Living Off the Grid

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Re: Living Off the Grid

Post by Truckinbutch »

Stay away from those pigmy pigs ! A trusted Yorkshire/ Landrace or Berkshire , perhaps Hampshire cross is a proven winner . You got to ring their noses to stop rooting if you graze them . They free range well and develope into a real hog . Once they have been trained to electric fence all you have to do is have posts in the ground where they know the fence is supposed to be .
When the freezer is full go to the canning jars for all your meat . Deer meat , especially , is enhanced by canning and you can eat the meat cold out of the jar if necessary . It's already been cooked .
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Re: Living Off the Grid

Post by ga flatwoods »

That sounds a lot better than fiddler crabs and marsh coons TB. Think if I packed them in lard in a used whiskey barrel they would smooth out with age?
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Re: Living Off the Grid

Post by White_Lightning_Rod »

Truckinbutch wrote:
When the freezer is full go to the canning jars for all your meat . Deer meat , especially , is enhanced by canning and you can eat the meat cold out of the jar if necessary . It's already been cooked .

AMEN to this. All deer I harvest now goes in cans except the back straps which go in the frying pan as soon as possible. A little more work up front but you dont have to worry about a freezer going out and losing your meat, and when it comes time to eat it its a lot less work opposed to thawing and cooking. Just pop open a jar and heat if youd like, or eat it cold.
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Re: Living Off the Grid

Post by Jimbo »

Jesus you guys are making me hungry! Fresh deer backstrap on the grill drown in olive oil and garlic salt is.... is...... sorry,... there are no words.
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Re: Living Off the Grid

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Prairiepiss wrote: And they only get to around 120 lbs each. So my wife won't have a hard time handling them.
120lb goat is a pretty big goat. IMHO if its a male and not so nice you wife will not want to be around it let a long handle it. NEVER EVER turn your back on a big buck goat. He can tare you up. I have seen a 300lb man giving goat herd shots and not pay attention and a buck put him to the ground. After he got up he picked the goat up and hung him by the horns on a board fence. Never eaten goat but have had milk and cheese. Pretty strong and taste like a stinky goat smells. The jewish comunity around where I live love them stinky male (uncut) goats.
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Re: Living Off the Grid

Post by Prairiepiss »

I've heard that about the bucks. LOL.

They are suppose to only get 24" tall. But who knows. One of the bucks we are getting next week is full grown at 120 lbs. So we will see how they stack up. LOL.
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Re: Living Off the Grid

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Dats a big buck. Hope he not mean or teritorial.
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Re: Living Off the Grid

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If that ram turns out to be mean just sink a double bitted axe in a tree stump and hang a coat over it . He will only butt it once before he is totally tamed down . (Don't ask how I know this .)
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Re: Living Off the Grid

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Bought a kill a watt meter today. Good ol harbor freight. $19.99.

Hooked it up in line with the new washer. And it doesn't do to bad. It maxes out at 250 watts. With the motor surge. And around 50 watts when its not surging. One load took 30 min. And it racked up .06 KWH. Not to bad. I think my inverter will run it just fine. It does draw .05 watts at idle. So the wife and I decided we will be putting a switch on the plug in socket for it. We are planning to get a second one just like it. Eventualy. We can plug them both into the same socket. So we can shut it off. And save that idle draw. I will leave the meter on the washer for the next week. So I can get a good idea of a weekly total use. Then I will move it to the next appliance to check.
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Re: Living Off the Grid

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Truckinbutch wrote:If that ram turns out to be mean just sink a double bitted axe in a tree stump and hang a coat over it . He will only butt it once before he is totally tamed down . (Don't ask how I know this .)
LMAO :lol: :lol:
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Re: Living Off the Grid

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The two bucks are actually pretty good natured. So far.

Stung electric fence, fixed the gates, mended the existing fence, and got there pen done about 10 pm last night.
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Re: Living Off the Grid

Post by SoMo »

image.jpg
Well guys the meats back and the numbers worked out on my last hog I raised and butchered. 50$ for the feeder pig, 150$ in feed, hanging weight of 184lb, 112$ for processing. Works out to 1.69$ a lb for a freezer full of chops, ribs, cured hams and bacon,sausage, etc.. You can raise good food at a reasonable price if you research and plan wisely. Good luck
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Re: Living Off the Grid

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Nice hog somo.
I had to bury the baby buck last night. Dogs got into the pen and killed it. I can't wait to get on our own property.
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Re: Living Off the Grid

Post by SoMo »

