Raising Your Own Meat??

Anyone done it? What sort of animals did you raise? Would you do it again?

My friend rents some property that I keep my horse on, and while she has rejected my repeated requests to add chickens (she was attacked by one as a child and is now terrified of them-lol), she has agreed that when the current calf goes to "freezer camp" she and I can co-own a young dairy calf to raise for meat.

I honestly have had a bit of trouble coming to terms with Wilber's (he's really a very nice calf--much more pleasant than many of the horses there-lol) impending demise, but I am starting to realize more and more that he has had a good life and has been raised much for humanely than pretty much any meat we buy at the grocery store.

I am actually kind of toying with the idea of eventually raising meat rabbits, but I'm taking baby steps for now--lets see if I can actually bring myself to eat Wilber first.....

I'm sorry, put me in the same class as Dizzy and her "vibes", but I had immature thoughts on your thread title :rofl1:

Ok, first thing....

Don't name your food "Wilbur". It'd be a lot easier to eat him if his name was Hamburger or Sirloin or something.

Second, if you do this, I'd be really interested in hearing about it, but I have no advice about it. Just something I'd like to do in the future.

Yes

Feeder calves and rabbits, actually. Years ago, when I had acres and acres at my disposal, so not now, but yes I will again, hopefully one day soon. More likely to raise lambs than a calf, though, just due to logistics...plus I have ready access to beef with a known background and butcher. I will probably also add chickens in addition to the rabbits.

I know not all people agree with this, but I respect others' views and I hope mine can be respected as well...one can raise animals with love and compassion yet also with the intent for them to be food. And that does not make the person psychotic or cruel. But it has to be a personal decision and failing to be honest with yourself will not bode well.

:lol-sign: My sister had a pair of rats she was breeding for snake food. She named them Lunch and Dinner.
I haven't done it in years, but I grew up raising some of our meat- mainly pigs (who, BTW had names like Ginger, Snoot and Pumpkin). We also put some chickens in the freezer on occasion, too. A common question at the dinner table was, "Who are we eating tonight?"

OH GOD. It took me a second to get it. I had to re-read the thread title like 5 times...

Dammit Eddie!

I could never lol I name them.. I get attached..

but in a way, yea, its a great way to know what you are eating has had a good life.

but yeaaa lol I couldn't

Yeah, if it had been up to me he would have been "The Cow" rather than "Wilber." My grandpa had feeder calves and it was not that difficult to eat them, but they were kind of wild and skittish. We bottle fed Wilber due to him being a dairy calf and only a few days old when we got him, so he was much more tame and trusting from the get go. My grandpa's calves were very suspicious of humans, and as it turned out they were right not to trust us-lol.

I have floated the idea of eating a couple of the less pleasant horses instead of Wilber, but that was met with considerable opposition--:lol-sign:

I *think* rabbits might be easier since I'm not much of a rabbit fan to begin with and I'd get the white ones with the red eyes that kind of freak me out. DH did say he's be willing to kill and process them, which surprised me. i told him to go hunting with one of his buddies to see if he could actually kill and field dress something before we even considered it.

Also, I think it's incredibly humane to raise your own cows/chickens/whatever for food instead of buying it at a grocery store!

I would love to have a mini self-sustaining farm. Not only food for us humans but food for the dogs. But sadly I ended up marrying a city boy. So I won't ever be able to have a small farm. I still have mr. fatty butt rabbit who is freezer camp failure due to the husband and the daughter.

I would have trouble with a cow to be honest. Cows are such nice critters. What about turkeys? or did the chicken incident ruin it for all fowls? Pigs are tasty and easy to raise. Though they become very friendly if you be friend them. (I still like cows better)

I wish I could raise my own meat, I'd get way too attached though.
I'd love to find someone that did raise and humanely slaughter their own meat though. Or start hunting, even if only for dog food.

Yes, what she said.

Rabbits are hands down the most efficient meat production animals as far as space and feed. The californians and the new zealands are probably the best production rabbits, though first generation crosses of the two are exceptional growers.

If it was up to me, I'd pick a nice buck of each breed and six does, three of each breed. Then I'd cross them to get the F1 crosses that grow really well for my meat rabbits. For some reason breeding 2nd or 3rd generation crosses just doesn't produce the same kind of vigor.

Once you decide to replace your does with younger ones, do purebred breedings and keep the nicest does to replace your old ones.

Also, it's really important to keep detailed records of your litters. How many kits, which genders, birth weight, and weigh them periodically as they grow. You want your next generation of does to come from the rabbits that are producing the largest fastest growing kits, have plenty of milk, and no trouble kindling.

You might look into buying some weaned spring lambs (little wethers or something). You can grow them out over the summer and butcher in late fall so you don't end up paying for feed over the winter.

If you have any kind of pond, or even stuff like old livestock waterers you can get some young catfish to raise. They're really hardy and grow up pretty fast over the course of a season. I want to say three pounds or so, but you'd have to look it up.


We've had meat rabbits, catfish, poultry, and cattle. We also had goats that were popular with the Hispanics to buy for meat. They said it tasted like venison, and that if you fed them red wine instead of water for the 24 hours before butchering it made the meat taste really awesome. I've never tried that though.

Oh man, I just had an image of someone shooting a bag of Ol' Roy with a shotgun. "Ha! I got 'em! Whoo boy, look at that! Clean kill!"

Once again, I TOTALLY wish we had a like button.

Warning against sheep. Of all the livestock I know of, nothing dies as easily as sheep. I live in a sheep heavy area. I will NEVER own sheep. I have farm sat enough sheep farms to know that. You leave, everyone is happily eating, no one seems stressed etc. You come back and BAM dead ewe or lamb. Talking to sheep farmers, they just view it as 'normal'. (And we are talking nice farms, lots of space high quality food/pasture, LGB dogs, alpacas, donkeys etc...)

Goats are awesome.. but I don't think I could eat them. (it would be like eating a dog)

The trick to raising sheep is to do it blindfolded. If you look at them, they die.

Sheep give pretty good return though if you breed the ewes. Twinning probability is high. Plus you have the option of wool (same with goats if you get the right breeds) and milk. Problem is to get good meat you have to slaughter them young. Mutton is disgusting.

Hardy sheep seem to be really difficult to come by, which is a shame because other than the dying thing, I love everything about them and I really wouldn't think of sheep as "pets" the way I would with animals like cows, goats or ducks. Sheep are happy to just function as a flock.

I'm in the same boat as you Dekka. I couldn't eat a goat, to me it'd be like eating a horse. They're just super social animals.

Around here you can barely give the wool away. And the rattling sound of running sheep with poop in their wool... ick. You have to pay someone to shear them, and then hope someone wants your wool.... (and if you don't shear them, they die of heat)

Lambs are really cute. Sheep are dumb (compared to goats) but nice. I would like them if I found them tasty and they did keel over cause, as GO put it, you looked at them.