Look what I found this morning....

A little black calf.

It looks like our Dexter cow, Cherry Blossom, gave birth to a this little heifer while we were in Las Vegas.  We got back from the airport really late last night and I didn't go down to the barn.  I was a bit surprised to find the calf this morning as I wasn't expecting Cherry Blossom to calve for another 4-6 weeks.  She looks healthy and is nursing fine but I really wouldn't expect any different as Cherry Blossom loves being a mom and takes great care of her calves.

Dexter Bull Pick Up

A few months ago we took deposit on our two Dexter bulls we had for sale.  The younger of the two was still nursing so we all opted to leave them both here until the little black bull was old enough to wean from his mom.

Well, today they got picked up.  I sure hope the older bull successfully covered our two cows so we have calves again this fall/winter.

Beef Jerky.. yum!

I am excited to say that I made my first batch of homemade beef jerky today. I, of course, used our own home grown Dexter beef for it. It was super easy since I have a jerky kit that came with my dehydrator.

I mixed a pound of ground beef with a salt cure and a spice blend loaded it into the jerky "gun" and formed flat strips of jerky onto the dehydrator trays. Turned the dehydrator on high for an hour and then patted them to removed excess grease and turned the temp down to medium. Took another 6 hours to get a good dry product. Both Neil and I were impressed. I will be making more soon I think.


Other then normal farm duties I prepared as much as I could for our coming snow storm tonight. I turned the water off to the automatic waterers in the barn so they didn't freeze and burst. Made sure there was enough wood for the fire for at least 3-4 days (we have been cutting it as we need it this year). Neil's Dad brought over a kerosene lantern just in case we lost power. Come on snow!

Braised Rabbit for dinner

For weeks now I have been trying to empty out our deep freezer in preparation for our Dexter bull coming back from the processors. Well, this Thursday I will be going to pick him up so I don't have much more time to make space in the freezer. Yesterday I pulled out two rabbits to defrost and tonight I made braised rabbit with them.

It was mighty tasty and the gravy it made was wonderful over mashed potatoes. A few organic peas and the family ate it up with gusto.

Life and Death

That is what farming is all about. Days like today remind me of that fact...

It was cold this morning, the water in the barn was frozen. I was almost done my morning barn chores. One of the last things I do on my routine is throw hay out to the cows into the circular hay feeder. Riona, our smaller Irish Dexter cow, can climb into the feeder to reach the center hay but often is not motivated to get back out again so I wasn't surprised to find her in the feeder waiting for me to rescue her and put more hay into it. I hefted up the round feeder on one side and let Riona walk under it to get out. As she passed by me I noticed her vulva was wet and bloody. Immediately my head popped up and started scanning the area for a calf. I didn't see one anywhere. I also didn't know how long Riona had been trapped in the hay feeder and separated from her new calf.

I gave the cows their hay then set out to find the calf... hopefully alive. We have seven acres of pasture here and after covering most of it I still couldn't locate the calf. Finally, toward the back of the pasture were it adjoins our neighbor's crop field I spotted a dark pile on the outside of the electric fence. Closer inspection told me it was a calf but it wasn't moving so I still couldn't determine if it was alive of not. Their is no gate here along our neighbor's field so I had to walk back up to the barn. I knew I couldn't carry a calf back all that way so I took the tractor around the outside of the fence to get it. I stopped a bit away from it as if it was alive I didn't want to spook it and have to catch it. Even as I stood over the calf it didn't move. I reached down to touch it and was surprised how warm it was as it lay there in the sun. It's head came up when I touched it and I quickly scooped it up and climbed back up on the tractor.

