I have..

Two new baby chicks courtesy of my hen hatching them. There are about 50 more eggs being brooded by 5 hens altogether so maybe we'll get a few more.














And I have some left over Jerusalem artichokes. Not very large---that is a nickel in with them in the picture---and only a few red and also some white tubers. Free to two people for only the cost of the postage--which would absolutely be under 2.50. Want some? Contact me through my email.

A few things done

We have had an out of town guest here this last week so my routine has been a bit different. So, for an update here are a few things I have marked off my to-do list:

I have found a guinea hog boar "husband" for my sow. I will be picking him up in Arkansas at the end of May or early June. You can see the farm that I am buying him from at the link Rudugast's ideal Livestock.
The boar we are purchasing is a boar out of Skyfire Oreo and by Skyfire Sargent Pepper. Both our boar and sow will be "shared" with our neighbors to do tilling, compost turning and in the fall cleaning up under the nut and fruit trees. Of course they will also "help" us by having piglets. Think Hawaii here (unless your a vegetarian then just think Cute).
By the way--- I may have some piglets for sale in the fall for anyone interested.

I have a platform set up to raise my 250 gallon water container up off the ground. It is a mini deck like structure and it is under the chicken roof and though I would like to use it for watering the garden, I have such a large garden that when a drought occurs 250 gallons is just a drop in the bucket. (It can be used for emergency water for us though--along with our Big Berkey if we really needed it.) Instead, I think we will set it up as an automatic gravity fed watering station for the chickens and any sheep that are penned in there---or who have access through the neighboring pasture. That way we can travel a bit more during this summer without worrying about who will water the sheep, chickens, etc. Always an issue in this day and age of small farming.

I have tomato plants ready to plant out. Some of the seed was sent to me from a fellow blogger and then I also have the tomato "accordion" that I really enjoyed last year and did well in the drought. I also have more asparagus seeds sprouted for me and some friends. I am working towards another 40 foot row of asparagus so we can have a large harvest each year. The plants that I grew from seed last year are very tall now and seem to be doing well. Last year they never got taller than a foot---this year they are all at least 5 feet tall.
In addition, basil will also go out soon---in about another week. Their still rather small.

A 40 foot row of sweet potatoes went in on two very rainy days---only to get sun burnt on the first sunny day. So they are now under some burlap shade and looking a bit better. Hopefully they will make it since they are the two purple varieties of sweet potato I purchased. The rest of my sweet potato slips (about another 40 foot row) come at the end of May from Sandhill Preservation.

I got a 40' bed of raspberries planted ---but not mulched yet. Hopefully I will finish that by tomorrow. I am using old bedding from the ram/chicken pen so it should be full of good stuff for the berry plants. All my berries came from Nourse farms and look really nice. I even got a few extra--which I shared with my neighbor.
I have the yellow "anne", black "bristol" and two reds: "carolyn" and "taylor". By next year we should be snacking on berries and in a few more making jams and jellies hopefully. We had raspberries at our previous residence--but of course we didn't bring them with us.

My perennial oxalis bulbs/corms (aka OKA or OCA) came today and I will take pics of them to show what they look like before I plant them tomorrow. They are part of my expanded perennial beds that I am adding and posting about last post. Of course I only was able to get a few corms of these--they are rather expensive. We will see how they grow and taste and maybe in the not to distant future I will have my own to sell or trade with others.

Lastly---my lambs are growing like weeds this year. The grass is green and growing---unlike last year when it stayed short and stumpy. I will have to put up some new pictures soon. This batch of lambs has been very fun as most all are about the same size. They are like one huge school of "fish" swimming around the pastures, ignoring their mothers and overall trying to get into trouble. Baaaaad lambs! ;-D

Have a great weekend everyone!

Foot and mouth disease

Again I have to ask the question: What the heck is the government thinking??
I suggest, even if you don't raise animals, that you read these two articles about the governments proposal for a new lab to research (among other things) Foot and Mouth disease. The difference here is the the "old" lab is located in a non (or at least reduced) livestock area. The new areas for consideration are located right in the heart of commercial livestock areas. Hence---if an accidental escape of the disease occurred as it did in England a few years back---we could see a mass depopulation of livestock. Both commercially and privately owned. The article mentions scenarios played out by officials to see how bad it would be if this occurred. What happened in their scenario? Why food shortages and large riots.
How about them apples?

Dangerous animal virus on U.S mainland?

and

Texas may be home to new foot and mouth lab

Signs of Spring (and lambs)

Not only have I noticed many daffodils and forsythia blooming around here, but we now have a few dogwoods (just a few) with some flowers on them and a number of trees with swelling buds.
This, along with the warmer weather we had the last few days, reminds me that spring is very close and may be peaking from around the corner of my house ( I just can't see it because we're siding you know?).
The big storm on the news came through and brought much rain and lots and lots of wind to us along with a drop of temps. We went from high 60's, low 70's to the 40's :-(
Within the next few weeks we will start to see more and more warm days though AND some lambs.

Yes, I was working up to the lamb part of my title.
Though I have my first ewe "officially due" on April 9th----she is just the first I actually had seen get bred. Without a marker on the rams chest that leaves a green (or red or orange etc) spot on the back of the ewe it is sometimes impossible to know exactly when a ewe was bred or even took. Just because you see a mating does not mean that the ewe took that time or at all for that matter.
Most of the time however---I don't see them breed. They are sneaky or maybe just private. I mean after all...... who wants a crowd watching when you do the deed-- right?

During feeding about a week ago we noticed that we have a number of ewes developing some nice bags. Or nice Jumblies as Austin Powers might say.
Nice jumblies are a sure sign that we are at least within a months time at most.
So considering when I first started groping my sheep's jumblies----I suspect I may have a set or two of lambs by mid March. Yeah!
Everyone loves a lamb---they are just too cute.

Not only do I have one or two adults that may be due then but I also think one of my yearling ewes is also-----and I think she may have twins. Though she is not a really large sheep she is fairly large for her size in a round kind of way. She has also all but quit running around the pasture with the flock---a sure sign of an imminent lamb or squooshed multiples. So we shall see if I am correct. Last year I did guess correctly that one of my older ewes would have triplets so....we'll see if I can go 2 for 2 on guesses. If not..no big deal. At least I know that she actually is pregnant and better than that she, and the other early due girls, tell me that my young ram Tex absolutely did his job to the best of his ability. Quickly too. Another good thing.

