STOP Wasting Your Money! Feed Your Animals For FREE!

[@ThePasturedHomestead]

If you'd like to know where your meat comes from but don't want to put in all the blood sweat and tears raising your own, check out Butcher Box! Right now they are giving away 1 years worth of Wild Caught Seafood, Organic Pasture Raised Chicken or 100% Grass Fed/Finished Beef with any order! butcherbox.pxf.io/c/5128698/1924745/16419

[@wheepingwillow24u17]

VERY SMART IDEA, I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN YOU WERE ANOTHER KENTUCKIAN LOL.I RARELY RUN ACROSS SOMEONE THAT'S IN MY STATE. I'M IN N.W.KENTUCKY. TAKE CARE.SUB'D U

[@flatout5815]

What I mainly got from this was....when starting a homestead don't get pigs. 😂 hungry little fellas.

[@aquadrops6138]

​@@flatout5815they are among the best composters along with chickens. You learn nothing goes to waste on a farm.

[@aaron-dd5zr]

The wild caught? Really is farm raised fish out in the Sea. Not actual wild caught. Corn fed. Go ahead, go catch a real Cod fish, Talapia, Haddock, then go get that wild caught labeled one. Then taste the difference.

[@aquadrops6138]

@@aaron-dd5zr really is no comparison in taste between nature caught and farm raised. Florida fishing girl here and love fresh caught fish.

[@helenahandbasket3016]

My grandparents always fed scraps to their pigs and chickens. They fed them other things as well but scraps didn't just get tossed. My grandparents didn't believe in wasting anything and it paid off very well for them. The only thing they ever went into debt for was their farm when they got married. They had that paid off in full in 3 years. After that, they lived debt free the rest of their lives. They ended up with 500 acres, 3 houses, besides their main house. My grandfather built those 3 extra houses for rental income and he made certain they weren't near his house or each other, lol. They had 3 large barns and he had 2 shops. One for building things, another for mechanical things. The waste not/want not lifestyle served them very, very well.

[@camojoe83]

Yep. That's impossible now.

[@Vega50513]

@artisanshomerepair5790 great response

[@cordybluejeans]

@artisanshomerepair5790 Great Reply.

[@helenahandbasket3016]

@@camojoe83 I don't think it's impossible. Always live under your means and work harder than you have to. Don't aquire debt but if you have debt now, pay it down.

[@frankieroberson3398]

My Great Grandmother fed her cats; scraps and they were the fattest and healthiest I ever saw!!!!

[@AgnesMariaL]

Tip: avoid feeding your pigs right by the fence line. It's always the muddiest area already from them walking along it looking for you, but they can also get so side-tracked by the food that they wind up on the wrong side of the fence, especially if the fence isn't working for whatever reason. We shoot a scoop of feed into the pen onto a clean, dry spot to get the pigs distracted, then we climb in and spread the food around throughout the pen, concentrating on areas that we want them to work. We have six pigs right now: a huge boar, two sows, and three youngsters. Spreading the food around into twenty or so different spots also ensures that the littler ones get a chance to properly fill their bellies without being bullied our out-competed ;) We get spent grains from a brewery. It's not exactly free, though, as it costs about $40 gas to go get those 4 garbage cans full.

[@cynthiacoring8602]

Our chickens rushed the fence line when my husband butchered rabbits. It sounds gross but those chickens loved meat. Anything left over from butchering they would eat.

[@KenHowland]

Hi Cynthia where are you from?

[@madeinussr7551]

Well they are dinosaurs

[@johnthomas5806]

before man started feeding chickens just grains they were meat eaters also....

[@Bob-gn8ph]

​@@madeinussr7551they are chickens and God made them

[@amyhoang9140]

@@johnthomas5806 they hunt for insects.

[@Trial-N-ErrorFarms-jk9iz]

Soak the whole corn in water for 48 hours and feed it. When I was a kid, after dad fed the growing ration and the pigs would slow down, dad would put out another 5 gallon bucket of soaked corn. The little pigs would GORGE themselves. They would actually SIT DOWN TO EAT. He had the biggest pigs for their age at the sale barn. He actually had a couple of buyers who would pay a premium for "John's pigs". Dad told that story all my life. I was about 6 so I barely remember it.

[@EthanPDobbins]

Fermented grains really are a good way to make the most of it. Soaking corn is the easiest way to process it if you don't have machinery. Unfortunately for me that usually means I've got to bring a 5-gallon bucket at a time in the house during the coldest parts of winter or it'll freeze. I've noticed pigs and cattle like soaked corn better usually, and they do grow better and theres far less left over in their poop when it's soaked.

[@keylanoslokj1806]

​@@EthanPDobbinsaren't modern corns highly hybridised and deformed from their original state though?

[@EthanPDobbins]

@@keylanoslokj1806 sure, but so is broccoli, kale, banana, wheat, and chicken. Domestication and selective breeding aren't bad. Hybrid just means it's been bred for better nutrition, flavor, texture, growth characteristics, ect. The "original" corn were basically just flint and sweet corns. These were open pollinated together until dent corn specifically reids #2 yellow dent was developed in the 1850s which is the foundation for most of the world's corn seed.

[@Ignatz71]

Came here to say the same. You can also sprout the grain (takes about a week or so). The shucks can go to the cows.

