Friday, July 24, 2009

Little Pig, Little Pig, Let Me OUT!

Ok, so last night we got home...and the pigs were out. They didn't go anywhere. They aren't stupid. But they were not in their pen. Turns out that the bottom snapbolt had broken that morning, and the doohicky Jim used to keep the bottom shut had come off and they made a break for it!

Well, getting Willy back in was easy. I just opened up the pen, and in he went. LP was a bit more difficult, but after a few false starts, we got him worked back into the pen.

I guess they'd had enough freedom as they could handle!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Chickens on the Loose and Cow Pasture Politics

So, my chickens have given one of our geese naughty ideas. One of the geese has decided to wander around free. Silly goose. Now we toss feed to the chickens outside of the pen, there is water available, and lots and lots of green stuff to eat. But, the goose doesn't appear to be eating or drinking, even when we put her back into her pen. I wish I knew how she was escaping.

You know, you'd think that the dairy steers, being bigger than the Dexters would rule the pasture. Nope. The natural order of things (at least to them) is Gumdrop, T-Bone, new cow, Sir Loin and then Sir Lunchalot. It is a pasture run by the little guys. It goes to prove that dynamite comes in small packages.

I'm really looking forward to getting T-bone into the freezer. Fresh beef in the freezer, yummo. So, between now and December, we will have 1 lamb, 1 pig and 1/2 of a steer to put into the freezer.

I am trying to figure out the fall/winter garden, so maybe I'll have some veggies to go with that.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Don't I Feel Stupid!

Well, Saturday, we got home and were doing the usual nose count. Yep, nine Rouen ducks. Wait, hadn't I decided we had NINE hens? Yes, yes I had. Then why are over 1/2 of them suddenly sprouting green head feathers? Um, those are males. Yes, I made a mistake. I honestly thought they'd all already put on their young adult feathers. Read, sex-distinguishing feathers. ARRGH. There is only ONE that I'm reasonably sure is female. Oh boy, oh boy. Duck a la'range.....nummy!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Mother Nature Does Herself Proud

Last night, I was having a nice conversation online with a friend in Florida; Jim was having a conversation with a friend of ours in Pennsylvania.....and the storm hit. Knocked out power for a couple of hours. But I'm glad for the rain.

However, there were some casualties. Three of our chickens didn't survive the storm. What did them in, we can't say. But Strider will appreciate the addition to his diet, I'm sure.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Favorite Summertime Desert Recipe

Ok, this is one of my very favorite summertime treats. I don't make it anywhere as often as I want to, because, it's very rich, and very high in calories.

3 cups vanilla ice cream, softened
3 cups chocolate ice cream, softened
1 box of Nilla wafers or graham crackers
Chocolate syrup
Kahlua
6 toffee candy bars, crushed

Grind up enough wafers to cover the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan plus enough to cover the ice cream layer in a few minutes. Put the chocolate ice cream over the crumbs, spreading it evenly. Put about 1/2 of the candy bars on top of the ice cream. Drizzle with 1 - 2 TBSP each of Kahlua and chocolate syrup. Top with the other 1/2 of the crumbs. Spread vanilla ice cream over the crumbs. Top with remaining candy bars, and about the same of Kahlua and chocolate syrup.

Place in freezer for a few hours until the ice cream has refrozen. Remove the collar of the pan, and slice.

MMM, heaven.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Trip To Missouri and a Plan For the Future

Saturday was a very long day. I got up at 6:15am, along with Jim and the kids, to take care of our critters before we all left for the day. Jim took Krys with him, so that she could go to gymnastics camp, and Alex went with me.

Alex and I arrived at Mom's, in the truck, with what had been 10 bales of alfalfa hay, but was actually only 9 now. Sir Lunchalot and Sir Loin really enjoyed that other bale! Lesson learned. Do not leave truck in the pasture if it has hay on it. Dairy steers don't need to climb on the back, they just reach over and grab it mouthful by mouthful.

Mom wasn't doing so well, so Alex and I finished up her chores, while she sat down and caught her breath. Her doctor has her so messed up, it's NOT funny. Mom got all cleaned up, and off to Missouri we went. We made two stops, one in Choteau for some breakfast and one in Pryor for a bag of chick feed. We traveled up through Joplin and Kansas City without incident.

Mom and I took the travel time to discuss plans, ideas and goals. We are moving slowly toward having all of our meat home raised, and to a time where our income from the sale of animals will cover the feed for the rest of the crew. Then with the gardens, we plan to produce most of our produce needs. Add in fruit trees/brambles, and we hope to reduce the need for "grocery" shopping by about 95%. Our only purchases will be things that we can't produce here or at Mom's.

