Animals & livestock

Does your chicken need some help with their nails? Here's how to give a chicken pedicure. Image by Pexels from Pixabay One of the best parts about having egg-laying chickens is the fact they are fairly low maintenance when it comes…
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Edith Kershner, a fourth-generation sheep shearer, demonstrates how to shear a sheep at the 2019 Farm & Homestead Day organized by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association. | Photo by Aislinn Sarnacki Sheep shearing is…
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A healthy backyard hen can lay hundreds of eggs in her lifetime, resulting in a steady supply of nutritious and tasty egg meal options year-round. | Photo by Julia Bayly Whether you are adding chickens, ducks, quails or geese to your…
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Photo by Aislinn Sarnacki In the world of backyard poultry, ducks hold a special place in many people’s hearts. They produce rich, flavorful eggs and are — mostly — known for their charming personalities. Ducks are hardy by nature, and…
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BDN File Photo For many small farmers and homesteaders, cows are the white (or, perhaps, black and white) whale of livestock: always top of mind, but seemingly forever out of reach. Most cows are physically bigger than other…
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One-day-old Oberhasli goats at Treworgy Family Orchards in Levant, Maine. | Photo by Linda Coan O'Kresik Maybe you visited a petting zoo or a local farm. Perhaps you want to take control of your own dairy, meat or fiber production.…
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Mandy Wheaton milks a Nubian goat on her homestead, Wheaton Mountain Farm in Bucksport, Maine. | Photo by Aislinn Sarnacki For many dairy goat farmers, milking isn’t just a daily chore. It’s also a time to connect with each animal,…
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A sheep at Savage Hart Farm in Vermont. | Photo by Peggy Allen There’s nothing quite as idyllic as a flock of sheep peacefully grazing on a lazy summer day. Long esteemed as valuable livestock, sheep are gentle animals that are well…
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Anyone who has raised egg-laying chickens dreads noticing a hen sitting in the same place for days on end on a clutch of eggs, or on some small rocks or on nothing at all. When this happens it means the chicken in question may have gone…
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BDN File Photo For thousands of years the only way for humans to get milk from a dairy cow was by hand, a labor-intensive process that can take up to 30 minutes per cow. So it’s understandable that when the first automated milking…
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Chicks, foals, kittens, kids, piglets ... aren't baby animals just adorable? They're also a tremendous responsibility — especially for farmers. Here's what you need to go about baby animals and how they grow. Chickens (chick) …
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Photo by Rachel Vine from Pexels A particularly nasty surprise to find in a chicken coop, a lash egg is an egg-shaped mass of tissue, pus and yolk-like material. Expelled by a chicken (in the same manner as an egg), it’s…
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