Potential Food Sources

Well If you could get you hands on some ostriches, not likely, then you would have big eggs and lots of food each day.

roof top farming. Also, domesticated rats could be a viable source of protein in an urban setting, i think.

I think Goats would be invaluable too. they are smaller than cows so they eat less. They will eat a wider variety of foods, and their milk is just as good as cow milk.

I'm pretty sure all of those were mentioned except rats, which I'm wary of for disease reasons. However if you could ensure they were disease free it might not be a bad idea as a substitute for rabbits.

even goats?

Yah, that's why i said domesticated rats. usually disease free. One of my friends breeds rats and other than the smell, they are decent animals to raise.

Wyandotte chickens, British giant eating rabbits,Nigerian dwarf goats, Tamworth pig, a good vegetable garden, a large supply of food and continued hunting and foraging.

I wouldn't deal with animals during my survival unless they were to tell me when Zeds were coming. I mean honestly, they eat so much, it would be more of a loss than a gain in the end. I used to own a horse back when I lived in Idaho and it ate a LOT of hay. I couldn't even imagine a cow, all they do is eat, shit, and sleep. Chickens still eat a lot and are very loud as well as messy. Idk, Im staying away from the animal factor unless its like my dog personally. (and hes not to be eaten

The issue with animals is having enough space to keep them. In the case of the cow space=food. At least chickens may stay in the area even if you let them run wild. May solve some insect problems. Never had much to do with pigs. However an uncle still has a few wild ones. Never required a whole lot of attention. Something of interest. They loved acorns.

I think cows are important but not until much later.
Tell you what would suck.
All dairy cows would die....(there udder never stops making milk......)

Many crops would also die as they don't spread their seeds. Such as wheat, the seeds stay on the plant so they can be harvested easier (we made them like that via selective breeding) so that means unless someone kept farming after a year or two they would be dead....

Fish would be good for meat along with chickens.
Growing veggies would be fairly easy.
But potatos would have to provide most of our carbos.

Yeah, I've got horses too...they're completely useless, and they probably don't even taste good. Chickens actually aren't that bad(at least mine aren't), they eat a little more than a handfull of food a day and the egg output is great. They are a little messy and sometimes make goofy noises but other than that they're pretty useful in my opinion. Even if I find they're too obnoxious to keep around, I can still eat them. No downside there, chicken is delicious.

Fishing takes to long and other animals eat to much and overall are to high maintenance,i would recommend an animal that are low maintenance and have a short gestation period like a rabbit,the gestation period is a month and the breed like crazy if you but like 100 in a room for a month,they are also quiet,most wont try to fight you like a cow,or chicken might,and you can keep one as a pet if you get tired of eating them all.Or if you cant bear to butcher them yourself then you can breed them and sell them to other survivors.

True, All dairy cows (in NZ atleast) have evolved/devolved due to selective breeding, so now they produce about 400% the normal milk of a wild cow...think of a normal women, then think of her with 400% increased breasts...then think about what would happen if you never milked her...now think about where you can find a good psychologist...
Fish = Good
Potatoes = Zombies are screwwed
Chickens = ok, depends on area, if all you have is grass...or something along those lines...maybe something else?

Actually, cows only make milk after and just before birth. A dairy cow, while producing more milk than a wild cow, will not DIE from not being milked. Human intervention is required to keep a dairy cow producing milk. They do this by milking the cow twice a day and keeping the cow virtually pregnant constantly. Without humans the calves would eventually wean themselves and the cow's milk production would stop, then dry up. At least, until the cow became near birth again and then her body would once more begin to produce milk. The REAL reason dairy cows would die is they are penned up. Eventually something in their supply would fail. Water pumps, feed delivery systems, shelter, ect would break down and the cattle would suffer and die. not because of too much milk, but because of neglect. However, that can be said about any domesticated animal. I feel for the house pets the most.

any domesticated species is likely to suffer after humans, poultry the most. Turkeys the most. In our efforts to increase breast size humans have actually made it impossible for domesticated turkeys to mate because they are just too damn big. within a generation, domesticated turkeys will be extinct.

free range chickens will nearly take care of themselves. Case in point, in LA they have a whole group who's only job is to catch feral chickens. They have become a pest in urban locations in the city.

Really though, my mother has two small flocks of chickens at her farm. one is free range and the other is penned. The Penned chickens take a lot more work to take care of, as you have to clean their pen. The free range chickens aren't much of a trouble at all. On the farm there are several locations for the animals to go get water, such has horse and cattle troughs, and small animal water bowls, and rain catch basins; so there is no need to set out special watering devices for the chickens. The free range birds also scrounge for their own insects and food. The fecal matter of the horses and cattle make a great place to scrounge for bugs and leftover digested food. Also, the chickens roam through my mothers (admittedly overgrown) garden and make pretty good pest control of the bugs that harm her garden. add to the fact that they pick through the compost and the chickens nearly take care of themselves. As we do occasionally eat these chickens my mother does like to throw out a handful of cracked corn, or milo, or sunflower seads, dogfood, or whatever she happens to have to feed the animals that day.