Driving with one hand with the calf on my lap was slow going. I hadn't said anything to Neil so as I drove up behind the garage where he and his Dad were working he came out to see what I was doing driving the tractor through the wood on that side of the pasture. I could see that he couldn't figure out what I was holding at first. As I shifted the calf on my lap Neil could see what it was but his Dad yelled out, "Is that a dog?" I responded, "No, it's a cow." lol

I drove up the gate near the hay feeder. Before I got down I lifted a leg to check if it was a bull or a heifer... it was a little bull. Neil opened the gate and I carried the little guy into see his mom. It was the first time I saw him on his feet and he eagerly started to nurse. She swung her head around to smell him then returned to her hay. All was well and we have a new calf!

Not sure of his color, he is very dark brown/black right now but that can change. His mom is dun and his sire is red.


Once I was satisfied that the calf was all set I finished up the remainder of my chores. I then had to get started on my next task of the day. I had a customer coming at 3pm to pick up her dressed out turkey for Thanksgiving. I went and got my butchering knife and put a big pot of water on the propane burner to simmer. I picked out one of the tom turkeys from this year and carried him behind the shed were I have my bleeding cones attached to the wall. I dispatched him quickly and once bled out I carried him up to the deck to scaled him and pluck his feathers out. I do most of that job outside to keep the mess out of the house. Once that is done I move into the kitchen where I wash the bird, remove any last feathers, remove the neck and legs, disembowel it, prepare the giblets and finally clean up. From start to finish the process takes a little over an hour. He was cooling in the freezer when the customer arrived to pick him up.

A full day and the beginning of a busy week.

Last milking of the year.

Today will be the last day that I milk our Dexter cow, Cherry Blossom. She has been giving less and less milk the last few weeks and this morning I only got about 2 cups. I expect her next calf to come in December sometime so I want to dry her off for a few months anyway.

I will miss the fresh milk but it will only be for a few months. After the calf is born I will start up again.

Was surprised this morning to discover three ducklings in the chicken run with one of my dark rippled ducks. I knew she was sitting on eggs in the barn but I thought she had a few more weeks to go. All three are brown frosted over yellow. Not sure what color they will turn out to be. Evan helped me herd them up and put them and mom into one of the brooder pens in the coop. It is getting too cool this time of year for the little ones with no heat lamp.

I moved Fiore, one of our female alpacas, out to the far pasture to keep our stud male Novio company. She wasn't too happy about leaving her pasture mates behind but the lush grass in Novio's pasture seemed to make up for the lose.

Since our neighbors moved away last month we have been meaning to go over and move the two electrical spools and dog house they left behind (we got permission, plus they are actually on our property anyway). The dog house we moved out to the far pasture too. I hope to get that pasture goat proof soon to put our bucks into. The dog house will be shelter for the bucks. The smaller spool will also be used as a goat play structure.

Milking Cherry Blossom

I haven't mentioned much about my daily milking sessions with our Irish Dexter cow Cherry Blossom as it has been going really well and I didn't want to jinx it. But, since it has been a week and half now and all is well I thought I might be out of the woods.

I have been consistently been getting 2-2 1/2 quarts a day. That is with only one milking in the morning and Cherry Blossom is 7 months into her lactation. Not too bad at all! In fact I am quite happy I am not getting MORE milk. I am not sure what I would do with it all!

The 2 quarts I got this morning were first low heat pasteurized (I am nursing the baby so I am not going raw for now) and then one quart went to making strawberry yogurt and the other quart made a cappuccino chocolate chip ice cream (recipe from an old Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream cookbook I have).

It was Neil's birthday yesterday and since he was at work all day we celebrated this afternoon instead. The ice cream joined some from scratch chocolate brownies, fresh whipped cream and sprinkles in lieu of cake.

While I was in the kitchen working with the milk I also spooned the curds from last nights goat milk cheese making into the six cheese molds to drain. This is the first time I have used the molds instead of hanging the whole batch in butter muslin to drain. I am interested to see what the difference will be.

The first milking.

I was very surprised this morning that our Irish Dexter cow, Cherry Blossom, did so well on the milking stanchion. I haven't had her up there to milk in almost a year. But she stood eating her grain and hay while I milked, only lifting her foot a few times to swat at a fly.