[@A.Chp-Schweppes]

You're right, soaking grain makes it more digestible, so that you take the most calories out of it and it's a good way to hydrate the animal efficiently at the same time. Sprouting it is even better.

[@darlenemurphy4968]

As a child growing up, my grandparents had a farm. I remember the slop pail that had food scraps and excess milk thrown into it, and this was given to the pigs. Memories, love them. 😊

[@ThePasturedHomestead]

Cant wait till we have milk to give them! Hopefully in March!

[@jamesbrown8718]

I remember this as well on the farm at my grand parents in her kitchen by the stove was a bucket that all the scraps went into. We had to save out scraps at home to take to them everyday as well all my uncles as well we all saved anything the pigs could eat to take to feed them. Cause we all had a part in the farm and all the animals. When we slaughtered our pigs in the fall we all divided the meat between our families. I miss those days, wish I could turn back time to those days again. It seemed me never worried about things the way we do today. Because people today are so dependent upon the grocery stores they would not be able to survive if they went away. I do still raise a garden every year and put up food and I buy pasture raised and grass fed meat from a local farmer here. It cost a few dollars more than it would at the grocery store but worth the money.

[@keylanoslokj1806]

​@@ThePasturedHomesteadare there any European pigs that graze alot, so that they don't depend completely on your feed?

[@del1009]

😊

[@juliemcgugan1244]

My friend raises Tamworth pigs, which she says are great at foraging for food. However, keep in mind that since they are more active and using up more energy looking for things to eat, rather than being kept in confinement, they will conversely take a longer time to reach butchering size. And every breed has there pros and cons.

[@Amber4]

The pigs eat the bread first because of the structure. They dont need to chew. Also pigs are very smart and instinctively eat the food that will perish first. Our hamster always ate the lettuce and raspberrys first and stored the carrot etc. Very smart.

[@deathmetalhablo]

Nice! I do dumpsterdive normally once a week and give the scraps to my chickens :) They love it :) Greetings from Germany!

[@anitabellefeuille7362]

My grandfather was a pig farmer in Kansas in the 1930’s. He would say, you can buy the pigs, grow the feed and break even, no profit. You can breed and raise the pigs and buy the feed and break even, no profit. You can buy the pigs and buy the feed and lose your shirt. But, if you breed and raise the pigs and grow the feed you will profit.

[@DavidWBIII]

I am almost there and getting on my way to living off grid. I can't wait to get there and leave this BS , corrupt world behind. This is great motivation and I am sincerely happy for you!!!

[@deathsalomon795]

Wish you good luck with that buddy ☺️ I am always thinking about that, too. But nowhere close to being able to buy myself a property off-grid yet

[@TheDragonSeer]

​@@deathsalomon795start small with what you have

[@N0ES]

Don't forget about Ruby Ridge.

[@TheSilentMajorityNation]

Good luck brother. Right behind ya... Hopefully less than a year away.

[@Bob-gn8ph]

Luke 21,36 KJV

[@ronaldlucas5360]

You can also get waste grain from any one making alcoholic drings. Food bank is a great idea. For bedding try finding a local lumber mill and get the sawdust or tree trimmers have shavings that works very well. The sawdust or shavings can turn to mulch within 1 yr if stacked up outside and let it turn to mulch. Also if you grow kale, fodder beet or potatoes both pigs and cattle love them and they have natural protein. You can just let the cattle or pigs onto the fields and they can harvest. There are other grain or grass type that you can sow the seed and then when ready you can let them on the fields and rotate them off and get regrowth.

[@augustagootee6254]

Be careful with wood chips cedar not good for chickens

[@juliemcgugan1244]

Esp if it is lumber that has been chemically treated.

[@davidelliott7231]

It’s so refreshing seeing a young man such as your self working so hard and accomplishing so much on your homestead for you and your family! I’m trying to install these same work ethics and practices to my 2 young sons. Keep up the good work and thanks for another great video. God Bless

[@ThePasturedHomestead]

Thank you, and I think that’s wonderful. We hope to do the same with our future children

[@the13xiii52]

Your 2 young sons would be better off with 21st century skills. Working hard just to work hard or just to get someone else rich won’t serve them after 30. And hopefully they’ll live past 90.

[@PeterSedesse]

Really great video. I would suggest you try to experiment with fodder beets (sugar beets) instead of corn, it takes much less to process it for animal feed at the end and digests easier. My fodder beets are usually 15-20lbs each and with mature chickens or pigs, you can just throw them in with no processing at all. You also get the beet greens. I store my beets a week, so each week I harvest enough for that week, but actually feed the beets I harvested last week. This allows them to sweeten up, which the animals love.

[@TrickleCreekFarm]

My Great Grandfather talked about the days of using fodder beets for his cattle, I would have loved to have learned more. He mentioned that they stored them in the barn and had to cut them up into pieces for them. Your method fills in a gap for me and helps be consider better methods for my resources- thank you!

[@PeterSedesse]

@@TrickleCreekFarm I don't have cattle, but for pigs and chickens you can just hit them on something solid and the split open, which is enough. And yeah, they can store over winter and get sweeter the longer they store.

