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Robert MoonShadow
ParticipantIf you want donkeys, mules & the zebra hybrids, ADMS will send you a list of breeders for a buck per list. Request a list by type (spotted, mini, mule, etc.) or by state or just get the entire country. Their website has individual (private party) listings: http://www.lovelongears.com
I once saw a pair of matched zorses being sold there >>> kinda looked like striped Fjords. 😎ParticipantGeoff ~ You’re trying to hard! With the netting, you don’t need a tight fence – just tight enough to stand up pretty much straight. Take a hammer & tap the post in – angle it outwards just a bit, especially around bends & corners (use curves instead of corners, if possible) = the tension will pull it up straight. The steel tip is only 3 or 4 inches long, anyways. It works on goats, and as the old timers around here like to say; it takes a mighty good fence to starve a goat or mule. As for corners on regular fences; around here, with all the rocky soil, they build a right-angled tripod with a bottom to it… pile the biggest rocks you can lift or roll up onto the platform (usually ground level or up to 3″ above ground). The tripod’s 2 secondary (angled) legs are at right angles to each other, one parrelling the line of fence. If needed, a double-tripod arrangement, with angled brace legs in both directions of travel, and another opposing one direction. The only other way to put a fence post down in these rocks is to rock-drill a hole for each one & cement it in. Hope that’s understandable, because it hurt my brain just trying to describe it.
ParticipantAndy; The precise answer to that would be…”it depends”. Sorry, but it would be based on the nutrient levels already present in the soil, the nutrients in the compost (which is based on the original ingredients, composting style, etc.) and what you plan to grow in it. I’m not sure back East, but out here, the County Extension agent and/or the land-base college will help with getting your soil tested for a nominal fee. Test the compost, too. But most soils that have been farmed chemicaly over the last 50 years are depeleted to some extent, and unless you have an unusual amount of something in your compost, then, no, it’s not going to be too much -> if it’s well-composted, that is. ATTRA has a whole series of booklets/PDF files that will help with that. Watch for runoff into streams, etc. Last year I put a 3″ deep layer on all my rows & beds on this acre I’m farming; I can already see the difference in the tillage when I began my Spring discing yesterday. If you broadcast it (for like grain crops, etc.) the weeds will take advantage, too. Bottom line is: listen to your soil, it’ll tell you what it needs, if you can learn to hear what it says.
ParticipantDave – Check on eBay… there’s a breast-collar harness that’s been put on for auction three times now. It says “small” or “pony”, but they told me that it’d fit my large-standard donkey (54″, with the typical donkey round belly). It’s started at $80 I think. I passed on it, because I need something for working with first & foremost & I didn’t think it’d be strong enough to last for several seasons of heavy work-use.
As for St. Paul Saddlery.. at a $200+ savings for a work harness that’s cut to fit my donkey, I can deal with their (religious?) idiosyncracies.ParticipantI agree. Erika, that you cannot (usually) judge someone without knowing something about them (standing in their shoes). I also agree that it makes no sense to sell at a loss. I think they are narrow-focused, though. There isn’t a food bank in the country that wouldn’t take the free meat. Donate the bull = tax deduction of standard value –> list it as a calf – sex doesn’t matter, so it’s valued as same as a heifer calf – and take a small bit of time, persuade a local butcher shop to donate their time/expertise (tax deduction for them then, too) & give the unwanted bull calf to feed the hungry neighbor. It would take but just a bit of time & effort, you (the dairyman) solve a problem, get a tax deduction, act in a socially responsible & caring manner… commiting a deliberate act of kindness & form a very real sense of community with the butcher and the homeless/poor/needy person. If someone (government entity) puts an obstacle in the way… then just do it on a personal (anonymous?) level – butcher it yourself & give the meat to someone you know that needs it – unless maybe you don’t know of any poor people?
Can anyone pick this idea apart?
I wonder, sometimes, where the difficulty is, in coming up with common-sense solutions… ‘cuz I ain’t no genius, myself.
ParticipantGeoff ~ Forgot to include my personal trick for grounding the fencing… I took one of those 8′ grounding poles they say to completely bury 3 foot (or more!) deep, and cut it into 4 pieces: 2 three-footers & 2 one-footers. Weld a short piece to a long piece (typical cross pattern), sharpen the opposite tip. The cross piece makes it easier to grasp & pull/twist it out. Run a 3 – 6 foot copper wire connecting the crossbars. Drive these into the ground by the watering trough… guaranteed grounding. I don’t know if it’s hazardous if using a mains, but I use a 3-joule battery system. To test it, I wore only a pair of cut-offs, hooked the system to a new & fully charged battery, and soaked the ground & layed down on the mud.
Weird, but I needed to know my critters would be safe & I didn’t know anyone to ask. {Hey! I don’t know didley about electricity}
Oh, if the ground’s too rocky, I’ve gotten good results with both being driven only 18″ or so in the ground – if it’s kept moist.
