[Peacework Farm]

Is the team still available? I am interested in them. Im outside of Syracuse.

thank you
eli

eli at peaceworkcsa dot org

[Peacework Farm]

lizzy,

I was trying to do a lot of that research too last year. I often came across this rule of thumb:
1000 pounds of animal per acre per year.
For sheep, cow, horse, etc.

Its of course vague as to pasture/cut hay.
But its something that I keep in mind.

I also wonder what is the space in cubic feet that a seasons supply of hay for a team take? Or cubic feet of hay storage per 1000 pounds of animal.
Somewhere David Fisher published an article on his new barn and I think it contains the cubic footage of loose hay per horse per year. I think it was in a dapnet newsletter?

I also ended up not having the time to make any of our own hay and found that a neighbor could make it cheaper than I could, and it was not the end of the world to buy it. Though not what i had envisioned, it ended up working well enough. Last year I learned that moving into a ‘good neighborhood’ should be weighed as heavily as how closely a land parcel meets your desires.

good luck in your land search.
exciting times
-eli

[Peacework Farm]

Daniel,

I switched to all wobbler heads also this year (from impact head rain birds). Adam Sauders in Penn Yann sells them. Which might be your closest supplier. $7 bucks a piece. 50 cents for different PSI tips

I also ran a trash pump from the pond, through 3 inch fire hose about 400 feet. This fed the aluminum 3 inch ‘hand pipe’ which are 30 feet long with one sprinkler each. (Much like natural roots) With the Lavender tips in the wobbler, and the highest PSI I could achieve, this resulted in full coverage in between sprinklers. And 4 or 5 beds on both sides of the line (depending on how long the line was)

Investing in the aluminum had pipe was a huge cost. $55 per 30 foot 3 inch pipe. $7 per wobbler. But Aluminum has one of the lowest friction reducing capacities. Which results in less PSI loss per foot. Fire hose is also exceptional good for this. They also both have a long working life. I bought my at an auction and thus have more sticks then I will likely use. I would consider to sell some if you guys are interested. I also have extra 3 inch and 1.5 inch fire hose if your interested.

The biggest thing I like about the aluminum lines is that one person can move them easily, and its a task anyone can do. and its quick. So while the drip is cheap initial cost and then expensive in terms of labor cost. The hand pipe is the opposite. Its so freaking easy to move.

PS: my aluminum pipe came with brass rain bird heads, which I dont like to use anymore. Trying to sell them cheap for anyone who could use them. I’ve got probably 50 or so.

-eli

[Peacework Farm]

Regarding the deep snow:
If your logging lot is close to home (or at home) you can make a practice of grooming the trails by dragging a large tractor tire over trail after every snowfall. Last winter I spent at the Perry farm in NE Vermont and we did this most days. We had quite a lot of snow and quite a lot of cold. We would drag a large tractor tire behind the for cart after every snow fall. Sometimes, twice a day when the snow was relentless and the weather too cold to do much else. As a result, we never had to deal with deep snow for the horses to crash through or pull loads through to get out of the woods. If your logging with a scoot or anything with runners, or even with the two wheeled cart, this will make a huge difference. Better footing for the horses, slicker surface for the logs to drag, and slicker surface for sled runners. Well worth the added time of grooming.

Usually when I would go out alone to cut, I’d put the saw and gas and tools in the tire (a plywood platform was built into the hole) and groom the whole trail first to give the team a little work right out of the barn. Then they were pretty happy to stand while I cut. We’d do a mornings worth of skidding, then go back and get the tire and come back to the barn for the best meal of the day.

[Peacework Farm]

Sorry, posted to soon there.

here are some graphs that show that college tuition isnt what it use to be. An increase of 500 percent since 1990. While regular inflation is only 100 percent.

college tuition vs inflation over time

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/01/InflationTuitionMedicalGeneral1978to2008.png

it is a hard thing to look at that kind of debt and convince yourself you can make a living farming. But we will try anyway…. 🙂

[Peacework Farm]

If we look it at from another viewpoint: Take NY state. Someone in the NY state gov. thinks that small farms are an important part of the future. So they say ‘How do we encourage more small farms?’ and they take advantage of a wide sweeping trend of young people who would like to farm as a career. Many did not grow up on farms, and many went to college. So by offering an economic incentive, NY state is going to see (in theory) an increase in the number of small farms started here. Right now its limited funding and super competitive, which is a good thing.
If this move to ‘forgive’ student loans ultimately increases the number of small farms in the country, then kudos.

from the epa.gov :
There are over 313,000,000 people living in the United States. Of that population, less than 1% claim farming as an occupation (and about 2% actually live on farms). In 2007, only 45% of farmers claimed farming as their principal occupation and a similar number of farmers claiming some other principal occupation. The number of farms in the U.S. stands at about 2.2 million.

If we need to increase the population of farmers ‘by any means necessary’, then student loan forgiveness is not the worst way to do it.

I would also

[Peacework Farm]

I have had good success with the buck back rope. Used as a training tool, we have secured it to the forward horse for several work sessions, gradually reducing the tension in the rope. All the while re-enforcing the work that the buck back rope does with voice commands. In not too long we hitch up without the buck back rope at all, and the voice commands alone serve.
It is important to keep in mind, that if the horse is not wearing a halter, the bridle needs to have a nose band and under-jaw strap with a ring to secure the rope.

I think it really depends on the horse, and it may not work in every situation. But from what I have seen, it is a good tool to keep in the tool box.

[Peacework Farm]

I am interested but haven’t figured out how to Private message yet. I would be doing the same activities as you have in the videos. What makes you say he is not beginner horse?
thanks
-eli

eli at smallworldfood dot com

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