Very soon I will have to start making my very late (about 11 oclock) and my very early (about 5:30 or 6) pasture rounds. That way I can catch any lambs that might be born while it's cold out. Icelandics are usually very good about getting their lambs up and clean but sometimes a new mom kind of doesn't get it yet----and then her lamb can get cold and possibly die. I had that happen last year so we will be extra careful this year. Another problem is a ewe having twins while another ewe (usually very close to her own due date) gets a bit over excited and kidnaps the first born. Sometimes that "yeah---I'm going to have a baby" kicks in a bit hard and they get a little too excited about having a lamb and steal someone else's. We have to be careful of that since the kidnapper doesn't have milk yet----not a good thing for a little lamb.

One last thing I would like to leave this post with is a link to helping hypothermic lambs and how to tube and give intra peritoneal injection of glucose solution to them. For those that breed sheep it is a great thing to keep on hand for "just in case". Last year I had everything on hand EXCEPT the glucose solution which was how I lost my little gal. I didn't think I would ever need it and that tubing and warming would be fine----but that was just not so.

So---here's to an excellent last lambing for me. I truly look forward to it and am very excited as always. I will surely miss it next year (and for many afterwards) and I will have to re-live it each year vicariously through my sheep owning friends :-D

.........but NAIS will keep you safe OR will it?

As I am sure everyone knows Westland/Hallmark Meat Company recently got in trouble for it's inhumane treatment of animals and that the meat recall is now widening. Disregarding the blatant mistreatment of the cows with forklifts and prods the real issue here is the "ill health" of these cows.
For the last few years we (farmers, consumers, Joe Public etc) have been told by the USDA that by implementing a complete and total animal tagging and tracking system that we would have a safer and more secure food supply.
However I would like to use this recent issue of beef recall as a indicator that the NAIS program (aka tagging and tracking system) will NOT have the intended or promised effect AND as such is a complete waste of tax payer dollars. I have always been against NAIS because of its' obvious "Big Brother is watching you" aspect more than the food safety part ---though the promise of food safety by using it has always has been one of the major flaws in my opinion. With this recent problem though we can be assured that NOTHING the national animal identification system can do would have stopped this problem from occurring.
Lets look at the reasons why it would not have helped:

1. The meat company KNEW the animals were sick yet did NOT call the inspector to come and inspect them. Nais can not stop this problem. In no way will Nais effect change when you have "bad" people controlling the system.

2. IF the pictures/film has not been taken of these animals they would have (and have been) ground up and no one would ever have known. Supposedly 25% of all that has been recalled has already been eaten in school lunches. Nais can't do a thing about this and the tags are long gone after the animal is in a package of meat---no trace back available here. However testing our meat after the fact as they do in Europe---now that makes sense and doesn't infringe upon farmer rights or privacy nor does it entail pricey tags for every animal or huge data banks to show where an animal moved to or when it did it. Even if there was trace back available can we say with certainty---seeing the blatant abuse on film---that the original farmer covered up the problem or did it occur at some point during the cattle's stay at the facility. In other words---who would be responsible?

3. This large corporation called Westland/Hallmark Meat Co.----DId you know that they are exempt from application of Nais. So how would that have helped us anyway?

Nais---only helps to destroy small farmers and give creeps like Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. a leg up. As if they need it. It also doesn't do a damn thing to protect us from "tainted" meat. Traceback only works if people are honest and everyone is involved in the program. It doesn't work if only some people are compelled to be in it but others---that have money and lobbyist---are not. It also won't work anyway once the animal is killed and ground----there's no tag in a batch of hamburger meat so that you can use your RFID reader at home and know who raised it and where it came from. The tag is long gone. What happens when someone gets sick, they test the meat and find that "oops" there may have been some sick cows or possibly e coli got in the meat (e coli is much more likely than a cow disease)? That tag obviously doesn't do a thing to help after the fact.

So my question is this: Just exactly HOW does tagging help. Seems to me an inspection system more as the Europeans have would be a much safer solution. After all if I am forced to pay taxes I would like those taxes to go to something that actually works AND creates jobs. NOT to a program that will put small farmers out of business, make it illegal for someone to raise their own food without government intervention AND not make us one iota safer in the end.

Some fall/winter gardening

Here is a picture of one of my cold frames with some lettuce growing happily (so far) in it. I have two cold frames---the second is taller than this one with sides made from 2 x 12's. In the second I have onions, kale and carrots. They could both be slightly improved with a coat of white paint on the inside but I have just NOT gotten to it---maybe this next summer.

Anyway, growing in these two frames this year was somewhat of an experiment since I started very very late with my seeding. The beginning of November if I remember correctly. For some reason I did not write it down like I am suppose to. With that late of a start I was not sure if the plants would actually sprout and grow well but so far so good. The kale and onions are taking a bit longer but the carrots and lettuce are growing quickly considering the amount of light we get. Somewhat helpful has been the weather which has been optimum for cold frame use: not to hot and not so cold I have to also blanket them. I have had to vent a few times---even removing the glass on a few days all together when we got some high 60's---but overall not much care has been needed. They're ideally located next to some of the animals that are fed twice a day so I can open and close them without forgetting---which is always something I have to consider since I forget very very easily.

Cold frames are something every gardener should have---at least one anyway---since they are great for that early season start of veggies in the spring: carrots, onions, kale, broccoli, cabbages lettuce, chard etc. and for late season starting of fall crops of the same or similar plants. In the late summer/early fall it is easy enough to use the cold frame with, not glass, but burlap across the top to provide shade. Either "hoop" some metal or plastic and drape it or lay some boards across the frame to hold it off the plants. Burlap is great for shielding plants and if you bring it in when your done with it you can use it for many seasons. I use wire mesh sold in rolls at the hardware store. Not the super small squares like you would use for bunny pens but the kind with opening about 2 inch by 2 inch. It is flexible--but still stiff and shape holding. It comes in 2 and 4 foot heights. I usually buy four foot but not always. Cut off the amount you need with a pair of pliers that have "wire nips" on them and then bend it in an arch. Because of the grid work it is easy to use string or wire twists to hold on the burlap or even cloths pins. When not in use stack them in an unobtrusive area until the fall when you can use them to drape frost fabric "cloche style" over them for late start plants. A cold frame allows for a warmer climate than this cloche type does---but both have their place in the garden.