I hope this helps.ParticipantGeoff ~ Another option to consider: electric netting. It’s pricey, though… unless you’ve got a source for used netting. It has built-in fiberglass posts, takes me about 10 – 15 minutes per roll to put in. I even sold some to an older {mid-sixties} couple who move it by themselves (it weighs about 30 lbs. per roll). I made a deal w/ Ray Holes here last year: he buys the Premier 42″ netting (165′ per roll) & replaces 1/2 of it every 3 years (on a 2 year cycle)… I buy it (the used, patched, but still good netting – really bad stuff gets tossed) at $40/ roll & was selling it for $65 – half the price of new. Even with the power off while recharging the battery, the goats seldom test it. Nice & white – it even deters most deer. Ray uses it, literally, by the mile. He taught me a secret he uses throughout the West for grounding all those chargers… get some standard electric fence wire (copper if you can) and just string it along the ground, weighted down w/ rocks along the way… use several 100′ strands, if needed… or his favorite trick: “run a stretch of wire over to that old barbwire fence sitting over yonder – especially if it’s on steel posts”. Ray almost always has some netting for sale -it’s a tax/depreciation thing for him. If you ever want some, let me know, you’ll pay the same price I do. {DAP family discount thing, ya know? :D} Oh yeah… the 2 company mules totally respect it, even though it’s only 42″ high; they crunched my cattle panels leaning/scratching on them. And with it being white, it’s also a visual thing as Carl & the others were saying; probably a bit easier to move than a hedgerow, too!
Participant…and she probably gave you the same look the kid did. :p
ParticipantUm, as a quasi-legal disclaimer to my last message;
“This is NOT an endorsement or reccomendation as a solution to in-laws and/or the “ex-” :p
{No matter how full of sh** they might be}Just don’t do it.
ParticipantJennifer ~ You define whether you are a “real” farmer, as you put it… no one else can, should, or should be allowed to, define you. Ray Holes, who owns the 8000+ head of goats hereabouts, loves chevon (goat meat) but just cannot eat one that came from his own herd(s) –> that’s one from a herd of eight thousand!! But I’m thinking he’s probably considered by about anyone to be a “real” goat rancher. To me, composting just continues the cycle of life in a wholesome manner… the nutrients feed the plants that feed the animal that replaces the dead one.
About your question on the cat carcass = I had 2 full-grown rabbits die within the same week right after Christmas, and we turned the huge compost pile yesterday – only saw one recognizable bone… and the pile wasn’t very hot, in fact was getting a bit “stale” (anaerobic from not being turned sooner), which slows the process down. Just try to ascertain that the cat didn’t die of any (possibly communicable) disease, unless you get it down into the pile with some really hot temps for extended time.
As you might notice, I’m “into” compost… I haven’t bought any fertilizer in the last 2 years – or needed to. I take every bit of bedding, weeds & manure I can get (11 goats, 2 large mules, 16 rabbits, the landlord’s mom’s 20 chickens) & wish I had more. In fact, it’s why I don’t mind it when anyone gives me any ‘BS’ –> I just compost that, too! If I had any politicians living nearby, I could probably triple my yield! 😀ParticipantThanks for the input, HP! I do believe I’m going to give them a try. Still confused as to the different types of bits, but WTH, I’ll learn it somewhere.
ParticipantWe use the same set-up in the wilderness in the spring – one 1000′ strand, and a charger w/a built-on post that takes 3 “d” batteries. It’s too soft/muddy to hobble them – Ellie (the Belgian draft mule) will sink in 3″ in soft ground w/ hobbles on – or use a picket-stake. These mules won’t even step over it if a deer knocks it down… ‘cept that time a bear came into the canyon…
ParticipantI’m not sure about horses, but with my pack donkeys, they just naturaly fit the ‘stop-and-go’ pattern of pruning & cleaning up winter debris… probably even moreso with a cart – It got them out excercising with a light pack on them, snigging a large branch or two, a little bit of spring grazing with me supervising to make sure it wasn’t too much {donkeys can grass founder very easily on spring grass}. It got them in shape, the property cleaned up without a heavy lawn tractor leaving ruts or me pushing a wheelbarrow through mud, and the donks & I got to spend time together…
Does this help give you any ideas, Jen?PS – If you pile & leave some of the dead branches, etc., it’ll give a haven for the “little ones” = rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, song birds, etc. – a woodland area can be too clean.
ParticipantI practice this idea, myself, with all that die here on my farm… it’s actually a part of my spiritual beliefs –> to respect something, I must honor it – I do so by returning it to the Earth Mother that gave it life, in a way that it can nourish more life, as it was nourished in life… the cycle continues.
I plan to be part of this cycle – I plan on becoming a part of MoonShadow Farm in the most literal sense of the phrase.Um, just not in the near future, if I have my way. 😉
ParticipantHey Dave ~ Looks like everyone’s having a ball! I was going to ask you; does that cart have the standard (lightweight) wheels that usually come with that type of cart? The reason I ask is because in the Breyer – the magazine put out by the ADMS, there’s quite a few people who drive that type, and most reccomend switching to motorcycle tires = much sturdier & built for hitting rough terrain & bumps {potholes, curbs, etc.} – so are considered a good deal safer than the usual type found on these… and they evidently give a smoother ride – for you and the animal – being somewhat larger/wider. They should fit without much adaptation. For the price of a couple of used motorcycle rims/tires at a junk yard, they might be worth looking into.
Just a thought.
If I remember correctly, there’s s couple of half-forgotten back roads across the scrubbrush in that area; one comes out on Pleasant Valley Road just about a half-mile south of the prisons (used pretty much only by prison guards that live in Kuna to get to work), another goes from Kuna kinda parrelling the regular road, heads towards Black Creek “resevoir” & the public shooting range. You might like the scenic drive along those roads, with your cart, especially in the Spring, with all the wildflowers blooming.
Just (another) thought.- AuthorPosts