Random thoughts about owning a farm

I think if you tell a random selection of people that you own a farm, a large number will picture cows or chickens-or both. We don't plan on having a livestock farm, but I was perusing the blogs of farms around the country and found a number of livestock farms that made me ponder this. IF we were going to have livestock, what would we have?

I'll admit, at this point, I do plan on having a few chickens and possibly geese or goats (I'll talk more about them later, but they came up as good natural weeders as I read up on organic weed control). I've always liked chickens, and have narrowed down my breeds of choice to Rhode Island Reds and Ameraucanas (they lay blue eggs). I think blue egg laying chickens are cool, and I like the looks of the Rhode Island Reds.

As far as the goats and geese, breeds remain to be seen, but I'm betting on Boer for the goats and Toulouse for the Geese. I'm leaning more towards geese than goats if we go this way for weeding, geese are great farm guards. If you've ever been chased by a hissing, angry goose (well, more likely actually a gander), you know this already.

Now, I'm pretty sure we won't have cows, or even A cow. BUT, if we did, I'm torn between two breeds. My personal long time favorite, the Jerseys, and my newer favorite, Highlands. If you don't know, Jerseys are what most people probably picture when you say "chocolate milk cow". They are lovely shades of brown and have such pretty faces. Highlands have long coats and are reddish colored. Very unique looking when you're used to pastures full of Holsteins (the black and white ones). Not that there's anything wrong with Holsteins! I am leaning more towards Jerseys though, I just love their faces. Hypothetically speaking of course.

I'm not a big fan of pigs, so I can't say that I would have any, even if we were given to having a livestock farm. There's nothing wrong with pigs, they just aren't among my favorite farm animals.

I'd love a couple horses, and there's no way I could settle on one breed. I have a soft spot for Percherons, and really, any draft breed. Appys are beautiful, as are Morgans. A Mustang would be a nice fit, and a mini would be adorable. I think if there's ANY remote possibility of a critter of the equine variety on our potential future farm, it's probably a mini. Given the eco friendly and organic bent we're going for, we could use a little horse power to lug the harvest in from the fields. I still plan on getting a tractor to plow the driveway and mow the yard though!