During hard times we have to conserve every bit we can. One area that is on our radar to be better stewards of is our farm animal feed. How can we s-t-r-e-tch our farm animal feed?
1. Turn every farm animal possible out to forage for their own food. When farm animals forage for their own food it saves us money and time. Let the chickens free range and scratch up their own feed. Chickens love to eat insects and scratch up the ground looking for good things to eat. Turn out the cows, sheep, and goats out to pasture! . Make sure to check your fences regularly to see that they are sturdy. Pigs need especially sturdy fences. You can also make temporary fences out of electric fences. We have also been known to let the farm animals graze in our yard during grass shortages.
2. Recycle hay. Our cows can be picky eaters and won't eat all of the hay, so we recycle it. The hay that is left on the ground gets picked up and given to the pigs. They love eating it! We also can re-use it as chicken nest bedding.
3. Cut grass and give it to the farm animals. We already pull weeds from the garden and give it to our farm animals. Now when we mow instead of letting the grass lie on the ground, we rake it up and give it to the farm animals. We pull weeds that grow up around the edge of the fence and other areas. We often let the yard grass grow a bit long before we cut it to give it to the farm animals. Another area often overlooked is the grass growing along the roadside, but make sure you have permission before harvesting this grass.
4. Serve farm animals leaves. Pigs will eat leaves. They will eat leaves that fall from the tree when they are brown and they will eat green leaves. So we often rake up leaves for the pigs to use as bedding as well as for them to eat. Cows will eat green leaves. We have cut down live branches and small trees for the cows to eat their leaves.
5. Sweep up acorns and other fallen nuts. Pigs and cows both love to eat acorns and nuts. We use an old broom to help us sweep up these fallen nuts. We can easily rake up enough to fill up a 5 gallon bucket under big trees.
6. Ferment corn. Put a bag of deer corn in a large container and cover the corn with water. In a few hours the corn will absorb the water. For more details see http://thetexaspioneerwoman.blogspot.com/2012/01/soaking-corn-for-livestock-feed.html
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| Free Range Chickens |
1. Turn every farm animal possible out to forage for their own food. When farm animals forage for their own food it saves us money and time. Let the chickens free range and scratch up their own feed. Chickens love to eat insects and scratch up the ground looking for good things to eat. Turn out the cows, sheep, and goats out to pasture! . Make sure to check your fences regularly to see that they are sturdy. Pigs need especially sturdy fences. You can also make temporary fences out of electric fences. We have also been known to let the farm animals graze in our yard during grass shortages.
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| Cows in the Pasture |
2. Recycle hay. Our cows can be picky eaters and won't eat all of the hay, so we recycle it. The hay that is left on the ground gets picked up and given to the pigs. They love eating it! We also can re-use it as chicken nest bedding.
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| Cow Hay Left on the Ground |
3. Cut grass and give it to the farm animals. We already pull weeds from the garden and give it to our farm animals. Now when we mow instead of letting the grass lie on the ground, we rake it up and give it to the farm animals. We pull weeds that grow up around the edge of the fence and other areas. We often let the yard grass grow a bit long before we cut it to give it to the farm animals. Another area often overlooked is the grass growing along the roadside, but make sure you have permission before harvesting this grass.
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| Pull Weeds for Farm Animals |
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| Rake up fallen leaves for pigs to eat. |
5. Sweep up acorns and other fallen nuts. Pigs and cows both love to eat acorns and nuts. We use an old broom to help us sweep up these fallen nuts. We can easily rake up enough to fill up a 5 gallon bucket under big trees.
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| Cows and pigs will eat fallen acorns and nuts. |
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| corn |
7. Get the word out. Let your neighbors, friends, and family know that you are in need of animal feed. We have had neighbors who have let us house some of our cows in their pastures when we were out of grass in our own pasture. Most people are willing to help when they know you have a need. One summer we were even given the job of cutting the grass in an overgrown soccer field, which we happily did in exchange for free hay.
8. Set up an area where some animals can have more access to feed. Some animals get pushed out of the way by the top dog. Whoever is the alpha farm animal pushes the other animals back and gets all the feed. Sometimes it is beneficial to separate the farm animals to feed them, so that every animal gets their daily feed requirement.
9. Don't use the whole bale of hay. Don't put out a whole round bale. Instead use a round bale feeder to limit cows access to the hay. A round bale feeder keeps cows off the hay so that they don't use it as bedding or defecate on it. Also you can feed only a portion of the hay. Instead of allowing cows to have free access to the hay, cut the twine off the hay, pull out as much as you want to feed the animals, and put it in their feed rack.
10. Grow your own animal feed. Plant extra corn, pumpkins, squash and more for your animals. Also if possible turn your animals out in your garden at the end of the growing season and they will help clean up the leftover plants.
11. It may be time to cull some farm animals. When farm animal feed is hard to come by, it may be time to cull some farm animals. Look at your farm. What animals can you slaughter to put meat in the freezer? What animals could you sell or barter?
12. Don't let animals have free access to food. Usually our farm dogs and sows have free access to food. They have a feeder that they can eat from whenever they want. Now we have moved to feeding them twice a day instead of free access.
13. Start a scrap bucket. We keep a small bucket by the kitchen sink. In this bucket I add leftovers and vegetable peelings from my daily cooking to give to the animals. We make sure to give this bucket of food scraps to the animals before the sun sets.
14. Don't forget about the farm dogs. If you find yourself short on dog food, you can cook bones in water on low heat for a few hours to make a bone broth for your dogs to eat. Also you can add water to a skillet or pan that has fond on it to deglaze it. Then you can use this liquid to add in flour or corn meal to make a gravy for your dogs to eat.
We hope you can find this list of 14 simple ways to stretch your farm animal feed useful.
8. Set up an area where some animals can have more access to feed. Some animals get pushed out of the way by the top dog. Whoever is the alpha farm animal pushes the other animals back and gets all the feed. Sometimes it is beneficial to separate the farm animals to feed them, so that every animal gets their daily feed requirement.
9. Don't use the whole bale of hay. Don't put out a whole round bale. Instead use a round bale feeder to limit cows access to the hay. A round bale feeder keeps cows off the hay so that they don't use it as bedding or defecate on it. Also you can feed only a portion of the hay. Instead of allowing cows to have free access to the hay, cut the twine off the hay, pull out as much as you want to feed the animals, and put it in their feed rack.
10. Grow your own animal feed. Plant extra corn, pumpkins, squash and more for your animals. Also if possible turn your animals out in your garden at the end of the growing season and they will help clean up the leftover plants.
11. It may be time to cull some farm animals. When farm animal feed is hard to come by, it may be time to cull some farm animals. Look at your farm. What animals can you slaughter to put meat in the freezer? What animals could you sell or barter?
12. Don't let animals have free access to food. Usually our farm dogs and sows have free access to food. They have a feeder that they can eat from whenever they want. Now we have moved to feeding them twice a day instead of free access.
13. Start a scrap bucket. We keep a small bucket by the kitchen sink. In this bucket I add leftovers and vegetable peelings from my daily cooking to give to the animals. We make sure to give this bucket of food scraps to the animals before the sun sets.
14. Don't forget about the farm dogs. If you find yourself short on dog food, you can cook bones in water on low heat for a few hours to make a bone broth for your dogs to eat. Also you can add water to a skillet or pan that has fond on it to deglaze it. Then you can use this liquid to add in flour or corn meal to make a gravy for your dogs to eat.
We hope you can find this list of 14 simple ways to stretch your farm animal feed useful.
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