Animals Archives - Backwoods Home Magazine

How to buy your first sheep without getting shorn

By Anita Evangelista Issue #32 • March/April, 1995 Multimillionaire J. Paul Getty was once asked the secret of becoming rich. He's reported to have said, "I buy when everyone is selling, and sell when everyone is...

Brooder in a box

By Sylvia Gist Issue #80 • March/April, 2003 It's spring and the farm store has a tempting variety of baby chicks begging for you to take them home. Or the breed you've always wanted has been...

Good-bye old friend

By Lucy Shober Issue #27 • May/June, 1994 Big Poney died today. He was 34 years old and had been going down pretty rapidly over this hot, dry summer. His bones seemed to poke out at...

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....

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...

Broody biddies make sense on the homestead

By James Kash Issue #139 • January/February, 2013 Broodiness is an avian behavior that is frowned upon in the world of agriculture. All industrial agriculturalists cull broody birds because the behavior inhibits production. But to frugal...

Get to know your spiders

By Jerry Hourigan Issue #109 • January/February, 2008 Every landowner and homeowner creates the perfect environment for spiders. Not intentionally, of course, but spiders seem to like all the little nooks and crannies created from how...

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...

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...

Is that a good pig?

By Kim Dieter Issue #129 • May/June, 2011 Lean ham, roasts, chops, savory sausage, and thick slices of bacon are the reason pigs are raised at home. A typical meat pig weighs 200 to 270 pounds...

Keeping homestead animals healthy

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson Issue #169 • January/February, 2018 As a veterinary field technician for more than 20 years, I saw firsthand the frustration and heartbreak when animal owners called the veterinarian (or started treatment) too late...

Raising quail — A home grown delicacy

By Allen Easterly Issue #101 • September/October, 2006 Raising quail is inexpensive, easy, provides very healthy low-fat white meat, and supplies the fertilizer you need for your home garden. The moderate start-up costs for raising quail...

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...

Fermenting Chicken Feed

By Melissa Souza Issue #174 • November/December, 2018 On our homestead, we eat yogurt, kombucha (fermented tea), sauerkraut, and kimchi to add probiotics to our diet. These beneficial bacteria promote good digestive health, strengthen the immune...

Cheaper than Store-Bought Eggs

By Kristina Seleshanko Issue #177 • July/August/September, 2019 Something we heard a lot when we first started raising chickens in the suburbs was, “For the cost of raising those birds, you could buy an awful lot...

Shearing, carding, spinning, weaving and creating with Margaret Boos

By Annie Duffy Issue #52 • July/August, 1998 "If you're going to make something that you want to last, why not start with good quality material," says Margaret Boos who raises and spins her own wool....