I got almost 2 liters from her!

Rose and milk soap

The gentleman that purchased our red Irish Dexter heifer, Rose, out of our cow Cherry Blossom came to pick her up today. We didn't have too much trouble getting her loaded in the trailer but both her and her mom were quite upset by the separation. Even still this evening Cherry Blossom was calling for her.

I am looking forward to starting to milk Cherry Blossom now that the calf is gone. We will see how is goes in the morning.

Oh, and the first two batches of my Goat's Milk Soap has finished curing. A local farm produce market has agreed to sell them on consignment for me so tonight I packaged some bars up to take to town with us tomorrow when we go to do errands.



I will also be listing these soaps on our esty site if you are interested in purchasing them!

Goodbye Chuck

We sold our Dexter bull, Charles Wallace, today. I was very sad to see him go as he was a very handsome and well behaved bull. Unfortunately, since we only keep two cows and his dam is one of them, we really needed to move him to another farm that could benefit from his great genetics and get a bull unrelated to our two cows. We would like to get a polled bull this time around so it might take awhile until we get a new bull.

Chuck did really well loading into the trailer with just a bale of hay and a little encouragement from behind. He is such a good boy!

The gentleman that purchased Chuck was here early this spring with his wife to purchase some of our ducks. While he was here today he purchased nine more ducks to add to their flock. I guess they are enjoying them!

I grabbed my camera this morning...

Day on the farm.

It was a pretty typical day here at the farm.

Our new chicks are doing well as are the new rabbit kits. I always worry about new babies while it is still getting cold at night. I tend to check in with the little ones first thing when I go out to do chores. The chicks are under their heat lamp and the kits are snug in their rabbit fur lined nest box so hopefully all will be well with them as they grow.

I had started mowing the lawn yesterday and managed to get that finished up today just before lunch so I felt pretty productive. The lawn looks tidy as usual once it is mowed. I can tell already that this year our lawn/former neglected pasture it going to be even more full and green. It is amazing what routine mowing can do for a weed covered area... no weed killers, fertilizer or other chemicals have ever been used just mowing. That simple act keeps the weeds from maturing and setting seed and allows the grasses the room and resources to grow.

I do have a bit of exciting news to report. We sold our Irish Dexter heifer calf today. A very nice gentleman from south of us in NC is just starting up a herd and is starting out with about 6 heifers. He came out to the farm this afternoon to look at our small herd and at the little heifer we had for sale. He is an experienced livestock man so I am happy to have her go to his farm. She will be well cared for... which is always my worry when selling our animals. She will stay here for a while yet until she is weaned at six months old... about the middle of June. We still have our bull calf available for sale. If we don't sell him he will become our freezer beef for Fall of 2010.

I started a new batch of sourdough bread tonight. It is a recipe I use that has a long (12-18 hours) first rise so it will sit out all night doing its thing. This long rise time allows for a more sour tasting finished loaf.

Snow... and lots of it!

It snowed last night! Yeah! This is our third snow coverage of this winter but only the first that I have been able to enjoy since I was still on bed rest from the c-section during the last two. Here are some pictures of the farm... just beautiful...

Odd jobs done.

As warm as yesterday was... today was cold. Even with the chilly temps Neil got a few odds and ends done around the farm today.

One of the many things I wanted to make easier for this coming winter was watering the livestock. In the heat of the summer I don't mind walking around with the garden hose filling watering troughs but when the temps are below freezing it is no fun any more. So, on Friday when I was at Southern States picking up the weeks livestock feed I also purchased a 70 gallon stock tank for the cows water. This morning Neil put it behind the barn where I wanted it to go. We got the automatic watering device hooked up to it and instantly the curious cows came over to see what it was all about. I was a little nervous that the tank might be too tall for them to comfortably drink out of... being miniature cows and all... but they demonstrated right away that it was no problem at all. One step closer to water independence!

