Whether you’ve moved from the city onto a homestead, or you are a current homesteader that’s now ready to take on animals, you need to be aware that there are three different positions for animals to take on the homestead.
Livestock – These animals are purchased for food production or income to the family and have only one purpose in life, and it’s to do what it was designed for. These animals can provide fur, offspring, meat, milk, wool, eggs, or another textile ingredient. They are not to be played with nor should you let down your guard while you are working with them. The life span of these animals varies but more often than not they will spend a short amount of time on your homestead before being sent off for processing at a facility, if not processed at your homestead. It is advisable that you avoid naming any of these animals. Seriously, I mean it!
Family Pet – A family pet simply is an animal that’s only purpose is to provide entertainment or companionships to its owner. It does not herd animals nor provide any food or financial income. These can range from goldfish in a bowl to a poodle that spends most of its life indoors. These animals cost a fair amount in feed, vet care and simply will not likely recap their initial upfront cost. Oh, and humans insist on giving them cutesy names. Most of these animals are not usually able to survive in a homestead environment due to their lack of “stranger danger” that will no doubt come with being face to face with coyotes, bobcats and other wild predators.
Working Animal – These animals have to be on guard at all times and are not treated as some coddled member of the family. Very rarely in the United States will you see yaks or bulls used for pulling machinery anymore, but you will still find a few working animals on the farm. One of the most common is the barn cat whose sole purpose is to be a mouser and keep mice out of the barn and really any area where human or livestock food is stored. The other working animal is the canine, and it can either have the innate design to herd animals or be a perimeter defense for predators. The herding dog must have not only the inner spirit to herd but have the training to do so. Choosing a perimeter defense canine will require extensive research to not only find the safest breed for your family but will require a strong hand to train them on how to patrol your property for predators. Some individuals insist on naming these animals but due to the high level of danger associated with their jobs, it’s not advisable.
I’ve met many homesteading families as I’m a third-generation farmer and would like to share some examples of why you shouldn’t cross the boundaries and give names to certain animals. If you have children on your homestead, before you even purchase animals you must train up your own children to understand that a farm is a working homestead and that animals will come and go. Life and death are part of the experience of existence on this earth and as an adult you should be prepared to have very up-front conversations with them.
A friend of mine purchased some chickens for the sole purpose of providing eggs for her family in a suburban community. At the beginning of their foray into animal husbandry, my friend warned the children not to name them or get attached due to the high likelihood of them dying. Her children chose to not only name each chicken but to obsessively cuddle them and treat them like a pet. When it was time for the animals to go into the coop, they would frequently attempt to escape in an effort to get back into the house where they were hand reared. After a few weeks of feeding them solely in their coop and battling their escape efforts, they allowed the chickens to do free range foraging in their fenced in back yard. Unfortunately, many people aren’t aware that chickens can actually fly and while they don’t fly the way ducks or geese do, they can get quite a bit of height into the air. The chickens began to go from her back yard into the neighbor’s back yard and she would have to chase them down and shoo them back into her yard.
This was just the beginning of the problem because each day they escaped into a new yard, one or two less came back home. Whether it was due to them being attacked by the neighbor’s dog or some other predator, her flock numbers dropped drastically. When she finally taught herself how to trim the wings, she ended up with five hens and afterwards they stayed within the perimeter of her yard. The loss of each bird was devastating to her and the children because they had developed an emotional connection to these animals and in some cases had to gather the corpses and bury them on their property. The next go around, they unfortunately continued coddling and naming but did at least trim the wings early.
In another instance, a homesteader purchased guinea fowl for the purposes of keeping the tick population down on their property to reduce the threat of diseases while alerting the owners to any predators. Not only did they handle the animals frequently, but the animals imprinted on the male farmer and therefore would escape their areas to track him down while he was attending to farm chores. They took up the habit of sleeping on their porch near the back door of their home but they defecated on many surfaces on the porch which made for an unsanitary environment and was very odorous. As guinea fowl are known to do if not properly coop trained, they began to visit the neighbors and would constantly squawk which not only irritated the neighbors but their owners as well. Within a few weeks, the farmers changed their minds and sold off the whole flock to other farmers who incidentally ran into some of the same problems these farmers had experienced.
Finally, in another instance of not making the right choices for their property a homesteader decided to purchase a black Labrador retriever that was very high strung. They unfortunately lived in a highly suburban area but wanted an animal for companionship while acting as a deterrent to intruders. While the piece of property they lived on was a decent size, it was not fenced in and was extremely close to a main road way. Due to the increasing size of the dog, they decided to put the dog on a long lead on the property rather than put up a fence for not only their protection but the animals. One night the animal had enough and was able to pull itself out of its collar and off the lead. Because the animal had spent much of its life on a lead, it excitedly escaped into nearby yards, got into trash and had no fear of anything. When the owners awoke the next morning, they looked all over their property, followed the trail of destruction and eventually found that the poor animal had been struck out in the main road by something large and left in the street. The owners were devastated and refused to keep any further animals on their suburban property until they were in a better location.
These are just some of the instances I’ve seen by individuals who refuse to respect the boundaries and positions of many homestead animals. If you and your family do not do properly research, then you will find yourself with anything from extensive vet bills to a broken child’s heart. It’s better to avoid taking on animals and stick to purchasing foods/products from other local farmers if you are unable to handle the responsibilities.
I wish you a happy (and educated!) time on your homestead.
Suburban & Rural Homesteading Today 