feralemma
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Post by feralemma on Jan 19, 2020 10:21:01 GMT 10
You can buy wheat off-farm, or from stockfeeders or seed works by the tonne in a truck, in bulka bags or in smaller feed bags. In WA we have a publication called the Farm Weekly that a lot of farmers advertise produce in, I'm sure there is something similar over east. It's heaps cheaper to buy it this way than from someone that sells it by the kg in fancy packaging, and is the same product.
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feralemma
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Post by feralemma on Jan 17, 2020 9:40:05 GMT 10
We sell whole and half butchered lambs occasionsally, and get $190 each for them....and thats cheap compared to what everyone else charges! It works out to around $11/kg dressed weight. I'd like to do this with all the lambs we produce rather than sending them to the sale yards, but would have to spend the time and effort building up a client base.
As far as decent chooks go, I prefer Australorps. They are tough, really good mothers, produce good eggs and a decent carcass. I do want to try king quail too as the turnover time for them is a lot shorter than the bigger poultry. I do muscovey ducks as well as they are good meat birds and lay better than chooks, they just require a lot of water.
The best way to save money on groceries is to start growing the stuff you use every day. Salads, vegies, herbs, fruit if possible and for us would be to get a milking cow or goats as we spend a fortune on dairy every month. And to buy farmer direct where possible for meat.
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feralemma
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Post by feralemma on Jan 2, 2020 11:10:18 GMT 10
Lol I did an ag degree at uni - ok so it was a solely ag based uni and on an actual farm - and I have only ever worked in or owned a business in the ag sector so my degree is kinda useful to me. But even I thought it was mostly a waste of time for someone who didn't want to be an agronomist, or go into rural banking, or work in/own/run an ag store and most of the knowledge I have actually needed I have gained on the job. It was a fun couple of years drinking and running amok between working tho thats for sure!
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feralemma
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Cheese
Dec 11, 2019 15:08:38 GMT 10
via mobile
Post by feralemma on Dec 11, 2019 15:08:38 GMT 10
I did see on a DDP episode some woman had dipped blocks of cheese in cheese wax and stored in a cool, dark room. Supposedly had a shelf life of 15-20 years. Lol. So just go old school and do it like they have done for hundreds of years 😂
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feralemma
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Post by feralemma on Dec 11, 2019 15:07:10 GMT 10
Pick up sticks and dry grass. Set alight, put hotplate or camp oven over fire and cook dinner. Way too easy. Yeah except we are in total fire ban conditions for 5 months of the year.....and it gets a bit hot lighting a fire in the house in summer when its 45° outside 😣
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feralemma
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Post by feralemma on Dec 10, 2019 11:25:39 GMT 10
We run our stove and hot water system off LPG gas bottles.....wonder how hard it would be to make up a system to run off horse poo (got plenty of it and yards need to be mucked out anyway) and hook it straight to the gas line for the house.....
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feralemma
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Post by feralemma on Dec 8, 2019 11:26:30 GMT 10
So if they grow where you are they can tolerate heat, drought and sand? Yep! Although I'm planting mine into a nice red loam so it should do better than my mates tree ... his is in lime-sand and grows and fruits ok. I don't think it gets any harsher than that! I think they are originally from the arid areas in China. I'll have to give them a try 😁 Despite real estate agents sometimes marketing farms around here as having "silver loam" it's really just beach sand 🙄 if they grow in lime sand they obviously prefer an alkaline environment
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feralemma
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Post by feralemma on Dec 7, 2019 23:20:13 GMT 10
Bringing this up is timely. I planted my Jujube tree out in the ground today. The root sucker method of propagation has worked really well. So if they grow where you are they can tolerate heat, drought and sand?
