Outdoor Life Prepare for Anything Survival Manual (36 page)

If even rabbits are too space-intensive, another option is the cavy, also known as the guinea pig. These can be kept indoors, are easy to care for, and yield a small amount of meat that’s considered a delicacy in some parts of the world. Unlike rabbits, cavy sows have a 16-day heat cycle, which means you have to pay a bit closer attention for successful breeding. It’s also fine to leave a mating pair alone until the sow is pregnant. The cavy will have from one to nine young which reach processing age at 8–10 weeks. They’re small, but can still provide a vital amount of protein for your family.

The hardest part of raising livestock for food is the humane slaughter and processing of the animal. Even the most hardened homesteader will develop some sort of bond with his hand-raised animals. A faster process means more humane results for the critter, and it’s less unpleasant for you. Decide ahead of time which method works for you, and perfect it. You want to be as fast and as fluid as possible when the time comes.

The captive-bolt gun is a great tool for processing animals such as cavy or rabbits. This is a miniature version of what commercial slaughterhouses use for large animals like cattle or pigs. The bolt is placed on the middle of the head, just in front of the ears. A triggering mechanism releases a tensioned bolt, which impacts with enough force to kill the animal instantly. These devices don’t come cheap, though.

Cervical dislocation is a preferred technique for most breeders. The old-school method involves using a broomstick to pin the head of the rabbit against the ground while pulling the hind legs upward until the skull is dislocated. Today, you can buy various types of commercially produced wringers, or you can make your own from welded metal or cut from wood. All you need is a deep-cut “V.” Slide the head into that groove until it is immobilized and won’t come out, then pull the hind legs to dislocate the skull from the spine. The animal dies instantly and without any suffering. The drawback here is potential bruising of the meat around the neck and shoulders.

One other option is to use a gun. You might hear people extol the virtues of a .22, but the cost of ammunition and the noise from the report make this method less than desirable. For killing small livestock, a break-action air rifle is more than sufficient. You’ll want one that shoots above 900 fps for a killing shot, and use hunting pellets for your ammunition.

For most homesteaders, space is at a premium. Instead of having to devote a whole structure or outbuilding to processing livestock, consider just constructing a small, portable station for your work. A 55-gallon (210-l) barrel can easily be repurposed for this design.

STEP 1
Use a jigsaw or handsaw to cut the barrel in half from the top down. Leave the bottom 12 inches (30 cm) of the barrel intact. You can either place a tub in the bottom to catch blood and entrails, or else you can simply line the bottom with a plastic garbage bag.

STEP 2
Build a simple 2x4 frame on the outside of the altered barrel. Place the flat side of the vertical 2x4s against the vertical sides of the barrel, and attach them with bolts and wing nuts.

STEP 3
Attach a 2x4 crossbeam to the 2x4 legs and the barrel top. Another 2x4 length is fastened as a face plate at the top of the frame.

STEP 4
Affix the wringer and hangers to the crossbeam. Your barrel is now ready for processing (see item 165).

You can dress out a rabbit in under 10 minutes. With a typical litter of eight, a little more than an hour’s worth of work will put protein on your table for a week or more. Compared to the skill and time required to butcher larger animals, this is yet another way to increase the return on your investment.

STEP 1
Hang the carcass by its hind legs. You can use either pegs, sticks, or strings inserted between the rear leg bone and the Achilles tendon.

STEP 2
Cut off the head and allow the carcass to bleed out (about 5 minutes). Use high-quality, very sharp garden shears to sever the front legs at the joint.

STEP 3
Cut the fur around the joint of each rear leg, and pull the skin as far down the leg as possible. Then, make a connecting cut from leg to leg, being careful not to nick the anus.

STEP 4
Make an incision around the anus and tail, then pull the skin completely down and off the carcass. If you’re tanning the pelt (see item 291), slit the skin lengthwise along the belly. You can tan immediately, or roll it, fur side out, and freeze for handling later.

STEP 5
Make an incision in the muscle wall of the groin to begin gutting the carcass, being careful to keep all innards intact. This should be a careful slice.

STEP 6
Insert two fingers into the incision in a V to help pull the meat away from the guts. Cut the muscle wall carefully—don’t damage the bladder or intestines, as that will taint the meat. Once your cut reaches the ribs, stick the blade in deeper and shear down through the ribs. All of the innards should be easy to pull free.

