The Realities of Preparing For Your Livestock

An often overlooked or at least under-spoken-of area of preparedness, caring for livestock in the event of any sort of collapse is an important topic. For many of us, our livestock are part of our long term survival plan and crucial to our way of life.

Some people choose to prep for their animals much like they prep for themselves, by storing extra food and water for their creatures. This works for a little while, but at some point the supplies run out and then what? I believe there are seven things to consider when prepping for animals:

1.  How many animals do I really need? While I enjoy keeping around 50 chickens, realistically, a dozen good hens and two roosters could produce replacement layers every spring to keep my flock going, plus provide me with both meat and eggs.
2. What can I do with the excess animals? In some cases, bartering them away may be a good option, in others, butchering may be the course. Know what your plan is before you get to that point. It will relieve a lot of stress and allow for bettering utilization of resources.
3. How much storage room do I have? Unless you have a big barn that stays a consistent temperature and a way to keep out rodents and bugs, storing more than six months of grains is difficult at best. Don’t waste time or money storing feeds for animals you don’t intend to keep unless you have extra space. Does it make sense to store feed for 50 chickens if I only plan to keep 14?
4. How do I store my feed? The best long term solution for store bought feeds is to have large, metal garbage cans placed in a cool shed or barn. I’ve used heavy plastic bins and still had mice chew right through them! I’d advise again storing bags of grain for this same reason, but also because bagged grains can quickly go bad in the humidity of the south.
5. Do I have a way to grow or obtain feed for my animals when the store bought stuff runs out? You may need to think about adding gardening space, growing your own hay or something along those lines. Be realistic. You just may not be able to keep your dairy cow or goat flock like you had planned.
6. Can I meet the water requirements of my animals? Really think about how often you turn on the hose and fill those tanks and water containers. If you don’t have a pond, stream or well, maybe it’s time to think about installing a cistern or putting together a rain barrel system. Like us, animals cannot survive for long without water.
7. What else do I need to do to keep my animals healthy? Chickens may need oyster shell for strong egg shells, goats and sheep really need a good mineral supplement. And do you have a plan for dealing with parasites?

The following are recommendations for storage and options for feeding livestock post-shtf. These aren’t just my ideas, as I’ve taken some of these suggestions for emails and conversations I’ve had with other livestock owning preppers.

