Makes me glad I bought three meat goats this year, buck and two does. Most people around here have cattle but we don’t have enough land for that. The plan is extra retirement money but I’ll also be putting some in the freezer. Beef will be outlawed long before goat because hispanics and muslims eat goat and we can’t offend them. I’ll be getting some small breed of pig next year. A 70/30 goat/pig grind ought to make pretty good burgers and sausage. Ought be be getting four goat kids in a few months.
Meat chickens is the hard one. The Cornish Cross birds that we buy at the grocery store come from 4 distinct grandparent stock and the Cornish Cross can’t be breed true, not that they can breed anyway. They get too fat for their legs to support them after 6 weeks. They do have slower growing, more normal meat birds. Red Rangers, Red Broilers etc but they also come from four distinct grandparent and won’t breed true. The only alternative are dual purpose breeds but they grow really slow and are more active and hence tough.
Eggs are easy. I incubated some eggs from my neighbor’s chickens and have egg layers of my own now. I also kept a rooster so I can incubate some replacements when I need to.
And of course I’m doing a garden. Heirlooms so I can save seeds. Planting fruit trees, berries, hazelnut etc. All part of being able to live/eat a little better when we retire and have to live on SS if it’s still around.
We are all set on the veggies. We do the heirlooms also. We have also taken seeds from hybrid seeds and keep replanting until they revert back to the original. Sometimes the results are amazing. I would love to get a place to raise meat critters.