Happy Heifer Dance

Bella, Pearl is her mama

Lovy was born 1 week after Bella.  If you look closely you can see her hear shaped mark on her forehead.  Magnolia is her moma.

Sad Chickens and LGD

Our chicken are not very happy at the moment, because they are on lock down!  If you saw our previous blogs, you saw happy chickens scratching up compost and eating bugs and expressing his/her "chickeness."  If you follow Joel Salatin, then you know "Chickeness"from the movie Fresh, which is now on Netflicks.  Unfortunately, from this information Chicken Predators  I believe we had a fox that the lastest chicken attack that cost me 10 hens over a five day period.  Okay, so you are thinking 10 chickens out of 50--that's not so bad.  Let's do a little math, each day old chick cost $2.50-$6.00 depending on the breed and then I have to raise it and feed it for four to five months before I see the first egg.  Ouch!

Which is bring me to my next farming adventure- a Livestock Guardian Dog (LGD).  After reading and talking with the lovely people at Calvert Animal Rescue, I decided that a Great Pyrnees is the best LGD for our family because of the kids (human not goats, hehehe).  While on my quest, I found two local farms that use LGD's: Wagon Wheel Ranch and Whitmore Farm.  Can you say, road trip?  I really would love to see these LGD's in action and "pick" the brain of his/her trainer.  Here I go again!

Louie, Cochin Bantam killed by a predator

We have several types of chicken houses.  One is permanent and is my brooder and bantam house.

Nesting Boxes

Sweet Heater and two heat lamps

The other chicken house is a chicken tractor and it is able to be moved to various locations by truck or tractor.

Egg Hunt

Nesting Box inside the Chicken Tractor

Dog igloo for Goat Moma and baby

Everyday on our farm we have an egg hunt.  A dozen of so hens lay in three of the ten nesting boxes in the chicken tractor.  Then I have a dozen lady hens who like to lay in unusual places, like the inside to the goat's igloo.  We have three places we have to hunt for eggs, but these ladies are very sneaky so I am sure I will find a clutch somewhere else soon.

Excuse Me, I am taking a bath

Ok, so they are fully dressed in feathers.  These lady hens are all taking a dust bath.  The dust bath will remove lice, mites, and old scales.   Even if the picture makes them look a little silly, they will come out looking fantastic and clean (for a chicken).

Composting Helpers AKA Chickens

This pile of compost was twice as tall a week ago, before the chickens found it.  We moved the chicken tractor and the hens have gone to work.  How did the girls know that tossing of this pile was necessary?  Were they on the internet researching?  No they were finding yummy insect larve and bugs.

This is from Composting Cow Manure:

"An important consideration when composting cow manure is the size of your bin or pile. If it’s too small, it won’t provide enough heat, which is essential for the composting process. Too big, however, and the pile may not get enough air. Therefore, frequently tossing the pile is necessary." 

Tied-Out Cows

Well, why is the grass cut on the left and plush on the right?  On the left is the fence line were cows were tied-out and allowed to grass.  They loved it and now we don't need to weed whack.   How green of our cows.

Magnolia 

Peek-a-boo

Before anyone emails me and says that I am not feeding Magnolia and she is a starving please see this post  about the difference between a dairy and a beef cow.

Dairy Cows

Magnolia the weed eater

 Pearl getting to greener pastures

Pearl's bag getting full as she gets ready to deliver her calf

First, let me say these are dairy cows and they are not ment to be fat like a beef cow. So, no these cows are not starving.  They are not supposed to be beefy.  They use all the food intake to make milk and a lot of it.  These are Jersey cattle and they should be calving any day.

Broody Hens

It is spring and the hen house is getting broody.  You can see the the picture above two hens in one nesting box.  I have 10 nesting boxes and all 40 girls use only three of them.  The phrase "Bird Brain" came from somewhere, right?

Broody is defined as  : being in a state of readiness to brood eggs that is characterized by cessation of laying and by marked changes in behavior and physiology <a broody hen>

So what the above definition doesn't says is that the broody behavior starts as the hen begins to pluck out her own chest feathers for several days.

  The hen will line her nest with these feathers (see picture above) and it will be easier for her to keep her eggs the correct temperature for incubation, if she is "skin" to egg.  The picture below shows the "naked" chest of a broody hen.  The first time I saw this I thought I had some type of desease, but the hen knew what she was doing.

Peek-a-boo the Cow gives birth to a Heifer

On February 15, 2012 we were amazed to see an all white heifer trying to stand on its wobbly long legs. The above picture was taken in her first hour of life.  In honor of her father, our all white heifer full name is Frankly's Snowy Valentine.

Most people ask me, why is she all white?  Will she stay that way?  Yes, she is all white and yes she will remain that way.  No here parents weren't white.  Frankly, bull, is roan in color and Peek-a-boo (here she was a heifer) is a red with white.

We were all so excited when Peek-a-boo (Boo) calved.  I was on the phone texting and uploading pictures to Facebook as quick as I could.  The kids loved seeing the new baby and called her a white lamb and them immediately started to think-up names, white I was doing the "Happy Heifer Dance."

Peek-a-boo and Frankly

Frankly the Bull and Peek-a-boo the Heifer

Frankly is considered to be Roan in color

Frankly was borrowed for a month to be Peek-a-boo's mate.  It was quite hot in May of 2011 and they spent most of the time in the woods, during the day and grazing at night. Boo was not happy when Frankly left.

Peek-a-boo Arrives

Meet Peek-a-boo, the Shorthorn Heifer.  In this photo, she was only 9 months old.  The Shorthorn is mainly a beef cow,  however there are milking shorthorns.  Originally the breed was developed to be a dual purpose breed, meaning the cow would be good for milking and beef (read more on Shorthorn here).

Peek-a-boo was born during on of the February 2010 snowstorms.  The farmer covered her in hay to try and keep her warm and she kept peeking out of the hay, thus she was named Peek-a-boo.

Chickens

Caroline

Devon

Our farming adventure began with chickens.  First we bought several and then we hatched several and then they just keep coming.  The most I think I have ever had at one time is over 100 chickens.