🚜 Raise your own
The homestead
Hunt your own, raise your own. If you already fill the freezer from the field, livestock and poultry are the natural next step toward feeding yourself - eggs, meat, milk and honey from your own backyard or acreage. Pick an animal to see what it gives you, the space and effort it takes, and how to raise it.
🐔 Poultry
Birds for eggs and meat - the easiest, fastest place to start.
🐔 Beginner Laying Hens
The gateway animal of any homestead - a small flock of hens turns kitchen scraps and…
🍗 Beginner Meat Chickens
Fast-growing meat breeds like the Cornish Cross go from chick to freezer in about eight…
🦆 Beginner Ducks
Hardier and more weather-proof than chickens, ducks lay rich eggs, clear slugs and…
🦃 Intermediate Turkeys
Raise your own holiday bird - heritage turkeys forage well and grow into a lot of meat,…
🐦 Beginner Quail (Coturnix)
The homestead animal for tight spaces - coturnix quail mature in 6-8 weeks, lay daily,…
🪿 Intermediate Geese
Geese practically raise themselves on grass, grow into a large roast, and double as…
🐤 Intermediate Guinea Fowl
Guineas are a living pest-control patrol - they hammer ticks and bugs, sound the alarm…
🦆 Beginner Muscovy Ducks
A quiet, hardy duck that is really more of a foraging bird - Muscovies eat flies, slugs…
🕊️ Intermediate Squab Pigeons
Utility pigeons raised in a loft for squab - the tender young birds prized in fine…
🦚 Intermediate Peafowl
Kept as much for beauty as use, peafowl also eat snakes, ticks and insects and sound a…
🦤 Advanced Emus
A large ratite raised for lean red meat, oil and huge decorative eggs. Emus are hardy…
🐓 Beginner Bantam Chickens
Miniature chickens that need less space, feed and fencing than standard hens while…
🐔 Beginner Heritage Chickens
Traditional dual-purpose chicken breeds that grow slowly, forage well, breed naturally…
🦆 Beginner Pekin Ducks
The classic big white meat duck, fast-growing, hardy and friendly, that also lays well…
🦆 Beginner Khaki Campbell Ducks
One of the most prolific egg-laying ducks in the world, active foragers that out-lay…
🐦 Beginner Coturnix Quail
Tiny, incredibly fast-maturing quail that lay eggs at six weeks and can be raised in a…
🐦 Intermediate Pheasants
Beautiful game birds raised for the table, for hunting-preserve release, or simply for…
🦤 Advanced Ostrich
The world's largest bird, farmed on acreage for lean red meat, enormous eggs, feathers…
🦤 Intermediate Rhea
A large South American ratite, smaller and more manageable than an ostrich, farmed for…
🐔 Beginner Rhode Island Red
The classic American dual-purpose hen, exceptionally hardy and dependable, laying a…
🐔 Beginner Plymouth Rock
A friendly, hardy American dual-purpose breed - the barred variety is iconic - that…
🐔 Beginner Orpington
A big, fluffy, exceptionally gentle dual-purpose breed - the golden Buff Orpington is a…
🐔 Beginner Wyandotte
A strikingly patterned, cold-hardy American dual-purpose breed with a tight rose comb…
🐓 Beginner Silkie
A famously fluffy, gentle bantam breed with silky, fur-like plumage, kept as much for…
🐔 Beginner Australorp
An Australian breed developed for laying and famous for it, a glossy black, hardy, calm…
🐔 Beginner Brahma
A towering, feather-legged breed once called the 'King of Chickens', a gentle giant…
🐔 Beginner Leghorn
The classic high-output white egg layer behind most commercial eggs, an active, hardy,…
🐔 Beginner Sussex
An old English dual-purpose breed, the speckled and light varieties are classics, that…
🐔 Beginner Marans
A French dual-purpose breed famous for laying the darkest eggs of any chicken - deep…
🐔 Intermediate Cornish Cross
The commercial meat bird, a hybrid that grows from chick to a full, tender broiler in…
🦆 Beginner Indian Runner Ducks
A comical upright-standing duck that runs rather than waddles, a prolific egg layer and…🐐 Livestock
Bigger animals for meat and milk, from rabbits to cattle.
