If you were back in nature what kind of animals would you need?

Question

my fiance and I are moving to the moutains and are "getting back to nature" what kind of animals would we need?

Answer 1

Dog to protect you. Cow , Sheep , pig and chickens to use for your work bissness if ur a farmer.

Answer 2

both cat and dog

A cat to protect you from snakes and any other reptitles

and a dog to protect you from any other wild animals a German Shepard or Rottwiller. ANY TYPE of large dog.

Answer 3

I would add a horse or mule to BohemianGarnet's list.  The ability to travel further throughout the wilderness may come in handy, and they don't run out of gas, nor do they usually get stuck in the mud.

:-)

Answer 4

that would depend on how 'back to nature' u want. if u mean rarely going to toen for supplies, u'd need meat of course, unless u want to go hunting n fishing. fascinating exprience. if not, u would need to rear them yourself.. cows for milk n meat, chickens for eggs of course. a cat or dog to keep u guys company..

Answer 5

It completely depends on what mountains you are talking about.

I live on a permaculture farm in the high mountain desert of Idaho, at 4700+ feet elivation.  Winters here are brutal.  Nine months of winter, and three months of summer.  There are no in-between seasons.  That means it's either very cold, or very hot.

With such a long cold period, I decided to forgo chickens.  They would be too prone to frostbite (where entire legs freeze off), becuase of our extremely cold weather.

I raise meat goats, they do very well in this environment.  Goats can provide you with meat, and milk, even fiber (Angora goats).

Goats can eat things that all other domestic animals are unable to eat.  Goats can produce more milk, and more meat than cattle can, on the same feed.  They take up less area, and are much easier to handle.  A milk cow can litteraly kick your face off....one second it's attached to your head, the next your face is laying on the ground.  Goats are not anywhere near that strong.  Goats are much safer for a beginer with livestock to handle than cattle.

Sheep have very good meat (especially lamb).  Lambs grow quickly.  They can lamb in the early spring, and by late fall, you can slaughter a lamb that will give you 100 pounds of meat.

Meat rabbits are wonderful.  They provide a "one dish" meal any time you want.  That means virtually no leftovers, and no need to worry about a fridg, or freezer.  You just butcher a rabbit (very easy to do) anytime you want meat in a meal.

Pigs are hard to fence, and hard to butcher.  They will do an excelent job of cleaning out bugs, insect eggs, and weeds in a future garden spot.  Pigs will also root, turn over the ground, add their own valuable manure, bring rocks to the surface, and churn in any mulch you toss into the pen.  You can start with a couple of weanling pigs in the spring, and by fall the pigs will be big enough to slaughter, and provide you with plenty of meat.

Dogs....entirely depends on what kind of stock you have, and where you live.  If you live in predator areas that have cougar, black bears, grizzly bears, coyotes (found even in cities) or wolves, I HIGHLY sugest you get TWO livestock GUARDIAN dogs.  Livestock guardian dogs are NOT herding dogs.  Guardian dogs guard, they do not herd.  I have two Great Pyrenees, soon to be three, to guard our goats and sheep.

I also have a herding dog.  The Great Pyrenees live with the herds 24/7, and never leave the herds.  My herding dog lives in the house, and goes everywhere with me.

Livestock guardian dogs will bark at night....sometimes all night long.  That is their job.  They are barking at, and warning things way.  It doesn't matter if it's a coyote yipping 100 yards from your fenceline, or a squirrel farting in a tree three miles away....a livestock guardian dog is going to bark at it.  99.9% of their job is performed by barking, and warning animals away.  It is extremely rare that they actually have to get into a physical confrentation with another animal.    So if you get livestock guardian dogs, be aware that night barking is normal....think of how your neighbors are going to react to this.

I have two farm cats.  If you get a cat to keep the rodent population down, ge the cat spayed, or neutered.  A cat that is fixed and fed kibble will have much more time and energy to actually expend on rodent hunting.  If a cat is forced to hunt for it's living, it will hunt, kill, eat the prey, and then sleep for hours to conserve their energy.  My cat that is neutered and has kibble when-ever he wishes will sometimes line up 10 or 12 dead mice on the doorstep every single morning.

If you have a water feature, like a pond, you might concider stocking it with some fish.  Every single pond can flood over in a bad rain year.  Make sure the fish you stock it with will not be harmful to the native fish populations if the pond floods over and the fish escape.

If you opt not to have animals on the hoof, but instead have smaller, more confined animals, like rabbits and chickens, you may want to concider adding a small flock of geese.  There are no better watchdogs in the entire world than geese.  Geese are much less expensive to feed than livestock guardian dogs are.  Geese will p**p on your walkways and steps, unlike a dog.  But no person, coyote, fox, or other predator will EVER be able to sneak up on your house if you have four of five geese.

Build houses immediately and attract the native orchard mason bees to your property.  

Learn everything you can about the native animals in your area, and try to include them on your homestead.    Native animals will provide an awful lot of free work.  We have hawks and falcons that hunt for rodents during the day.  Burrowing owls hunt for insect and small rodents at night.  We also have other owls hunting our farm at night.

We have about five different bird species hunting flying insects every day on our farm.  At night, we have bats.

There are so many animals that are extremely helpful.

One other tip for a beginer with livestock.  Only add ONE species of animal every six months.  Do not run out and get four or five different types of animals all at once.  You will be overwhelmed, and you and the animals will be unhappy.  It will not be at all enjoyable for you.

~Garnet

Homesteading/Farming over 20 years

Answer 6

i think definately the dog, if its possible more than one.... not to sure about the cat... 'then again it depends on how "back in nature" do you plan to go.... i mean does this place have electricity, running water, radio signals, close to a supermarket where you have easy access to food... or is like really back in nature where there are none of the above and you ahve to use like outhouse and carry your water from a river to your home or doing the dishes and laundry by the river, grow your own food.... in that case you may also want to carry some edible animals and maybe you should invest in a horse....

Answer 7

if you are going to do farming then that kind of animals are required

i don't know much about mountain farming step farming!

but if you will work in any office like if you would have had done if living in plains then a DOG is enough!