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yeah if i get to hard up for meat in the winter, i got 2 1000 lb white things in the pasture that will make for good eats... wife might be a little upset, but horse meat is big in quebec so why not here ;)
jeez you think amish took over out there, take a ride through chisholm, i meet more horse and buggy than i do cars lol
This is my ultimate goal, but we just bought a place with 1.84 acres, so it will not happen here.
The gardening thing, you can get your stuff really cheap if you do not need to water it and only fertilize when you start out at the beginning of the year. This year I have 2 70ft rows at my fiancees grandparents since we were planning to move before the harvest. So far I have picked enough cucumbers for 30L or dill pickles and probably about the same of bread and butter (I have them picked but I still have to make them). Potatoes take up too much room for how cheap they are. Roma tomatoes are the only ones I would bother with, I have 12 plants this year and if they do not blow over in the wind I am looking at a crazy amount of Tomatoes.
I just picked up a pressure canner for less then half the cost of new, now I can preserve full meals and not need to use my freezer at all, saving on the cost of hydro.
I plan on getting chickens next year, looking at a mix of meat and layers, and meat rabbits as well. I would love to have something that would cut the grass for me and in turn give me meat but I doubt that will happen on such a small plot.
Good luck in your endeavors, I do not suspect in this day and age that you could live off just wild game, but with a mix of wild and home grown I can see it being doable. I know there is talk that raising your own is not cheaper, I agree when it comes to off-choice cuts. If you were to live off only the cheapest of cuts then sure, it will be cheaper, but with bacon at $7/lb, steaks at $18/lb, that $4/lb beef side looks really appealing. (I got the beef side number off kijiji, it says hanging but also processed, so not sure how accurate, still would not end up at $18/lb for your T-bone, ground is even $5/lb, not on sale) Pork is listed at $2.79/lb, hmm.
on 2 acres depending what the lay out is, you could raise some animals for meat... something to cut the grass, a goat or 2 would work great ona small plot, some people like goat meat, never tried it myself... 1 acre of pasture would feed a cow, 2 cows if you supplemented with hay. depends on your towns bylaws of course...
when you buy the beef side you are paying for the hanging weight, so the weight of the cow divided in half, less the hide, entrails, head etc... so basically the bone in weight... removing the bones takes alot more weight away so that $4 lb will really be higher, but still cheaper likely then buying it in the store...
With a lot of thought, you can live off wild meat. That would require you, your wife/spouce to get their deer, and bear and even moose/elk. Going and get fish, fillet them etc and freeze them, shoot a lot of grouse. Migratory, definitly!!! And you will need to butcher and wrap it all yourselves, to save coin.
The issue is, what fits within the bylaws and how good or bad the neighbours are, ha ha.Quote:
Originally Posted by fishy steve
As for the hanging weight, they are actually listed at $3.79/lb, they say you pay for hanging weight and get 70% return, I think that means that after processing you get 70% of the weight in wrapped meat. So $1895 for 500lbs hanging weight, so $5.41/lb for 350lbs of meat wrapped in your freezer.
With extra lean ground beef in the bulk pack at $6.39/lb at Food basics on regular price the half a beef is by far the way to go. I just checked, Food Basics has ground beef on sale for $5/lb until the end of the day.
yuppers
sometimes you see on kijiji, guys selling them on the hoof for around a $1/lb... hire a truck to take it to a butcher, pay the butcher etc, probably get a whole cow for under $3/lb, split a side with somebody and ur laughin... especially in the ottawa area, lots of farms past ottawa, and the auction there sometimes sees cows going on the cheap...
I better go get a beater truck, a cow will not fit in my matrix, a deer will but not a cow.Quote:
Originally Posted by fishy steve
hatchback? you'll be fine... lol
i said hire a truck...
A lot of Township and County bylaws in Southern Ontario state that you must have a minimum of 10 acres before you can raise livestock , ie; cows , at least that is the way it was a number of years ago when we bought out in the country, some may have relaxed those bylaws.Quote:
Originally Posted by fishy steve