Farm Animal Conundrum

[Scythe13]

There is frequently talk about hunting and the alike. I know because I start a lot of it. However, there is one obvious source of meat being 'overlooked'. Okay, that's a blatant lie, it's not overlooked at all. It's actually eaten daily.

Farm animals, e.g. cows, sheep, pigs, etc, are a staple of the UK diet...unless you're a veggie/vegan.

Granted, there will be farmers coveting their animals more than they already do. Wisely so.

However, the burglary in Wales that saw the release of the wild boars got me thinking. If the animals are stuck in a field, they're easy pickings, right? And not just easy for you or me, but for anyone looking for an easy snack.

There has previously been talk about seeing the zoo as a bit of an animal buffet, as well as talk about people possibly releasing the animals...great plan, lions running around the UK, just what we need.

I'm just curious if anyone has considered releasing farm animals into the wild with the hope that they would breed?

[Tarrel]

Not sure why anyone would want to do that, unless it was the farmer doing so on a humane basis if they felt they were no longer able to look after them.

From a food source viewpoint, I'd recommend keeping and breeding small livestock (e.g chickens and rabbits). Easier to manage than larger animals, fewer storage issues following slaughter (basically you keep them alive until you're ready to eat them) and easier to keep secure. Indoors if necessary.

[Scythe13]

That's the thing mate.

A cow would be way too much hassle to look after. It would attract attention if you kept it near you. Plus it would be an easy target, which would mean a HUGE amount of effort going into some else's stomach!

So getting them to be more 'free to roam' to make them harder targets, and increase the chances of a natural colony being produced.

[Devonian]

Cows and sheep in particular are always escaping from the fields, however, they never stray far away and can often be seen trying to get back into the field they escaped from.

Dairy cows simply wouldn't survive as they need to be milked daily, however sheep are more self sufficient and already roam free around large areas of moor land and Welsh Mountains etc and so would probably cope without too many problems

Poultry is probably different and could cope if they stay clear of the foxes, and again some breeds of pig would probably survive.

Most farm animals are however so domesticated that they are now distant relatives of their wild cousins.

[MaryN]

Daft idea, Scythe. It might work with some of the older and hardier rare breeds, but domesticated farm animals would miss their current dose of TV!

[Scythe13]

Completely agree DEV.

It was the idea of the wild boar that got me thinking about the creation of larger colonies of farm animals.

[Devonian]

Devon and Somerset has its fair share of wild boar already, and the numbers are increasing which is great!

But this is something I've recently been giving some thought to, as I own a small woodland and have been thinking if there is anything that I could introduce to the woods to form a wild colony of whatever.....

There is no grazing for rabbits; chickens would be taken by foxes; pigs/boar would wonder off; same with deer (which already visit anyway).

So I was thinking about pheasants or some other small game bird???? But again foxes would be an issue, and I'm not sure how well they would survive on their own? Obviously wild pheasants exist throughout the countryside, but in most woods gamekeepers would feed and look after/rear them, so I'm not really sure how feasible it would be to try and establish a wild colony/flock of pheasants?

[Scythe13]

The problem with pheasants, they're not really wild. Over 90% of the pheasants that are 'wild' have actually just survived the hunting season.

Thinking about it, wouldn't the wild pheasant be in the same situation as the chickens? If they can survive, maybe the chickens could too?

[Devonian]

Yep totally agree and that's the conundrum!

Though I think pheasants would be a bit more wary/street wise than chickens, but you could still loose them to foxes and/or them simply flying off!

Needs a lot more thought......

[Tarrel]

We also have a woodland, and have had some success in keeping chickens behind electric netting. The main reason we have them is to clear and fertilise areas of open ground ready for replanting with new trees.

We have 50m of specialist electric poultry netting, which gives us an enclosed area of around 150 square metres. The energiser is powered off a 75Ah leisure battery, which lasts about a month before recharging. The coop is sufficient for 12 hens but small enough to be easily moved around. Its door is controlled with an electric door opener on a timer and light sensor.

We have 10 hens and it takes them about a month to reduce all the weeds in their area to bare ground, depositing a good level of fertiliser in the process! After the month we move them on to a new area. So, they are basically free ranging.

The technique with the fence is to bait it (we use beef dripping). Predators are attracted to the fence by the bait and experience the shock. Apparently they then perceive it as am infinite barrier and have no way of gauging how far it extends up or down, so they don't try to climb it or burrow under it. Our dog tried it when we first got it, and he now treats it with the utmost respect! The main predators we have are foxes and pine martens (which are generally more aggressive than foxes). Touch wood, so far so good, even though our neighbouring farmer has lost several lambs to foxes.

We bought the hens at point of lay, and they a now producing 7-8 eggs a day. We're selling them at the door, and basically need to sell 2 x boxes of six a week to cover the costs of feed, etc.

Highly recommended if you have woodland.