Costs of livestock without a garden or forage

  So I've been neglecting my posts as well as my values and aspirations. This move has been a doozy! I suppose moving into an incomplete home is a valid excuse! Anyway, so I've been racking my brain about What to plant next year. Gardening in this harsh climate is challenging at best, Between finding species that will survive the harsh climates to rabbits and birds doing away with your tasty morsels.

One Thing I keep coming back to is edible cactus varieties.  No- I've never eaten cactus, but I've noticed my goats like it! It can work as a crop for my family, for my livestock, as well as protection ( lets see a robber, be it human or coyote, tresspass over a scary cactus hedge!).

There are apparently over 200 edible species of cactus and most of those do just dandy in my southwest high desert surroundings. 

The rising costs of livestock feed has also got me thinking of what i should plant. Its not a very self sufficient life if one still depends heavily on purchased feed.
When I lived in the city I never purchased chicken feed. They were raised completely on kitchen scraps ( I only had 4 bantams). So the eggs i got 9 months out of the year were essentially free. Totally worth it, right? Right now I spend about $15 a month feeding the ducks and chickens.

Still not too bad considering the costs of free range eggs at the grocery. But I'd like to not have to rely on feeding them store bought dehydrated milled corn for $15 a bag.

When I got into goats, hay was $13 a bale. That was only a year ago. In my area its gone up to $17 dollars a bale. That's about $120 a month. This definitely doesn't equate to self sufficient.  My goats would produce about 3 gallons a week.  That would cost about $60 a month if I purchased goat milk.

Wow. This tells me two things: I need to cull my goat herd to get down to a reasonable number to make it financially worthwhile.  And I need to grow food stuffs to substitute my diet as well as that of my livestock!

Culling will be a tough decision. There are some goats that I have no problem having them end up in the freezer, there are a couple that are just pets that I can't part with and there are some I really hope to trade or sell because keeping them isn't economical and I can't bring myself to eat them.

SO- back to cactus. I know I can grow that! I know I can feed my chickens and ducks the cactus pads and fruit along with kitchen scraps.  I know the cactus will provide snacks for the goats and my kids ( if I can get them to try it.
I also want to plant a jojoba hedge and about 30 fruit trees and Berry bushes which will make everyone happy.

I've got a hefty to do list for next year. Its time to get crackin'!