Should Raising Your Own Meat Be Part of Your Prepping Strategy?

September 29th, 2012 |

Author: John Wesley Smith

Raising your own home grown meat isn’t something to jump into without getting informed. There’s plenty to consider.

Should you raise chickens? Rabbits? Cattle? Goats?

Do you have the space and a way to house your animals?

What about money for feed and vet bills?

Should you butcher your own meat?

What if raising your own meat simply isn’t an option for you? How can you shop wisely at the supermarket? For that matter, can you get along with less meat in your meals? Or can you at least use it more conservatively?

If you buy meat from a local butcher, how do you know what you’re getting?

Jackie Clay-Atkinson sheds light on these questions and shares a wealth of information in an article from the September/October 2012 issue of “Backwoods Home Magazine.” She has the experience and helpful insights to give you the guidance you need as you make decisions about raising your own meat.

Meat for the homestead

By Jackie Clay-Atkinson

Meat is often the most expensive portion of our grocery bill, and it is getting more and more expensive every day. I’ve seen steaks “on sale” for more than $10 a pound. When you live on a low budget, like we do, buying $10 a pound steaks doesn’t happen. But two years ago, for a special occasion, I did buy two steaks at $7.99 a pound. I know my meat and chose two small T-bones that looked pretty good. I cooked them for dinner that evening and they smelled great frying with onions, but when they were on our plates and I began cutting into mine, I found those pretty steaks to be tougher than nails. I got so tired from chewing on mine that I gave the rest of it to my husband, who refused to waste those $7.99 a pound steaks. Talk about a disappointment. It was then and there that we vowed to raise our own meat.

Now we have at least one big steer to butcher every fall, along with our chickens, turkeys, goats, and starting this year, pigs. I also hunt venison every fall, so there’s hardly ever store-bought meat at our house anymore.

Read the whole article here:
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/clay-atkinson137.html

Excerpt used with permission of Backwoods Home Magazine.
http://www.backwoodshome.com 1-800-835-2418.

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