[BritishPrepper]

Would there be any point in having a homestead with a tractor and various other vehicles which run on fuel, as if the grid goes down or there is a prolonged fuel shortage these items would be useless. Should preppers be training horses and getting the right equipment to plow fields and other homestead tasks? Can a pair of oxen even be bought in the US or UK anymore? Do they still make yokes for animals to pull farm machinery? A lot of people in developing nations have the upperhand in that many still use animals in this way so a fuel shortage wouldn't affect them.

 

[zimmy]

Would there be any point in having a homestead with a tractor and various other vehicles which run on fuel, as if the grid goes down or there is a prolonged fuel shortage these items would be useless. Should preppers be training horses and getting the right equipment to plow fields and other homestead tasks? Can a pair of oxen even be bought in the US or UK anymore? Do they still make yokes for animals to pull farm machinery? A lot of people in developing nations have the upperhand in that many still use animals in this way so a fuel shortage wouldn't affect them.

Diesel fuel stores very well.

 

[IlliniWarrior]

mules, oxen and large breed horses like Clydesdales are still common in the US for everyday work - there's thresher man shows around the country that exhibit the old farm methods & ways ....

there's enough farm equipment around that wouldn't be EMP affected and farming would be a fuel priority ...

 

[BritishPrepper]

Diesel fuel stores very well.

Yeah but I wouldn't say one year lifespan is very long at all, it would become gummy and unusable. Plus think how much diesel is needed to fill a tractor - 1000L +. There's no way you could store that amount without specialist tanks long term.

 

[zimmy]

Yeah but I wouldn't say one year lifespan is very long at all, it would become gummy and unusable. Plus think how much diesel is needed to fill a tractor - 1000L +. There's no way you could store that amount without specialist tanks long term.

I exercise my diesel generator every thirty days and every so often I dump five gallons of diesel fuel on top of the original 500 gallons of

fuel I bought back in 2008. The generator always starts and runs as it should so I guess I must be doing something right. But you are correct, eventually I will run out of fuel if none is available. I could run it on biofuel but for sure biofuel does not store very well at all.

 

[BritishPrepper]

Well the good thing is that you've had the foresight to actually buy and set up a generator to take a step towards independence. I think while we have the technology to our advantage we should use it, just have that non-tech back up in the background just incase we need to switch to it, and even if there's not enough wood after a collapse in the forest, depending on what kind of SHTF scenario has occured, there will inevitable be thousands of chairs, tables, furniture, cabinets, sideboards etc in people's homes which could be used.

When I lived in Spain we had this device which made briquettes out of wet newspaper and they lasted really long in the fire as they were so compressed, and there is an endless supply of paper to burn that way. If I found somwhere off grid I would prioritise getting a wood system in place for cooking and heating, and then aim for solar panels for electric, or create a bicycle generator.