🐇 Beginner Meat Rabbits
Quiet, space-efficient and prolific, a trio of meat rabbits can supply a steady stream…
🐐 Intermediate Goats
Dairy goats give a family-sized supply of milk, meat breeds put on weight from browse,…
🐑 Intermediate Sheep
Sheep turn grass into meat and wool with less fuss than goats, stay behind simpler…
🐖 Intermediate Pigs
A couple of feeder pigs raised over a summer fill a freezer with pork, turn scraps and…
🐄 Advanced Beef Cattle
The biggest commitment on the list - a steer or two needs real pasture and…
🦙 Intermediate Alpacas
Gentle herd animals raised mainly for their fine, warm fleece - light on the land, easy…
🐐 Intermediate Dairy Goats
The homesteaders classic milker - a couple of does give gallons of rich, easy-to-digest…
🐖 Beginner KuneKune Pigs
A small, docile grazing pig that fattens on pasture rather than tearing it up -…
🐄 Advanced Dexter Cattle
A compact dual-purpose heritage breed - roughly half the size of a standard cow, so a…
🐐 Intermediate Nigerian Dwarf Goat
A tiny dairy goat that gives a surprising amount of rich, sweet, high-butterfat milk on…
🐐 Intermediate Boer Goat
The premier meat goat, a muscular, fast-growing, hardy browser that turns brush and…
🐐 Intermediate Angora Goat
The mohair goat, a gentle fiber animal whose lustrous, curly fleece is sheared twice a…
🐄 Advanced Jersey Cow
The classic small family milk cow, a gentle, efficient breed that gives an abundance of…
🐄 Intermediate Highland Cattle
The shaggy, horned Scottish cattle famed for hardiness, thriving on rough pasture in…
🐖 Intermediate Berkshire Pigs
A classic heritage pork breed prized for richly marbled, deeply flavored dark meat,…
🐑 Beginner Dorper Sheep
A hardy hair sheep that sheds its coat naturally and needs no shearing, producing lean,…
🐑 Intermediate Merino Sheep
The world's premier wool sheep, producing the fine, soft, crimped fleece prized by…
🐑 Beginner Katahdin Sheep
A hardy American hair sheep that sheds its coat, resists parasites well, lambs easily…
🐇 Intermediate Angora Rabbits
Fluffy fiber rabbits whose incredibly soft, warm angora wool is harvested by gentle…
🐹 Beginner Guinea Pigs
Small, gentle rodents raised worldwide as a sustainable meat source (cuy) on kitchen…
🐐 Intermediate Nubian Goat
A large, long-eared, Roman-nosed dairy goat known for rich, high-butterfat milk ideal…
🐐 Intermediate Saanen Goat
The 'Holstein of dairy goats', a large white Swiss breed that produces the highest…
🐐 Beginner Pygmy Goat
A small, stocky, endlessly charming goat kept mainly as a pet and companion, and as a…
🐐 Beginner Kiko Goat
A New Zealand meat breed bred for pure hardiness, thriving on browse with minimal care,…
🐑 Intermediate Suffolk Sheep
The classic black-faced terminal meat sheep, large and fast-growing, producing…
🐑 Beginner Jacob Sheep
A striking heritage breed with piebald spotting and up to four horns, hardy and…
🐑 Intermediate Icelandic Sheep
An ancient, extremely hardy triple-purpose breed giving prized dual-coated wool,…
🐖 Intermediate Tamworth Pig
A ginger-red heritage pig famed as the classic bacon breed, an outstanding forager and…
🐖 Intermediate Mangalitsa Pig
A rare woolly-coated Hungarian heritage pig, the 'Kobe beef of pork', prized for richly…
🐄 Intermediate Hereford Cattle
The classic red-and-white beef breed, famously docile, hardy and efficient on grass,…
🐐 Intermediate Alpine Goat
A rugged, adaptable Swiss-French dairy breed that rivals the Saanen for milk volume…
🐐 Intermediate LaMancha Goat
An American dairy breed instantly recognized by its tiny 'gopher' ears, prized for a…
🐑 Beginner Shetland Sheep
A tiny, hardy heritage sheep from the Scottish islands, prized by hand-spinners for its…
🐑 Intermediate Romney Sheep
A hardy dual-purpose breed producing long, lustrous, easy-to-spin wool and a good meat…
🐇 Beginner New Zealand Rabbit
The classic commercial meat rabbit, a large, fast-growing, docile breed that converts…
🐇 Beginner Flemish Giant Rabbit
One of the largest rabbit breeds in the world, a gentle giant kept for a large meat…
🐄 Advanced Guernsey Cow
A gentle golden-and-white dairy breed giving rich, creamy, golden milk high in…🐝 Bees & Guardians
Honey, pollination, and the animals that protect the rest.
