I've got dairy sheep and it doesn't take much to do things sanitary. I milk once a day in the morning (lambs get them during the day) and out of my two got 2-3 gallons of milk a week. all you need is a stanchion to hold the girls while you milk. I like to give them alfalfa and a tiny bit of grain in the stanchion so…

I sell sheep raw milk because as a small farm its the only way i can legally sell it. I personally am a nut about sanitation so every sheep gets a soapy/iodine bath on their udders before milking and i sanitize my hands between girls. I milk slowly by hand with one hand milking the other holding a sterilized jar at an…

I've got dairy sheep, so thats my experience. I pasteurize my sheep milk and there is a definite taste change at each temperature point. Basically, it starts out sweet and if I screw up and get it too high (180 which is where alot of dairies take their milk to) it starts tasting salty and looses its sweetness.

Goat and sheep milk is naturally homogonized and makes great cheese. Sheep milk is hard to find (thats why I have a small flock of dairy sheep) but it tastes closer cows milk, not like goat butt. also, one gallon of sheep milk makes about a pound of cheese. :D

Excuse me as I nibble on my home grown, pasture raised, farm slaughtered under sanitary and human conditions pork chop over here....mmm...this gravy made with local lamb broth and mushrooms is to die for. I mean, it tastes great but wont kill me.

I'm still more hard-core than her. I have pubes AND stopped shaving my pits.

unless you are stomping your feet then, no. As the owner of small perky breasts who almost never wears a bra walking around letting the jiggle hurts. I change my gait when i go braless to keep them from bouncing. Running, sure, but just walking? no.

I give them waste milk from my sheep. Say a bit of turd falls in the bucket as im milking I can't sell it as raw milk and have a clear conscious. Too risky, though goat turds in milk sitting for a few days is how they make yogurt bacteria from scratch in Greece so maybe its not too bad. Still, I don't want to waste…

"1. Your argument of 'how it should be' is based on the false premise that there should be or always will be factory farming. My personal belief is that we can end factory farming, at least in the US, just as we've ended slavery, child labor, etc."

No...sponsored by people who want to change things so they actually do it themselves first to understand they whys then they can make co-operative change! Sorta like that, "be the change you want to see in the world" quote...ya know? I see the world in greys. not black and whites. Just because I understand why people…

I agree~!

Meh, I read farming articles and research stuff all the time. I used to be completely on the side of "lets shut down all factory farms!" actually, I still am...but now that I'm actually doing this stuff I see it differently. Are there farms run terribly? YES. But there are also ones run under decent conditions.

Hate to admit it: pigs crush their piglets all the time. I bred for mothering and try to do things all hippy free love let the animals roam free like. I let my youngest pig farrow alone in the woods like a pig "should." I figured her mom was good and gentle and she was small enough to not crush them. Right? Nope. She…

Totally far from perfect....but we got lots of hungry mouth to feed and everyone wants to feed on the choice bits...that means lots of animals have to be produced and die because folks refuse to eat the weird parts like tounge or liver instead of a steak every day.

As I said somewhere else: try craigslist "farm and garden" and hook it up with local farmers that way

I thought it was a good balance to the shrill sensationalism of the article. Do I think its right? No, but its a more accurate representation of how things are *supposed* to operate in a factory farm. Like having people in place to make sure all the animals are stunned and all their throats slit before going into the…

It was the first animal that I had even raised and killed...i didn't even kill him I hired someone to come out and do the deed on the farm. I made sure he was happy and relaxed, didn't know what was coming. I fed him well and thanked him personally. I really loved him but since I eat meat I felt like its important to…

Nope! I'm a "super taster" and my pallate is so insanely sensitive. Even though the were uncut and sexually active (they did manage to knock up their sister. according to the stuff i read girls weren't fertile until 6-8 months, boy at 11....they got their sister pregnant at 5 months. ?!?!?!) there is not a trace of…

There are also other problems with the hay. The septic systems in most facilities are designed for liquid waste. Pig poo is pretty soft so its nearly a liquid. When you add straw it clogs up the system and new systems need to be designed and installed. Companies renting facilites do not pay for those kinds of things…

How about having only 4 pigs? This is what 4 well fed pigs with 1 1/2 acres of pasture and 10+ acres of free range forest do. Granted, I have something in my soil that pigs love and when my biggest rototiller went to visit her boyfriend she didn't till at that farm and she was fed less. Still, several hundred pounds…