Bucket D — Animals

D1 What it is & carrying capacity

One family milk cow + a beef calf a year, a small laying flock, meat birds in batches, a couple of hives, and a stocked pond. Honest carrying capacity for ~6.5 productive acres in this climate — kept deliberately small so two people can run it.

Milk cow · Dexter / mini-Jersey

Beef calf raised out / yr

2–3

Head total · cow+calf+grower

12–15

Laying hens

2×

Meat-bird batches / yr

Beehives (optional)

How many paddocks for 2 cows? Paddock count is set by grass rest (~30 days), not herd size. You've chosen 5–6 fixed cross-fenced paddocks — permanent fences for less daily wire-moving — and you can still split any paddock with portable polywire for smaller cells. With so few animals the real risk is under-grazing in spring, so clip or custom-bale the surplus as your own winter hay.

Gallery The livestock & pond

Jersey milk cow — Milk cow A Dexter or mini-Jersey right-sizes the dairy for a family. Share-milk with her calf so it's **one milking a day** (~1–3 gal), not two. Bred once a year by AI. How-to guide →

Laying hens 12–15 point-of-lay pullets give eggs in weeks. They ride **3 days behind the cattle** in a mobile coop, scratching through manure to break the fly/parasite cycle. How-to guide →

Broiler chickens — Meat birds 2 batches of ~25–50 Cornish-cross a year, brooder → tractor → freezer in ~8 weeks. Move the tractor to fresh grass daily; process at home (poultry is exempt). How-to guide →

Beehives — Bees 2 Langstroth hives at the field edge — low effort, honey by year 2, and they boost orchard and garden set. Optional, but they pollinate everything around them. How-to guide →

Largemouth bass The predator that keeps the pond balanced — stock after the bluegill establish a forage base. Recreation, not income. How-to guide →

Bluegill Stocked first as the forage fish that feeds the bass and breeds prolifically; the panfish you actually eat off the dock. How-to guide →

Channel catfish Bottom feeder added for eating — grows fast, tolerates the warm North-Texas pond, and rounds out the stocking trio. How-to guide →

Cattle grazing — Rotational grazing The herd moves every ~5 days (Apr–Oct) across 5–6 paddocks for ~30-day rest — the engine of soil health. Confine to the sacrifice paddock and feed hay Nov–Mar.

Cow and calf — Cow + calf The cow throws **one calf a year** — your beef, grown on grass to ~18–24 months, then a hired butcher in the fall fills the freezer. No home slaughter.

Chicken run and beds — Coop & run Lock it nightly against predators — non-negotiable. The mobile design lets the flock follow the herd and spread fertility instead of trashing one patch.

D2 Shelter, handling & feed

The cattle pieces the base plan was missing: a place to get out of the weather, a safe way to work and load them, and dry/secure feed. Move handling earlier — you need it the day the cattle arrive, not in Year 3–5.

Item	Cost	Notes
Run-in / loafing shed — 3-sided, ~20×24	$4,500	Shade in summer, wind/rain cover in winter; doubles as the calving spot
Working corral + headgate/squeeze + loading chute	$6,000	For AI/vet work, doctoring, and loading the beef calf to the processor
Quarantine / sick pen	$800	Isolate new or sick stock so it can't infect the herd/flock
Rodent-proof feed storage — metal bins / small room	$600	Poultry grain + cattle minerals, kept dry and out of the rodents
Shelter & handling subtotal	~$11,900	Part of the ~$53k outbuildings & shelter additions (see Cost), not the Bucket D total; hay storage is on Home

D3 Line-item cost — infrastructure

Item	Cost	Notes
Interior fixed cross-fences (5–6 cattle paddocks)	$12,000	High-tensile / field fence, braced corners, gates
Portable polywire — sub-divide cells	$1,000	Energizer, reels, step-in posts for smaller cells
Mobile chicken coop + poultry tractor + brooder	$4,500	Plus feeders/waterers; follows the cattle
Cattle water — tanks, troughs, hardened pads	$3,000	Float valves, tie-ins to frost-free hydrants
Chest freezer, 15–20 cu ft	$1,200	Solar-fed; holds one beef (~250–500 lb packaged)
Infrastructure subtotal	$21,700

D4 Line-item cost — the animals

Animal	Qty	Unit	Cost	First yield
Milk cow — Dexter, bred	1	$2,000	$2,000	milk at calving
Weaned calf / grower (starter)	1	$600	$600	beef ~18–24 mo
Laying hens (point-of-lay pullets)	15	$20	$300	eggs in weeks
Meat chicks — 2 batches × 50	100	$3.50	$350	~8 weeks
Bees — nucs + hive boxes	2	$350	$700	honey yr 2
Pond fish — bass, bluegill, catfish	—	—	$500	2–3 yr
Livestock subtotal			$4,450

After year one the cow's calf is free, you hatch or buy chicks as needed, and bees split themselves — so restocking cost is minimal.

D5 Ongoing cost — driven toward near-zero

Item	$/yr	How it's minimized
Winter hay	$0–200	Stockpile forage + custom-bale your surplus on shares — no baler to own
Poultry feed	$300–600	Pasture + scraps + grown grain trim it; keep the flock small
Beef processing (hired)	$700–1,100	Keep it — ~$2–3/lb vs $6–10 retail; do poultry yourself
Breeding — AI or borrowed bull	$50–100	No bull kept (feed, fence, danger for one cow)
Salt / minerals	$75–150	Small and unavoidable
Misc vet / meds / repairs	$100–200	Healthy pastured stock need little
Ongoing total	~$1,200–2,000	~$1k of it is beef processing = a freezer of beef

Animals — Cattle & Chickens

D1 What it is & carrying capacity

Gallery The livestock & pond

D2 Shelter, handling & feed

D3 Line-item cost — infrastructure

D4 Line-item cost — the animals

D5 Ongoing cost — driven toward near-zero

D6 Bucket total & role

Role in the system