🐝 Intermediate Honey Bees
A couple of hives in a quiet corner pollinate your land and gardens and pay you back in…
🐕 Intermediate Guardian Animals
The bridge between the homestead and the hunt: livestock guardian dogs, donkeys or…
🦙 Intermediate Llamas
Larger than alpacas and doubly useful - a calm llama produces coarse fiber and packs…
🫏 Beginner Guard Donkeys
A single standard donkey bonded to a flock is a cheap, low-maintenance guardian -…
🐝 Beginner Mason Bees
Gentle, solitary native bees that are extraordinary pollinators - a handful can…
🐝 Intermediate Italian Honey Bees
The most popular honey bee strain in the world, gentle, productive and quick to build…
🐕 Intermediate Great Pyrenees
A majestic white livestock guardian dog that bonds with a flock and patrols it against…
🐕 Intermediate Maremma Sheepdog
An ancient Italian livestock guardian dog, white like the Pyrenees but leaner and often…
🐕 Intermediate Anatolian Shepherd
A powerful, ancient Turkish livestock guardian dog built for endurance and heat,…
🐝 Intermediate Carniolan Honey Bees
An exceptionally gentle, winter-hardy honey bee strain that overwinters on small stores…🪱 Micro-livestock
Insects, worms and snails - protein, compost and animal feed from the smallest of spaces.
🪱 Beginner Mealworms
The larvae of the darkling beetle, farmed in stacked tubs on bran and vegetable scraps…
🪰 Beginner Black Soldier Fly
A larvae-farming powerhouse whose grubs devour food waste at astonishing speed and…
🪱 Beginner Earthworms
Composting worms farmed in a simple bin that turn kitchen scraps into rich worm…
🦗 Beginner Crickets
Fast-breeding insects farmed in bins as a high-protein feed for poultry, fish and…
🐌 Intermediate Edible Snails
Land snails farmed in a shaded, escape-proof pen for escargot, a gourmet delicacy…
🪱 Beginner Superworms
The large larvae of a darkling beetle, farmed like mealworms but bigger and higher in…🐺
Keep predators off your stock
The fastest way to lose a flock is a coyote, fox, raccoon or loose dog working the fence line at night. Good fencing and a guardian animal stop most of it - and when the pressure stays high, that is where the hunting side of Huntervale earns its keep.
How to protect your stock →Explore the homestead
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What should I raise?Match animals to your space, goal and experience.
🐺Predator protectionID the threat and build a layered defense.
🍳Homestead kitchenProcess eggs, meat, milk and honey into food.
📐Coop & run sizeHow much space your flock really needs.
Calculators & helpers
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Egg hatch dateHatch, candling and lockdown dates by species.
🌾Feed costHow much feed your animals eat, and what it costs.
🐔Flock sizeHow many hens for the eggs you want each week.
🐐Pasture stocking rateHow many animals your land can carry.
🐣Breed selectorThe best chicken breeds for your goal.
🩺Flock health checkerCommon poultry symptoms and what to do.