We got to Gladhour Farm, and proceeded to spend the next three hours looking at Dexters. We saw mommas and babies, and daddies too. We had a very informative tour guide, and she was perfectly willing to answer all our questions. And we had many. But being able to actually see so many different animals was a blessing, in that we now have a better picture in our heads as to what we are looking for. And then we looked at the four bulls we had gone up to see. Two were fairly easy to eliminate from our list. One because his rear assembly was off, and the other because he just didn't seem right for us. That left the choice between Squire and Tobylite. If we needed two bulls, or could afford them, or had the room for them, I think we would have taken them both. But, we had to choose. After about 30 to 45 minutes of discussion, we settled on Squire. He is the older of the two, and does carry the color genetics we are looking for. Jim and I will go pick him up on August 2nd, and bring him home.

It's a relief to know that we have things rolling for the future. I'm excited, and know that I have a lot of work to do, to get things going in the right direction. Mentally, I know I'm up for the challenge. I only hope that I can get the physical part to cooperate.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

The Buzzwords of Growing Stuff Like They Used To

I was reading in The Beginning Farmer blog today about the meaning of organic, sustainable, natural and local as they pertain to the labeling of foods we purchase. I wanted to take the time to put my own views out there.

The term "organic" used to mean something, and people used it to denote a return the the old ways, growing things without pesticides and commercial fertilizer. Then the USDA got involved, and defined the term. No longer can we use the term in reference to our own grown products to sell unless we have spent a large amount of money being "certified." And in the end, the USDA has all but adulterated this term. They have determined an amount of pesticide and fertilizer residue that can be found on those things labeled organic. What can I say, even "organic" isn't organic anymore, especially in reference to dairy products.

Here's what the USDA has to say about "organic": What "organic" really means under federal law:

"100 Percent Organic" products must show an ingredient list, the name
and address of the handler (bottler, distributor, importer,
manufacturer, packer, processor) of the finished product, and the name
and seal of the organic certifier. These products should contain no
chemicals, additives, synthetics, pesticides or genetically engineered
substances.

"USDA Organic" products must contain at least 95 percent organic
ingredients. The five percent non-organic ingredients could include
additives or synthetics if they are on an approved list. The label must
contain a list that identifies the organic, as well as the non-organic,
ingredients in the product, and the name of the organic certifier.

"Made With Organic" products must contain at least 70 percent organic
ingredients. The label must contain a list that identifies the organic,
as well as the non-organic, ingredients in the product, along with the
name of the organic certifier.

If a product contains less than 70 percent organic ingredients, it
cannot use the word "organic" on the packaging or display panel, and the
only place an organic claim can be made is on the ingredient label.


"Sustainable" is a buzzword used to mean that the inputs required for growing something, whether that be vegetable, grain or meat, are produced at the same location. For example, the cattle that run on the pasture also fertilize it, and if you keep the cattle out long enough will be used by the grasses growing in that pasture to provide more forage for the cows or whatever else you have running through there. The debate rages around what is sustainable and what is not.

The "Natural" buzzword is also taking a beating. Dairy farms are using the consumers' preconceived notion of natural to round up milk from thousands of animals, and package it with "Natural" on the carton. Natural used to mean completely unadulterated. Dairies are now saying the only thing guaranteed "natural" about their milk is that the animals it came from aren't given any hormones.

"Local" can mean anything from on your farm only, or from farms with in a 15, 25, 50, or even 100 mile radius. Local today can be quite relative.

What do these words mean to me?

Let's start with what appears to be the easiest. "Natural." To me, that means I'm not giving my animals hormones, unnecessary wormers or vaccinations. Are they healthy, heck yes. For my plants, that means they get water, and compost, and no commercial fertilizer or pesticide is used. By commercial, I mean lab-cooked. There are some bio-residue fertilizers and pest controls that I could use. Bone meal and blood meal are two such fertilizers (with specific purposes) and lady bugs and preying mantis are pest controls.

