In this video, I show the results of my mobile duck tractor experiment as a way of keeping ducks and other poultry primarily as meat birds grown at home for the dinner plate.
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Self Sufficient Me is based on our small 3-acre property/homestead in SE Queensland Australia about 45kms north of Brisbane – the climate is subtropical (similar to Florida). I started Self Sufficient Me in 2011 as a blog website project where I document and write about backyard food growing, self-sufficiency, and urban farming in general. I love sharing my foodie and DIY adventures online so come along with me and let’s get into it! Cheers, Mark 🙂
#duck #homesteading
G'day Everyone, I understand that some people won't be happy with this video for obvious reasons. Some will think this video goes too far, others will think it doesn't go far enough, and some of my subscribers simply won't be interested in this type of content. However, for me to ignore aspects of our own homesteading because I "might lose subscribers or get fewer views" would be to deny reality and potentially mislead people about my own values, which I'm not prepared to do. These types of topics are difficult to navigate on YouTube these days but I still think it's important to cover them sometimes when appropriate. Thanks for your ongoing support! Cheers, Mark
I'm a vego but still cook meat for the family. Any cooking tips? It always seems to come out dry
Vagetariangs.. pffftt..
I love duck, fried, roasted, grilled! yum!
Besides all these whining animal activists don't seem to have a clue how good of a life a sustainably farmed meat animal has! They get food brought to them, they are pampered and protected, until they have one bad day. Oh well, they don't have a lifetime to dwell on it and have PTSD issues after that one bad day. Compare that to life in the wild, always running and hiding from predators, probably have PTSD by the time they are adolescent. They have bad days as often as good days, hungry much of their lives. Then when they are finally caught by a predator it is a long drawn out tortured death, because predators often start eating while the prey is still struggling.
🙁 wasnt expecting the beginning 🙁 delicious but :'(
I wish I had the steely nerves to butcher my own birds.
I really have no issue with eating meat or consuming animal products (such as eggs, honey or milk), but I think the most important thing you can do IS to grow your own, when at all possible, as at least, you will KNOW they have had a very good life, with a plentiful amount of good, healthy food, and that their killing will be as quick and as least panicked as possible, leading to more tender meat.
Farmed meat today has to be produced in such large quantities these days, it can get a bit…non-ideal for the animal, and along with that, I think we lose the connection to our food quite a lot…which is a shame.
Back when everyone had to grow their own foods, there was a lot more respect for the animal, and even though it was raised for food, it was raised with care, looked after and dispatched with as much gentleness and kindness as possible…because when you watch them grow, you'd have to a special kind of heartless person not to care about their welfare at all stages. …and you can't tell me that you don't get attached on some level. You'd have to be a psychopath not to feel anything!
Slaughtering an animal for it's meat was also not done lightly, and much respect was given to the animal, as well as honouring it's death with making sure all it's bits were used in some way, so nothing was wasted.
I think to a degree, we should go back to this kind of living, with more small farms around the place, and places for small groups of people to co-own a cow or pig or something, help raise it, then get it butchered and take a share of the meat. In this way, we can re-kindle a relationship with our food again, and truly understand and respect where it comes from, and understand that an animal has to die in order for us to have a meat meal…which in turn nourishes our bodies…as is the natural order of things.
I live in surburbia, and I have 3 chickens, (just for eggs, as these ones are too pretty and expensive to eat, lol!) but if I had to live in the boonies somewhere and grow more of my own food out of necessity, you can bet that I'd be raising meat chickens and such…because I really like chicken! (I'd hunt deer too if I could, because venison is bloody delicious! Maybe a sheep or two, because the odd side of lamb is also really nice)
I love animals, don't get me wrong, but I also would have no issue with killing something to eat, because that's just life.
Get in the practice of (silently) thanking the animal that has just died for you, as is proper, and it will not mind.
It is no different than any other animal killing to eat. It is the way of things.
Oh my god, I love BBQed duck so much. That's it, I'm off to the store to get a duck and some pineapple!
Hey Mark,
This project is beautiful. Please don't apologize for enjoying the end result of your labor. I farm ducks as well and understand that home grown meat is far better than store bought. People who have never raise a bird from egg to plate really have no business criticizing you or your appreciation for meat. We are doing our best to produce meat the way God intended. This is an amazing blessing. Thanks for all you do.
-Nate
Love your videos! Thank you!
i would love to rise some ducks for food but i would be afraid to burn them while i cook them
Great video
I just got ducks and they grow so fast, I may eat them but God it's gonna be hard for me to. I've grown so attached
I started raising ducks last year, they are really fun little birds, and good eating. You should try to get some muscovy ducks, much better for meat production.
İ heard if you feed the ducks beer or alcohol (chinese cooking wine) before butchering them will make the meat tender and favourful. Most of all, the feathers easier to pluck and more humane because they won't feel anything. They usually boil a pot of hot water over the slaughtered ducks and let them sit in it for some time and start plucking. They also will burn the leftover feather over bbq to get rid of them. This is the method used in thousands of years in China. İ learn this while watching how Chinese farmers raising ducks for their meat.
Use tarps they’re lighter than sheet metal
This is the only meat I would ever consider eating, they were clearly very well cared for, but after having been vegetarian (and on/off vegan) for years I could never bring myself to sacrifice an animal. I do eventually want to keep chickens for their eggs and manure however 🙂
We raise Muscovies and we don't bother to go through all that work. We just peel the skin back, pull out the breasts for us and the legs and thighs for our sled dogs. Muscovies are quiet and taste like London broil. They are called a "beef duck" because of the red meat. Highly recommend them!
I filet out the breast and legs. Saves a lot of time and energy. The rest is left to compost. You can trim duck fat as you filet it out. We eat mostly wild ducks here in Mississippi so there is very little fat on them. I have a video on stuffed wood duck on my channel. Check it out if you like. Flavor makes the best chefs jealous.
You r the best
Humans are carnivore-leaning omnivores as a matter of objective, verifiable scientific fact. Anyone with a problem with you raising your own meat to harvest is likely a spoiled emotionally-ruled yuppie urbanite with no real inkling of the natural struggle. I'd actually appreciate some vids on your slaughter process for chickens and ducks.
And right when Im watching this an ad for a fancy BBQ grill comes up
I love all of God’s creatures, most of them next to the mashed potatoes and gravy!
I would think the duck tractor would increase productivity!
G'day Mark! We think very much the same way. I have to kill our roosters too, unfortunately I cannot eat them. I absolutely LOVE chicken, but I just cannot eat a chicken that I've "processed", it's such a shame because we would be completely self sufficient in chicken meat but there you go (I get chickens pre processed from a local farmer so it's not too bad and I serve my chickens to our b'n'b guests at the table…). Great video, thanks for the laugh loved the description of the old duck's toughness haha. Bye from France.
I will give you a yummy thumbs up. It might be wasteful but its much easier. Thanks to a midwest air gunner you can harvest just what you want/need. I love my muscovys, i dont do anything and just pull the chest feathers off, by hand. Then using a filet knive I remove the skin, cut straight down the keel and out to the wing. I get two great steaks and don't have to deal with plucking, tough legs, or opening the body cavity.
The duck tractor looks like a good idea ..could be adapted for different small animals I imagine …like.rabbits etc.
So if you have a duck that's too old make duck jerky?
7:20 that Rotisserie is soo cool .
Just give your ducks a beer , before sending them off .
The French give some pigs and poultry Champagne and Brandy, Ive heard German and Czech use Beer .
Some use wine.