FREE FOOD FOR YOUR LIVESTOCK (and bonus survival stuff for you!)
When some people go out in their yard, they see weeds. But I see food! Today I show you three forage foods that are edible for livestock, but I want to note that we have chickens, ducks, pigs, and cows. If you want to feed other animals such as sheep, goats, or your pet horses, please do research on what grows in your area and what can be toxic to your animals.
Here we have a large metal can filled with goodies for my pigs! It's a 30-gallon can and took my son and I less than 10 minutes to fill. What's in it?
A wild and abundant shrub that grows well in Florida. The leaves can be used as mosquito repellant when lightly crushed and rubbed on clothing or skin. The ripe berries can be used for making jelly and tea. I place the limbs around the pig pen to keep skeeters off them at night.
These vines grow EVERYWHERE. If there's a 60-foot oak, they are in it! The vines on this farm were noted to have been here since the 1800s but I'd venture to say they've been here much longer.
The Spaniards may have been the ones to bring these awesome survival vines to Florida! Cut open a vine, and there's pure water!
This livestock lifesaver grows wherever there's filtered sunlight and some leaf decay. The nutrients and sunlight that is captured in these leaves are nothing short of magical for our livestock! We hope it helps yours too! As a survival tool, let's just say you might want to keep these growing near the outhouse too...
Stay tuned for more homesteading, prepping, survival, and family posts! And most of all, HAVE A HAPPY DAY!
https://steemit.com/homesteading/@farmandadventure/what-grows-in-june-s-unrelenting-heat
https://steemit.com/homesteading/@farmandadventure/how-much-meat-from-two-pigs-depends-on-the-pigs
We Love foraging for us and the animals! We have beauty berry all over our homestead but didn't think to add it to animals area! That Muscadine vine is HUGE! so cool! I love them! I hope you don't take this the wrong way but I feel I should point out something important, Please know I am saying this with kindness and community love. Your picture of broadleaf plantain is not broadleaf plantain. I am very familiar with plantain in different regions of the country and there can be some variance but that is definitely not plantain. I have seen that weed here also but don't know it's name or if it is edible. I hope you can find out what it is and I would be glad to share a picture of plantain if you would like? Can pictures be posted to comments in steemit? I hope this comment is okay, I really am enjoying all your post and respect you so please understand my intentions are purely helpful and good!
Peace and Love,
Rose
I'll check again, but we had someone come from the Ag agency and identify our "weeds". They havent sprouted the seed stems yet. I'm always willing to double check though! Thanks for the heads up :0)
Thanks for understanding! I am always hesitant to say anything and risk offending but I know I would want someone to tell me! I have done plant ID for the State Botanist and the Extension service if that helps you feel any better. Thanks again for being cool!
Hey we are all hear to learn. Its been since my son was a baby (he's 10 now) since the Ag guy came out. What do you think it is? We are west coast florida...
I recognize it and know I have seen it here in georgia but I am drawing a blank on name. A bloom would really help!
My husband says he remembers it being Dwarf Plaintain or Little Foot...
the leaves of plantain all have veins that run from top to bottom like a monocot, the plant in your picture has veins running horizontally. Does that make sense? the closest guess I have right now is common teasel? just a guess tho! need to see it in person or blooms for definate ID.
Blooms should be soon!
Ok, I might be onto something! This may actually be Dock, or yellow dock! Its a wild superfood at any rate. Cant wait for the blossoms to get a positive ID!
Nice! I really enjoy the photos. I think beauty berry grows in my area so those photos were helpful. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
You're welcome! I'll make another post when the berries are ripe in acouple months.
Sweet! That would be super helpful to see the updated photos. :)
I am looking forward to grapes from my wild grapevine! I'm hoping they produce well this year. I am giving them plenty of water so here's hoping! 🍇🤞🏻
Let me know how they do! Ours are just a bit bigger than peas but not quite yet marbles.
There are just tiny little dots there right now, but will do! 😁
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Awesome tips! :) I wonder if the plantain would grow here, I'm in Zone 5/6!
It may not be the same, but I think some form of plantain grows all over the us🌎
Right on, I'll have to look into it. I read that some hybrid willow can also be fed to livestock. Heard of that?
Willow doesnt grow in my area, sadly. Id have to look it up.
Like, at all, or just that you don't have it around? Willow loooooves water. You'd think it'd do well in FL!
I live quite close to salt water and the ground is very sandy. Ive never seen one but according to google they can grow in cooler areas of Florida! That gives me something new to hunt for ;0)
Yeah! There's so many different kinds of willow too. Curly/Corkscrew Willow is real cool!
Wonderful! Last night I pruned a Pear tree. The clippings became fodder for the goats! Sometimes when I'm heading out to pull the weeds I say "I'm going to harvest goat food". LOL
Exactly!
This is great! I am pretty sure we have plantain here...our rabbits LOVE THEM!
Also...hilarious about the outhouse!!!
Isnt free food great!
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It's nice to give animals fresh treats like those! I don't think your last plant is either plantain or dock. @wholesomeroots explained the plantain identification pretty well. And dock has a long stem on each leaf, before the leaf fans out. I eat dock - it's a good green mixed in with others. Here's a picture of Yellow Dock (Rumex crispus) that shows their long stems:
Borad-leafed dock (Rumex obtusifolius) will have a broader, more oval leaf, but it will still have the long leaf stem.
Looking forward to finding out what that plant is!
Me too Lol. Its definitely edible though so thats good!
You have us all curious now! :D
Foraging for your animals is really thoughtful! It's interesting to me how different plants pose risks to some animals, but are relished by others. It highlights that watching what the animals eat, to decide whether we can eat it, too, is not a good practice. But matching what kinds of plants each of your livestock likes (and you, too) is great foraging practice!
And here's to helping each other learn plants and having good discussions about identification! Nice job, @wholesomeroots and @farmandadventure, for showing a nice discussion!
You have been upvoted and resteemed by the Foraging Trail, a SteemTrail project. You can find out more about the Steemit Foraging community and guidelines for being upvoted by the @foraging-trail here and here.
I am tagging the post with the #foraging tag, too, because foraging for the animals in your care is appreciating nature's wild bounty, too! :D
Oh thank you! Discussion and sharing is what steemits all about!