My home internet is so slow that I can't login but today I have returned to civilization so I let's make a post.
Today, I want to share an introductory lesson on forage. What is forage? It's the plant material that your animals consume. We have to have this conversation because many people start homesteading with no idea of how to feed their animals other than to go to the store and buy feed. You will be very broke very fast and make having a homestead redundant if you heavily rely on external inputs.
Development of your forage strategy should begin before you get your animals. You need to have a good idea of the nutritional needs of your critters and what your land can grow.
Let's take chickens as an example. Maybe you want to have a decent size flock and you find that corn just doesn't produce that well for you and your are stuck in a cycle of buying cracked corn at the co-op. Did you know that chickens are more than happy to graze pasture? If you can grow some Timothy grass or alfalpa or any weeds that chickens think are tasty that is 70-80% of their dietary needs. Suddenly the sub par amounts of corn you can grow makes do. It is also very easy to take offal or any carcass and get some nice maggots going to fulfill the protein needs of your birds. Chickens are a forest bird and are happy to go scratch around in the leaf litter if they have access to woodlands.
Doing some tree trimming? Many trees have tasty leaves and fruits you might not want to eat but you animals will happily devour.
But what about winter? Chickens are happy to eat sillage (fermented grass). You can make sillage throughout the growing season and pull it out as needed. A lot of animals love sillage.
I'm gonna go now. Just wanted to get the noggins jogging. Maybe next time I'll post about making pasture.
I'll leave this my favorite resource for finding new things to feed farm animals.
https://www.feedipedia.org/