There are many web sites and books that address cold frames, heat beds (warmed by electricity or manure), and various cloches. Check them out and if you don't do wood working---ask a neighbor or friend to help you. Or purchase simple tools that are not intimidating to use like a jigsaw and hammer and nails which will easily allow you to build one yourself. The investment of $40 dollars in tools is repaid by the use you get out of them again and again.

Oh yes: here's a cool summer cloche for bird protection or that bit of additional shade for transplants. Though I couldn't find an American supplier I think that transferring that idea to yard sale baskets with some slats taken out could work just fine.











My next picture is of our oink Pumpkin (the guinea hog). Who has, you will notice, a white stripe painted on her back---thanks to my DH while he was painting the front of her house.
The reason I put her picture up there was not so you could appreciate her beautiful new stripe but to show you how good of a tiller she is. Now, when it rains--she's at her best. When the soil is dry it takes her a while longer. Though there could be times when we may run out of tilling areas during a time of prolonged growth (as in the middle of the summer) it seems that with a small pig, such as she is, the winter will work out well to move her around to weed,till and get rid of pernicious weeds and stir in green manure crops and such. Unfortunately I didn't put any clover/vetch/rye etc in this fall because of the lack of rain but I have the seed and this next spring (if it rains like it is suppose to) I will. Pumpkin should be very helpful then as sometimes I find that, even when dried down, the rye and vetch (and even the clover sometimes) tangle in the blades of the tiller. I have shoulder problems so hand turning can be difficult for me at times---hence my reliance on a gas powered engine.
One thing we have noticed is that she doesn't like the potatoes or peanuts she digs up. Hmmmm...maybe with time.




The last picture is for the out of town person. Taken at same time as yesterday approximately. The picture is too small to see---but the log is floating by the Cypress tree.

Peanuts with Lard---Yum!

Well maybe not so tasty to me....but to the wild birds Yum!

Today I will make up some "suet" to put into my suet feeder outside. We have finally had a freeze---for better or worse.
Of course it's a late one since ours is suppose to be around the middle of October, but that is to be expected after the freaky weather we have been having over the past year or so.

I don't really feed the birds all year long but since we have so many beauties I do like to help them out in the winter. Especially after this year with the lower amounts of food that we notice are available after our unusual Easter freeze and then the drought. Sitings of bears are occurring in our area, which is odd, so we will have to be particularly careful this year. The bears are hungry though and I would help feed them if I could---but I know better than to do that. All I would create is a problem. (I do hope they stay away as I wouldn't want my sheep or guard dog injured).

So, as I was saying, today I will mix up some homemade suet and put it out for the birds. There are numerous sites with homemade suet mixes (some don't even use suet) but check out the Sialis link for many many recipes all "under one roof". It's a bluebird site---and a very good one---but the recipes work for any species of bird that eats suet type food. Another link is this Wildbirds forever site. The have a nice little link section to some of the more common birds you will see at a suet feeder.

We have the two birds shown in the pictures above come regularly throughout the year to our yard. I stole these pictures off of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology web site. It's a nice site to check out and look up many birds and see facts and hear their calls. The one with red on his head is a downy woodpecker and the other---standing upside down---is a nuthatch. The little nuthatch that called our yard home this year made his nest in our peach tree this spring. Unfortunately for him he didn't think through how often we would walk by this tree and ended up having to scold us incessantly each day. The main problem was that the tree he chose is at the corner of our garden and near our chicken coop---so of course we were there very very frequently :-)


So, now that we have had frost in most of the south AND snow up north---don't forget your little feathered friends. They can always use a bit of help when it's really really cold.

Daily life

Today, One of the things I wanted to show are two pictures of the trailer we use to transport our sheep.
I had to use it this morning to take a ram to the vet's office. He has been sold for a while but will go to his new home in Maryland this next weekend. When livestock cross state lines than need official "immigration papers" to say "yeah their healthy and are not bringing any disease into the state".
He is now official.

Anyway--back to the trailer.
We purchased this little jewel earlier this year and modified to fit our needs. We rebuilt the back door for air flow and added air vents on either side at the front (with removable grills). It also has a non slip mat and a hay rack on the inside and is painted a magnificent turquoise blue---very bright---to add some "ambiance" :-D.

When we were trying to decide what kind of trailer/hauler we wanted we kept coming up against two issues. Both having to do with our vehicles. Currently we own two vehicles (we have owned more at times).
One is a small 12 year old truck that we have had since we purchased it new. It unfortunately will soon need replacement (or maybe rebuilding ...) and we have been trying to decide what to replace it with. Since it is so old, though well cared for---we have started becoming concerned with the idea of taking it on long trips. Also, even if we replaced it with another truck---bigger possibly (or not) ---as a rule trucks don't get very good gas mileage. This issue lately has made our choice somewhat difficult in deciding what to replace it with---since it will be our second form of transport. Going to the mall in a gas sucking large truck just isn't my thing-----but that's a different post.
Our other vehicle is our vw diesel golf----that gets 40 to 50 miles to the gallon. Of course it is a car and not "traditionally" meant to haul things.
So, when we were trying to decide what kind of trailer to buy to haul our sheep we kept coming back to the idea of one that our car could haul instead of a truck.
When your going to make a round trip of 1000 to 1500 miles----gas mileage does make a difference. Comfort does too and our car is comfortable in a different way than the truck.

We finally settled on this 5x8 foot trailer and it has worked great so far. Since we painted it and keep a mat down it is easy to clean out to use for hauling furniture and other things too. Our truck of course can pull it---but it's fine for our car too which makes it much more flexible. We ended up purchasing it on line (Ebay as a matter of fact) instead of down the road at Lowe's. We saved $600 because of that---so remember even if your buying from a "big box" place---look around first because someone else may still have a better price.


