Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

hi all,

i am dedicating this thread to a vision i have. i aim to have my farm operating by late 2012. i will plan for 4, 10, 25 and 50 year phases. i will set certain goals to be achieved in each phase.

phase 1: now- 2013

in this phase my main aims are to move to the south west within 2 years and then setup a farm for the following 2.5 years.

as time goes on i will add aims to the different phases as my ideas progress. at the end of each phase the results will be reviewed and assessed.

worms, silver perch, marron, quail and herbs will be the target species.

my 50 year goal is to create a near closed look ecosystem that provides for all the needs of my family, friends and local community, while still being profitable enough to keep afloat.

over the years i have come to the realization that money is not essential and just an illusion. its a piece of paper that is exchanged for goods. if there is no need for these goods then money is worthless. if everything you need is within your power to create then you are a free person. if you rely on resources from external sources then your trapped and controlled.

over the next 50 years what is going to happen is these resources are going to run out before our eyes. prices of everything will go through the roof and those who rely on them will suddenly have a near worthless piece of paper.

now is the time to break free to forge our own reality and existence.

hope to see you all along for the ride.

for those interested the reason i have set the date for 2013 is to coincide with the end of the mayan calender on the 21st dec 2012.

heres some info:

http://www.greatdreams.com/2012.htm

I'm with ya!

I've been trying to say that to those big dudes that keep chasing me for years

Good on ya BF sounds like a plan, hope you sort it out

Although money may not be essential, I can't see how your plans can come to fruition without it. We have spent nearly 50k since moving here, and when we look around, wonder where it has gone, and the place was "fully set up" when we bought it. Best of luck with your dreams BF, hope you win lotto Nothing wrong with dreams, just throw in a bit of reality to balance it out. Here, i am a realist, dan is a optimist verging on overoptimism. We tend to balance each other out. ie he thinks we will make it, I don't, so we keep going hoping for the best and striving for our goals, which are not a lot unlike yours.

I believe it will be much sooner than that, and unless we get serious about reversing global warming now, which would/will have huge ramifications on resource availability, we're buggered anyway...

If I live as old as my grandfather did, unfortunately I'll be around to see/experience it all...

Good luck with it bio-farmer, look forward to watching your progress.

What is the attraction to Quail - seems more people are getting into Quail, but they are so small and there eggs are tiny - is it a feed to growth thing? My preference is for ducks mainly because they are tough as nails, grow quickly and can forage much of their own food.

This is also what I realized..!
I realized this when thinking about having my own, big selfsufficient AP system in the near future. The neccessity, food, water, air is there for free (water? hmm...).
So everything else that money buys becomes a luxury. An option. (ok education is necessary, but it is not a survival-mode life-saver like food, water, air.)


Of course I want the money anyway!

People are into quail as they have a high reproduction rate and a good growth rate. You can be hatching babies from eggs you collected in less than 10 weeks. also they take up very little space and can be kept in relatively poor conditions and still do well production wise.

They do however require a fairly high protein level in their diet and all of this must be supplied as they are normally not allowed to graze for food. They are an intensive animal.

My thoughts on self sufficiency are more associated with getting animals that will utilise grass and garden/kitchen refuse to grow.
ALong these lines i think good working knowledge of an incubator is essential. If you get a fan forced(?) incubator you can hatch a varity of poultry at the same time giving a good variation of end product.

I would be looking at things like ducks, geese guinea fowl and peacocks. These are all very tough and relatively self sufficient in terms of feed. They are larger ans slower growing with lower reproduction rates but geese especially consume almost purely grass so if you ae in a high rainfall area they could be left alone for most of the year and eggs collected and incubated to maximise production. Guinea fowl are very good at pest control and can graze for a very high percentage of there diet.

Also the use of rare breed and miniature livestock should be a component. THings like rare black pigs and other heritage breeds that again have a good grass based feed but do not supply a huge amount of meat in one hit. I personally like the idea of having a larger number of smaller animals in any paddocks I have. Think of miniture belted galloway, lowlines and other small cattle breeds. They seem like they were bred for the fun of it but have benefits to the inexperienced landholder in dealing with them. have you ever come across a full grown brahman or charolais bull, they are bloody scary. also these larger animals can take up to two years to get to a size that is good for slaughtering.

any way that is my two cents, NIck

Quail ( Japanese ),,,basically out-perform near any other animal for production.

I've read a fair bit about them and was very impressed but I'm always careful about facts ,opinions and what is truth. But after reading the link in the NSW DPI I'm sold on the idea.

http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/l ... nese-quail

WOOHOO!

bio farmer i'm with you, i have the same dreams, just planning to achive that a lil sooner, as gokul said, i think things will move faster, as the prices are crazy already and still growing

i too will not focus all my energy towards aquaponic solutions, instead i would like to grow any kind of living being, plant or animal that helps me to coexist without relying on industry and harming the enviroment in unnecessary means. that also means producing my own energy with either hydrogen, permanent motors, wind, water etc., the technology is available for DIY projects so, let's just roll our sleves and let's get workin'!

money is worthless without love

+1 on lowline cattle,,they are GREAT!!!

had a discussion with a bloke on here last year about these, they are very similar to the stubble quail that you get in the West Australian wheat belt.
Can't remember if they will cross breed or not BUT if they can you can bet your bottom dollar (or your illusionary dollar) the ag dept/APB will have something to say about it.

IF not, no worries for you then

p.s Stubble quail taste good

Quick look at the figures on the DPI link and I can't see stand out performance for Quail vs Duck. Would have to have 15-20 Quail to match 1 duck, with this many their feed requirement looks higher than a single duck. Age for eating, if I read it right is 6-8 weeks for a quail vs 7 - 10 for a duck... Hmm, I think I'd rather pluck a single duck than 20 odd Quail and peeling one egg vs 4-6 tiny ones...

Not sold yet. Though the wife did show some interest in Quail a little while back, but when I said I wasn't going to feed or look after 'em like I do with everything else, she went off them a bit...

Hey BF... I share the dream mate.. for the same reasons... hope it turns into your reality

They earn the title on the basis of their unrivalled ability to produce meat and eggs faster, and in greater quantity, than anything on two or more legs.

With a feed conversion ratio of 2:1 (against a chicken at 3:1), quail will also make good use of a quality diet.

The ability of a female to reproduce its body weight in any given year is another measure where the quail is without parallel. A cow is able to produce 40% of its own bodyweight per year and a sheep or goat can produce over 100%. A sow can generate in excess of 400% and a rabbit doe tips the scales at in excess of 1000%.

However, none of them come close to Japanese Quail.

These amazing little birds can put a new generation of breeding birds on the ground every six weeks. That’s right! The birds that hatch today will be laying eggs in about six weeks.

I like thge taste of Duck but they are stinky critters.