Animals & livestock

Photo by Gabor Degre About 25 years ago, Will Harris, owner of White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Georgia, decided to change the way he grazed his land. Instead of allowing his cows to continuously graze on a pasture, Harris began moving…
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Mealworm in an oat substrate. | Photo courtesy of Robert Nathan Allen & Little Herds Good news: if your mealworms eat something nasty, you can still feed them to your chickens — even if they’re munching on plastic laced with toxic…
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Chickens are great additions to a homestead, but should not be brought into the house.| photo by Julia Bayly There are few things cuter than a fuzzy, warm baby chick. But close interaction or cuddling with that same chick or its adult…
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Rusty Metal Farm's Miss Kitty Carlisle and Chiclet tag along on a woodland hike. | Photo by Julia Bayly Thanks to Instagram and a really great outdoors feature written by my colleague Aislinn Sarnaki about people who hike with their…
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Escaped and loose livestock are common on working farms and ranches. Sometimes, a critter can remain on the run for days, weeks and even months evading capture before it’s finally cornered and returned to its barn. At what point do these…
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Chickens of all shapes, sizes and colors congregate happily on Rusty Metal Farm. | Photo by Julia Bayly I admit it, when I first decided to raise egg-laying chickens on Rusty Metal Farm, I honestly thought they were good for one thing…
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Raising Angora rabbits for wool is a lucrative, easy way to generate high-quality fiber. Certain kinds of Angora rabbits -- the ones that generate the most and best fiber, of course -- require regular shearing rather than going through a…
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Photo by Julia Bayly For those of us with backyard chicken flocks, introducing new chickens into the mix can be tricky. There’s a lot more to it than simply opening the coop door, dropping the new hens in among the established flock and…
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Photo by Aislinn Sarnacki Angora rabbit wool is prized for its silkiness and warmth. Raising your own Angora rabbits for wool can not only elevate your personal spinning and knitting projects, but it can also be fairly lucrative. “…
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Most chickens in small, backyard flocks live out their lives quite comfortably in and around their coops in the company of their feathered friends. But every so often you run across a bird that marches to the tune of her own, special drum.…
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If you're looking to raise your own meat, one of the most popular options for small homesteads or backyard farms are chickens. But before you start your flock, take a moment to learn about the different breeds of meat chickens. Not all…
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When the Maine legislature approved the state food sovereignty law in 2017, they were told it ran afoul of federal food safety laws when it came to meat and poultry processing. The original bill allowed municipalities to adopt an…
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