The next "daily life" thing I wanted to show was the beginnings of another fence---yes, another. This time we are putting it up around part of our back yard. We do occasionally run the sheep through there to eat and we have, up to this point, had a cheesy hot wire fence there. It was build using temporary plastic fence posts that "step" into the ground. However they bent easily and so they were always askew, falling over and tangled in some of the plants. Overall---ugly looking and they didn't work well. So we decided to put up a permanent section and in this area and we will use livestock fence to fence it. Then, for the rest of the yard we will switch to a 4 rail wood or maybe something else (something nicer, more "backyard looking" than livestock fence) as it comes up closer to the house.
We still have about an acre left to fence in our side and front yard and I am undecided what to fence with. Stay with livestock all the way around since we have it every where else? or better yet something really cool like this.



By the way---notice the moisture in the pictures?---YES it is raining here !!
Hopefully all day---the last storm that came through with all those tornadoes for other states didn't give us more than a 1/4 to a 1/2 inch.

Water Use

As we struggle with the lack of water here in my area, I realize just how lucky I am to still have water. In a recent post Maggie in North Carolina wrote about her well needing some repair during which she made a point of mentioning how thankful she was that her well (unlike some in her area) had not dried up. She also mentioned something that I have also wondered about on occasion this year which is what the HECK do you do with your animals if you can't get enough water?? As she said: The YMCA isn't to keen on them following you in for a drink or a bath in the case of her geese.
Lately, even before that, I had begun to wonder exactly what would I do in an emergency brought on by NO water availability. I mean---in regards to the livestock. Obviously my situation as a human is a bit easier than a sheep's would be. I can leave if I need to---but they can't. And of course in the case of bringing in water for them, well my one small jack russell doesn't drink much. On the other hand my 16 or so sheep plus our very large Pyrenees does. I figured it up based on the daily "average" per sheep of 2 gallons (depending many factors---but seemed like a good settling point) and I would need currently 34 gallons of water per day for all the sheep and their companion Mikey (the big dog) or 920 gallons per month.

Early this summer we had purchased for $50 each some water containers. Plastic of course, wrapped with a metal structure attached to a metal pallet. We bought them used from a water treatment facility. They receive their water treatment chemicals in them---so we could drink out of them if we needed to. With a bit of filtration for the humans of course. Also, we have had water in them and out of them a number of times---so they are pretty well rinsed out I think.
So, though they were originally just to collect rainwater for our plants use, we decided that they would make good back up sheep waterers for emergency situations. Even something as likely as the water mains being broke, bad storms ect. and the water being off for a day or two (or three) could cause problems depending on when we last filled the troughs. So, to have an emergency water back up for the animals, we will put these containers up on a stand, kind of like a mini deck, and site them so that when we do get gutters up on the chicken coop and barn they can fill with rain. In the mean time, since we have not had rain in a while----we will manually fill them from our public system this time. Just in case you know. We will then attach an automatically filling drinking bowl (their small, about the size of a man's cupped hands) that will keep only a small amount in the bowl at any one time---refilling as it is drunk up. That way there is little of the water wasted if it gets dirty or something of that nature. No evaporation and only a small bowl to clean instead of a large trough. I mean really---when a hundred gallon trough gets algae ---you have to dump about 75 gallons on average to clean it out. Kind of a waste---especially at this time. (I am sure most of you have now heard on the national news how bad it is here in Georgia in regards to the drought and drinking water issues.)
Since we have three of these, that hold 250 gallons each, we should have a short amount of emergency water available to us. Enough at least to be able to figure out what to do--just in case you know? It equals a paltry 20 days worth of water, however it is a help and when we don't have to have it---well it will be nice fresh rain water instead of chlorinated water for the animals to drink. A small aside for those of you who don't know---the chemicals in the water interfere with the uptake of some vitamins and minerals leaving your animals, and you, with a reduced amount or none at all sometimes. We found this out when we began testing our animals to correct some mineral problems we had here.

Of course this is just a small itty bitty way to barely make it. I think cities and municipalities need to wake up to the idea that we need to be more open minded about some of our water issues. We need to think outside the box---or at least consider some of the "boxes" that have come along. We need to reduce, conserve AND reuse. We will always need a certain amount of water for irrigation of our crops---but we need to get beyond the point of choosing water to drink or for food production when it comes to droughts. Also, the wildlife ----- they would like some left for them too.

So I came up with a few things that I would consider if I built a new house---or that I think governments should start seriously considering.
Take toilets. We are incredibly scared about the idea of crapping in a toilet that doesn't flush our poop and pee to some unknown spot. If everyone was forced to switched to composting toilets----do people not think that a whole industry of "compost cleaners" wouldn't spring up to clean them for the squeamish in our society? Of course I'd rather shovel my partially decomposed poop than drink it with chemicals added to make it safe. Put like that it's kind of yikky isn't it.

How about grey water? Why, after all this time, is grey water not more often pushed by local communities for lawn and tree watering?

Or better even than those two idea how about an old/new idea----the "Living Machine". (Capitalize it because it is a patented technology---which I didn't know.) It's that idea we have all seen at one time were they send the water through all these tanks of algae, fish and water plants to re-clean it to as good as or better than it was going in. Developed by Dr. John Todd in the 60's---he has a whole institute, known as Ocean Arks that focuses on studying it. I could easily have a certain amount of ongoing water for my livestock to drink with this concept---something to consider if I ever have an extra dollar not spent on hay or remodeling the problems we still haven't gotten to with this house. Besides from the research I have read about in regards to this system---it costs a fraction of a traditional water treatment plant to build and run AND you get an ecosystem to walk through that doesn't stink to high heavens.
This idea obviously would not work if I had NO water---but in a drought I could absolutely help conserve with this method for supplying drinking water to my animals.
There are a number of places in Europe that use this idea too--not so much in the U.S though but here is Penn State college doing it for a research project.

Some words to search with for more information on this would be:
greywater + reed beds
vertical flow (alone or with one of the above words)

Here's a fairly decent picture site (see the link to move on farther at the bottom of the page)

Also here are a few links for some sustainable book sites that carry books about this issue (plus more):
Low Impact Living Institute (british site)

Eco Logic books

constructed wetland association -- books only on reed bed sewage treatments.

