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dominiquer60
ModeratorSome like poison ivy. I once had a pair of cashmere twin does that were a menace to their owner because they were bottle fed and would not stay with the goats or sheep, so she sold them to me for brush control. Perhaps it was because they were papered when they were younger, or perhaps it was because they were cashmere, but I basically had to starve them before they would eat much more than sumac in the hedge rows. When my CSA member talked about her goats and poison ivy, I said “no way, not unless they are starving.” That was when she got more specific that the spanish/ spanish crosses were the ones happy to eat the ivy, the others were more picky.
After listening to them call out to be with us from across the field for a whole summer, I decided that they just needed to be someones pets, and they still are.
Erika
ModeratorA few years from now we will look back on this post as the start of the Western Mountain Animal-Power Field Days….or what ever you want to call it, anyway you look at it this will be a great event. How can you go wrong with a pirate in charge.
Erika
ModeratorI was just talking to a CSA customer that recently moved here from Texas. She had a few goats before she moved and noticed that her Spanish goats would eat anything and loved poison ivy. The other breeds were pickier about what they ate, but the group as a whole did good at keeping the back of the lot clean. Just thought I would add since it goes along with what Old Kat noticed.
Erika
ModeratorI hope for the best for all of you effected by drought, whether overseas or here in the states, we had a good taste of it last year and we don’t wish it on anyone.
ErikaModeratorIf you want to get a jump on some of the long day corns try transplanting them. I am experimenting with Hickory King which can be a 120 day corn, it is supposed to be a southern favorite for grits and hominy. I plan on mostly failure this year with the hopes of at least a half dozen ears to save for next year. You can shorten the day length on open pollinated varieties if you save seed and select for it. A friend in Michigan did this with Goliath, his seed was 115 day and is now 105 for him. I planted a pound of Hickory King in flats and ended up with about 1,000 plants, they are doing well. Also it is a white variety so if it does cross pollinate with our field corn I can select for the white kernels instead of the yellows.
Anyway just a thought for you to consider for next year, it is a little labor intensive at first, but I think that once I fiddle with my variety for a couple years it should fit into our system more efficiently.
Erika
ModeratorOne mans trash is another mans treasure.
I know you don’t see your rye as trash, but I am drooling over the thought of having another 2 acres of rye to bale for clean straw. We just made 45 bales off of less than an acre, I imagine yours would yield much better. Robert’s idea sounds good, but if you just want to get it off, see if someone could bale it and find some organic vegetable farmers to sell it to, well as long it has not gone to pollen yet.
Glad you are not giving up, some years are just heavier on the learning end than the sticking to the plan end.
Erika
June 2, 2011 at 1:23 pm in reply to: Oxen make the NY Times/Includes discussion of large scale animal-powered operations #66924ModeratorGreat points Erik,
That was what I was getting at with our farm, only you were more articulate with your explanation. Our farm works 5 small farms with tractors, with only 4 potential teamsters and the long distances, we could never do what we do now with animals. If each land owner were to convert to animals and they returned to the original 5 farms, it would be completely doable, IF all parties were willing.
Although not all Amish are the same, I respect the general Amish ideal that farms should be of a size that is comfortable for one family to manage. If you look at all of the old farms around here that is exactly what the “norm” used to be. Today the small dairy industry has dried up and now most of the tillable acreage here in the north part of the county is run by 6 huge farms and a handful of remaining dairies that have less than 100 head.
The well know fact that small farms are the only group of farms that are actually increasing in number is hopefully a sign of the direction that we should be heading, back to the “norm.” The increasing number of small farms opens more opportunities for the increase of draft animal use because it is still viable at this scale even in our “get big or get out” economic times. If this is all we have at the moment it is better than tractor dealers buying horses for meat, so lets be happy for the slow change and do our part to make more change in this direction possible.
The only increase in draft power that I am looking forward to on our farm, at the moment, is watching these steers grow like weeds out on pasture, so I had better go get them turned out this morning.
Erika
ModeratorGeoff,
What about those of us that enjoy an occasional nasty orange circus peanut? You know the kind that make you remember the good old days of Grandma taking you to Woolworth’s to get an Rx and some candy for all her favorites. That awful fake banana flavor takes me back every time:)
It is hard growing up to know what really is acceptable/sustainable to the reality of our effect on the rest of the universe. So we all have our little vices.
I have two Native American quotes that work for this thread.
“the woods would be silent if only the birds that sang best sang at all.”
When a Navajo flute maker was questioned for having a flute made from white PVC pipe he said,”are you kidding me, if we could get our hands on this stuff back when you were trading with guns and blankets, we would have surely used it then as well.”
Enjoy your little guilty pleasures while they are still around and slightly more benign than so many other evils of our civilzation,
Erika,
P.S. I love working my steers, but I also jump at the chance to use the big red IH 1066 that lives out back. When it comes down to buying in corn to make a layer ration or using a tractor to grow our own, I would rather grow our own and know where it came from and what was used on it.
ModeratorWe hope to finish planting potatoes today, it took me a while to cut the rest up yesterday, a good shady job for a hot day. We love Kennebecs too, but we plant a lot of Yukon Golds because the customers prefer them, a nice tator but not as vigorous as the Kenny.
Good Luck all with your agricultural endeavors,
Erika
ModeratorBen also said if we provide the funds, they can do the work of handing it out based on who or how we want to hand it out.
I would like to see it go to beginner farmers or current apprentices regardless of age, I don’t want to see it go to whiners that don’t get what we are trying to do.
Erika
ModeratorIf I had horses I would use Les’s idea, it seems more comfortable for the horse. With my cattle a neckstrap pinches under the yoke so I use a halter. Sam Rich uses collars to tie his horses up to his trailer, when he harnesses, he doesn’t have to fuss with taking the halter off before bridling. When he is ready he can unsnap or take the collar of depending on the situation.
Erika
ModeratorWelcome Kristi,
Any friend of the Pirates is a friend of ours.
Nice looking donks, the pirate is not too bad either:)
Erika
ModeratorTwo cases were also confirmed at the Cornell Vet hospital.
If this strain is similar to the one that went around Palm Beach a couple years back, then keeping your animals at home, or other places free of horses and keeping horsey friends off your place did a lot to contain this virus.
Farms set up sanitation stations at the front gate for visitors, all 57 miles of bridle paths were closed and folks just shut themselves in for a few weeks.
Hopefully this too can be contained and stopped.
Erika
ModeratorI have a friend that wanted to breed her heavey quarterhorse mare, a 15 year old maiden that had one ovary removed because of benign tumor. One AI treatment with some Welsh Pony genetics and she had a very successful pregnancy, birth and one heck of a fine 1/2 Welsh blue roan filly. It is totally possible that your mare could have the same success.
Erika
ModeratorThis team has been sold to a fine young farmer to add to their team of Suffolks on their vegetable farm. Thanks everyone for your help and advice with this team, they will be missed.
Erika
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