But, what happens if my goats get wormy, or the incidence of blackleg in cattle is so high in my area that NOT vaccinating them is far worse than actually giving the shot. In times of old, vaccines weren't available. Neither were worming medications. How did our ancestors overcome these issues? Population densities of people AND animals were not as great then as they are today. Epidemics were not as far reaching, because contact between the ill (or soon to be ill) was not as quick as it is now. I can be exposed to xyz today, fly to China tomorrow, and expose a vast number of people in between, and I haven't even shown any symptoms yet. Animals weren't contained by the thousands on feed lots to "feed them up" before slaughter, butchering, and shipping off thousands of miles away. The fall slaughter of meat was done on your own family farm. This is obviously before the Industrial Revolution took so many people to the city for manufacturing jobs. Most people living in town still had land near by on which they grew their food. After all, there was safety in numbers, so the central village is a recurring theme seen throughout history. If you had more than what you needed, you bartered with neighbors or traveling traders for what you couldn't grow that you DID need.

"Organic" is defined (at dictionary.com) as "noting or pertaining to a class of chemical compounds that formerly comprised only those existing in or derived from plants or animals, but that now includes all other compounds of carbon" and the second definition on the same site "characteristic of, pertaining to, or derived from living organisms." To me, that means organic produce, or meat, should not be using any fertilizer, pesticide, medication or vaccine that can not be created with only living (or formerly living) organisms. Most vaccines can qualify, assuming they don't have metal carrying agents, as they are usually modified live organism or killed organism based. Most medications have their history in plant-based derivations. But because you can't reliably produce those parts day after day, laboratory equivalents came into being. The same thing happened with pesticides and fertilizers. Using truly organic methods takes time, effort and a knowledge base, and I applaud those who actually follow through with the intent of the term rather than the current legislated term.

Lastly, we come to "sustainable." Can a system be truly sustainable, if we are taking things out of it, in the form of the plants and meat we eat? Are we returning enough nutrients back into that system to counteract that which we harvest. I want my place to be sustainable, that is, I don't need to bring in any composting materials, any fertilizers (natural, organic or not), and I certainly don't use pesticides (I pick off bugs, drop them in water, then feed them to the chickens.) But is it enough? At this time, the sustainability of my farm is not there. I bring in feed grains for my goats and cows, they aren't yet completely pasture fed. I see sustainability as a goal to be reached for, but I do not forsee my place as being 100% with out inputs from the outside world. (We still have to pay the mortgage, after all.)

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Smokey

So, today I'm putting up the pictures Smokey.

Smokey is our first purebred Nubian. He was born on May 4th. The first picture was taken about a month ago, the second one taken on Monday.
Smokey, May/June 2009
Smokey, July 2006

His looks are very heavily influenced by his Dadday, Bart. This is Bart's only purebred buckling. Goosey is his Momma.

Pictures of the other goats and the sheep are forthcoming.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Yes, I Actually Followed Thru

I took pictures. I have an album of plants that need identified, and a whole load of new animal pictures. I'm just going to post the best ones here. Today, the cattle.

Gumdrop is our first cow; she is twelve years old. She lost her calf in June, and we are looking forward to re-breeding her in August.
Gumdrop, July 9, 2009

T-Bone is this years beef steer. He is currently living the good life at our farm, enjoying the grass and some grain. This fall, he will take a trip to the butcher, and come home in nice little white packages. Hey, this IS a farm, folks. We eat what we raise here. He is shown here with the new Dexter we picked up yesterday on his right. She is bred for a fall calf. So, with in the next 90 days, we should have a new baby on the ground. T-Bone is on the left, the new girl is on the right. We are still deciding on a name for her.
T-bone and New Girl, 7-6-09

Saturday, we spent the entire day chasing after cattle, one way or another. I already related that in Saturday's post. I have a few pictures of these guys, they are too cool.

The first one here is Sir Loin. Jim and I went after them. We decided this is the one we want to keep. We name our food animals with food names.
Sir Loin, July 6, 2009

Here is a pic of mom's steer. He's a little bit smaller than Sir Loin. But in 18 months time, it will be just as yummy to eat.
Mom's Dairy Steer

And here is my favorite. The back of the pickup has 9 bales of alfalfa in it. This isn't cheap stuff. And the steers are shown here stealing a nibble out of the rear-most bale.
Dairy Steers...Stealing Alfalfa

Holidays = Cow Chasing

Well apparently, if I pick up animals on a holiday, I get to chase them. I picked up Shay on Valentine's Day, and got to spend 5 hours getting her back and into the field at Mom's. I spent a couple of hours on the 4th getting the two new steers (who thankfully did NOT go far, just had to convince them that Gumdrop was not cannabilistic, and she really wasn't quite as mean as she appeared.) She chased Sir Loin out of the pasture a second time. That escape took us a bit longer to get him back in to the pasture, as it was getting dark, and people apparently look as bad as any other predator in the dusk.