• Cats - A full metal garbage can of cat food will keep a cat for at least a year (depending on the cat). Long term, unless Miss Kitty has been declawed, most cats can hunt well enough to care for themselves, and it’s not unusual for a domesticated cat to go feral once you are no longer offering them food. If you insist on trying to keep your cat as a pet, do try to acclimate them to an eventual change in diet by adding shredded meat (raw or cooked) to their daily feeding. As you run through your cat food storage, try adding more and more meat. In theory she’ll be eating meat by the time you run out of store bought foods.
• Dogs - A metal garbage can full of dog food is a worthwhile investment, and keep in mind that dogs are one animal where size matters! A full can of dog feed only feeds my Great Pyrenees for two months or so, where that same amount will feed my mom’s little housedog for nearly a year! Dog aren’t the great scavengers and hunters that cats are, and if you choose to have dogs you need to understand that you will be responsible for feeding them for their entire lives. Luckily, dogs can be turned to a meat diet fairly easily, and will also eat eggs and vegetables (carrots, peas and potatoes cooked soft are usually best). There are few dogs that will turn up a nose at table scraps either! Don’t forget that dogs do require occasional worming, and that in the south there is always a potential for heartworm. While I would suggest keeping enough medication on hand for a year or two (since most wormers are small enough to store easily), there are some natural alternatives as well: A daily dose of grapefruit seed extract, fresh garlic, freshly ground pumpkin seeds (raw, not baked), wheat germ oil and vitamin A (cod liver oil is a good source) are just a few.
• Rabbits - Domesticated rabbits have been bred to do best on commercial rabbit feed. That’s just the way it is. That doesn’t mean that you can’t get decent to good results with natural feeds, just be prepared to go slowly as rabbits have sensitive digestive tracks. Properly acclimated, rabbits can do quite well in mobile yard pens or even in outdoor colonies. If you decide to keep your rabbits caged, try to store six or more months of commercial feed and at least a dozen bales of timothy and or alfalfa hay. Long term raising can be done by feeding grasses, and lots of other things found in the garden. (Some things, such as cabbages and lettuces, must be fed in moderation to avoid upsetting a rabbit’s digestion. A little research now will save you lots of heartache down the road.) Garlic and pumpkin seeds are good natural wormers for rabbits, and most rabbits only require deworming if you notice weight loss or dullness of coat.
• Goats - For most of the year, feeding goats can be fairly simple as they are efficient browsers, and are known for their ability to go feral second only to cats. Goats do require a good quality hay and/or alfalfa in winter though, and dairy bred milkers require a good feed. Kinder goats, Spanish and pygmies are more robust and may be a better choice for home milking without the higher feed requirements. A good supply of hay kept in the barn would be a worthwhile prep, although make sure to rotate it through as nutritional values drop over time. An average sized goat will require about 2 gallons of water per day, with lactating dairy breeds requiring at least three. Goats need to be checked regularly for parasites, and benefit from natural wormers of garlic and pumpkin seeds as well as from apple cider vinegar added to their water tanks. Commercial wormers can also be stored, and if kept in a cool dry place can still be effect well after their expiration dates.
• Cows - A good pasture will keep a cow going all for most of the year. Winters will require either pastures of winter ryegrass or hay. Storing feed isn’t a necessity here, but it would be worth the effort to store at least a full winter worth of hay. Cows will eat corn and a variety of other grains if you can grow them. If you insist on raising cows, you might consider one of the smaller breeds like Dexters, or a good heritage breed like Pineywoods that have a better feed conversion rater. Keep in mind that a true dairy cow will be nearly impossible to sustain due to their feeding requirements. Additionally, cows require on average 15-20 gallons of water per day during hot weather.
• Pigs - The day to day raising of pigs/hogs can be challenging without feed. Not because of a lack of feeding choices, but more because of the amount of feed needed, especially if you are keeping breeding animals. Pigs will eat nearly anything, and will eat rats, snakes, mice, and the occasional wayward chicken if given a chance. For over wintering, root crops and scraps will do them nicely - potatoes, carrots, beets, turnips, etc. In all honesty, with the feral pig population of the south, you might be miles ahead to take up hunting and avoid raising them altogether. If you decide to raise pigs, do remember that they drink approximately 5 gallons of water per day, and in hot weather may require a mud hole to keep cool in.
• Equines - Good pasture, and hay! Although equines can be supplemented with things like carrots, apples, and sweet potatoes, roughage is essential to them. If you must keep equines, be prepared to grow and store large amounts of hay for the winter months. Water requirements are fairly high also, with a 1000lb horse consuming 10-15 gallons per day. However, depending on the scenario and the size of your property, a horse could prove invaluable not only for transportation, but also for hauling, plowing, etc.
• Chickens - During the growing season, chickens can be free-ranged or housed in mobile range pens. Being omnivores, chickens will happily eat just about anything they are given and have been known to eat mice and even snakes! Winter feeding requires a bit more effort as there are few bugs and the nutritional value of most grasses goes to nil. Winter squashes can be grown and stored for chickens, as can corn, sunflower seeds, millet and oats. Pumpkins grown for chicken feed have the added bonus of providing pumpkin seeds as a natural dewormer. If you have a dairy animal, most chickens will also consume milk, which is helpful in keeping up the calcium levels of laying hens. Currently we keep two garbage cans full of cracked corn and layer pellets mixed together, and that feeds our flock of 50 for about six weeks on minimal forage. If moved onto range during the spring through fall months and supplemented with squashes during the winter, we could easily get through a full year, and even further if we cut our flock back to our bare minimum number of a dozen hens plus two roosters.
• Waterfowl - Ducks are fair foragers and love insects, including slugs and snails. Geese on the other hand are excellent foragers and can happily exist on pasture and weeds. Unlike chickens however, waterfowl have a hard time consuming most vegetables, making over wintering more difficult. Corn, sunflower seeds, millet, and oats are all possible feeds, as well as kales and lettuces which can be grown in the cooler months. I store two garbage cans of feed corn for my dozen ducks, knowing that with supplementation of lettuces and such I could easily get through a whole winter. Spring through fall they should require no feed if given enough room to range. In a post event situation, waterfowl would be best kept only if they have access to a pond or lake due to their high water requirements.

Other Food Source of Note:

• Kudzu - Some animals love it, some hate it. Whether you raise rabbits, goats, horses, chickens or cows it’s worth a try if you have some growing nearby. The protein count of kudzu is high enough to make it a worthwhile fodder, but be careful when feeding it! Pieces that are knocked to the ground and left may be able to root themselves, and soon you could be dealing with a kudzu nightmare.
• Fodder Beets - Although not grown in the United States as much as abroad, fodder beets are an excellent resource for feeding pigs, cows and horses.
• Sweet potatoes - While sweet potatoes require a lot of space to grow, they do exceptionally well in our area and are a good feed for equines, cows and pigs. They can be cooked to a softened state and fed to goats and poultry as well.

Other items to consider:

• Apple cider vinegar - Absolutely worth storing or learning how to make no matter what critters you keep on the farm. It can be added to animal or bird water at the rate of 2 ½ teaspoons to 5 gallons of water and protects against intestinal worms, and is helpful against a variety of other conditions including scours, pinkeye and foot rot.
• Mineral Blocks - All livestock benefit for having access to trace mineral blocks, especially when not being fed commercial feeds. Blocks are generally inexpensive and easily stored. Mineral blocks made for rabbits are small and disk shaped and you can fit a lot of them in a reasonably sized box. Loose minerals are also available in a bag form, though in my experience you get more bang for your buck when you buy blocks.

Overall, livestock husbandry in a post-event scenario will be challenging but do-able. Mankind has been raising these animals for thousands of years without commercial feeds. As preppers we just need to get back to basics and find solutions that work for us.