Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

A couple of Dexter cattle might fit on your acreage.

The problem with our acreage is it is marsh. Not true marsh, but it is wet and swampy at times. We have endangered amphibians documented on the land. We have likely less than an acre (I'm terrible with measurements) of grassy area and my chickens consume that easily. The rest of the property is trees. Trees and more trees. It's protected land. Nice but a pain in the ass for anyone who wants to do anything anywhere on it. Good luck getting anything approved through the Niagara escarpment wanna-be-environmental-cops.

Anyhoooo. Unless I'm willing to open my property to regular inspections, fly-bys and drive-bys its best to not put anything forth for the alteration of land. Which is what I would need to do to build a barn and grow pasture.

I'm interested in grass fed beef. Will be hard to accommodate via another property, this I know.

maybe I should just focus back in on ducks lol.

Robbie wrote:QR_BBPOST A couple of Dexter cattle might fit on your acreage.

I would love a few mini dexters or mini galloways!! You read my mind.

You could try a kijiji ad, I'm sure you would find at least a couple of willing people near you. We boarded our goats with a friend for the first couple of months after we bought them. We paid her on a weekly basis for their room and board, visited on weekends and helped muck pens.

Also, goats loooove to live in forested areas... just saying

What about a meat CSA? Maybe see if anyone is offering this in your area.

windwalkingwolf wrote:QR_BBPOST What about a meat CSA? Maybe see if anyone is offering this in your area.

That's probably the best idea Sandy.

get a couple bottle babies, teach them to lead... then putting them on a trailer at 1000 lbs is no big deal. Alot of farms sometimes breed their milking cows to a beef bull... if they can't get them to conceive with their own breed semen.

I agree, working cattle can be dangerous, but its all in the way you handle them. If your place is properly set up to catch and treat/or catch/load... you will have minimal problems. Go in with it every day. Muck out the stall/bed them/feed them. Scratch their heads.. talk to them. Our 45 head of stocker calves have had interaction with us since the day there were born. Creeping them all summer starts them off getting to know you. Alot of them time, they are the ones pushing and shoving YOU to get to the feed, not running away from you, scaling 45' walls.

Naturally if you don't see them hardly at all, or work with them, your going to have trouble. Its not like your going to be working with fresh off the range cattle from Alberta, shipped in potloads to Canadian Auctions. Don't know if you wanted to start out with a bottle calf/pail fed... or not.... more work, but more fun. If started on feed slowly... calf starter... while on milk you can wean it at about 2 months of age.

But feeding a calf this way for the freezer is very costly if your buying bags of feed/bales of hay. Its costly when you grow ALL your own feed, and have ALL The own equipment and facilities. Also right now, you will be paying thru the nose for a calf/stocker. A dropped holstien bull calf is nearly $400 or more these days. And naturally you will have to band it, or you will have a bull to contend with. We just sent two bull calves to the sale, because they are just the biggest PITA'S you can imagine. They will be a year old in June. One testicle was up in the belly, would require surgery. Not worth the hassle. If you get a couple bull dropped calves, make sure if you do band them, you get both, lol.

Sandy if you are just looking for grass fed beef I have a friend who does it and I could put you in contact...bit of a drive for you though. She lives near Kemptville. You can Google map it. I think her farm has a Facebook page...Mountain Star Stable.

windwalkingwolf wrote:QR_BBPOST What about a meat CSA? Maybe see if anyone is offering this in your area.

Didn't know there was such a thing. Thanks Jan. Since I love to hate gardening I should sing up for some local vegs too.

Rhonda wrote:QR_BBPOST Sandy if you are just looking for grass fed beef I have a friend who does it and I could put you in contact...bit of a drive for you though. She lives near Kemptville. You can Google map it. I think her farm has a Facebook page...Mountain Star Stable.

Thanks Rhonda. I'll look her up. I don't mind the drive for the right product. My parents, aunt/uncle and awesome cousins are up that way so it's always an excuse to visit. Fill the freezer and we're good for a while. I'm low on our beef since our guy retired. The nerve!!