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feralemma
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Post by feralemma on Nov 30, 2019 8:01:54 GMT 10
The other plus with air rifles for kids is safety. Less worry about backstops, ricochets, hang-fires etc. And less chance of killing something they shouldn't 😂
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feralemma
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Post by feralemma on Nov 28, 2019 10:20:54 GMT 10
What's an air rifle like on rabbits? I generally use a 22 as that's the smallest I've got but one of the kids has asked for an air rifle and I'm definitely considering it. Head shots at close range (25m) work fine with my .17 (mid-range power) but that's it. Great for rats and pigeons if you have them in the farm sheds. They teach kids to be patient, get close and ambush at close range. They can use the low-mid power rifles indoors during crappy weather too (although I suspect the newer 'magnum' power ones will put holes in sheet iron.) I have fond memories of spending a lot of time on the roofs of the feed silos on the farm and shooting rats running circles in the bottom - taught me about leading moving targets in order to hit them. Or I'd scatter some grain on the ground and wait for feral pigeons to land down below and plink them off. I like the irony of shooting birds from above. Plus it was payback for all the shit they'd leave on the truck and tractors! Good point, the lessons learnt are far more valuable than anything else!
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feralemma
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Post by feralemma on Nov 24, 2019 14:50:11 GMT 10
I came over from another Australian forum which got overtaken by spam and shut down. We recently survived near bankruptsy caused by our bank being a total prick. (Short story, we got pre-approval on a loan, paid deposit on a house and then the bank reneged on the loan. Wife had just given birth.) Was literally eating plain bread rolls for lunch for about 3 months. Changed bank and now back on our feet and back in the game. Am budgeting around $100pw for survival stuff. Has the site been totally shut now? I stopped visiting as it was getting bombarded by crap and had been hacked.
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feralemma
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Post by feralemma on Nov 24, 2019 14:48:06 GMT 10
I love my small game hunting with an air rifle. Especially sparrows and starlings. Our cat even recognises my air rifle and follows me around waiting for a feed whenever I get it out. From an efficiency point of view it should work well as a hunting tool for people 'bugging in' in urban and semi urban environments where there is no larger game as a meat source. What's an air rifle like on rabbits? I generally use a 22 as that's the smallest I've got but one of the kids has asked for an air rifle and I'm definitely considering it.
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feralemma
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Post by feralemma on Nov 22, 2019 18:02:52 GMT 10
I can't see your average aussie cocky being part of anything as effective as the Boer Commando. They are too busy in-fighting over stock, fences and shared roads to ever be part of anything so cohesive. And they reckon blockies are useless. Bwahaha. You would be astounded at the pettiness of my third generation sheep farming neighbours. Most cockies are currently too busy trying to find feed to get their livestock thru this summer to bother arguing with their neighbours! Or out fighting fires 🤷♀️
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feralemma
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Post by feralemma on Nov 22, 2019 13:36:14 GMT 10
A small thing that dawned on me the other day..... I'm an old bald guy now for a good number of years... But even when I had hair, I wore it Marine Corps "high and tight" for the last 50 years or so. Sweetie is my barber and is quite good at it. So it stands to reason some good barber grade combs and scissors would be well to have on hand. An electric clipper until not useful anymore.. Do they still make the old style hand clippers ?? Seems if you find one it is all wore out and has an antique price tag on it. When my kids would want to pick on me they would say "go grow some hair dad" So of course I would tell them I still have all my hair, it is just on my back now. And that they were the reason it went grey..... I think I know the old style clippers you are talking about, and I've used them to hog manes on horses. You can buy them from horse shops 😊 Another thing to have is buckets, and 20-25L water drums with taps on the bottom. Nothing worse than having to pour water from a bucket while trying to wash your hands. Gas bottles for cooking and water heating. Gladwrap and alfoil. Spare sponges and scourers. Hand powered tools such as bit and brace, flour mill and mincer. Writing supplies.
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feralemma
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Post by feralemma on Nov 22, 2019 13:27:51 GMT 10
Plus a smaller gun, no one likes their rabbits or pigeons vapourised 😂
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feralemma
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Post by feralemma on Nov 16, 2019 17:49:03 GMT 10
Why are people so determined to pigeonhole themselves with such descriptions? 😣 it limits their ability to learn from anyone that is of even a slightly different opinion to their own as they are determined to be offended by everything.
