February 23, 2025
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What would you like to raise and eat the most? What is the least and most likley you would eat?

For your SafeIn Community Cooperative in Kentucky, here’s a list of animals you can raise for food, fiber, work, and sustainability while staying within Kentucky’s climate and farming conditions. 🌾🐄🐓

🐔 Poultry (Eggs & Meat)

  1. Chickens – Egg-laying & meat production
    • Best breeds: Rhode Island Red, Leghorn, Plymouth Rock, Orpington
  2. Ducks – Hardy, great egg layers & meat
    • Best breeds: Pekin, Khaki Campbell, Muscovy
  3. Geese – Guard animals & meat
    • Best breeds: Embden, Toulouse, African Goose
  4. Turkeys – Great for meat
    • Best breeds: Broad Breasted White, Bourbon Red, Narragansett
  5. Guinea Fowl – Pest control, meat, & eggs

🐄 Livestock (Milk, Meat, Work)

  1. Cows – Dairy & meat production
    • Best breeds for milk: Jersey, Holstein, Guernsey
    • Best breeds for meat: Angus, Hereford, Charolais
  2. Goats – Milk, meat, and brush control
    • Best breeds for milk: Nubian, Saanen, Alpine
    • Best breeds for meat: Boer, Kiko, Spanish Goat
  3. Sheep – Wool, meat, and pasture maintenance
    • Best breeds: Dorper, Katahdin, Suffolk, Merino
  4. Pigs – Hardy and great for meat
    • Best breeds: Berkshire, Duroc, Yorkshire, Tamworth

🐴 Working & Pack Animals

  1. Horses – Work, transportation, and farm use
    • Best breeds: Belgian (for work), Quarter Horse (for riding), Percheron
  2. Donkeys – Guard animals & light work
  3. Mules – Stronger than horses, good for carrying loads

🐇 Small Livestock (Fast-Growing)

  1. Rabbits – Meat & fur production
    • Best breeds for meat: New Zealand, Californian, Silver Fox
    • Best breeds for fiber: Angora Rabbit

🐟 Aquaculture (Fish Farming)

  1. Tilapia – Warm-water fish, easy to raise
  2. Catfish – Hardy and thrives in ponds
  3. Trout – Cold-water fish, good for clear streams
  4. Bluegill & Bass – Natural pond fish for food & ecosystem balance

🐝 Insects for Sustainability

  1. Honeybees – Honey, pollination, beeswax
  2. Black Soldier Flies – Protein-rich animal feed source

🦆 Alternative & Unique Livestock

  1. Quail – Small, fast-growing, high-protein eggs & meat
  2. Pheasants – Specialty meat, game bird farming
  3. Llamas & Alpacas – Wool & guard animals
  4. Yaks – Cold-hardy, meat, milk, & fiber
  5. Water Buffalo – Dairy, meat, and plowing
  6. Emus & Ostriches – Meat, oil, eggs, and leather
  7. Deers
  8. elk
  9. buffalo
  10. craw daddies
  11. crab legs (hunting)
  12. Tuna (hunting
  13. bison

🐢 Reptiles & Amphibians for Farming

  1. Turtles (Snapping, Red-Eared Sliders) – Traditional meat source (regulated in some areas)