[@allisonb.8356]

Wow Thank You So Much for sharing! I am going to see if I can supplement my cattle and chickens

[@brewsterly2927]

Sugar beets are very low in Protein .

[@Mike-vn3lt]

I'm an Iraq Marine veteran, my wife and I are trying desperately to get out to Colorado and start homesteading, but I am currently embroiled in a legal dispute with the VA concerning my last 12 years of "care" and my current disability rating of 50% (for two physical disabilities, two mental health diagnosis, and two autoimmune diseases from burn pits). I really appreciate your videos because for us the struggle will consistently be affordability and sustainability. Your content is incredibly informative and inspiring, please keep sharing your tidbits and teachable moments, I've actually got a page in my Notes app thats just a list of dos and donts ive learned here and a couple other YTers. Keep up the good work! Good luck and God bless! ❤

[@susancnw59]

Be careful in CO. The regulations & laws are growing worse. We left 18 months ago to come back home to Tx due to increased costs there & the fash.isty gov.

[@Mike-vn3lt]

@@susancnw59 what regulations laws and costs if you dont mind my asking? I'm pretty ignorant in the way of state regulations lol.

[@TheRainHarvester]

​@@Mike-vn3ltcan't collect rainwater.

[@Bob-gn8ph]

I lived in Colorado for 25 years it has turned into a tyrannical gestapo Ville😮 move there and you will find out....Luke 21,36 KJV

[@Mike-vn3lt]

@@TheRainHarvester False. "Most homeowners in Colorado are now allowed to use rain barrels to collect rainwater. A maximum of two rain barrels with a combined storage of 110 gallons or less are allowed at each household."

[@hiissh]

I've been watching your videos recently, I have to tell you....."you are such a hard worker and it clearly shows how much passion and love you have for the things in your life." Good man.

[@homesteadgamer1257]

You absolutely had me at "trust our animals." I only raise chickens and meat rabbits so far (the goal is to get cows and pigs and sheep, too), but animals are 100% instinctual. Sure they like their treats just like humans do, but they know what not to eat and they know what is good for them, and things like cookies and chocolate just aren't found naturally in nature (though I do have one hen that LOVES chocolate chips lol). I love that you're helping out your local food bank, as well, this way. I just started getting boxes of scraps from the only local grocery store in my small town. It really helps the stores out a LOT because otherwise it's wasted money, and when I was in my early 20s working at Walmart, every day twice a day there were boxes and boxes of produce that just went down the garbage chute. SO wasteful, which no store wants. Some stores may charge a very small fee for a huge box, but only like $2-5, and you get enough to feed small animals for at least a day or two. It absolutely beats $20+ for a bag of feed that is mostly dead GMO soy and corn and little else. People tend to forget that livestock animals were original wild species, and they would eat literally any fresh produce they could find, including grass. Wild tomatoes, wild corn, wild berries, you name it. God designed most of our livestock animals as natural wild garbage disposals, so to speak. They know what berries to stay away from, they know what they're able to peck into and what is too hard to eat. Some animals, like chickens, have that gag reflex so if they do happen to eat something too big or it's giving them a bad feeling, they regurgitate. And what some animals can't eat, others can. Animals (and insects) are quite literally designed to keep the planet clean of debris that would prevent new plants from growing. Another wonderful option is getting a bag of organic seeds, like a 6-way blend with lentils and sunflower seeds and wheat and oat and millet and flax (or making your own blend; can be more expensive though), and letting them sprout either in the bags or on the coop grounds. That method is more expensive up front, but it definitely pays off over time, especially if you don't have room to let your animals free range.

[@MelissaCoup]

You are the first and only person I've seen use the food bank that way. We had orchards near our house so we'd sneak in and get the old fruit off the ground for our compost pile. Worms sure love pears! Happy Monday to you

[@gorgo4910]

I remember visiting an orchard that had the sheep in with the trees to eat the fallen fruit :)

[@wherezwaldoz2380]

Right on 🤜⚡️🤛 Our local grocery store has a guy that comes and picks up scraps. BUT--- Out back there's more scraps from other departments thrown out-- Appreciate you getting this info out there-- the benefits go all around-- I'm consistently blown away by the level of waste just here on a local level.

[@geanitsucuneli4791]

Try to cultivate Sugar Beets.Your production will be more then 25tones/acr.Very juice and sweet you will mix it with corn and soya powder ,will come out like sweet soup.Pigs will love it!

[@TheCajunHomestead]

Let your grains soak in water for a day or so. We fed our or pigs rice bran but by allowing it soak in water and ferment, makes it smell like stale beer or bread They will tear it up.

[@etsgrannieannie]

If you move the pigs to a different section in the spring you will find that they have planted and fertilized their own garden. ..$0.

[@juliemcgugan1244]

Yep, rotational grazing is in my plans for keeping pigs and goats, in the future!

[@sam.man.TX22]

Using a food bank is a super great way to do it. Works for everyone. No actual waste.

[@puddintame7794]

Food bank, day old bread store, apple cider presses, anyplace where food is processed and waste is free.

[@johndeaux8815]

Another great place is a brewery, they usually have a LOT of waste barley, especially if it's a bigger brewery.

