Category Archives: Animals

Hi! Around here I wear many hats. Homesteader, farmer, homemaker, homeschool mom, gardener and builder. We strive for a simple, self-sufficient life on our little piece of paradise. Read more

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Posted in Animals

Tagged bottle babies, reality of farming

Hair Sheep

Posted on February 10, 2019 by Janelle | Leave a comment

Homestead in the Holler is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Sheep are a great addition to the homestead. They’re a small, docile animal that doesn’t require a lot of space and fattens up on grass. Sheep will follow you everywhere with a bucket. And I mean everywhere. Most people immediately think of fiber sheep, that tend to be high maintenance. Have you ever considered getting hair sheep?

Hi! Around here I wear many hats. Homesteader, farmer, homemaker, homeschool mom, gardener and builder. We strive for a simple, self-sufficient life on our little piece of paradise. Read more

Electric fencing supplies

Posted on October 26, 2018 by Janelle | 3 comments

Homestead in the Holler is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

On our farm, we practice rotational grazing while still getting our perimeter fencing fixed up. This means that we use a lot of electric fence. We have purchased a lot of movable fence posts, poly wire and reels and have found that they are not all created equally. If you’re getting started with electric fencing, it’s good to know what do you really need and what works. Here is the supply list of what you need to get started and our top picks of what we use.

Hi! Around here I wear many hats. Homesteader, farmer, homemaker, homeschool mom, gardener and builder. We strive for a simple, self-sufficient life on our little piece of paradise. Read more

3 Comments

Posted in Animals, Farm Life

Tagged electric fence, electric fencing, electronet fencing, poly wire, polywire, solar fence charger, supplies for electric fence, supplies for rotational grazing

Guinea Fowl

Posted on April 2, 2018 by Janelle | 4 comments

Homestead in the Holler is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Guinea fowl have a reputation for being loud and going where ever they feel like. Rightly so, they are constantly making noise and refuse to go into the coop at night. Despite that, guineas are an essential animal to have on your farm or homestead. If Guineas are kept right by your house, their noise may be a problem. We have a large property, so our barn is within walking distance from the house, but not right by the house. We hear their noise in the distance, but it is just another barn yard noise. Roosters crowing, cows bellowing and guineas calling.

why guinea fowl should be a part of your homestead:

Hi! Around here I wear many hats. Homesteader, farmer, homemaker, homeschool mom, gardener and builder. We strive for a simple, self-sufficient life on our little piece of paradise. Read more

4 Comments

Posted in Animals

Tagged guinea fowl, guinea fowl for tick control, guinea hens, guineas, guineas for tick control, guineas loud, how to keep guineas close to barn, tick control

Putting Farm Animals to Work

Posted on April 17, 2017 by Janelle | 4 comments

Homestead in the Holler is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Farm animals have an important place on the homestead. From the backyard homesteader to the full time farmer, producing your own eggs, milk and meat is a fulfilling accomplishment. We give our farm animals fresh food and water and the best care possible. But could our farm animals being doing more for us in return? We need to look at “the pigness of the pig and the chickeness of the chicken” as Joel Salatin puts it.

Instead of working against each farm animal’s natural instincts, why not have those instincts work for you instead?

Hi! Around here I wear many hats. Homesteader, farmer, homemaker, homeschool mom, gardener and builder. We strive for a simple, self-sufficient life on our little piece of paradise. Read more

4 Comments

Posted in Animals, Homesteading

Tagged animal weed control, chickens, clear brambles with goats, farm animals, goats, pigness of the pig, pigs, sheep, work with nature of animals

Getting started without permanent fencing

Posted on April 12, 2016 by Janelle | 4 comments

Homestead in the Holler is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

When we purchased our farm in the summer of 2014, we knew we had a lot of work ahead of us. Our farm had a lot of barns, most in disrepair. The fencing wasn’t much better. There was a lot of barbed wire, some of it was in good shape but most of the fence was in desperate need of repair. There were some rotten posts, holes in parts of the fence, the entire fence down in other areas. Despite all of this, we were eager to get started adding animals as soon as possible. We wanted to add sheep, goats, cattle and pigs to our farm.

From the beginning we knew that we wanted to practice rotational grazing with all of our animals. Rotational grazing involves moving livestock to fresh paddocks to allow the grass in the previous paddocks to grow back. How frequently you move your livestock depends on your situation and can range from a couple of times a day, to once a week. Electric fencing is often used in rotational grazing systems, with a permanent perimeter fence. Electric fencing seemed like a good solution to our fencing issues. The decision was made to use temporary electric fence exclusively until we could get some permanent fence built.