Uhm, chickens have benefits... especially in a farm situation... they eat insects like ticks.

A lot of people around here with places in the boonies keep them around just for that... they don't even harvest the eggs or eat them.

Horses are transportation and power (plow fields, haul goods, etc). If the population gets knocked down, then there'll be lots of hay growing wild. I'd even cut it, just for clear line of sight around the property. And you can always let them graze wild.

Corn... fuck corn, I'd burn the fields to the ground. hell no do I want a cornfield anywhere near where I live. They're creepy enough as is, but with the possibility of a 1000+ zombies wandering into a cornfield, they're toast. Gone.

Pigs are disgusting. There's just huge disease vectors.

I'm thinking stocking up on a great supply of Coast Guard Rations...

http://www.survivormall.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=181

Well worth it, I swear.

I feed my chickens chicken feed, I didn't know they ate insects...and I'm not sure they eat grass. The rabbit thing works too, they probably eat about the same thing as chickens(whatever's in those pellets...). The only problem with having a mass amount of animals would be the animal waste, but maybe it can be useful somehow(I've heard some animal feces combust).

Chickens eat everything; rocks, grass, their poop, each other. Anything. disgusting but finger licking good.

Cocerning horses.... They will eat themselves to death if given the chance. Remember that.

Free range live stock anyone?

Pigs are disgusting. There's just huge disease vectors.

Wonderful.... So goes what I think is one of the best crops to grow....

Note to self.... Get picture of uncle's pigs....

I can tell that someone doesn't fish like the Teh Mighty Sanchez... Needless to say people.... If you're not cheating after Z-Day you're doing it wrong....

Well, depending on your location:

Fish ponds? http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/tilapia/pondculture.php

Tilapia can feed on chicken manure and other natural fertilizers, as long as you can keep the water fairly warm.

I'd go for any animal that's low maintenance and a scavenger by nature: chickens, tilapia, and pigs.

The big question is: disease vector. Pigs will eat just about anything, same with scavenger fish. So, will they eat rotting human flesh? Zombie flesh?

If there's no disease vector from fish to human, then I'm making an awesome spiked moat full of trash fish. Zed walks in. Fish nibble him to to his second death. I get fish sticks. The cycle of life is restored.

But I guess when I put Babe on the menu, I'll need to serve my guests first, and see how things "turn" out.

Naturally animals depend on the amount of space you have as well. If you don't have the means to support a fish pond, fishing is out. I like the moat idea though...can people eat piranhas?
I've seen some good ideas, but we're thinking about only animals here. I realized that if the situation becomes desperate enough it may be a necessity to eat things like bugs...among other things.

Yeah, my idea assumes a ready source of water, and a fairly warm environment. But there are several regions in the U.S. (and beyond) where this could be practical. I also like how this operation would be fairly low profile. If you were running a farm with a lot of cows, you could bring a lot of unwanted attention from raiders. A fish pond doesn't look like much to steal from. So much less area to guard...

Yep, done it before myself.
Not all to tasty but they are high in protein of some stuff that is good for you. but you would need heaps! of them
Could eat snakes.
You guys got crocodiles over there? (alligators?)

http://www.mreinfo.com/ where I will be doing some ordering from.

Oh, i have nothing against pigs... I just wouldn't want to raise them or live around them. And thus, was reborn trade. I'll just trade the pig farmer something he doesn't have for some pork. Because, dammit, zombie apocalypses aren't going to get between me and bacon.

corn fields just creep me out. Add zombies, and it spangs the needle on the creep0-meter until it snaps right off. Once again, someone else can grow the corn, and I'll trade with them.

Information about Nigeran Dwarf Goats: http://www.goatsandgoldens.com/GoatResource.html
They are said to be dairy goats, and though they may require certain foods, they seem like a much better choice for milk needs against cows. But then again, it could be too much of a burden. Thoughts?

Wouldn't you just blow up the fish anyways? Catch only what you eat, over killing is wasteful and stupid in a zombie environment.

Not just destroying the fish, but also their habitat thus making reproduction (and your future survival which counts on this factor) more difficult.

If you want to fish for food, you can always try some of the techniques described in This Thread did not make the move sorry :(. There are safer ways to find food than explosives.

Nah, go McDonald's; those apple pies last for years and could probably survive a nuclear holocaust...and I like McDonald's better anyway. Or you could hole up in a Twinkie factory.

You do know that Twinkies only have a 2 week shelf life right? Contrary to popular belief, they do not hold forever.