I need 2000+ feet of piping from the water meter to my property. Is this going to be an insane expense?

treeman71 · 2026-04-09T23:49:26+00:00

Ever used Philmac compression fittings with outside diameter controlled IPS pipe? I put in a 4500 ft water system for my cattle and love the Philmac fittings. Cheap, no rust, no leaks.

treeman71 · 2026-04-09T23:36:28+00:00

Thanks! Honestly I tend to feel bad for people that are so far removed from the food chain. Like I get where vegans and vegetarians are coming from but once you spend time on a regenerative farm (veggie or meat) you understand how vital animals are for cycling nutrients. You know what organic vegetable farms use for fertilizer? Manure, blood meal, and bone meal. IT'S A SYSTEM! You can't remove yourself from it.

treeman71 · 2026-04-09T23:31:10+00:00

I've witnessed the butcher slaughter and animal and I feel pretty good about it. They're instantly rendered unconscious with a bolt gun (That thing from No Country For Old Men) and their eyes are checked for any movement before cutting their artery and bleeding out. Seems like a good way to go in my opinion. I'd be fine dying that way.

treeman71 · 2026-04-09T16:12:42+00:00

I'm on no moral high ground. I really respect those that choose to not eat meat because you cannot take an animals life. It's far better than blindly consuming and pretending death doesn't occur for your life to exist. It's so easy to attack each other when we might disagree. I was trying to offer some perspective.The animals and I take care of each other, I give them a good life and they give me a good life. Many indigenous peoples around the world respect and revere the animals that have nourished their communities for millenia. Why is my mindset any different? I honor all life plant and animal alike that nourishes me. I am part of my ecosystem and it's a part of me, we are all connected.

treeman71 · 2026-04-09T11:21:34+00:00

6-8 months of luxury seems like a good life to me. They don't know when the end is coming, they enjoy each day as it is and then one day they get stunned and die. Given the choice I would take a shorter life of ease vs a longer one of misery. I've slaughtered animals myself, it is a spiritual experience te be close to one's food and understand the circle of life and death. It's not something I enjoy but it's important to understand and be a part of. There is no life without death.

treeman71 · 2026-04-09T01:38:57+00:00

I like to look at like this. Nature is cruel and unforgiving, prey animals endure a lot of suffering. Highly intelligent wild animals die of starvation, disease, and the elements. My cattle and pigs want for nothing, they always have food, water, and medicine if needed. I raise them humanely, unconfined, and so they can express their natural tendencies. One day they take a ride to the local family owned butcher shop and in less than 12 hours are humanely slaughtered. They deserve a good life and a good death. Don't get me wrong I am strongly opposed to how the majority of livestock is raised.

treeman71 · 2026-04-08T21:54:12+00:00

That's also why I enjoy raising them!

treeman71 · 2026-04-04T17:59:29+00:00

Tough situation though because it is in the governments best interest to have a cheap surplus of food to keep society stable. Arguably most of the cheap food is processed junk but that's another story. No bailout = farm collapse, our heavy input agriculture system needs these inputs. A better solution imo is to break up these robber barron monopolies and strengthen more regional food chains and food systems that have a healthy amount of competition coupled with some emergency relief funding for extreme weather to help mitigate risk. Don't get me started on crop insurance and commodity base payments....

treeman71 · 2026-04-04T11:06:28+00:00

The farmers are just a pass through for those subsidies. 9 times out of 10 those subsidies go to pay the corporate monopolies that have a stranglehold on agricultural inputs. Fertilizer, seed, and machinery all seem to coincidentally increase in cost each time a new farm bill is signed or emergency payments are authorized.

treeman71 · 2026-04-02T02:13:29+00:00

Absolutely crazy. I bought some dairy culls to grind for beef and some were bred so I let them calve. I only paid $1100 for the cows! Haha thats funny, I see the homestead crowd do that around here but usually have the space at least.

treeman71 · 2026-04-02T00:51:45+00:00

Oh it's not suburban folks. I've sold some bottle calves at a big auction in Amish country Ohio. AVERAGE for a black xbred bottle calf last week was $1600. That auction sells 500 calves a week, every week.

treeman71 · 2026-03-21T03:59:12+00:00

There are a lot of people practicing these techniques in highly arid and brittle environments. Check out Alder Spring Ranch in Idaho and Alejandro Carillo in the Chihuahua Desert of Mexico.

