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Help is on the way….
Wouldn’t you know? We recently made a down payment on a new puppy…an English shepherd which might grow up to be a herd dog. We had barely sent off the check when our editor of the “often-overlooked”—Bill Roberts of 12 Stones Grasslands Beef in Arizona—sent us video of an amazing rabbit that herds sheep. Now if someone would train a groundhog to herd cattle, we’d stop payment on that check. Here’s the video but a warning, it does get kind of monotonous after a minute or so; but the music is fun. http://www.theblaze.com/stories/yes-you-are-watching-a-rabbit-successfully-herd-sheep-like-a-dog/
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This little pig….
…had come all the way home, and with her sister and brothers. But not before a Great Pig Adventure! We had purchased the four piglets Monday, at Cathy Cochran’s Oak Hill Farm, a trip of about 75 miles. Wednesday, there was a knock at the door and the news that four piglets were out on Route 647, heading east. We jumped in the Gator but the fugitives had turned the corner at Tapps Ford Road and disappeared into the woods. There was no way to find them and even less chance of catching them. So we returned home, put some food in their pen and left the gate open. But…
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Where do we go from here….
….that’s what a group of us who have been involved in the Holistic Management pilot project met to discuss last night. To eliminate the suspense, we all quickly voted to continue. The idea behind the project is to demonstrate that a farm can be management without all the usual inputs of fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides and even grain. And without, hay, too, which is by far the biggest expense in raising cattle. Two of our colleagues said they had made good progress in their grazing: both were still basically on grass and one said he’d cut his hay costs in half. The remainder were all satisfied they had made a significant improvement…
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Random thoughts while waiting for a cow to get “in the mood”….
We’re keeping a close eye on the eastern pasture today, watching for three cows to demonstrate they’re ready to be bred. (They mount each other and everything in site; have to be careful in our Gator) Once we note the time, we count forward six to eight days to transplant more embryos. We’re also playing another game of “who’s the smartest” with our pigs, trying to lure them into the trailer for the trip to the butcher. So far, it’s no contest, which is why we’re still playing the game two weeks after it began. But in between, I’ve been reading a magazine I was unfamiliar with until I spotted…
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Want to make pork unhealthy?
Just feed your pigs anti-biotics. That’s the finding of a new study. All the pork you buy at the store has been raised in confinement houses, much as chickens are grown. To keep them from getting sick and dying, they are dosed with anti-biotics. It also apparently aids feed conversion so the hogs grow faster. The result, not surprisingly, is that pigs have now developed anti-biotic resistant genes. And of course, that resistance is passed on to the consumer. Ironically, taking the anti-biotics also encourages the growth of e.Coli in the pigs. It’s what is called a “lose-lose” proposition, exception for those big food companies. Here’s a link to the…
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Mostly cows are fun….
….but when it’s the middle of January and the sun isn’t quite up and the temperature is 16 degrees and there’s a wind, it’s one of those moments you question your sanity. But the timing says this is the precise moment to implant an embryo that was collected back in England six months ago, and so you wrap your scarf a little tighter and grit your chattering teeth. Wooz is holding a stick because many years ago she was run down by an Angus cow and the stick has become part of her dress code when working cows. But she would never use it. The meanest she is to a…
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Alright, forgive a little hokum….
…but there’s still some truth in this. There are still some “little guys” farming, in defiance of Big Ag and Big Government. And this is for them: http://www.youtube.com/embed/QuzhwkaNC40?rel=0
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The story of a hero….
Thanks to our friend Dr. Sue Beal who sent us this true story of an authentic hero from the Korean War. It is the story of a horse, Sergeant Reckless, who in one battle for a contested hill made 51 trips to the fighting…carrying ammunition on the way up and wounded Marines on the way down. And she made the trips into the fire without anyone leading him! And she kept going back, though she was wounded….twice! Here is Sgt. Reckless, an incredibly brave horse!
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Sticking to the plan…
Once you start the process of embryo transplants or artificial insemination, you have to stay on schedule. And again this year, as it has for the past two, Nature decided to see just how serious we were about this business. The cows certainly kept to their schedule despite the snow; they went into heat early in the morning and now at the end of the day were ready for artificial insemination. Once again, Rose Hill Veterinary Clinic’s Jane Narrimore was in the chute. At least Jane could drive to work. Last year we had to load her boss, Dr. Tom Massey, into our tractor’s front loader with all his paraphernalia, and plow…
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Turn at the sign….
To make it easier for both our meat and Devon customers, you can now look for this sign at the entrance to Thistle Hill Farm. We’re on Crest Hill road (647), 2.2 miles west of Leeds Manor Road (688). The sign was fabricated by Quail Run Signs over in Hamilton and we think John Ralph and his crew did an excellent job. They delivered our vision and made the job fun. We can certainly recommend them.