I have finished butchering all the Freedom Ranger meat birds. And I sold all my "un-laying" laying pullets except the 4 Red Stars and the Americana rooster, who will be going to a new home soon. So just 4 hens now. The least amount of chickens I have ever had. There are 2 of the RS that have been laying a beautiful dark brown egg every day now for the past 2 1/2 months. And they are ALL the same age. So they are all gone except these 4.
I was talking to a guy the other day who has a lot of Nubian goats, that if the animals on my farm aren't producing something, like meat, eggs, wool, milk, they have to go. I don't have the room or money to keep a farm animal that's not giving back. I have had Abby, my Lamancha doe, for about 8 years now. She'll be 12 in Feb. She just dried herself up last week. I went from a pint to nothing in a day. She should be bred again, but after this, I won't be breeding her again. The last 2 years, it's taken a few months to get to where we could drink her milk. I guess that happens with age? SO I was telling this guy that I'll need to find a goat retirement farm for her to live out the rest of her days. He said he keeps all his animals til they die. He said he wouldn't want to live on my farm.
But really. What do y'all do with older, non-producing animals on your farms? I don't think I could butcher Abby. I have had her too long for that. Or my ewes. And I will not take any of them to a sale barn at this age. That would be animal cruelty for sure. I might be able to butcher for dog food maybe. If I had to. If there were no other options. But he said he would let her live there the rest of her life. So I said I would bring her next year about this time if she's still living. And I'll come visit.
