Meet the Animals of R&R Homestead

Our animals are part of how we feed our household, care for our land, and work toward greater self-reliance. Most of what we raise is for our own consumption. Over time, we’ve learned which animals fit our lives and how their different roles connect.

Some provide meat, milk, or eggs. Others help manage vegetation, contribute manure to the garden, or protect the animals around them. Here’s a closer look at the livestock we keep and why we keep them.

Goats: Milk, Meat, and Brush Control

Buttercup and Daffodil browsing in the field early spring

Toggenburg and Kiko genetics are strong in our herd. We keep goats for both milk and meat, giving them a dual-purpose role in feeding our household.

They also contribute to the pasture. Our goats browse brush rather than concentrating on grass alone, helping us manage woody growth while returning nutrients to the soil through their manure.

Goats bring their own challenges, too. Their reputation as escape artists is part of our experience with them and one reason fencing features in our homesteading content.

3 Things to Know About Our Goats

1. They are browsers, not primarily grazers. Brush and leafy growth are an important part of their role in our pasture.
2. They are escape artists. Keeping them where we want them takes attention to fencing.
3. They serve two purposes. We keep them for meat and milk.

Sheep: A Different Role in the Pasture

Some sheep in their pasture.

We keep Katahdin sheep for meat and milk. In our experience, the sheep are easier to handle than the goats, which makes them a good fit for the way we work.

They also feed differently. Where the goats browse brush, our sheep graze mostly grasses and other forage close to the ground. Keeping both gives us animals that use different parts of the pasture.

3 Things to Know About Our Sheep

1. Katahdins are hair sheep. We don’t keep them for a wool harvest.
2. They are grazers. Their feeding habits focus on grasses and ground-level forage rather than the brush our goats favor.
3. They serve two purposes here. Meat and milk are both part of their role on our homestead.

Heritage Turkeys: Bourbon Reds and a Breeding Project

Our heritage turkeys.

Bourbon Reds are the foundation of our heritage turkey flock. We hold around 30 birds through winter, and the flock usually grows larger in spring and summer.

Alongside our Bourbon Reds, I’m working on a selective-breeding project to produce Bourbon Buffs from Bourbon Red and Narragansett ancestry. After the past years of breeding toward that goal, we now have a juvenile Bourbon Buff.

Bourbon Buff, the latest chapter in our breeding project.

This project is an ongoing part of our turkey story. It gives us something to follow over time as we select birds and see how the next generations develop.

3 Things to Know About Our Heritage Turkeys

1. They take time to grow. Raising them is a longer-term commitment rather than a quick turnaround.
2. They can fly. Their ability to get off the ground is part of planning how we keep them.
3. Breeding and laying are seasonal. The rhythm of the flock changes through the year.

Rabbits: A Household Staple

A harvest of rabbit can feed us for a while. The equivalent of chicken to our household

Rabbits provide a large portion of our diet. Rachel loves rabbit meat, and what began as an addition to our homestead has become a staple, much as chicken is in many households.

Their contribution doesn’t end with food. Rabbit manure also helps feed our plants, connecting the animals we raise with the garden we grow.

Often described as a “cold” fertilizer, rabbit manure is part of our gardening approach. We’ll share more about how we use it in our garden resources, including the practical details that don’t fit into a short video.

3 Things to Know About Our Rabbits

1. Small livestock can provide a lot of food. With enough breeding animals and good management, successive litters can provide more meat than a single beef animal in less time. The comparison depends on the size of the rabbitry and how the animals are raised.
2. Their manure helps feed the garden. Rabbit poop is valued as a “cold” fertilizer, returning nutrients to the soil and supporting the plants we grow.
3. Their ears and feet can have a use, too. Properly prepared rabbit ears and feet can make dog treats, helping us put more of each harvest to use.

Muscovy Ducks: Quiet, Capable Foragers

Brown Duck raising a brood.

Our Muscovy ducks are notably quiet. Rather than the familiar loud quack, we mostly hear soft hissing sounds from them.

We enjoy their meat as an alternative to the red meat we once bought at the grocery store. To us, the flavor has a slight similarity to venison.

They are also great foragers. Our ducks lay and hatch their own eggs and raise their young with relatively little intervention from us. That independence is one of the things we appreciate about keeping them.

3 Things to Know About Our Muscovy Ducks

1. They have rich, red meat. To us, the flavor is similar to venison, making Muscovy a welcome alternative at our table.
2. They are quiet ducks. Almost silent compared with other ducks, they communicate with a soft hiss rather than a loud quack.
3. They are hardworking foragers. Their search for food doubles as pest control. Muscovies are known for eating mosquitoes, flies, and other insects, as well as small reptiles and amphibians.

Chickens: An Egg Basket Full of Color

An egg carton full of color

Our chickens are kept mostly for eggs, and we’re working toward a basket with blue, green, olive, pink, and brown shades.

We favor Wheaten coloring in much of our flock. Our Wheaten Ameraucanas provide blue eggs, while our Salmon Faverolles contribute the pink-toned eggs we enjoy. We also keep Marans, known for their dark brown eggs.

Our mixed breed chicken flock 2025.

Developing that mix of egg colors is an ongoing project. It’s another example of finding a practical role for our animals while enjoying the variety they bring to everyday homestead life.

Livestock Guardian Dogs: Meet the Family

Jojo and Luna

Our livestock guardian dogs became part of the homestead after we lost birds to a fox. Luna, our Great Pyrenees, was the beginning of that chapter.

Today, the family includes Luna, the dam, and Jojo, the sire, along with their puppies: Sister, Trevor, Diamond, and Sassy.

The dogs are part of our approach to protecting the animals we raise. Their story belongs here alongside the livestock, because protection is part of caring for the homestead, too.

3 Things to Know About Great Pyrenees

1. They are huge. Great Pyrenees can weigh between 85 and 140 pounds. That is a lot of dog!
2. They have a double coat. A dense undercoat sits beneath their longer outer coat, giving them that unmistakably fluffy appearance.
3. They are “self-cleaning.” Dirt tends to fall away as their coat dries. The catch? It will probably end up on your floor.