Hi! Around here I wear many hats. Homesteader, farmer, homemaker, homeschool mom, gardener and builder. We strive for a simple, self-sufficient life on our little piece of paradise. Read more

4 Comments

Posted in Animals, Farm Life, Homesteading

Tagged cattle, electric fencing, electronet fencing, goats, homestead, new homestead, no permanent fencing, pigs, rotational grazing, solar fence charger, supplies for rotational grazing, temporary fence

The Chicken Coop: “Coop Deville”

Posted on January 7, 2016 by Janelle | 13 comments

Homestead in the Holler is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

When we moved to Missouri we had to leave our mobile chicken coop, “The Eggmobile” (a la Joel Salatin) behind. Travis had designed and built that coop, but it was just too big to move from Colorado to Missouri. We sold the chicken coop to a good friend and decided to build another coop similar to what we had had before. A mobile chicken coop was a requirement for us, we wanted the chickens to follow the livestock for pasture sanitation and fertilization.

Hi! Around here I wear many hats. Homesteader, farmer, homemaker, homeschool mom, gardener and builder. We strive for a simple, self-sufficient life on our little piece of paradise. Read more

13 Comments

Posted in Animals, Farm Life, Homesteading

Tagged chicken coop, chicken house, chickens, free range chickens, keeping chickens, mobile chicken coop, movable chicken coop, open floor chicken coop

Goats Gone Wild!

Posted on November 13, 2015 by Janelle | 5 comments

Homestead in the Holler is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

We have been using electric fencing to keep our Kiko goats in all spring and summer, moving them at least once a week or more often to make sure they have plenty of food to eat. We don’t have goat proof perimeter fencing, some areas have no fencing at all. We are working to remedy that problem, but have had pretty good luck so far.

Suddenly it was fall. The leaves started to change colors into a beautiful world. A beautiful world where the goat’s favorite foods (brambles and woody plants) are losing leaves. The goats suddenly had to be moved every other day, they would eat every edilble thing they could find, and fast! We were watching the goats and their food supply closely, but one Wednesday afternoon when Travis and I went to move the goats, the goats were gone!

Hi! Around here I wear many hats. Homesteader, farmer, homemaker, homeschool mom, gardener and builder. We strive for a simple, self-sufficient life on our little piece of paradise. Read more

5 Comments

Posted in Animals, Farm Life

Tagged animals getting out, electric fencing, farm life, farm stories, Kiko goats

Raising Chickens: A Kid’s Perspective

Posted on March 3, 2015 by Janelle | 6 comments

Homestead in the Holler is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

As a homesteading, homeschooling family, we try to include our kids in what’s going on around the farm. Our son has been watching all this blog stuff with great interest. He finally asked us if he could write his own article. So, here is the kid version of raising chickens. It is really quite interesting to see what things are perceived as the highlights (by this kiddo anyway). Just to make things a bit clear, here is some background:

Chick Mobile: several years back, my husband built a brooder in the pole barn in CO. It was roughly 4’x4′ and when he finished, he set it on a wheeled frame he used for working on arcade games. It turned out to be handy to be able to easily move the brooder around the barn, so now our son thinks a brooder should be mobile… and hence the “chick-mobile”

Egg Mobile: we can thank Joel Salatin for this. Joel is always so creative with his naming, so we called our first mobile coop an “eggmobile” as well. Ever since our son can remember, we have moved our little layer flock around our property.

Scraps: all our plate scrapings and such are shared with the chickens. Don’t worry, we provide plenty of layer feed as well.

Hi! Around here I wear many hats. Homesteader, farmer, homemaker, homeschool mom, gardener and builder. We strive for a simple, self-sufficient life on our little piece of paradise. Read more

6 Comments

Posted in Animals, Farm Life

Tagged chickens, farm life, kids, raising chickens

Why We Love Nigerian Dwarf Goats

Posted on February 17, 2015 by Janelle | 24 comments

Homestead in the Holler is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Goats are a fun and useful addition to your homestead. They are a lot of fun to watch and the fresh goat milk is great! There are a lot of different breeds of goats to choose from, all of which can give good milk. However one breed of goat that is consistently overlooked for milk production is the Nigerian Dwarf.

Nigerian Dwarf goats are often considered pets and overlooked as a good dairy goat because of their small size. They may be smaller than a full sized goat, but to us, that is just one of the many benefits!

Here are some reasons why we love Nigerian Dwarf goats and chose to keep some in our herd.

Hi! Around here I wear many hats. Homesteader, farmer, homemaker, homeschool mom, gardener and builder. We strive for a simple, self-sufficient life on our little piece of paradise. Read more