We live on ‘acreage’ (about 25, 15 or so in pasture). I used to have horses many years ago - the fences are falling down in places. My SIL, who lives next door, has chickens & when they’re laying or not being eaten by foxes (she lost 5 in one night about a month ago), I get free eggs from bug-eating. very happy chickens. The yolks are almost bright orange rather than the pale yellow from store-bought. I take care of the chickens/dogs when they have to be away from home & eggs are my reward.
I would have cows for sure ... pigs are a bit more trouble so not sure about them; however, I have an elderly dad who lives on the place & currently, it’s a NO ANIMALS situation. The older he got, the more paranoid he became about the horses getting out, someone running into one with a car, & the lawsuit(s) that would follow. It’s full-blown animal (not just horses) paranoia now, so when he is no longer around to worry, I suspect we might at least have cows. I would like my own chickens, but my mom is anti-chickens on the place because she doesn’t want them scratching up her flower beds.
Anyway, both my grandparents were farmers with gardens/livestock so I’m “into” that & being as self-sustainable as possible. I have taught myself to ‘can’ produce (both grannies did it, but were gone by the time I was old enough to learn from them) & both grandfathers butchered cows/hogs (boy, the pork sausage they made was out of this world fantastic!) & of course, there was at least one old laying hen (past her prime for a layer) almost every week, who got her neck wrung for Sunday dinner, although beef pot roasts were also frequently served.
I do eat a LOT of venison ... relatives hunt & I think this year, I got about 60 lbs of ground meat plus some backstraps. This definitely helps save on the grocery bill.
Good luck with raising your own animals - it’s “rewarding” in a lot of ways. :-)
I let friends hunt on my land.
Last year, I got a ton of meat—wild hog and deer.
This year, zilch.
I saw more deer on my acreage this year than any year before, but my friends just couldn’t find ‘em.
I keep reminding them that the Indian word for lousy hunter is Vegetarian.