Do you spend more on your food or your animal's ?

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Whose food do you spend more money on; the animals' or your own? How do you feel about this?

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), April 01, 2002

Answers

We spend more on the goat feed. Of course they do contribute to our diet, but even so, we spend an awful lot on feed. All I can say is that I always chuckle a little (or snort, depending on my mood at the time), when I see people asking about 'free animals'.

I sure do love those goats though!

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), April 01, 2002.


Definately the animals!! LOL When I add up the livestock feed costs,the pets food, the birdseed & the deer blocks(we don't hunt-just like to watch them) it runs at least 50% more than the grocery bill. But isn't it a great way to live?? There's an old joke- An old farmer wins the lottery, he's asked what he'll do with all the extra money, his reply: "why I think I'll keep farming for another year" Sorry, I know that was probably off topic, but it's true in one way; even if I had a 'finacial windfall' I'd still want to be in the country with all these critters. I've lived in the city and the country-country wins hands down !! Blessings, Kathy

-- Kathy Aldridge (beckoningwinds@yahoo.com), April 02, 2002.

We are only on 10 acres, so can't begin to produce enough of our own feed for our (4) horses, (3) goats, and assorted chickens (hope to add pigs to the menagerie this Summer). However, I don't feel bad about the cost of our animals because the good, quality feed I put in one end results in good, quality milk, eggs, and "compost fodder" out the other. I can't buy in the store the quality food I can raise at home. As for the horses: The "therapy", emotional warm-fuzzies, and stress release they provide is priceless. : )

-- cheers, Renee M.

-- Renee Martin (icehorse@altelco.net), April 02, 2002.


The animals. But what I get back balances it off. Meat, milk, eggs, something to laugh/complain about.

-- Gailann Schrader (gtschrader@aol.com), April 02, 2002.

We've been feeding three pig since January and talk about eat...Whew. We spend more on animal food but we eat everything around here but the dogs and cats. When some people find out we raise alot of our own food they make comments like , that sure beats buying groceries bet you save alot of money. No we don't really spend less on food but we are putting top quality clean food in our bodies. I don't buy legs and thighs on sale , we eat nice organic chicken. I don't buy hamburger and chuck roast on sale, we eat the t bones and all. Raising our own food really makes us feel good about ourselves and I won't even go into the chemicals .

-- sherry in Arkansas (chickadee259@yahoo.com), April 02, 2002.


Our feed bill is still comfortably smaller than our food bill - laugh!

I keep no pets, even the dog is a working animal. We eat the eggs from the chickens and if something doesn't render them unfit eventually eat the chickens themselves so whatever I spend on their feed has to have what we get from them in return subtracted. The dog is safe from the stewpot ; ) but her feed doesn't cost all that much considering how long it takes her to work through a fifty pound sack of it.

Livestock should pay their way or they are pets.

........Alan.

-- Alan (athagan@atlantic.net), April 02, 2002.


On only 10 acres and in the dry plains, we definitely spend more on feed for the critters--5 horses, one little mule, 20+ chickens, 3 ducks, 11 rabbits, 5+goats, 6 sheep and 8 guineas---than we do on feed for ourselves. My father keeps telling me "You could live a good life if you'd get rid of all those animals!" Little does he realize, we ARE living a good life! Jan

-- Jan in CO (Janice12@aol.com), April 02, 2002.

Well my Uncle, he had animals all his life, and I never saw him expending a lot of money buying feed, he use to buy some but he always fed his goat and cow grain and hay mainly. I think if you buy feed well that make us a kind of lasy. Ralph.

-- Rafael Roces (rroces1@yahoo.com), April 02, 2002.

about the same, rough figures, but we get a lot of food and enjoyment, too out of the animals, not to mention education. 250 at most on groc per month. about 90 on feed, but hay is not a monthly purchase here, so it adds up to close to the same by the end of the year. very much worth it and everything here has a job, including the cocker spaniel house dog (he puts the children to sleep-goes from one to the other until they are all asleep and then comes to be with me). also lets us know about armadillos, skunks, etc.

-- laura (okgoatgal@hotmail.com), April 02, 2002.

The large livestock are on pasture 24/7, so no real cost there. The poultry get their feed along with the pasture/insects. I don't think I could live on how little it costs to feed the stock! -LOL- Even with regular deworming and innoculations, it's not all that much. House pets don't count! -G-

Can't complain ~ wouldn't want to live without critters.

-- ~Rogo (rogo2222@hotmail.com), April 03, 2002.



We spend next to nothing on food for ourselves because we grow all our own fruits, veggies, milk, eggs and meat, honey and maple syrup.........so easily it would be the animal feed, which still remains way less than I used to spend at the grocery store while we were looking for our homestead site. I am very grateful for our ability to grow our own food, and truly enjoy all my critters.......life is good.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), April 03, 2002.

I guess it depends on whether you raise your own hay and grain, huh? Our place isn't big enough to do either, so we buy both, though we do have some pasture that helps out. I don't think it's necessarily a matter of laziness or the animals not earning their keep. How is it lazy if a person just doesn't own enough land and equipment to grow their own? A lot of homesteads are little like ours, not 40 -80 acres spreads. As for making the hay, I wonder whether, after buying the equipment, and the time spent making the hay, and possibly hiring help, maybe hay costs about as much as it sells for?

So I don't feel so guilty about our feed bill anymore. Without the goats, we'd have been buying milk, and probably goat milk due to allergies, and store meat -yuck-, and the garden would be far less fertile without all the tons of manure and compost we have on it. Not to mention that goats are such great therapy and friends when you need one!

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), April 05, 2002.


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