The other odd thing Neil got done today was to install the cat door in the house. I have been leaving the door from our bedroom to the deck open most days the past few weeks so the cats could come and go. With temps often below 50 degrees during the day it is now too cold to be doing that. Neil got the kitty door in and I showed Jet how it worked. I figure he will be the first to figure it all out and Fringe will have to learn from him. Meanwhile, no more cold breezes in the bedroom!

Sometimes a girl just needs a moment by herself.

This past week I have been on a search for our winter's supply of hay for the animals. Our alpacas and goats get one type of hay while our cows get another. I managed to located some nice leaf fescue hay in rolled bales from a gentleman just 8 miles north of us in Virginia. We took our trailer up this afternoon and picked up five bales. He is going to hold another five bales for us since we don't have a lot of storage here for them.

While he was loading up the bales McKayla found a quiet place to be alone for a bit. She looked so small in the wheel well of that big ol' tractor but she also looked mighty comfortable too!

Cows on the loose... again!

Sometimes it is a blessing that I am a night owl.

It was 11:15pm last night when I started walking around the house turning off lights and locking up. When in the kitchen I happened to look out the window over the sink and was surprised by the sight of Cherry Blossom, one of our Irish Dexter cows, grazing on the freshly mowed lawn in front of the house. I had an immediate feeling of dread!

So, after slipping on my boots I headed outside to see what was going on. I walked right up to her and took her by the halter (this is the exact reason I do two things with the cows 1. they always wear halters and 2. I routinely give them treats when they come up to me so they never run from me). Only after I had my hand on her halter did I happen to notice the other large dark objects moving around closer to the road... all the cows were out having a midnight snack. The great thing about me having Cherry Blossom in hand is that she is the boss cow of the herd. As she and I walked down to the barn I could hear the cows behind me running to catch up with us. I was expecting the gate in the barn to be open as their way of escape but it was closed up tight. In fact our donkey Inora was on the other side quite unhappy that she was left behind. I secured CB in the cow stall and could see our bull Chuck coming in the barn door and Riona, our other cow, stick her head in behind him. I grabbed a few leaves of hay and enticed Chuck into the stall with Riona coming behind him and Nick, Riona's 10 month old bull calf, fast behind her.

With all four back in the stall happily munching on hay I walked around the barn (in the dark as I didn't think to grab a flashlight on the way out of the house) to check the gate by the goat barn. Unfortunately, that gate was secure too! That really only left the electric fence as the weak link in the fence. Back up to the barn to get the electric fence tester then back out behind the barn (still in the dark) to check the fence voltage... it had none! We run our fence off of a solar panel with a battery backup. Normally the system works great as the solar panel keeps the fence running during the day and charges the battery and then the fence in charged by the battery at night. It is a system that for the most part works on its own and I don't think about it at all. So, at almost midnight I had to figure out what to do for tonight. At first I thought I would just move them to another of our four pastures, it didn't take long to think that through and realise it wouldn't work for reasons different for each pasture.

I needed to get this fence up and working again. I went back up to the house to get a flashlight so I could see what I was doing. First I tried our backup battery with no results. I ended up taking the vehicle booster pack out of the Suburan and hooking it up directly to the fence charger. Immediately I heard the familiar snapping noise of a fully charged fence. Tired, I headed back up to the house and just hopped the cows would still be in the fence come morning.

So, thanks to my night owl status I managed to fix a bad situation... gosh knows where they would have been by this morning if I hadn't noticed them last night.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

After almost a week straight of rain today it cleared off and was warm again. By the afternoon the grass had dried out enough that I was able to mow the lawn for the first time of the season. It is amazing to me how different (and neat and tidy) the farm looks when the grass is mowed down. I like to mow with the tractor as for the most part I have a great view of the pastures and all the animals we have.

