To: Homestead mailing list digest <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [Homestead] NAIS Praised on Local TV; Homemade Milk Replacer?
Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2005 18:10:24 -0800
I've long said that the nanny news is driven by journalists too lazy to
actually find some news, who just forward whatever hysteria of the
moment is being conjured up by government employees. The POV on speed
limits is provided by the Highway Patrol, the POV on school funding is
provided by local teachers, etc. And this was no exception.
The background caption read "Bioterrorism Threat" at the beginning and
end as the "journalist" spoke. The hard-hitting interviews consisted of
an air-head nodding as the government employee explained that we will be
required to "register" our property by 2009 in case the
government..needs...to.... (unable to come up with a polite way of
saying "confiscate" our animals). I'm sure none of this has anything to
do with that fact the beef prices have gone so far through the roof,
that now any Dick can practically mint money by raising cattle on COB
and hay right in the garage. There was also a lovely farm girl telling
us how nice it will be if your animals are ever lost.
I always knew that they would find some way to make it impossible for
anyone but the super-rich to own livestock. Maybe we could have a $500
registration fee, independent of the size of the operation, similar to
the licencing system for kelp harvesting. Lately a local feed store
closed, and the other feed store owners tell me that there's no money in
it. Once they've all closed, because most people may have just given up
on keeping animals, the rest of us who depend on the feed stores will
have no choice but to get rid of their livestock as well. Finally only
large-scale operations that order hay and grain by the truckload will exist.
What animals will even eat the grass? We have a pair of geese, but they
hardly touch the tall fescue, and acres of them would be maddening, I
fear. It's not inconceivable to cut all the hay by hand on our small
place, but do rabbits eat grass hay? If not, then the dreaded guinea
pig is about the only option left, if the grass is to be the basis of
any type of animal husbandry.
Because I found it so easy to raise cheap Jersey bulls seasonally, I
think the solution for us is probably to raise as much beef as I can in
the next 3 years, and turn most of it into dried beef. It can be
dry-canned so that no insects get to it, and it will keep indefinitely.
A person needs around one ounce of beef a day (well, not specifically
beef) to survive, and cooking oil stores indefinitely. These are the
only things required to survive (food-wise), to supplement a supply of
potatoes, beans, and fresh veggies from the garden.
The greatest expense in raising these calves is the milk replacer
powder. The label says it's mostly soy milk. The remaining ingredients
aren't hard to come by. Since they're just $5 calves, one could
experiment with various formulas. I'll check it out and see if there's
any info online. For all I know, eggs (which are plentiful here) are
tolerated by calves (but still won't begin to supply enough vitamin
B-12, which has to be supplemented). It's no mystery what the
nutritional components of milk are, and how to mimic them in
combination, especially if you can buy bulk amino acids (or did they ban
those too?).
I know some folks on the list make soy milk, and I just have to wonder
whether the soy milk itself would be cheaper, if we made it from bulk
soybeans, than the present cost of milk replacer (it's up to about a
buck a pound for the instant powder, which mixes in about the same
proportion as ordinary powdered milk, 3:1).
Bill
S. Oregon coast
[Homestead] NAIS Praised on Local TV; Homemade Milk Replacer?,
Bill Jones, 12/20/2005