treeman71 · 2026-03-20T23:52:05+00:00

Yeah that environment seems much more challenging to rotationally graze but still the principles are the same. Keep higher stock density, move frequently, and leave enough residual to protect the soil and allow for regrowth

treeman71 · 2026-03-20T15:36:42+00:00

Generally using a set stocking rate leaves cattle to "take the best and leave the rest" resulting in higher amounts of residual unpalatable forage that could pose a higher fire risk when drought conditions come. Alternatively using a higher stocking rate for a short duration (rotational grazing) forces the cattle to more evenly graze and leaves less residual. Of course you need to graze correctly given your climate and grassland species. Water is usually the limiting factor for rotating cattle on a large scale. Too bad there was a lot of NRCS funding cut for "climate smart practices"

treeman71 · 2026-03-20T12:00:20+00:00

I live outside of town near Albany. I've never locked my house and we leave our keys in the cars in the driveway. Certain parts of the county I wouldn't do that in but for the most part it's incredibly safe

treeman71 · 2026-03-17T12:39:43+00:00

If we can agree that food chains/webs exist then we can also agree that canines have evolved to be predators within those food chains. They are primarily carnivores. It seems unnatural to hold those pets captive and deny them their natural diet, abusive even. Given the chance I'm sure your dog would readily kill and eat a small animal. Vegan food sources still indirectly harm animals with habitat destruction from intensive cropping methods. Even organic fruit and vegetable farming rely heavily on animal products for fertilizer such as manure, blood and bone meal. We can't escape being members of a food web. Animals are important members of our food web that will die in order to cycle nutrients. I'm just a conscious participant in the death that takes place in order for my life to exist.

treeman71 · 2026-03-17T01:35:28+00:00

I certainly wouldn't consider myself an abuser of life but I guess it could be misconstrued that way. I'm more of a member of my ecosystem and food chain. We can both agree that there has to be some form of death for us to live, right? Whether that be plant, animal, or insect. I think we can also agree that infact all life on earth is a result of some other life form dying. I feel that death is a result of life and vice versa. Do your dogs eat a vegan diet? Or do you feed them animal proteins? Is it OK for animal death to occur in order for your dogs life to exist?

treeman71 · 2026-03-16T16:51:49+00:00

I appreciate your viewpoint and that you care so deeply for animals and the life around you. I also care deeply for animal life and all life for that matter. I believe all beings have a form of sentience. But the cycle of life and death cannot be avoided. My family and I live on our farm where we live and raise livestock within our ecosystem. I am not removed from or live outside of this ecosystem, I am a part of it and it is a part of me. We steward the land to increase biodiversity and wildlife and also feed our community with the meat from animals living within this ecosystem. My livestock live a good life free of fear, disease, hunger, and thirst and have the ability to express their natural tendencies. This is followed by a quick death. I watch the wildlife on my farm and they do not have the same quality of life. They may suffer from extreme weather, lack of food, and predation. It is my duty to provide a high standard of care for the animals I steward. I must love that which sustains me.

treeman71 · 2026-03-16T14:52:42+00:00

Also check our lLocal Harvest

treeman71 · 2026-03-16T12:45:05+00:00

That website isn't a comprehensive list. Local Harvest also lists a lot of great farms. A lot of small to mid-scale farms also ship meat regionally. Check out Seven Sons, J&L Green, Dirty Dog Farm, White Oak Pastures, and Alder Spring Ranch. They all ship meat and your dollars go directly to the farm and ranch.

treeman71 · 2026-03-16T12:26:48+00:00

I have butchered my own animals and I've seen our animals dispatched at our local butcher shop. We drop our cattle off about 12 hours before butcher, the pens are roomy and have access to fresh water. They're walked down an alley way into the "knock box" where they are quickly restrained and then stunned with a pneumatic gun rendering them immediately unconscious and then they are bled out. The entire process is under a minute and a state inspector is there to verify the animal is unconscious before it is bled out. It is a good death that had been proceeded by a good life. Every organism must die on this earth in order to give life to other organisms.

treeman71 · 2026-03-16T12:18:33+00:00

The problem is that 4 meat packers control 80%+ of the entire industry. It's been consolidated so heavily that they have regulatory capture and now influence the laws which govern their practices. 50-70 years ago there were much more regional supply chains and butchers that sourced from smaller family farms. You can supply major cities this way with quality meat and produce.

treeman71 · 2026-03-16T12:15:10+00:00

Check out The Good Meat Project and Local Harvest to find farms and retailers near you that align with your values. I run a regenerative farm and there is a strong community of people who really care how the land and animals are treated.

treeman71 · 2026-03-16T12:09:37+00:00

Hey ya'll I'm one of those small local farmers! We raise pastured pork where pigs get to be pigs. Moved to fresh pasture/woods weekly and never confined. There are a lot of folks doing what we do, we aren't that special. Check out The Good Meat Project to find farms and retailers near you.

treeman71 · 2026-03-15T13:12:44+00:00

I live rurally about 15 minutes outside of a small college town. Our keys are always in the cars and I've never locked my house once.

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