Self-reliance tips, rural living guides, and off-grid skills delivered weekly.
Unsubscribe anytime.
✓ You're in! Check your inbox to confirm.
The New World screwworm is back in U.S. livestock in 2026. Learn the warning signs, the daily prevention routine, and what to do if you spot an infestation.
Read More →Goats, cattle, hogs and the working animals on a small farm. Housing, feed, milk rules, predator control and the routines that keep livestock healthy through the year.
Chances are, if your homestead sits anywhere north of Texas this year, you have seen a fresh blanket of snow or two coat your land. If you live near where I do, that blanket didn’t just fall, but has lasted for several weeks now (and counting). We all love the fluffy white stuff for our…
Its the time of year when many ranchers are weaning calves away from their mothers. While this can result in quite a bit of bawling and, depending on where you calf pen is located, some sleepless nights, it also signals the beginning of a great time to start getting some pure, unpasteurized, unhomogenized cow milk…
Its been a while since we’ve talked goats on here, so I figured I should break this long-running oversight with a profile of one of my favorite breeds: Nubians! A hardy dairy option, Nubians have more going on than meets the eye. Read on for more. Heritage To start, the name Nubian is actually a…
Death on the homestead is commonplace. Sometimes it’s planned but many times it is not. And that’s one reason why most kids who grow up on a farm accept death so easily. It’s a hard lesson, but sometimes a tasty one as well… Shortly after getting our first homestead in Omaha, we decided to get…
It’s not a good idea to find a babysitter on Craigslist. It’s not a good idea to buy full-grown animals on the Internet either. Almost no one sells you their good animals. You’re likely getting a scratch-and-dent model that could be sick, nervous, or destructive. It’s a lesson I learned when I bought a ewe…
Love your animals? Have predators that love them for a different reason? Have a special, childhood attachment to Eeyore? Sounds like you may be in the market for a good old-fashioned defense donkey! You heard me right, that ornery barnyard brute may actually have a use beyond pulling a cart, and biting a chunk out…
Owning goats is all well and good, but how do you keep the critters fed? Sure they’re browsers, but there’s more to keeping them alive and nourished than simply turning them loose in scrub brush. What happens when the forage runs low? Or if a cold winter dumps feet of snow on top of it?…
Just as you build a house before you move onto land, before you consider getting goats, you need a solid plan for how to house them. Lucky for you, goats are a lot less picky than your last roommate. In fact, they’re about as low-maintenance a tenant as you can get. Read on for a…
Happy Friday folks! Last week, we left off our goat series with an overview of these hard-headed critters. Far from a unified species, goats range from shaggy mountain breeds to short-haired plains dwellers, each with their own varying characteristics and temperaments. Read on for five popular dairy variants, and some key traits associated with each….
As we kick off what I can only imagine will be a fairly long-running series on the rearing of our cantankerous caprine friends, as well as their broader usages, I feel compelled to present a disclaimer–I am far from impartial. I grew up caring for a small flock of goats, and they are far and…
Cow’s milk has been a staple on the American continent since the Spanish brought the first cattle to Mexico in 1525, and it’s not too hard to see why. Milk has a plethora of uses–from cereal, to cheese, to pancakes and more, milk can be utilized in just about anything. It is, however, not the…