Managing my Hay

So, since this drought has gone on for so long we have worked very hard to "manage" our hay appropriately. I mean---when you can't even steal a bale of hay because it's so scarce well...you have to care for what you have.
Waste---especially of hay is always an issue. All livestock love to walk, climb, fling, roll in, run through, and poop on their hay. I don't know why but there you have it.
Round bales come under particularly aggressive attack---probably because they are big and don't get eaten as fast, but small squares are not really that much safer from the "waste fairies".
For a long time we didn't have to worry about hay and so we didn't really care about the waste. The bales were only $25 dollars for about a 650 to 800 pound round bale. Need a new one?---just drive down the road a mile or so and pick up a new one. Or just across town about 10 minutes away there were even nicer rounds. So, though we did try and keep the animals from completely destroying them it was inevitable that eventually some of it did get wasted.
Last year the weather started to show it's true colors and we became a bit more conservative with hay feeding since it became a bit harder, though not impossible, to find hay. Rounds were tarped in the driveway and fed out in small piles or stuffed into moveable fence panels tied to the regular fence. Square bales too were fed out in small piles or stuffed between the two fences like filling in a pita pocket.
As we moved into summer though and we were STILL feeding hay----we really began to give serious thought to how to feed the hay through summer then on into the winter so that NO hay was wasted. By now hay had become and will remain difficult to find. If you do find it---it's pricey. We now can only get square bales for $7.50 each---though I heard they went up since last we bought. That's $7.50 for just a measly little 70pounds of hay. You do the math in comparison to what we used to pay. Also---though I only have to feed out not quite one bale worth of hay a day I will have to feed more as it gets colder and there is no green grass left to help supplement.
So, after deciding it had become somewhat imperative that we design a hay feeder of some sort I stumbled on the two sided feeder that premier 1 sheep/livestock supplier had on their web site---it's in the downloadable instructions/chart section.
Well, after all my procrastinating for years now---someone should smack me. This feeder was so easy to build that I did the first one, which was the bigger one, in about 3 1/2 hours by myself. The second, though smaller one made by my husband and I for the rams was even quicker. Somebody kick us for being lazy! I tell you what! And wow! how easy to put hay in to it instead of trying to stuff it between two fences. Humph!---how disappointing that it took so long to become aware of this "labor saver" of a feeder.
Also, as a really great bonus---it has a "trough" area that can be used for grain or alfalfa cubes without any spilling. Since it's so stable and part of the whole unit--they can't knock it over while they fuss and fight amongst their selves during feeding. That part is o.k for my ewes----but a huge (HUGE) convenience for the rams who bash around so much during feeding of grains or cubes that most of the feed in lower troughs or bowls gets spilled and smashed into the ground.

And cheap! though we did already have a livestock panel specifically for goats/sheep that we had purchased at Tractor supply for $25 dollars---the wood was very cheap. (small aside to those who try this---we own very large bolt cutters that make easy work of cutting the 16 foot panels to the correct sizes). We even used some of our scrap lumber pile for the bigger one so total cost for it was under $50---most of it being the part of the goat panel we used. The smaller one obviously was cheaper though we did have to buy new wood for some of it---but it used the leftover part of the goat panel in it.
I wish I had built this years ago because not only is it easy to feed hay in but it also keeps the fleeces much nicer than the way we had been doing it. We spent much less time picking VM (vegetable matter), specifically hay, out of the fleeces after we sheared this summer.

There are two issues that we now need to address to make this feeder fit us even better.
One: A roof. The feeder needs some sort of roof that is easily moved, lifted off,or tipped so hay can easily be put in and it could then be used in an open area of a pasture. Both of ours are under cover---the big one is used to divide our "catch pen" and the smaller is under the new chicken coop addition.
Two: Wheels. Wheels and maybe a hitch of some sort, along with a roof would make it easy to move the feeder from pasture to pasture or just around a pasture so they don't "beat down" the grass in one area.

So here are the pictures. The last one shows how we dealt with the open end of the smaller hay feeder. It also allows one more animal to eat at that end. Plus an extra picture of my now healthy Princess (with hay hanging off her face and body!)

Good day all---here's to rain

A little bit for the birds

This summer as everyone knows has been hideous as far as droughts go. We finally got to the point were we just quit watering everything since it was becoming very expensive to do it. Occasionally "save the plant" watering did occur for some of the more expensive perennials but nothing more than that.
We had also planted some small annuals--including veggies---but most didn't survive since we just couldn't water them enough.
Even with all the mulch we had acquired---it just didn't work out well for them with the high temps and no rain.
But now that I am getting ready for the fall I felt it was time to post about this plant known as a cypress vine (or maybe it's a cardinal vine---I am not sure which it is since they are closely related).
I actually received this one (and only one) plant as a start when I did some volunteer work for a research/organic garden in downtown Chattanooga (Crabtree farms). I planted it---and forgot it. It was only watered once when it was planted--never again after that. However---it went on not only to climb my fence but take over that corner of the fence and a bench too. I even quit allowing my husband to weed eat there since it might get some of the vine. This vine just went crazy---and remember it is just one plant. One little seed. So, considering how well it did---I will plant it again next year.
















It's very pretty and we have had a number of hummingbirds visit it in the morning after they visited the four o clocks by the patio.
Next year---now that know it grows so well, I will use it to disguise some of the uglier spots on the farm. You know--those places that just are not pretty either because they still need work or that just can't help being kind of "ugly" (like the windowless side of a shed or something).

Also, I wanted to remind everyone that fall is technically here now. Soon we will have colder weather (I think we will anyway) and the birds might need a bit of help to survive. This spring with our freaky late frost that killed a number of plants then the drought the wild animals are low on their native foods. In our yard alone we will not have any oak nuts, hickory nuts, maple seeds, wild persimmons, blueberries, apples, pecans, and for some reason no rose hips either. That's a lot of seeds/mast foods to be without. The wild ones will be hungry---especially if we have some really cold snaps that require high energy foods.
I have a number of these feeders below that I hang out. Some years more of them go outside than in other years, but this year I will make sure all of them go out and stay as full as I can keep them with seeds/sunflowers etc. I will even put out corn for the squirrels since, though I don't care for squirrels too terribly much (they are somewhat destructive and they eat my apples and other fruit) I don't want to see them starve to death. I would much rather a hawk got to eat them instead.