[@holisticheritagehomestead]

Excellent idea! We feed scraps to our chickens, pigs, and rabbits. We own a restaurant, so we have access to lots of food scraps. Feed prices, like many other prices, have gone up. It’s important to be resourceful and not waste. Whatever scraps that we give to our chickens that they don’t eat, becomes compost. Thank you for sharing!

[@ThePasturedHomestead]

That’s wonderful! Great resource for scraps!

[@ryangshooter_1682]

I did the food bank thing For a while About a year I just didn't have enough animals for it to make a dent I was the only person taking their extras But they wanted me to take all of it Or nothing I would have an entire sixteen foot by eight foot trailer At max capacity Full of food My animals did not even make a dent My problem was the food started to rot really fast especially in the summer I ran out of places to put it Then I was left with nothing but rotten food boxes and plastic Everywhere So I had to stop.

[@teresajames5993]

Yes feed those scraps, as a kid , we had pigs and used, primarily, a load of outdated Lays products, cheesies, potato chips, corn chips etc and at the processors he said they were the best meat, less fat pigs he’s butchered in a long time. ❤ you feed your pigs like you’re doing 🎉 happy new year🎉🎉

[@KenHowland]

Hello teresa where are you from?

[@rosemaryjasper1121]

Only just found you and have binged watched you up to date! I love your style of presentation. It’s straight forward and to the point! It’s pretty obvious that your animals have a great life, they are well cared for and are happy! As the saying goes “happy animals make happy meat “ I’ve been entertained by every thing I’ve watched you are knowledgeable and don’t mind passing that knowledge on to others, many are not so generous. I look forward to seeing what this new year brings to you and your family❤️

[@jayburgher6780]

It's great to see this stuff not go to waste but that packaging is SO difficult to manage. Also, it's a shame that government regulations consider this "garbage feeding".

[@stanleygallman7800]

Zach thanks for sharing the updates on the type of things that you and Ashlyn are doing on your homestead and I do hope that you are able to inspire others who may be considering talking this Homestead journey. Good luck with all that you are doing 👍🏾

[@ThePasturedHomestead]

I hope so too!

[@helenahandbasket3016]

@@ThePasturedHomestead you are inspiring others. My neighbor's son and his fiancé watch all of your videos. They're planning on buying a property soon to start a homestead. He is who sent me a link to one of your videos and I've been watching you since then. I'm no homesteader but I'm thinking of buying a few chickens in late spring. I like the idea of having my own farm fresh eggs. I do a lot of baking. Fresh eggs would be great for that plus I just think I'd enjoy having a few chickens. I know my dogs would love it. They've visited chickens before and loved them. They don't try to kill them or hurt them in anyway.

[@wherezwaldoz2380]

​@@helenahandbasket3016Yes! Cheers to chickenz!

[@SuperAbcdabcdabcdabc]

Hello from PEI Canada. Bravo!!!!! Your videos are very informative, plus the quality and editing are excellent.

[@BarbaraMcLamb]

Another great free source is food processing facilities. We have a local sweet potato processing center that ships out to canning companies. I know of at least one huge cow farmer that gets their scraps by dump truck loads, the culls and such. I would certainly check them out and get on their lists. A benefit to all and saves landfills filling up.

[@barbiegarvey129]

My husband and I just found your channel. We just binge watched for an hour almost 2 hour’s 😂 congratulations on your engagement and you’ve gained followers on our farm!

[@ThePasturedHomestead]

Thank you so much!!

[@luisguerrero-jo4mi]

Yes that work for the animals that you have.. I have goats my self and when I first started I have the same idea about saving money on food..but quickly realized that I was missing on nutrients and minerals and started buying food for them.. I then bought a few goats from a man who has a big land, owned a business and have a great big house.. I bought his goats because they wore the cheapest around.. I told them home and one by one started to die.. only that ones I bought from him and the others where ok.. then I remember that one of his employees told me that the man feed his goats with biscuits.. my conclusion is that their goats have a hard time adapting from eating biscuits to my goats feed and so they die.. Unfortunately I have not hable to go cheap on my feed instead decided to add better feed and have got better results.. I do understand your mentality but it will only work with some animals and not all. Thanks for your video.

[@Gods_creation.His_harvest]

Doesn’t what you feed the pigs affect the quality of meat. Is they are eating a bunch of white bread processed food etc. is that going to be healthy meat? Just asking.

[@HowWereLivingGardeningChannel]

Food banks are a great idea, and there are so many other similar places you can get your hands on LOTS of expired food. As you mentioned at the end, restaurants would be a good place to look, as well as cafes and bars. Box stores like Walmart and grocery stores are also a good bet, if you can get them to agree to it (or are okay with dumpster diving lol). When I worked in a restaurant years ago, I was allowed to save the root ends of green onion stalks for planting, and ended up with hundreds of green onions growing in my garden for free 👍 I also had people at the restaurant I worked at and the cafe down the street saving me big bags of used coffee grounds for composting, and I’d regularly bring people produce from my garden to share.

[@plamenavramov7568]

When I was growing up, we were feeding our pigs in our farm with the food you mentioned, but we were mixing it in big buckets with warm water until it turns mess we never threw the food on the ground. We had pig feeders.

[@Marilou-g5t]

Check out regenerative grazing methods like Joel Salatin, Gabe Brown, Greg Judy, Ray Archuleta, Will Harris, Allen Williams, Jim Gerrish, Steve Kenyon,...to minimize need of hay for your ruminants.

