|
www.ChildersBiz.com.au your online Guide to the Isis Region |
|
One of the advantage of living in this part of the world is that we have ready access to cheap, high-quality produce direct from the growers. Many of us are also lucky enough to have a few acres on which we can grow some veggies, have a small orchard, raise a pig or two (although the QLD government plans to put an end to that soon), run a couple of head of cattle, or produce our own eggs. Probably the biggest difficulty in doing all this is finding out where to get things. This page aims to make that task easier. |
|
Pigs, Chooks & Cattle |
|
Pigs |
|
Anybody who has ever raised a pig knows that they are smarter than dogs and as clean as cats (at least until they find some mud to roll in!), indeed quite a few people keep them as pets. Pigs have been domesticated for over 10,000 years, they are the oldest domesticated animal after dogs (go to the Cambridge World History of Food for more info.). Pigs eat almost anything, They are nature’s garbage disposal ..... more |
|
Chooks |
|
Chooks are another good disposal unit for food scraps. Again, they eat most things and in return provide you with healthy, tasty, fresh eggs. For many years we were told that it’s not good for your heart to eat eggs. Recent studies, however suggest this is simply not true. In fact eating eggs may actually lower your blood cholesterol level. It’s not really worth raising chooks to eat, unless you hatch your own chicks, because frozen supermarket chooks are so cheap. Unless, off course, you have an aversion to the hormones & antibiotics, etc that they feed to cage-reared chooks. Ditto for supermarket eggs. You can buy “day-old” chicks (which, in fact, are usually several days old) for $3.50 to $4.00. Boylans in Bundaberg sell them in season plus “point of lay” hens for around $14. An economical option is to buy 2 year old hens which have been culled by the commercial egg –producers because their eggs are getting too large, They should still have a couple of years of laying left in them and even if you only get an egg every second day, at $5 each they are a bargain. Most families will not generate enough food scraps to feed half a dozen chooks, but chicken laying pellets or coarse laying mash at $14 per 20 kg bag is a cheap supplement. You will also need to supply them periodically with shell grit which you can buy from the supermarket or collect from the beach |
|
Cattle |
|
If you have a few of acres of grass then a couple of head of cattle is a good way to keep it mowed. And you get great compost for the garden as a bonus! Dexters or Lowlines are good options for the hobby farmer as they are easy to look after and only yield 80 to 100 kg of meat when slaughtered. Home butchers don’t much like them for this reason, but Buck’s Butchery in Childers can arrange for your animal to be slaughtered, butchered to your requirements and packed ready for the freezer. Kooligum Dexter Stud are a good source of Dexter calves & cattle in the Wide Bay region. They also supply Dexter beef for sale at Buck’s Butchery.
|