Sunday, we went and picked up the new momma from Skiatook. We brought her home, but did not immediately let her out into the pasture, instead, choosing to leave her in the trailer for an hour or so for everyone to become acquainted without causing a huge fuss. It appeared to work. This morning everyone was at least not antagonistic toward each other.

I have new photos to share. As soon as I get them uploaded and edited, I'll make a new post.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Cows Want Independence Too!

So, you'd think on a holiday I could sleep in, spend a lazy day at home, right? You'd be thinking wrong.

My day started at 6:30 when the critters all started sounding off that it was feeding time. While the kids did that I showered and got ready to leave. At 7:30, Jim and I left on the first leg of a day long escapade. First stop, Mom's to pick up the trailer. Once we had hooked up, and got the requisite monies for the days purchases, we started on leg two. Off to Shawnee, pick out two steers. These are Jersey/Holstein crosses, only good for eating, which is what we will do starting in about 18 months. Third leg, a quick jog up to Jones, OK for 10 bales of alfalfa hay for Mom's Nubians. Leg 3.5, Oklahoma City, to fuel the truck, and the people in the truck. Final leg, home, James!

We put the two steers in the pasture, and figured that would do the trick. Yeah, ok...that's what we get for thinking. Momma, aka Gumdrop does not take kindly to the intruders, and runs them through the fence. An electric fence. Great, now, the Great Cow Chase commences. Which actually wasn't too bad. Got the boys back into the pasture, and proceeded to string up another wire, at 36 inches. That should be high enough. Unfortunately, as darkness is falling, Gumdrop again chases the bigger steer thru the fence which isn't completely hooked up yet. Great Cow Chase 2.0 begins. This was a bit more problematic, as Krystal decides that anything bigger than a gnat is scarier than any horror movie ever thought of being. EVENTUALLY, we got the little bugger in the fence, just as the thunder started. All we can hope now is that everyone behaves, and stays put.

Of course, tomorrow we are going to pick up another Dexter cow........

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Some People Need Alarm Clocks

Who needs an alarm clock when you have livestock? At 6:15 am, my goats and cows are willing and able to sound off, letting me know that "HAY! The sun is up, where's my FOOD!"

To make things easier, we will be putting all the critter food into it's appropriate bucket the night before. All our feed is in the house, which makes this somewhat easier. But we have 4 different pens of critters, and 1 dog that makes his rounds. That's a LOT of buckets, and a lot of open bags of feed.

All that being said, I love my way of life, and am really going to start working with the animals more. I want milk from my Nubian goat, and Dexter cows. That means I have to be able to milk them. Which means they have to let me touch their udders, and tug on their teats. If we are keeping a boar so we have a ready supply of piglets twice a year, then, that boar needs to be docile enough to be handled. I don't know how big Chester Whites get, but since they come down from Yorkshires, I'm fairly certain that he will get over 1,000 pounds by the time he's threeish.

My critters are all friendly enough. Mean critters say hello to the inside of my big 26 cu. ft. freezer. I'm not shy about letting them know about that either. Our freezer camp pigs from spring, came up to us for back scratching by the time we got ready to take them off to Camp Westinghouse. Just because I intend to eat them, doesn't mean they don't get spoiled. Happy animals just put on weight faster.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

21st Century, Kicking and Screaming

Well, here we are, on the web.

What do we do? We raise animals.

Why? So we know what is, and more importantly, what is NOT in the meat we eat.

How? Blood, sweat and tears. No, seriously. Blood, sweat and tears. Building fences, maintaining shelters, moving animals has a tendency to let the blood flow. It's Oklahoma. In the land of 100-plus degree summers, the sweat flows frequently. When a plan just doesn't come together like it should, an animal loses it's fight with Mother Nature, or when I just can seem to get it together, tears flow.

Who? Glad you asked. My husband, Jim and I, and our two daughters, ages 14 and 9, attend the joint. Some days, I think the critters rule, and we just cater to them. Other days, I delude myself into thinking we actually have a modicum of control.

Fun and giggles, aside. What we do is raise just about every meat animal possible. Seven species of meat producing animals roam our acreage. And when I say roam, I mean it. Some of the critters just won't stay where I tell them. Apparently, they want the stuff on the other side of the fence. The biggest offenders are the chickens, which I don't mind, and the little goatling, which I do. He just scrunches himself under the gate. Little booger ate my tomato and pepper plants.

As I'm picking up new animals this weekend, I'll take pictures, and the next post will be a basic show and tell.