[@margaretcameron1275]

@user-kv2pt4lu9y Also check out Glenn Elzinga of Alderspring Ranch. Him, his wife and 7 daughters do a fantastic job raising their cattle in the mountains of Idaho every summer. I could write several paragraphs regarding my admiration for this family and every fabulous thing they do for planet Earth. I also greatly admire Will Harris of White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Georgia. Another man who grazes his animals as he regenerates his land for them. Ck him out also.😊

[@Marilou-g5t]

@@margaretcameron1275 love Will's interviews! Check out the cartoon in 100,000 Beating Hearts. Will check out Glenn, thanks!

[@margaretcameron1275]

@user-kv2pt4lu9y I love his interviews too. I love his accent, the timber of his voice, no bs and tells it like it is in occasional salty language. Love his bone broth and ground beef too.

[@2shay337]

or like in other countries the black soldier fly larvae is 47% protein. And feed live larvae to chickens, but the adults dead flies and larvae ready to go to pupae stage are ground/dried into meal for all other animal feed.

[@redneckengineering]

We grind and mix our own feed for quail about the same way you do, just a fyi if you want actual 16% protein they measure it by weight not volume 1lb bean meal to 4lbs corn your mixture will be a little higher in protein than you are expecting ground corn tends to be a little lite on weight per scoop. something to think about it will help save on the bean meal compared to what you are currently mixing. love the videos keep up the great work sustainability is a great goal to have!!

[@lauriekerze3461]

Please share with me your recipe

[@TheRainHarvester]

What do you grind for them?

[@coreysmith2774]

When I raised pigs, I would get a lot of food scraps from the local school cafeterias.

[@extraincomesuz]

Penelope was swiping her bread through the grain, making a veggie sandwich!😍 Also we used to shell/shuck our own corn in the evening while watching TV. There would be 6 buckets and everyone had a stack of corn ears. Memories!😂❤🎉 Since Muslims don't eat pork, I can't raise pigs but I have chickens and they are so spoiled because they get scraps, access to the compost pile occasionally, feed, and free range. I'm trying to grow corn to feed them but the neighbor's cows got to the corn first.😢 Now I have barbed wire up.😅

[@foxfire3978]

Grandpa away mixed the grain with water in the bucket and made what they called slop, food scraps was also in the slop bucket, the pigs love it. He would pour it out in a homemade V shape trough made of wood. Grandma would just throw whole ears of corn over in their pen and they would grind it up themselves.

[@teresahiggs4896]

That’s how my dad did it, the slop and the v shaped trough .

[@teresahiggs4896]

I love the idea of being self sufficient in feeding your animals. If you buy all your feed then you are dependant on the system that you are supposed to be trying to be less dependant on. What happens if something in that system goes wrong? Like during Covid when there was transportation issues. In my opinion, it’s way better to try and find sustainable ways to feed your animals that doesnt depend on the system.

[@aquadrops6138]

Idea for stripping corn from cob. Get an old bundt pan and a hole saw. Cut the top center flat edge out and sharpen edge. Just push the cob through the center hole. Wear gloves while doing.

[@BroScro]

for pig feed it's best just to get a feed mill and mill entire cobs. you're going to be working with several tons of feed raising 10 pigs. a big feedlot raised pig like a duroc could take 1 ton of feed by processing day.

[@drileydriley2814]

I SO THOROUGHLY enjoy your videos. SO helpful, unformatted, etc. BLESS YOU.

[@ThePasturedHomestead]

I’m so glad!

[@lmkeilwitz]

The only problem with that is the GMO and pesticides on the produce and in the bread. The whole point of raising and growing our own food is to become healthier and if we feed our animals GMO and pesticides, then that makes the meat and eggs unhealthy. Back in the day it was just fine to feed these scraps to our animals, but now so many vegetables and fruit are GMO and that translates to lots of pesticide used on the crop. The bread is filled with preservatives and added ingredients for shelf life that are really bad for our bodies. The best way to combat that is to eat organic yourself and save your own food scraps for the animals and to grow as many crops for your animals as possible organically.

[@Nurk0m0rath]

Composting is good for chickens, if you haven't seen that around yet. Not only the scraps and weeds you toss in but bugs and microbes make good snacks and incentivize them to scratch it up, doing half the work for you on top of adding their own brand of nitrogen to the pile. Sadly not all your ideas will work here in Western Colorado but I am definitely going to look into the food bank thing, it'll be good compost material if nothing else.

[@karlafreeman924]

We love the "farm food" from the food bank. We also feed spent brewers grains from a local brewery. Feeding pigs and poultry. Something to look into if you haven't already. Loved this video!

[@bizzybee852]

This was great information for all homesteaders and animal owners. Thank you.

[@troystutsman1400]

My grandparents had a dairy farm with a huge corn crib… I always found it very relaxing hand shelling corn…

[@randoir1863]

Another farm channel on YT got really inventive and was lucky to get some used brewer's grains for their pigs . They also have apples trees , so any ground apples became pig food as well .

[@Beverlyshillbillyhomestead]

We planted a bunch of fruit trees too so going to supplement with that also.

