We found a happy medium mainly because we acquired outstanding herds when we started. Again, this was entirely due to retiring farmers looking to dramatically reduce their herds. Today, we have about 500 heads spread into six different groups (they really don't mix much).
Our milk herd is different again because it is somewhat optimized to produce durable milk output, the bulls are sold young. 100% of our milk cows are artificially inseminated to preserve the herd's genetics. Initially, we considered that our milk cow's calf could be integrated into a main herd, but it was really not a good idea. After weening, all our bulls go to the live market. We want to double are herd to just above 200 animals once the new milking parlour is built.
Our goats like almost everyone else in the UK are 100% British Saanen, which are great producers and docile animals. The bucks we keep are something else and during the rutting season can be a bit of a handful.
Note: On the 1200 meat birds, it's really not worth the trouble to raise our own chicks, some firms specialize in that business. Truly, the five costs of raising meat birds, in order of importance are feed, slaughter, manpower, fence, and tractors. The twenty tractors we will have this year, (I am actually building an additional three this winter) are deployed in one of our fields, which is surrounded by an electric fence to keep predators at bay (mostly foxes). For those who don't know tractors are moved every day so that the chickens always have fresh grass (they also have fresh water and feed at hand).
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