Thanks PP, the numbers don't lie, when was the last time anyone got real bacon for $1.69 a lb, sorry to hear about the duck. I had a neighbors dog kill 21 pullets one time it absolutely sucks.
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Re: Living Off the Grid

Post by jedneck »

Hey Mr piss if you make it to the mid Atlantic states I have a buck for you. The one in the front is a doe. He is a Nubian, kiko, alpine cross. Momma is a gallon a day milker and she will milk for over a year.
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Re: Living Off the Grid

Post by rad14701 »

Any dog that kills livestock or deer, or even chases deer, should be killed... Where I live, that's the law, pet or no pet...
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Re: Living Off the Grid

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LOL Not sure I would make it that way any time soon. Nice looking goats.

We are taking our buck over to the person we are buying our live stock guardians from. So they can bond. While she trains them. This will be a load off the goat housing situation for a while. No need to worry about them as much.
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Re: Living Off the Grid

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If the dog wasn't the persons that owns the pen we are using for free. I would have killed it myself. If I see the dogs that killed her horses. I will kill them. Apparently they killed off like 50 chickens down the street. And the two horses. Along with a bunch of other animals around that area. The local animal control won't do anything about it. Hell they won't even catch a dog. Unless you catch it and demand they come get it. They say they are to busy. But all they do is drive around. They won't deal with animals like they are suppose to do. A little ridiculous you ask me.
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Re: Living Off the Grid

Post by SoMo »

PP, that all sums up the perils of urban life. Out here you handle things as they need, gun goes off you dig a hole ......done. Hopefully you can remedy these things so as not to be so miserable. Makes the country feel like paradise, good luck.
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Re: Living Off the Grid

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rad14701 wrote:Any dog that kills livestock or deer, or even case a deer should be killed... Where I live, that's the law, pet or no pet...
Most dogs I've seen don't come deer broke. We had to train our dogs not to chase deer, for hunting grouse. If a dog chases off after a deer, its unfortunate it has to die beacuse the owner wasn't willing to put up a fence.

But dead critters is thing I wholly agree on. I have some livestock in the yard along with deer and turkey. Even a dead chicken is unacceptable and should be paid for in kind. My neighbor is an animal horder with over 30 large breed aggressive dogs. There isn't a thing I can do out here in the country. So now, I always keep my .22 pistol holstered for any of her strays that break loose, and they do.
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Re: Living Off the Grid

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I've been busy with planning the adventure. Haven't spent much time on here. So a little update.

We took our buck goat out to stay with his new LGD live stock guardian dog. So they both can become acquainted and friends. They will stay there till the move is done. And we have them a proper home. It was kinda cool. The goat was very skittish of all the dogs. And was very hesitant about going into the pen with the dog. But after we got them together. They sniffed each other a little. And the goat backed off. Wouldn't go near him. I wouldn't blame him. Seeings how his last pen mate got killed by dogs. But the best part was when we left the pen. And it was just the two of them. It wasn't much time and the goat charged the dog. Ready to butt the shite out of him. The dog reacted perfectly. He immediately dropped to the ground. And submitted to him. Saying yes you are the boss. The goat didn't know what to think. So he backed off a bit. They walked around the pen a bit. Then the goat tried to eat the dogs food. The dog then barked at him. Telling him to stay away from his food. And he did. We left them alone for a while. We went up in front of the house where they couldn't see up. And butchered some rabbits. A couple hours later. I walked around as quite as I could. Noticed the dog was laying down. And the goat was standing right next to him. Then the other dogs saw me. And started barking. Or dog jumped up started barking at the other dogs and spun around to see what they were barking at. Only to see me. And he stopped. Granted this was the first day he had ever seen me. But the trainer said that he could smell our sent on the goat. And from her introducing us to the dog. He knows we are the owners. Even while the other dogs kept barking. He stopped and checked the goat. And laid back down. I was quite impressed with the whole thing. We will be getting two of the dogs. This one and she thinks she will send his sister with us. We will need the second one for the does.

What else. Well we have been packing. And planning. We are planning to move end of June beginning of July. Still don't know how its all gona happen. But its gona happen. LOL I have a weeks vacation left. And will use it for the move. Shortly after the move I will get another 3 weeks of vacation. And will take another week then.

I'm concerned about the transfer with my job. I might have to take a larger pay cut then I wanted to. Try $2 to $3 an hour. That's hard to choke down. And hopefully I can negotiate more. We will see. The taking of the vacation will be part of the negotiations.