[@shellysheff8584]

Love your channel!!❤ I'm wanting to start homesteading and actually have looked into KY land- so much cheaper than other areas! It will just be me and possibly my Mother so dont need too much. Thanks for the great content and i look forward to seeing more!!

[@ThePasturedHomestead]

Thank you! I hope you find the right place!

[@mikejones3155]

Me and my wife are looking at Kentucky as well..

[@pooleyclan1]

I watched a video awhile back where someone bought in east Kentucky and they had all kinds of problems from locals not wanting them there. Vandalism, theft, they were run off by pew pews when trying to befriend their neighbors to give them eggs, they were blackballed so no one would hire them, and other things. Make sure you thoroughly vet the area before buying.

[@sharon3017]

Buy a bunt cake pan, push your ear of corn straight through the center of it bingo the ear is clean as can be .Fast ans easy. Love the bigs.

[@FranLu-qs2xv]

This showed up, I watched, then you said Kentucky. Aww-born in KY, lived other places & came back. Love it. Such an interesting video. Glad it popped up in the recommended. Loved seeing the corn rolling off the cob-that took me back to my youth! Thanks. Take care.

[@benkenobi4937]

Man I think about a lot of things. Sometimes I think about your channel. And when I do, I think about how much I like what you're doing, and how much you're sharing. Keep on keeping on, from Australia.

[@ThePasturedHomestead]

Thank you!

[@danielleterry2331]

My chickens go through the veggies b4 they touch any feed. They got the feed available to them and scraps is a healthy treat

[@KenHowland]

Hello Danielle where are you from?

[@TheFeralFarmgirl]

If you shell corn by hand, you can do it within a large empty wading pool or round trough. You can help catch the stray kernels that fly off away from the bucket. That's money on the ground, and a temptation for vermin. 💟

[@jdaly5822]

It would be amazing to offer the food bank the opportunity to purchase some animals to include in your numbers and see if they may come out and assist you in raising, and the harvest. You are a very clear and honest speaker. Perhaps also being an excellent teacher for a homestead butchering class. Just an idea , also a way to give back and be part of your community. Love your neighbours!

[@thomasrape4616]

Those corn tops can also be chopped up and packed into barrels to ferment into silage.

[@aaronfurlough7503]

I soaked whole kernel corn in water so it didn't run thru my hogs then liked it more . Always fed my cows some grain everyday. I can see by your set up, my income was much more limited.

[@teresahiggs4896]

My dad used to go to restaurants and collect food scraps that they would usually just throw away. and feed that to our pigs.

[@marschlosser4540]

We would make chop, chopped up ears of corn, and fed it to everything but chickens. Cobs are high in energy as are shucks.

[@lefty0741]

Check with local bakeries and supermarkets for old bread and veggies. We also were lucky enough to have a Wonder Bread bakery/distributor about a 1/2 hour from our place that we would get expired bread from. Also check with any local colleges/schools that feed their students as they may be willing to give you their scraps.

[@suegibson8914]

First time I’ve seen your channel & have subscribed. There is a guy you might like as he’s been getting his animals off grain in very creative ways. His name is Takota Coen, I think you’d love his channel.

[@ThePasturedHomestead]

Welcome! Yes, I’ve watched his videos!

[@glengillis7775]

Great video. Good info. Thanks this should help out many homesteaders and small farmers.

[@MotherUdder]

We also check with the fair and farmer's market vendors. Especially the guys that make carmel corn. They have a ton of leftovers after fairs and other events. We get 10-15 bags of popped and sugared carmel corn every week during the summer to fall season and lots of veggies every week during farmers market season. Sometimes eggs too.

[@patriciaserdahl5577]

Great video n information and the chat comments God bless your homestead 🙏 🐖 🐔 🇺🇸 Just subscribed

[@irynahayes7284]

It's brilliant! You are very smart! Thank you for info!

[@itiswill6601]

Amazing video! Another place you can try is your local bakery, they probably have a lot of stale bread they'll trow away or if you know a brewery or just a home brewer they'll maybe have some spent grain that you can use as feed.

[@nyukknivesandleather889]

Subscribed! We moved to North Georgia last February and have been working on our homestead since. So far we have 20 barred rocks producing more eggs than we know what to do with, 4 does and 2 buck of New Zealand Whites producing us some great rabbit meat, and 2 weeks ago we got our first 4 feeder pigs (Portland/Duroc mix). We had a small little garden this past spring just as a way to get started but have planned out our garden for this next spring a little better as well as expanding it quite a bit. My plan is to plant quite a bit of fodder beets for the pigs and chickens (rabbits can have some as well but in moderation). I have yet to check on any local food banks for food scraps but that is wonderful idea. I did check with a couple of grocery stores close by and due to some stupid 3 letter agency rule they can no longer give any waste produce away. Most of our property is wooded. Right now I have the pigs in just a small 16'x16' pen but I'm working on running some electric fencing through the woods to make a large paddock for them. I've heard running them through woods is good as they can forage quite a bit through there. I want to be able to do rotational grazing with the pigs at some point but that will have to be another project down the road. Since this is our first try at raising pigs we have lots to learn. Thanks for the video.

[@teresahiggs4896]

Check places,like Walmart for food scraps and maybe local restaurants . U days used to go to local restaurants and ask that they save the food scraps in a barrel for him for the pigs. Small restaurants not chain stores might be the best places to approach about saving food scraps.