So though it's nice to place plants in the spring and summer that bring in those pretty hummingbirds and colorful songbirds---don't forget that the winter can be important too. Especially after a year like this.
One other thing for the birds that they really appreciate is shelters. Bird houses are used even in the winter. It's where they shelter from the cold and icy storms that blow up. So grab a bird book at your local library or bookstore and build some bird houses. Not only is it a fun fall project but next spring you may have lots of baby birds in your yards.

Another reason to save rare breed livestock--and a little bit more

As I was re reading the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC) newsletter (sept/oct 2007) that I recently received, I noticed an article that I must have missed the first time through. It's a small article and titled "Skimmed Milk Cows" and is about some cows being bred in New Zealand that produce skim milk versus "regular" milk. Hmm...
After I read that decided I wanted to know more about this subject. So with just a small bit of searching I found a good expanded article here.

Well, this doesn't look good at all does it? Oh, I am not talking from the perspective of "tampering" with animals to produce specialty products (the white bread syndrome as I always think of it) but two other things that concern me.
One, that I had not thought of, is out of the article in the ALBC.
The author (Mwai Okeyo of the International Livestock Research Institute) says this:
This debate (one breeding specialty cattle) emphasizes the importance of the very old principle: that is the need to set realistic breeding objectives, depending on the production systems and the target market and consumers. Breeding objectives for low-input, poverty reduction systems should there-fore differ from those meant for high input systems and more affluent consumers.
In many developing countries, daily protein intake per person, especially of animal origin, is too low. For such consumers, high milk-fat content and intake is not a negative concern. Good quality water is often not available for the people and their animals, so a cow that converts water into watery milk is not a desirable goal. Yet that is what the multinational dairy cattle genetics companies are aggressively promoting. In such places it would be more desirable to have animals that can produce less milk with more fat and protein form poorer quality forage and less water. Such animals do exist but which donor/investor wants to put resources in such animal today (added by me: when everyone "with money" really wants skimmed/low fat products)?
At the same time, the type of consumers who do not desire butterfat in their milk can afford the additional higher prices that come with skimmed milk. Ironically, it is not just milk fat that is bad for health, but a combination of diet, exercise and social habits. Smoking may be far worse than milk fat, but no sensible tobacco breeders aims to reduce the nicotine content of the tobacco leaves!
As animal geneticists and breeders, we still have huge and real gaps to fill despite great successes in many areas. I would rather we concentrated our genetic improvement efforts to areas where we can really make meaningful changes to many lives, rather than to those that are targeted at the special few.

The author then goes on to talk about the World Food Programs, "who find it cheap and convenient" to ship/airlift maize-beans mixes grown in the USA to famine stricken part of Africa while other parts of the same country have fresh produce (potatoes, fruits etc) rotting for lack of an infrastructure to process, package and ship these products hundreds of miles only. If these world food programs and world bank etc would help develop these infrastructure how much better it could and would be for so many people. Many people could and would then also make a decent living while they shipped food to places that had less and needed it more.

My last comment on this issue is from the science article listed above ( placed here for convenience). In this article they comment that the gene that allows the cow to produce only 1% butterfat versus 3-4 percent is a dominant trait. Now that is a scary thought since when these large companies begin making money with this it won't take long for a dominant gene such as that to spread very far and wide until most of the production cows would be this way. Not to sound like a pessimist---but that is exactly the type of thing that has occurred over and over again. Just one more reason to raise a "rare" breed of farm animal to save those recessive traits that we may find ourselves without in some future generation.

Woosh!

So,
We are finally getting some rain regularly. Though not the amounts we need to beat back this drought we seemed to have been alloted at least enough to turn the grass back green and to grow it just a little.
Add to that the sale and butchering of a number of sheep-- and we again have breathing room in regards to our pastures.
Currently we have 3 more sheep to move on to another farm, a couple more to go to slaughter and 5 to come home to us at the end of August. That will move us into fall with the total of....17 sheep. Just one more than last year---and he will be a wether. Cute little guy too---perfectly sized to be a wether since he is smaller than usual.
This will be our first year to carry a wether with us. We have debated it many times---but never have decided to keep one. The other day we decided: yeah! we need one for animals that need to be quarantined or to be a friend while a sheep recovers if hurt or any number of other reasons. So...we neutered him. He wasn't happy about it though. We used basically a rubber band that is so tight it will squeeze the blood out of the testicles and they will dry up and fall off. He looked a bit "sick to his stomach" for about 2 days, but he looks fine now (I checked him frequently since I was a bit worried about him).
The testicles have not fallen off yet---but it won't be long.
So now he gets to live a life of companion and fleece animal. Wethers actually give the best fleeces since they are not rams (coarser fleeces) nor are they producing ewes (pregnancy and lambing can sometimes make a fleece not quite the best).

Anyways---as I ramble on about wethers I am reminded just how quickly the "circle of life" moves around. Not long ago I blogged away with time to spare then we came to spring, lambed and moved into summer and it all fell to the side with our endless amounts of things to do. Here we are again---almost time to go to Michigan to pick up this year's new sheep----and then there will be fall shearing (and fall festivals), breeding season and then the wait for lambs (and time to blog and do some of my "own" things). Yes----it sounds long---but it won't be when you add Thanksgiving and Christmas and all the other things we come across in a year. My...how time does fly. And they say children make it seem fast. Well who ever said that never raised sheep :-)

Cheryl: if you are still reading I hope your house is coming along just peachy!

Finally some rain

Finally we got rain! For about an hour and a half it rained here. Not hard, but not one of those paltry little drizzly affairs that leave you with nothing but humid air.
Oh it wasn't enough that's for sure, but who can complain at this point? So far---depending on the exact location of monitoring we are approximately down 16" of rain for the year. With only about 9" overall having fallen on our area. I know---it really doesn't seem like that much but imagine your lawn or garden needs approximately one inch per week. You can get it as say...2 inches one week, skip a week then get some more but however it is it needs to average out to about one inch. So far we have had 24 weeks in this year to split amongst that 9 inches --which does seem to leave us a bit shy of the mark especially when you consider most of our 9 inches was back in the beginning of the year.
We personally haven't had more than 2 separate 5 minute rains in 8 weeks here on our property. That is absolutely not an exaggeration either (unfortunately). Also, to give you an understanding of what we are lacking, the average rainfall for our area is considered to be about 53 inches. Which works out to--you guessed it---about an inch per week.
Now lets consider where our family is in the Dallas/Ft Worth area of Texas and also East Texas. Now East Texas gets a little bit more than DFW which has an annual average of 33 inches. They had in the month of May 20 inches of rain. Yes, almost their entire years worth of rain fell in one month over the coarse of 21 days during that month. AND to make it even more of a spit in the face to us (had to make the water connection here) they have since then received about 6 inches just last week. How dare they? (As if they had a choice right?)
Well, it just goes to show you that no matter where you live or decide to move---the weather can get you every time, any place, any year.