I have started rooting some mulberry trees to take down. I will have 4 nice mulberry trees to plant down there. I'm thinking about doing some more. I'm sure we will loose one it two. Hell there might be some down there already? But I wanted to make sure I had some. They won't fruit for a ling time. But hey its gona be a life long adventure. And all fruit trees will take time. The quicker I get them in the ground. The quicker we will have fruit.

All my vegetable starts died. But I really didn't have a place to plant them. And still take them with us. My wife wants to get some tomatoes started in containers. That we can transport down with the move. So we have something. And start a fall garden. With maybe a hoop house. For an extended grow season.

Money is a little tight. So we haven't been able to to back down there. Wanted to go down this weekend. But it ain't gona happen.

Solar plans have changed a bit. After a good discussion with a solar guy I trust. He has shown me the light. And I have decided to go with a 24 volt mppt system. With about 1000 watts of panels. Going with a 24 volt 4000 watt inverter. That has 220 volt output. Along with a 7000 watt electric start generator backup. Will be getting two 7 cuft deep freezers. Converting one to a fridge. I think I have that part covered.

Water is still being discussed. I am trying to plan it so it can all be best utilized. And I keep running into snags. But I will have it worked out soon. At least before the move.

We will be staying in the motorhome and toy hauler. With a shed for all the extras. We don't know yet if we will be able to build the cabin before winter. And mite have to winter over in the MH and TH. We will see?

I picked up a nice deal on a shotgun. It's an 12 ga 8 shot maverick 88. Basically a mossberg 500 with a trigger safety. It has a houge stock shell carrier on the side. A barrel vent and a tac . Along with about 200 shells. They go new for just under what I paid for it. But I figured all the extras I got. It was worth the money.

A friend of mine and I are thinking about getting into 3 gun shooting. And I have collected some really nice pieces of plate steel. For some nice steel targets. And a nice big gong. I have figured out where I'm going to build a nice shooting range. When all said and done. I will have a nice 600 yard shooting range. With a nice big drill area at the back stop. For 3 gun training. And the 600 yard will help. Because I'm also wanting to get into high power rifle shoot competition. Where they do 200, 300, and 600 shoots. My friend is showing a little interest in it to. But I think I will get him hooked once I get the range up and going. LOL My kids are really interested. Imagine that.
For the 3 gun. I will start with the shotgun I just bought. Gona build me an AR for the rifle. Will double for the high power rifle shoot. And still trying to figure out what handgun I want. The one I want to check out. I can't find any around here. And I want to have one in my hand before I buy. It's a budget gun. But hey I'm on a tight budget. LOL If you are interested. It's a FMK 9C1 G2. Striker fired glock clone. Made and built in California of all places. LOL They have a model with the bill of rights etched in the side of the slide. And a thank you to the soldiers on the side of the frame. If I find one and it feels right in my hand. I'm getting one.

Sory getting way off here. Blab blab blab.
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Re: Living Off the Grid

Post by SoMo »

PP, glad to hear things are moving along for you guys should be a wild adventure. Keep us posted.
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Re: Living Off the Grid

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Found a hell of a deal on solar pv panels.

300 watt 37.5 open circuit voltage. Blemished German made panels. Got a quote for 4 of them with shipping for $1132. will be placing the order the end of the week.

So 1200 watts of pv panels. That should do pretty good for starters.

One also devised a water plan. That will involve a solar powered stand alone pump at the spring. That will pump water up the hill to a cistern. Will have it on a timer. So I can set it to run a couple hours a day. At the highest solar power production time. It will have battery backup in case its cloudy for a few days. Or for need at night? If the cistern is sized good. I shouldn't need but a couple hours a day. Maybe less. Will see after getting it up and running.

From the cistern it will run down to a shed. Gravity feed. In the shed I will have another pump and pressure tank. This will provide the water pressure for us.

The shed will be our little utility supplier. LOL I'm gona install the pv panels on the roof. And house the batteries and all the other solar equipment inside it. Along with the water supply stuff. I'm thinking it might be a two ended shed. Back end with all the equipment. Front end outdoor bathroom laundry changing area. Since we are going to be staying in the motorhome at first. Don't know still working the details out on that.

Got an offer for the transfer with my work. Not what I was expecting. A lot less. But I'm gona counter offer tomorrow. And see what happens.

We will move the wife and some of the kids down there. By the end of this month. Until I get the transfer worked out. I don't know about me?
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Re: Living Off the Grid

Post by Truckinbutch »

Hell of a fine start on a grand adventure . :clap: Don't let minor things you thought should work and don't discourage you . Like stillin , it is all a learning process . There are fixes for problems .

