Animals Archives - Backwoods Home Magazine

Home Dairying

By Marcella Shaffer Issue #64 • July/August, 2000 There is a big difference between home dairying to produce food for your family and dairying to sell milk or milk byproducts to others. Since milk and dairy...

Once a day milking

By Patrice Lewis Issue #99 • May/June, 2006 It sounds bucolic, doesn't it? The simple joys of milking your own cow. Fresh milk, fresh cream, homemade cheese, butter, yogurt. What can get better than that? But when...

Finding the best dog for the country life

By Anita Evangelista Issue #63 • May/June, 2000 When you're looking for a dog to fit into your country life, there are few other topics as liable to get you into a fistfight. People get very...

Animal disease traceability

By Patrice Lewis Issue #137 • September/October, 2012 In 2009, small farmers and ranchers breathed a sigh of relief. So did people worried about another curtailment of individual liberty and those whose religious principles oppose microchipping. They...

Goat birthing and raising kids

By Jackie Clay Issue #112 • July/August, 2008 Dairy goats form one of the cornerstones of our homestead. Not only do they provide milk, cheese, ice cream, cottage cheese, and meat, but they also give us...

Where our farm animals come from

Issue #105 • May/June, 2007 We don't know how far back the domestication of animals goes. But we do know it is a process, rather than a single...

Build a poultry killing cone

By Allen Easterly Issue #135 • May/June, 2012 You've worked hard and spent many hours raising your pretty flock of meat chickens from eggs or chicks to nice fat fryers, roasters, or stewing birds. They've provided...

Protein — The Cornerstone of a Survival Diet

By Jackie Clay Issue #111 • May/June, 2008 It goes without saying that preparedness is not for "radicals" or "weirdos" anymore. I picked up a preparedness leaflet at the County Agent's office last week and another...

Hog butchering — Using everything but the squeal

By Charles Sanders Issue #142 • July/August, 2013 A 450-pound hog will provide a lot of delicious meat. Hogs are raised throughout our neighboring Amish community for many of the same reasons old American homesteads raised them....

Bovine basics for beginners

By Patrice Lewis Issue #122 • March/April, 2010 Congratulations. You've escaped the city life and are now the proud owners of your little plot of rural paradise. It's natural to start thinking about all the possibilities...

Slaughtering and Butchering

By Dynah Geissal Issue #23 • September/October, 1993 Fall is butchering time, a period of joy in the harvest of the year's work and of sadness that the lives of your beautiful, healthy animals have come...

Beekeeping basics

Issue #88 • July/August, 2004 Bees have been managed for their honey production for about 5000 years or so. Especially for the smallholder, beekeeping can be an interesting and rewarding pursuit. They...

A contrary guide to feeding animals

By Beth Greenwood Issue #135 • May/June, 2012 The Purinas, Cargills, and Con-Agras of the world would have you believe that they and they alone have the correct recipe for feeding your animals. I find that...

Raising rabbits for profit

By Carrie Peterson Issue #106 • July/August, 2007 Whether or not you are fond of rabbit stew, raising rabbits for meat can be a great experience and can even help swell your pocketbook a little. The...

Bottle-raise a calf

By Jackie Clay Issue #120 • November/December, 2009 If you think milk and beef are expensive in the grocery store, then you should think about raising a baby calf or two. Because corn and milk replacer...

Khaki Campbell ducks — The other egg layer

By Amanda J. Kemp Issue #126 • November/December, 2010 Spring brings the pitter-patter of little feet in the mud, games of tag, and raucous quacks. While traditional advice would have you with a yard full of...