STEP 7
Pull the gallbladder off the liver (it looks like a pea), and set the giblets aside to add to the processed meat. Don’t allow the liver, kidneys, or heart to fall into the waste bucket, as these giblets are edible.

STEP 8
Cut off the rear legs at the joint. Rinse off the carcass, then chill it in clean salted water or cook it immediately. You can keep the meat refrigerated up to 48 hours, or bag it for freezing. A vacuum sealer will also help keep the meat fresher longer.

The biggest challenge to raising livestock is figuring out what you’re able to raise. After that, it’s a matter of adequately housing your livestock. A good layout can make all the difference between creating a productive home ranch and losing your investment.

RULE 1
The more livestock you have, the greater interest predators take in their activity. When deciding how to house your livestock, consider how to protect them from predators. Chickens need a safe place to roost, but they also need protection from hawks and owls from above. You may need to clear branches or trees that overlook the chicken run.

RULE 2
Figure out which animals get along and which will fight. Pigs eat just about anything, including baby birds and rabbit kits. Ducks and chickens get along well, but chickens are aggressive toward small birds. Goats love to test fences, and they climb on everything—and can destroy even the sturdiest of structures.

RULE 3
Be creative with how you separate livestock. It’s easy to cordon off each area with a fence and call it a day. But it’s ugly and wastes space. Since most of your animals will want shade, grow squash vines at the base of the fencing. With a bit of encouragement to grow upwards (as though on a trellis), the squash will grow up and over the enclosures, providing vegetables that remain out of reach of your animals and large leaves for their shade.

RULE 4
Consider how plants can have multiple uses. Those same squash blossoms shading your rabbits also provide a kind of perimeter defense against would-be predators. Raccoons love chickens and rabbits, but they hate squash plants with prickly edges.

RULE 5
Plant honeysuckle, jasmine, or other fragrant climbing plant vines where you want shade; these can help to eliminate any potential odor problems caused by large flocks of chickens or cages of rabbits.

The greatest benefit to raising small livestock, apart from providing you with food, is providing you with an ample supply of fertilizer. Don’t ever let the poop go to waste. Make sure when you’re building your enclosure to include a catcher for the droppings.

CHICKEN MANURE
One of the best fertilizers, chicken manure is so concentrated it will burn the roots of your plants if you incorporate it directly. You have two choices: composting or resting. If you choose to compost, include the straw or bedding until it has broken down completely. A tumbler or barrel-style composter will break everything down within 60–90 days. Keep it moist and hot, and it should break down to a sweet-smelling black fertilizer at that time. If you aren’t in a hurry, you can add the manure as a layer to your compost heap or else line it directly into your garden in the fall and give it the winter to fully decompose.

RABBIT DROPPINGS
These are worth their weight in gold. Unlike chicken manure, rabbit droppings are “cold,” meaning you can put them directly into the garden. If you want to increase the nitrogen levels in your compost, there’s no rule against adding rabbit droppings to it. Otherwise, you can mix them directly into the soil around existing plants, or supplement the soil prior to planting.

Raising goats can be challenging and costly. Most people interested in goats, though, are more interested in the milk than the potential for meat. Rather than raising a herd yourself, locate a source for goat milk. Under normal (pre-disaster) circumstances, you can find goat milk in most dairy markets. Better yet, make friends with a goat owner so you can get milk straight from the source. Here’s an easy recipe for making cheese, one of the best uses for goat milk. Unlike other recipes that require a cheese base and special cultures, this approach will work anytime, as long as you have milk.

STEP 1
Heat a medium saucepan with goat’s milk to 180°F (82°C). It should only take about 15 minutes.

STEP 2
Remove from heat and stir in 1/4 cup (60 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice. Let sit until it begins to curdle (about 20 seconds). The curds won’t be overly large.

STEP 3
Line a colander with several sheets of cheesecloth. Don’t scrimp on the cloth, otherwise you’ll lose the curds. Place the colander in a large bowl. Ladle the milk into the cheesecloth.

STEP 4
Tie the four corners of the cheesecloth around a wooden spoon, and set it over a very deep bowl.

STEP 5
Let it drain for 1 to 11/2 hours until what remains in the cheesecloth is a smooth, ricotta-like mixture.

STEP 6
Transfer this mixture into a fresh bowl and add coarse salt, a grated clove of garlic, and herbs of your choosing.

This cheese is best eaten immediately, because the herbs and curds can deteriorate. If stored in an airtight container, however, you can keep it a few days in the refrigerator.