Meat, Eggs & Milk
Pick an animal to see how many to raise, the feed it takes and your cost per pound.
Start with Pigs →Homestead Calculators
Pick an animal or bird for its own feed, meat, eggs, milk, breeding, cost and medical calculators — or pick a crop for canning, freezing and drying.
Canning & Freezing
USDA process times for your altitude, plus jars, canner loads and pounds you need.
Can Green Beans →Animal & poultry calculators
Choose an animal or bird. You’ll get the calculators that animal needs — feed or hay, meat or eggs or milk for your family, breeding, cost per pound and medical.
Animal types you add yourself (ox, mule, llama…) show up here when you’re logged in.
Food preserving calculators
Choose a vegetable or fruit to see whether it can be canned, frozen or dried, the USDA process time for your altitude, and how many jars, canner loads and pounds you need for your family.
Black walnuts (in shell)
Canning
Nuts are cured and stored dry, not canned. Cure in the shell 2–3 weeks first.
Freezing
Freeze the nutmeats; they keep a year or more. Weight here is nuts in the shell (about 1 lb of nutmeats from 6 lb). A cubic foot of freezer space holds about 35–40 pints. Best quality for 8–12 months at 0°F.
Drying
Not a good candidate for drying.
Figures are typical estimates to plan with — change any number to match your own animals, breeds and prices. Always follow the label and your veterinarian for medicines, and the current USDA guide (nchfp.uga.edu) for canning.
Plan From Your Family's Table
Start with what your family eats — pounds of meat a week, eggs, milk, jars on the pantry shelf — and the calculators work backward to how many animals to raise, how much feed and hay to buy, what it costs per pound, and how many pounds to grow and put up. Every number is a typical starting figure you can change to match your own animals and prices. Members also see their own harvest totals beside the canning calculators.