If you live off-grid on a homestead or maintain a small farm with livestock, you know it can be a challenge to take care of animals, especially if you’re new to it. It takes precision and good scheduling to keep them fed, watered, and in a well-maintained habitat mostly free of feces.
The expenses are another matter. If you buy feed for your animals, the budget items add up quickly, which is why pastured animals are such a delight for permaculture-oriented off-grid agriculture enthusiasts. Pastured livestock only need what’s in front of them. They don’t need bags of soy and corn shipped across the country.
The biggest hurdle to not growing animals on pasture or free-ranging them is lack of access to fenced pasture paddocks with open grass. Most people don’t have that kind of space because trees or other houses get in the way. Fence installation and land aren’t cheap these days.