How much elevation are you going to have on that cistern ? You might have enough head to not require the second pump for house pressure .
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Re: Living Off the Grid

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Originally I wanted gravity feed. But I'm not sure I will have enough head to produce the pressure needed. At this point all I have to go by is Google maps as far as elevations go. And the area where our clearing is. Is not accurately at all. Everywhere around it is pretty close. But for some reason if I measure anything into the clearing. It gives me an assent of 0. When I know there is way more then that. So until I get down there and actually dig around and look. I'm shooting in the dark. If I was to guess. The clearing is around 20' above the spring. Where I'm thinking about putting the cistern is about 30' above the spring. I could go higher but I would like to keep the pipe run to around 400' But who knows. When I get down there. I might decide to take it further up the hill. And extend the pipe. Really I was going to buy 400' rolls of black Polly. And start at the spring. And run it up the hill. And see where I end up. And have enough slack to hook it all up. I can get 500' rolls. But the price per foot is much better on the 400' rolls I found. I could splice. But I would rather not. While I'm doing it. I'm going to be running two Polly pipes from the spring to the cistern. I'm going to run them through 4" corrugated drain pipe. This way I have a backup pipe in the event of the one failing. And or I nerd more flow from a second pump. I might upgrade to a different style pump at a later date. That would use a float switch at the cistern. So I will be able to run those wires through the drain pipe at that time.

Personaly I would like to put the cistern at the top of the hill. But budget won't allow that at this time. If I did this. I would have plenty of gravity pressure. To feed what ever I wanted. Along with any additional buildings that may ne added latter. It would mean a lot more pipe. And a bigger pump. That I can't afford at this point.
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Re: Living Off the Grid

Post by SoMo »

Hey PP, on my last trip east to Texas county I noticed in Seymore or Mansfield there are two alternative power supply places doing solar and wind generators etc... Might be helpful in sourcing some materials down here.
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Re: Living Off the Grid

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I just found the one in seymore the other day. Was doing a search and came across their site. Missouri wind and sun. I found it while searching for a dc ceiling fan. All this time searching around for solar stuff. I never come across it. But they do mostly wind stuff. I will be going up and checking out what they have to offer. I will be needing some connectors anyway. I will have to see if I van find another one around there. Thanks for the heads up.

We picked up our solar panels last weekend got the controllers in last week. Waiting on the inverter. Also picked up 8 more goats. One of which is giving almost 2 qt of milk a day. And 15 hens that gave 9 eggs the first morning.

Suppose to be moving this week. But as always plans change. Trying to work through some things.
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Re: Living Off the Grid

Post by ga flatwoods »

Hey PP what's goats bringing these days? High I heard at least in coastal GA. Be careful using hdpe 4" corrugated. Unless it has a liner it will crush easily during back fill operations and you will not be able to slide anything else through it.
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Re: Living Off the Grid

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Be safe man, keep us up to date of you can. Moving is a bitch, prayers for ya.
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Re: Living Off the Grid

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Thanks somo.

Ga depends in the goat. But we picked these 8 up for $800. For 2 bucks 2 does in milk and 4 kids. One if the milkers is giving almost 2 qts a day. My wife tells me milkers are going for $200 to $300 each. I think the younger buck is gona end up in the freezer soon.

We also picked up 15 laying hens at $4 each. They gave up 9 eggs the first day. WW dint think we were gona have any good laying hens this year. So it will be an added bonus.

We also picked up a nice farm truck. 93 f250 4X4 supercab flatbed. 7.3 lt non turbo with 36" swampers on it. I built stake panels for the back. And we used it to go pick up the goats. Worked great. Got the stuff to build a hay spike for the back.

Picked up 8 24v 240w solar panels. Craigslist find less then a year old. Used only for a few months. So now the main system will have 6 panels. 2 sets of 3 series wired in parallel. Giving me around 112 open volts dc. And 1440 watts. Which is a good fit for my MPPT controller. And should provide some good charging even at low light. We will be using the other two panels for two other systems. One for the spring water pump house. And the other for the barn. When built. I have all the controllers and the battery monitor. The damn inverter shipped yesterday. Won't get it till Thursday. But as things are going. We won't be ready for it yet anyway.

Never fails. Some how a monkey wrench always falls in the wrong place. We have to work through a few things that just popped up. Before we can proceed. But we will make it through. One way or another.

And I don't think I will be going with the corigated pipe for now ga. Budget got a lot tighter. So we will have to do with much less then we wanted.
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