Which leaves us to wonder? Will we be raising animals next year? That is a question I can not answer yet. Fortunately for us we have a great family and our cows now reside in Texas---eating their way through all that grass, waiting for a better year to come back to us. However that doesn't help our grass grow here for our sheep---it just relieves the amount of hay we have to purchase and feed each day. (which by the way Maggie are doing fine thanks for asking) Can one raise animals in an area that perpetually seems to be in a drought? Yes, I know we could cut down to two or three sheep however our pastures are so dried out that we would still need hay and we wouldn't get enough lambs to make the work involved, time and trouble worth it. So soon---we will work very hard to finish our house, sell and find more acreage somewhere else. Enough to buffer us and our animals even in times of extreme drought as we are seeing now. Even if I didn't raise animals the question of whether it is even worth raising veggies begs to be asked. Because really---we all think that when there is a drought that "oh well, city water folks can't water their lawn however we are o.k because we have a well" Wells go dry people---especially in extreme droughts. Lakes, rivers and streams do also--just consider Lake Chad in Africa. It's a pittance of what it was in the 60's.
Wells dry up, lakes dry up, rivers and streams do too. How then do you store and control your water to make the best use of it? Sounds like Austin Texas has a better handle on it than some of the rest of us do. Rain water collection, grey water usage for orchards, xeriscaping, low flow toilets or composting toilets....many ideas to choose from. Now we just all need to get over the idea that we should, and can, turn on the tap, flush the toilet and water our garden whenever and however we want with no repercussions involved. Screw the neighbors---every man for himself right? I think I smell a water war in those lack of rain clouds.

Just Relaxing

Just thought this was a little funny. Excuse the color---my camera was set to "fluorescent" instead of daylight.
Still prayin' for rain here.

Drought & Desperation

Well,maybe the long term, on going drought is driving the sheep to desperation. I think Aleda, one of my Icelandic ewes (yes, females can be with or without horns) decided she needed to see if there was a back up meal just in case the pastures turn to dust and we can't find more hay.






For those of you wondering: Yes, we are still in a very very bad drought. We have had microscopic amounts of rain and about 1/2 of our pasture is now brown.
Sorry to those who live on the coast but we are hoping to have a hurricane hit and bring us some rain! Unfortunately, hurricanes are one of the ways that we get quite a bit of our yearly rain. For two years now they have pretty much passed us by: last year we got a bit fat zero from any of them. Odd considering how damaging they were to other parts of the country.
Yes, I know it is a weather pattern related to the change from el nino to la nina and back again ---and we should have rain as it finishes---however that does not make the grass grow or the trees quit dying. Bummer huh.

One last thing: yesterday evening we had very very "smoggy" skies. Why? Well, of course the smoke from the wild fires in south Georgia and north Florida. The wind was blowing this way and it was fairly thick (though Atlanta was much worse supposedly) and you could even smell it just a small bit---odd isn't it.

Nothing much here

So I notice I haven't been posting much recently. That might be because currently our life is Boring (with a capital B). Not in the sense that we are doing nothing---but in the sense that all we are doing is just more of the same ole thing or something everyone else does: mow lawns, trim weeds, and trying to keep up with getting the garden planted, potatoes hilled, feed animals, clean etc etc. We have fallen into the mundane. It's that time of year. The busy time---when everyone is just trying to keep ahead of all the things building up to do. Soon though---I will have my son to help me since school will end within the next few weeks. That will be great---maybe I will be able to get a step ahead in the "must do this" category instead of barely keeping up with it.

Yesterday we had a new lamb---Now I just have one ewe left to go. My goodness---they dragged this out this year. I tell you what! For just 11 ewes we have lambed from March 25th to.....well we don't know yet do we. Here is a picture of the lamb: A solid black ewe lamb. The lamb doesn't look very big right now,especially since some of my other lambs are 5 weeks old now, and maybe she won't be. You just never know though--- her dam is one of my largest ewes. Next year when Bit (this lambs mother) is fully grown she may be my largest. Not large in the sense of tallest or longest etc----but big. Bit looks like a linebacker. So we will see how this little ewe turns out. She has a little "flash" of white on either cheek and the middle of her forehead. Cute. The "flash" says: I am not spotted----but I carry it. She's so black I could barely get a good picture of her---besides the fact that she was in the shade.



We had a boyscout troop come Saturday to see our sheep and cows. It seemed like they had a good time---and we did since we enjoy telling them about our animals. They got to pet Rose our smallest Dexter and then Ike our ram (who was very good and even let them rub his horns which most rams don't like) and they even got to hold and pet some of the lambs. I sent them home with some fleece so they could see if they could make something with it. If nothing else they will have fun trying to felt it since felting is just mashing and rubbing soapy wet fleece to get it to turn it into something. In the end they get to earn a badge for it which is the best part about the whole thing.

Sunday--we tattooed, tagged and gave shots to ewe lambs.
First you take this thing pictured on the right with the little needle looking things (numbers and letters). You put them in the hand held "squeezer" and you squeeze the numbers/letters into their ear ---being careful not to squeeze all the way through which sometimes happens. Then you rub tattoo ink into it. After you put letters in one ear and numbers in the other, you take the other nasty looking plier type things with the single needle on one side--slip the needle in the hole of the green tag (or whatever color you choice) Put the other half of the tag in the slot on the opposite side and ---Poke it through their ear. Bummer huh. Now how much do you think they like us after that! Of course they do forgive us and I try and remember that we humans "tag and tattoo" ourselves too---but I can't say it's the best part of lambs. Glad my sheep don't require castrating or tail docking---Yik.





Now here's a baby that doesn't like her new tag. Eventually she will quit hanging her ear like that. They get bigger/stronger over time. Though I imagine it still hurts a bit today which is probably why she is hanging it so much in this picture---she usually has it up a bit more than that.




