaller meat producing animals are overlooked by the homesteader, but, particularly for those of you who will have smaller homesteads, the small meat animal is definitely something to consider. Rabbits, for example, reproduce quickly, and produce a very high quality protein. The only real downside is that they do not produce much fat. If you are going to raise rabbits for meat, you will definitely want to diversify by also raising some other animal that is better at producing fat… pigs for example.

Conclusion

There is no way that this chapter could ever be an exhaustive compendium of homesteading “how to” or advice. I have tried to offer examples and more of a “real world” philosophy that can be adapted to your own circumstances; keeping in mind that, after a disaster or a collapse, most of the accepted maxims that have guided and informed traditional homesteading or off-grid living will not work. I have also not discussed hunting, fishing, or trapping – even though these are often viable and sustainable means of procuring meat for the homestead. Unhappily, if a systemic disaster were to last more than a few weeks, hunting, fishing, or trapping is not likely to produce enough food for a family to survive for very long. My purpose is to show you what kind of thinking is necessary for true off-grid survival, and to help “decolonize” our minds, so that we might more effectively consider our needs when it comes to producing homestead meat in a sustainable way.

GO TO CHAPTER 13