[@nyukknivesandleather889]

Thanks. I did actually approach a Walmart as well as some second hand grocery stores and they all said that due to the FDA regulations.... blah blah blah... but I did find a local Mexican store where we now pick up about 4 cases of out of date produce including plantains that I researched and found were very good for pigs and other livestock. Usually there is a case of fruit as well. This is working pretty good with just our 4 pigs but after these sell at the end of May or middle of June I am gonna get 10 more so we are working on finding a few more of the Mexican stores to see if they will save stuff for us.@@teresahiggs4896

[@danabe3220]

Great video. Nothing goes to waste on the Pastured Homestead., I love your enthusiasm for finding ways to become more self sufficient at little or no cost. Free and inexpensive resources are available if you know where to look for them. Last summer I was able to go 100% energy self sufficient after installing ground mounted solar and 3 Tesla storage batteries on my homestead. Now I run the house, out buildings and electric car on electricity I make myself. Just need to start doing more of the things youre doing with livestock feed. We just have chickens and turkeys so shouldn't be too hard.

[@ThePasturedHomestead]

That’s awesome! We’d love to go solar someday

[@danabe3220]

You will get there eventually.@@ThePasturedHomestead

[@allisonhartley6712]

Three Rivers Homestead picks up fruit from a smoothie place every day.

[@ThePasturedHomestead]

Good idea!

[@KenHowland]

Hello Allison where are you from?

[@JohnFrytag]

Scraps? Heck yeah!! Been watching Pete for years and just tripped over your channel today (bout 3 hours in). Great videos, your genuine honesty shines thru and I like your camerawork and editing! Great backstory ( wondered how ya done it)! Cows are not always nice and animals die on occasion ( grew up on a small dairy in north east PA) seen it many times. Seems the only thing you can’t do is say; “cornish crosh”. Glad to hear you’re getting married! Hope ya have a dozen kids. Hope this channel continues to grow too!! All around awesome! John

[@ThePasturedHomestead]

HAHA Yeah that's a really tongue twister. Thank you and welcome to the channel!

[@genedieball]

I like your video. This summer we will be doing hay- grass fed pigs. We had some two years ago and loved the lean meat.

[@SeizetheDave]

Love seeing the channel. I did a similar thing. Moved from the city, to small town, to country and am raising chickens, ducks and pigs. One thing that we do to help give our pigs a protein boost is feed the excess eggs our chickens give us. The pigs love it and it mixes well with the grain. And, if the chickens are feed organic feed, it continues your process of feeding organic feed to your pigs.

[@MariaGomez-mm6bq]

Yes in my country in Portugal we just feed our pigs with food scraps now I’m leaving here in USA Arizona I have a urban homestead I have goats,chickens, rabbits and quails I don’t have pigs we are only in one acre lot but I love the idea of feeding the chickens with food scraps animal feed became very pricey happy farming

[@TheLordbal]

We have chickens, ducks, and a horse. During the summer the chickens pick the bugs off the horse manure (we free range everything, cept the horse) and they are happy. The chickens and ducks produce WAY too many eggs for us to use, and storing them just makes em pile up. We don't sell em either. So, besides eating them, we scramble a good portion of em, adding garlic and red pepper etc etc, and feed em back to the chickens. They are cannibals, after all. 😊

[@ajalicea1091]

Like you, when we have too many eggs to consume ourselves, we scramble them and give them to the chickens, the dogs and the cats. An opportunity has just presented self, I might be able to sell a few eggs.

[@TheLordbal]

@@ajalicea1091 and why not, food is food. 😉

[@ginacota9724]

Those pigs are doing a great job, this winter in that back 10 acres! I can’t wait to see the before and after

[@KenHowland]

Hi Gina where are you from?

[@Foxtrap731]

I am starting an operation similar to this soon. I was considering growing sb and corn, along with planting local trees and fruits in their pastures, and rotationally grazing them. Good call on the food bank. They often have lots of food to give.

[@bettydamnboop3030]

What a blessing that you got that phone call.

[@changed7226]

If you have enough pasture with the right amount of cattle on it, you can get away without buying any hay in the winter. Even with snow. If you raise your cattle to eat like that, they won't expect hay in the winter.

[@ThePasturedHomestead]

That’s our goal for the coming years. We are rehabilitating our pastures in prep.

[@christineb8148]

One of the best tasting pieces of pork I have ever had was whey-fed as a by product of a cheesemaker. I know that a lot of cheesemakers and strained (Greek) yogurt producers have excess whey and may be a good resource for local pig growers. And whey is a great source of high quality protein as an alternative to soy.

[@KenHowland]

Hi Christine where are you from 😊😊❤

[@blackeyesusan2595]

I mean baking corn soy bread sounds cool for the pigs.

[@fabricdragon]

good use of food bank waste! because my husband and i were the only ones who knew how (and had the equipment) to can or dry food? we often got a big load of "leftover but wont be good by the next food bank day" vegetables . so... thats also a thought if you have good preservation techniques. pigs will eat anything. back in my childhood Philadelphia collected food garbage seperately *to feed to farm pigs* and only stopped because of disease.

[@ariadgaia5932]

Love these tips~

[@KenHowland]

Hi aria where are you from?

