We can chuckle at the thought of carrying our animals with us to wherever it is we plan to go once a SHTF situation happens but, in the long run, it could and would be very beneficial! Shooting wild meat can only take you so far. Eggs and goat-cheese are quick and easy and might really come in handy!

1. Chicken and Geese
4 or 5 healthy laying hens each produce an egg almost daily. That’s actually enough to keep two people alive almost indefinitely if you don’t have much else to eat.
Contrary to what specious agenda based cholesterol medication profiteers say, eggs–especially from free ranged/organic birds–are one of the most wholesome foods available.
Chicks are amazingly cheap to buy–generally less than a couple inflated dollars–apiece depending on what kind. And adults are low maintenance and don’t require a lot of inside space because they prefer to be outside more often than not to do their scratching and pecking and mostly go in their coop only at night to nest.
So a half dozen or so birds in a 50×50 foot chicken wire corral with a small coop would thrive. Throw in a handful of good non-GMO organic feed once a day or so and treat them occasionally with your table scraps and they’ll pay for themselves in only a couple weeks of daily fresh organic eggs once they begin laying.
2. Goats
Natural goat’s milk is molecularly ’different’ from any other milk and is the healthiest of dairy products, even if you are lactose intolerant. One milking goat added to your corral to compliment your ’egg ladies’ would emergency sustain you through the worst of times. Not to mention that goat cheese is easy to make and nutritionally regarded.
Goats also are very curious and intelligent. They like to think and plot sometimes for hours before stealing food you forgot to put back in the shelter, or making a break for the hills to nibble on that white birch tree bark that‘s starting to peel. They are trainable and will stick with the pack and usually don’t wander far from camp even if allowed to free range.
While not destructive or aggressive or combative by nature, domestic goats have good vision and hearing and although normally very quiet they will definitely wake up your snoring protection dog beast from his afternoon beauty nap with an loud ’rasperry’ snorting sound if a mountain lion or coyote or even an unfamiliar human is sneaking up on the compound.
The larger goats like Nubians have the extra utility of being a light pack animal or small cart puller in a temporary emergency if required.
3. Donkeys
Unlike horses, which prefer to bolt for the hills when they sense danger is coming, a donkey will make a loud ‘braying’ HEE HAW sound at the sight of intruder(s) and situate itself between the enemy and the livestock.
If the invaders don’t back down, the donkey will stand its ground and go into counterattack mode. They will bravely rear up on their hind legs like you see in the movies, and coming down hard enough with their front hooves to hold off even a small pack of wolves until you can get to the corral with your AR-15 to ‘even up the odds a bit’.
Donkeys are also known for being good cart, and riding animals throughout history, but unfortunately the victim of mythological denigration because of their supposedly irascible tendency toward obstinacy, that can be irritating at the worst possible time.
Mythology often devolves into absurdity when it comes to animal stories and legend. In fact quite the opposite is true otherwise they would never be ‘good’ utility animals in the first place.
4. Dogs
They don’t call them ‘man’s best friend’ for naught. Dogs are an integrated part of humanity and provide more benefits in terms of companionship and responsibility than my inferior mentality can delineate.
Possessed of unconditional loyalty and devotion we often take them for granted but would severely regret the day we would be without them. I won’t get into moot subjective issues on which breed is best because with many such personal relationships, beauty and utility…is mostly in the eyes of the ‘beer holder’.
5. Horses
Last, but not least, the Old West never could have been ‘won’ without the ubiquitous and faithful Steed. In an end time’s scenario, especially the coming great Black Out,where it’s possible that not many cars will be usable guess what you will be seeing instead.
Many people also love horses as pets and companions. Back in the days, a cowboy’s horse was often the only ‘person’ they talked to for months at a time on the lonely cattle trails across the country.
They do require a bit more maintenance, food, and room than the aforementioned four legged utility animals but they would make up for it if you seriously had to travel regularly and didn’t want to walk, especially if you had to carry/pull stuff. Getting from one place to another will be a very important issue in a long lasting bad scenario absent of the old gas station standby.
You probably wouldn’t have to even build a wagon with all the dead cars that would be laying around because of no fuel or an EMP? Just harness up a couple horses to a minivan or pick-up truck and duct tape a seat on the hood and voila, instant Stage Coach!

Honestly, we were sorry to see cows and cats did not make this list but there are some honorable mentions and you can read more about the above and the others over on Survivorpedia.

We all have our own opinions on what we would take with us when it comes time to bug-out, including livestock, but the practicality for most would be under a bug-in situation. In this case, however, a family would have to worry not just about wild animals around their home but also their own kind. We just know there will be some chicken thief out there!