Today was particularly fun as the animals were also very thrilled that the rain was gone and the sun was out. The four cows and our mini donkey were just straight out running around the pasture, skipping and twisting all the way. The alpacas were out grazing as a herd what little grass has started to grow in their pasture too.

Just a pleasent day after such a cold wet gloomy week.

First Duck Egg?

I made a discovery this morning while doing my chores. The kiddy pool in the poultry run that is for the ducks had a large white egg sitting in the bottom of it this morning. Only one of my chickens lays a white egg and that is my Hill Roamer hen "Cookie". Cookie is close to a bantam sized bird so her eggs are very petite so I knew this wasn't from her. I have been waiting for the ducks to start laying and it appears that my wait is soon to be over.

I change the water in the pool every other day so this egg may have been there for up to 48 hours. I am 99% sure it is not a viable egg but I still put it into the hoop house in a nest of straw so the ducks (and maybe turkeys too) will realize that is where they should be laying eggs.

I am looking forward to having ducklings around the farm. They are just so cute!

The cows and donkey(s) have completely demolished the three round bales of hay that we got around the first of the year. They did pretty good about consuming most of the first two but by the time the third one got broken into they were walking up and over it, bedding down in it and generally just wasting hay. I figure we lost a good 10% out of the first two bales and more then 25% out of the third bale. So, today we headed up to Tractor Supply in South Boston, VA to purchase a round bale feeder ring. This is an 8' round ring that encloses the hay bale to prevent excess wasting of the hay. It was an investment at $125 but if they are going to be wasting 25% of our $40 bale then after 13 bales of hay it will have paid for itself.

The hens laid 12 eggs today.

Vet Visit

The big event of the day was having the vet come out to the farm.

I had a laundry list of things for the vet to do while he was here today.

• Geld our mini donkey jack, Mal
• Vaccinate both mini donkeys, Mal and Inara
• Do health certificate on alpaca, Celia
• Do pregnancy ultrasound on alpaca, Fiore
• Exam hair loss on our cow, Cherry Blossom

Everything went really smoothly and I enjoyed chatting with the vet and helping him out. I must admit I really do miss working in my career at times (for those that don't know I am a vet tech).

Happy New Year!

It is hard to believe that this is the second New Year's Day we have spent here on the farm! Boy, doesn't time fly by...

Our first goal for today was to offload the 3 1000+ lb round hay bales into the cow pasture. Both Neil and I were a little uncertain how that was going to go but it ended up going better then ever imagined. Neil backed the trailer right into the pasture over the place we wanted the bales to set. He brought our little Kobota tractor in and we looped a single strapping around the bale and attached it to the bucket of the tractor. Then we backed the tractor up and off slid the bale! Then Neil pushed it a bit off to the side so we could pull the other two off. So simple!

And the cows and donkeys were thrilled! I am hoping that with the "all they can eat" hay and the worming I did yesterday that I can get some condition back on Cherry Blossom... she is far too thin right now.

Next project was to assemble the new "temporary" building we picked up at Tractor Supply on Sunday. It is a 12x20 tarped covered shelter that we put into the male alpacas pasture to give them more shelter from the rain. With our new breeding male coming in a few weeks we needed to upgrade our male living quarters.

The building went together like an erector set and I dare say that Neil and I actually had fun doing it. It is really sturdy and looks pretty nice to boot (it is dark forest green so it blends right in to the tree line).

This was our second day with no rain and the pastures had dried out enough that they no longer had standing water in them. I took advantage of this and finally let Noodle and her five day old cria out of the barn for a few hours while we were working in the pasture. The little cria seems to be doing well despite her petite size. The two mingled with the herd until evening chores when I put them back in the catch pen in the barn. The barn is a bit warmer and I didn't want to risk it raining overnight and the cria getting chilled.

Neil wanted to try a new restaurant in town so we all went out for dinner and had Italian.

The hens gave 17 eggs today.