[@coburnlowman]

I USTA get the leftover pizza from Cici's pizza bar. I'd drop off a plastic bin each night that was washed out , and pick up the one full of pizza. The eggs were rich as could be.

[@ajs4287]

Ive got 4 food banks that I do the same thing with. Great way to keep food from going to waste. Also I recommend your local grocery stores, particularly the produce section where they do cut fruit/melons. I get 4 50 gallon trashcans full every week, and it's much less work than the food bank calories thanks to the lack of packaging/plastic.

[@ThePasturedHomestead]

Sadly, our local grocery stores don’t want the liability.

[@ajs4287]

@ThePasturedHomestead oh i understand that, heard it a bunch. my local grocery store is supposed to dump it in a bin out back for a contract company to come get it and dump it in a field, not for compost just some carbon credit bs. The employees of the grocery store don't want to have to drag hundred pound trashcans around and then lift them to dump them in a bin, so we go in there and do it for them. The way we got in with the grocery store and made friends with them is actually by delivering from the grocery stores to the food banks. Putting in volunteer work and feeding pigs at the same time lol. Great video, I hope more people take advantage of this opportunity to keep food from going to waste.

[@ThePasturedHomestead]

@@ajs4287 that’s a great idea!

[@cpypcy]

I don't live in USA I live in eastern EU. There is no such thing as food waste here. Also it is illegal to distribute food past due date here. EU is quite strict when it comes to food.

[@plainuserid]

That’s so dumb. What a damn waste. You can thank the large corporate food producers for that. I eat expired food all the time, almost daily. I’ve never been sick.

[@septemberamyx]

The gov't spent a lot of time back in the first world wars making tables of how long under what conditions were things good for. You never see those tables. Most items have a very long life.

[@gorgo4910]

How would you have no food waste and no expired food? That’s absolutely amazing that only the exact amount of food that is going to be sold is ever produced. Unless people are going hungry.

[@betterlivingonabudget]

I just found your channel with this video popping into my YT feed. Love what you're doing here, so had to sub!

[@Gevedon]

Yes! We have chickens only and this video helped so much! Thank you for sharing!

[@eltuertoandroide]

Brilliant. Keep the info coming. Thanks

[@susanvaughn741]

You need a platform to feed the pig on so they don’t trample the food or dig holes.

[@sashajoachims5840]

Pigs dont mind trampled food, and will root around for missed pieces. They naturally eat roots, worms & insects/larva they find underground. It doesn't apply to every situation but they can also be used to cultivate ground for new gardens or clear shrubs from woodland so the holes aren't always bad either…

[@elijahsanders3547]

David The Good was/is getting chicken bone scraps from a local restaurant for adding to biochar and some was used for composting.

[@paulabrown5685]

Zack you should try to find an antique shelter. We have one and tried it for the first time this year. It was awesome!

[@ThePasturedHomestead]

That’s exactly what I’ve been searching for, they looks awesome!

[@kennethashby957]

Thank you for the saving money on the feed bill .

[@outdoorstudios2022]

Thanks for sharing! Keep rollin them videos out!

[@MontanaMidValleyFarm]

We plan to call our food bank today, great idea! We have been trying to get food scraps through grocery stores and restaurants for some time with no luck. They said it was a liability, so better to just toss it out. Make no sense as far as utilizing resources to their full pots and so frustrating from our perspective! I like that you mentioned cutting your own hay. We set out on a mission to do that for the last 2 seasons and failed miserably because our equipment needed work and we had many repairs. Plus repairs are so expensive and take time while hay is sitting on the ground with rain on the way. We have a few videos documenting that on our channel. We hope you have success and that your equipment does better than ours!!! Thanks for posting! Subscribed!

[@ThePasturedHomestead]

Welcome! We ran into the same issue with grocery stores. Sad society we live in where they have to worry about getting sued for giving things away for free. We aren’t actually going to cut our own, we are going to have a neighbor cut it for us. Extremely cheap! You could try that as well

[@GeraldCraig-n2q]

Go dumpster picking at the stores they can't legally give it to you

[@MontanaMidValleyFarm]

@@ThePasturedHomestead currently we did settle on a neighbor cutting and bailing our hay, but he takes half. That seems to be the standard trade around here. He does have a haying business so it’s his side job. If your neighbor does it for cheap that is awesome!! Thanks for the reply.

[@hopeup2792]

I appreciate you and I hope to learn to give my chickens more scraps as I have been concerned not to give them something that would make them sick. I think you probably just said it wrong but to just to help you. The bread the pigs like first is not because it is best for them, it is filling but bread does not have protein in it and the veggies and fruit have the most nutrients. I learned alot from your video thanks for helping us save money.

[@johnheckler9790]

Love your video. I got waste food to grow black soldier flies for protein for the chickens. There are a lot of info on KZbin. I first started growing them in containers but you can create a Compost pile in the chicken run, take waste food put it in the compost for the black soldier flies, when they have grown, remove the cover and let the chickens scratch for them. They will feed on then, add manure to the compost and turn it. The frass from the the black soldier fly will enhance your compost it is like gold even better than worms. You just win all the way.

[@wayneburks5872]

My chicken's are the same way scrapes 1st then the grain.