Rural Living Today

Genetics plays an important role in a pig’s meat quality and overall performance. That’s one of the main reasons commercial and private pig farmers pay close attention to their breeding stock. As a pig producer, learning how to breed pigs is a skill that will go a long way towards improving the caliber of animals on your farm. While breeding pigs is relatively easy, the trick is in the specifics. The kind of boar you … Read more

If you intend to raise pigs, you will need fencing for pigs on your farm. There are several reasons why this is important. For starters, even the most domesticated pig breeds can go feral when left to roam freely on the land. Another, and more important reason, is that some states forbid free-ranging pigs. Even though states like California have strict laws on just how much space you can designate for your pigs, letting them … Read more

Certain goat breeds, such as the Alpine goat, have distinctive beards on their faces. Going by traditional gender rules, it would be natural to assume that the bearded goats in any breed would most likely be male goats. Strangely enough, this doesn’t hold true for all goat breeds. It’s also not uncommon to find a female bearded goat.  So, why do goats have facial hair, and what do they do with those awesome beards? Let’s … Read more

How much does a goat cost? The answer to this question depends on several things. For one thing, it depends on the breed of goat you want to buy and whether or not it’s registered with a governing body like the American Boer Goat Association — like if you are looking to buy a Boer goat, for example. Another key factor to consider would be the age and size of the goat. What about how … Read more

In a ram vs goat fight, there’s a good chance that the ram comes out on top. This is because rams tend to be bulkier in size and, in many cases, stronger. These are just some of the many differences between rams and goats. In many places, the two names may be used interchangeably, albeit incorrectly. For clarification, let’s look closely at both a ram and goat. Here, we will highlight all the key differences … Read more

Why do goats faint when they are startled? As you can imagine, every animal is born with a fight or flight instinct, and for prey animals like goats, the flight instinct is often stronger than the fight. However, some goats don’t run away when they are startled. Instead, these goats start running, and then, somewhere along the way, they stiffen up and fall over, with their legs remaining rigid for a little while. They look … Read more

It might sound strange to many city folks, but learning how to milk a sheep can be a highly profitable skill to acquire. While there are many different kinds of milk today, from almond milk to hemp milk and even coconut milk, the original milk trio came from cows, goats, and dairy sheep.  For about 10,000 years, people have been milking sheep, goats, and cows. Out of these three, sheep’s milk is the most nutritious. … Read more

It’s important to learn how to sheer a sheep properly. Not only do the sheep need it to survive through the summer heat, but the resulting wool could be a good source of income for the farm. Sheep farmers with high-quality wool breeds such as Merino and Rambouillet should consider selling their wool.  Make no mistake about it; sheep shearing is hard work. No matter how skilled you are at shearing sheep, the entire process … Read more

Ouessant sheep, known by many other names, including Ushant, Mouton d’Ouessant, and Breton Island Dwarf, is a dwarf sheep breed originating from the Ile d’Ouessant, which is a small island just off the coast of Brittany, France. The Ouessant sheep are believed to be one of the smallest sheep breeds in the world. They were only found on the island of Ouessant until the early 20th century. This breed of sheep is now found almost … Read more

There’s a hardy breed of white-faced sheep known for their tenacity, alertness, friendliness, and, best of all, their wool and meat production. The Cheviot sheep is a sheep breed like no other. Not only does it have a host of distinctive characteristics, but it also looks quite different from any other sheep breed. The first thing you will notice about the North Country Cheviot sheep is that it has ears that stand out straight like … Read more