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feralemma
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Post by feralemma on Nov 16, 2019 13:48:27 GMT 10
What is it that you feel you are really lacking? And what do you think are the most vital skills you need to learn first?
Be specific as there may be people here who can help guide you through some of them!
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feralemma
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Post by feralemma on Nov 9, 2019 16:47:31 GMT 10
Plenty of human zombies already, you can see them walking around glued to their screens 😂
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feralemma
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Post by feralemma on Nov 9, 2019 16:46:28 GMT 10
If it were the work of a state actor, it would have been in freeze dried form and normal customs detection won't pick it up, it is neither a drug nor explosive. Annual dairy export has not dropped for several years so whatever it is, can't blame farms not making money on export sale. Our two supermarket giants' treatment to the dairy industry is disgraceful, that is why our farms are not profitable. The farm gate milk price has dropped during the past few years. I am not saying that we should not worry about foreign influence, of course we do, but the news is usually all about foreign conspiracy, nothing about how the local retail giants screwing our primary producers. This may just be my personal opinion, an opinion typed during my lunch break inside a DPIRD building. Lol as a farmer I can totally agree that the supermarket giants are bending us over and screwing us! The only way around it is selling direct to the public....which then costs us extra in permits and the like, not to mention all of the extra work that goes into establishing a sustainable client base. A lot of the dairy farms that are now supplying the export market are no longer Auatralian owned, the same as the piggeries that supply the export market.
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feralemma
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Post by feralemma on Nov 8, 2019 14:24:57 GMT 10
Seems to almost be a concerted effort to spread these diseases and introduce them here 😡 it seems that not only will we be dealing with increased prices due to export demands, but we could also face the annihilation of our own livestock industries. I highly doubt this, if it is that work of a state actor, this is one dumb ass way to bring stuff in. You don't need much, just a small packet of freeze dried virus and a bit of "creative" planning will be enough to destroy our entire pork industry. Most of the regional players IMPORT our pork these days, it will serve them no good to bump up pork prices. As much as we should be worried about our biosecurity, ASF can be a blessing in disguise. Higher demand = more export income and hell we need export income. High local prices? Yeah sure but chicken is still $3.5/kg in bulk, pork price in relation to wages is very very low. Ask the baby boomers, meat was more expensive when compared to income back then. For as long as we can produce clean agriculture products, the worse off the rest of the world is, the better for us. Yeah sure, we pay more too due to demand but it is more of a inconvenience than health issue, we are not starving. Maybe we will eat less shit and be a bit skinnier as a nation? Make some money and lose some weight, why not. The news never seem to show the positive side, remember a year ago the news was full of mothers complaining about Chinese buyers shipping all the "good" baby formulas and there was "nothing" to feed the babies. I am speaking as someone with a degree in Food Science, the other Aussie brands are pretty much the same, the baby won't feel the difference. But yeah all of a sudden there was a national baby "protein crisis". This was just an inconvenience, the manufacturers and famers surely were pretty happy because they have screwed by two supermarket chains for milk prices for too long, some export income is welcomed. So far in the last 8 months there has been over 27 tonnes (!!) of pork products stopped by customs from entering the country thru airports. I'm more of the opinion that a certain country is aiming for bigger fish. What happens to our farms when ASF, or even worse Foot and Mouth disease, gets loose here? Farms go up for sale. Cheap. The same way "they" created a false economy for our dairy industry and then pulled out, leaving farmers in huge debt and having to sell up fully set up dairy properties. We are currently not a viable alternative source of pork to replace their own sources, as what we produce in a year is consumed there in 57 hours, and is expensive for them to buy from us. We do currently export some pork, but not much. I would like to see what happens with a 60,000 sow piggery that was planned and approved in a shire not far from us but didn't go ahead due to the slump in pork prices caused by over supply of the market.
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