Lastly---over the weekend we went to see Spider-Man 3. Did I like it? Well, it was o.k. Had lots of cheesy "moralistic" parts to it. I don't mind moral---but I don't like cheesy. The one thing that bugged me the most is even at the end when Peter Parker/Spider-Man decides he was not doing things "correctly", you never do you hear him tell anyone "sorry". Even if it wasn't completely his fault. When you see the movie you will understand what I mean about that. This was definitely not as good as it could have been. AND (don't read this if you don't want to know more) there really is not happy ending---for ANY of the characters in the movie. Even the side bit characters don't get a sorry---or even something fun/good to look forward to. Blah! I liked my pop corn and drink though :-D

I will try and post more frequently but it may be sporadic for the next month.


http://www.smallmeadowfarm.com Registered Icelandic Sheep and Irish Dexters

What a frog!

Actually it's a toad---an Eastern Spadefoot to be exact. Also, just so you know, he's much neater looking in real life than the picture makes him out to be. His lines are kind of a flourescent yellow/lime green color which the picture doesn't do justice to.
We accidentally dug him up while trying to extract a post that was randomly placed in the middle of our pasture (not by us). Luckily we didn't kill him in the process.
The spade foot is so called because of a special horned "spade like" claw on the hind leg to help it dig it's burrows with. We thought at first that it was a Couch's Spadefoot which is recognizable by it's call which sounds "like a bleat of a lamb". How funny we thought since we have lambs! We did though figure out that it wasn't a Couch's but an Eastern. The Eastern has a call described as "the coarse low pitched complaint of a crow". Well, not quite as interesting sounding as the other. No matter the sound of it's call, it will eat bugs and slugs which is a plus however you look at it. They also said this bit of information in our amphibians and reptiles identification book which I thought was interesting: Eastern Spadefoot have been observed, unscathed amid the smoldering ashes of a brush fire.
Neat.
Well---if I have a brush fire because of this extended drought---more than likely this toad will make it through o.k. Hahahaha

Let the whining begin

As much as I have whined about rain (or lack there of) it still doesn't change the fact that it is not coming down. Not only has it effected our trees---we lost some-- but it has also effected our ability to raise our livestock. Purchasing hay SUCKS.
I hate it when people around here say "oh I am so glad it isn't raining this weekend---we want to go to the park". Do people not realize that, whether they are vegetarian or meat eater, that ALL food is effected by rain---or lack there of??

Now we are making the news. Albeit--somewhat local news, and I am not talking about the 30 thousand acre fire in south Georgia near Okefenokee swamp that all are talking about.
From what I gather---it's so bad they are going down to the state capital to see what can be done. I don't know----maybe the state government can buy us some rain.

Here's a clip from a local paper that explains briefly our problem.

Northwest Georgia is driest part of state

Severe drought conditions have developed across the northwest and southeast portions of the state with rain deficits for the year of up to 11 inches in some parts.

The driest areas of the state include Floyd, Polk, Chattooga, Walker, Dade and Catoosa counties in Northwest Georgia and the counties lining the most southeast corner of the state, according to state climatologist David Stooksbury. LaFayette in Walker County is seeing the biggest rain deficit for the year so far 11.27 inches below average, he said.

The conditions developed despite storms that dumped up to 3 inches of rain on parts of Georgia over the last week.

The Greater Rome area has seen 10.03 inches year to date, more than 11 inches under the average year-to-date total through April. April alone usually brings an average of 4.81 inches to Rome. So far this April, only 1.36 inches has fallen.

There’s a 30 percent chance of rain in Rome today, according to the National Weather Service..

“It’s been dry since the first of the year, and I don’t see much promise for conditions to improve,” Stooksbury said.

The state remains under partial outdoor water bans. Outdoor watering is prohibited between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays at odd-number addresses and on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays at even-number addresses.

The state drought response committee is scheduled to meet today at 1 p.m. at the Georgia Department of Natural Resources in Atlanta to discuss conditions and further action.




Maybe someday---the very reason I moved to Georgia (rain and trees) will occur again with regularity. Until then it's purchased hay for us and watching our grass not grow. Great if you don't want to mow now isn't it? Sucks when you raise animals.

By the way it's also been extremely extremely windy too---very odd for here---so it makes it even more dry dry dry.

An accident

Well we lost one of our birds to a "predator" recently. A hen of course! Unfortunately the predator that got her was the big hulking Pyrenees that guards the sheep. We came outside to work and here come Mikey ambling up to the fence with his "toy" in his mouth, looking very pleased with himself of course. "Great fun! by golly" his posture was saying at that moment---until he saw me. I must have had a horrible look on my face because my husband said that as the dogs eyes came up and saw my face that's when he realized what he had done. He had one of those "eyes get big, mouth drops open" moments and dropped the bird promptly. Of course that is when the yelling began. Did he get in trouble. He high tailed it down to a little "rain" shelter I leave in that pasture for the new lambs and crammed himself into it for a number of hours afterwards.
The dead bird was unfortunately a large grown cuckoo maran hen. Bummer. Why is it never the roosters?
The next morning I saw him with another hen pinned down and as soon as I yelled his name----off he ran to sit in the shelter again for a while---I didn't even have to come in the pasture. I guess he decided to punish himself :-)
So....we now know he understands that what he is doing is wrong. We just have to finish breaking him of the "thrill of the chase" part.
Ahh the joys of pet ownership. Or livestock in Mikey's case---because he is more livestock than pet to us. Good dog overall---but a big bad chicken chaser currently.

By the way---no lambs yet! I have ewes that groan when they lay down now. Must be any day soon---the torture of it though.
Hope everyone made it o.k. through all this freaky spring weather.

Speaking of which and just to round out this post: we lost peas, kale, some artichokes, some tomatoes and I am not sure about the asparagus. Hopefully the asparagus roots are big enough to send up some new shoots again. The artichokes should make it---but some lost their tops. The tomatoes that were under wall o waters or doubled up poly spun made it---the others are goners since I didn't have enough to cover all of them. I will buy more poly spun soon since it's much easier for a quick cover than the wall o waters. Freaky spring as I said---and still "unseasonable" here. Odd.