Its Chicken time

Spring looks like it has arrived. On the farm many things are happening during this time of year. The cows and sheep are having their offsrping, seeds are being ordered, and chicks arrive. Our chicks arrive on March 28th. Anybody interested can order chickens ahead of time. We do require a down payment of $10 per chicken. Chickens will be available by June however pre-ordering ensures you get as many as you want. Chicken is a popular and we usually run out quickly.

Get FRESH

I was recently forwarded a link to FRESH the movie. I will attempt to put the link on our blog. It is another very informative movie explaining the corruptness of our food production system and explains many of the ideas that we have tried to implement on our farm. My personal opinion is that the movie does an excellent job of explaining how our food production system is controlled by big business. Big business has a commitment to its shareholders, not to consumers. Where this movie and all the previous movies fail is in explaining how this in only one piece of a massive puzzle.
Many of these movies vilify the meat production side of agriculture. Unfortunately all that does is make people want to protest against meat production. By the time I am done watching this type of movie, I want to protest, and I am primarily a meat producer. However I firmly believe humans are omnivorous and require meat in our diet. It is part of our nature, which is what the basic argument of movies or books like FRESH, Food inc., or An omnivores dilemma. Meat production in nature is inseparable from vegetable production. Food production is so far removed from "natural" that it is no longer life sustaining. A good example of the symbiotic relationship between vegetable and meat production is Will Allen's farm, which is talked about in the movie.
I do not believe FRESH will get the publicity that Food Inc received. Food Inc. caused a big stir. Unfortunately after all of the publicity people went back to the grocery stores and bought all the conventional produced meat and vegetables. Big businesses like Monsanto have done a terrific job of capitalising on every humans lack of will power, short attention span and ignorance. I will admit my family is as guilty as the next. We are trying to make the best decisions when it comes to not only food but every purchase decision we make. It is difficult to pay "extra" for a Canadian or even USA made product when you can buy the same thing from China for significantly less. Even though quality usually suffers and many countries have terrible labour laws. People need to start putting the same effort into buying their food that they put into buying any other product. Stop buying junk at the grocery store.  Find a local farmer and talk to them about their production methods. Paying a little more at the till for good food will make a big effect on our health care system, the environment, our communities, our independence and society in general.
Despite my criticisms of the movie we did enjoy it and will probably watch it again. If you want to be more informed about where/how your food gets to your table, then watch the movie. It does give some good examples of how our food should be produced. People that enjoyed Food Inc will appreciate the movie.
Please forward the link to everyone you know. The more people that see it, the bigger the effect it will have. 

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/02/26/fresh-video-documentary.aspx

This week on the farm

Mild weather and mid winter blues have everyone thinking about the garden. Seed catalogues have been ordered, supplies are being listed, plans are being made. We are expanding our garden this year. Last season we plowed down an acre of pasture land in preparation for our next expansion. Up until now our mission was to provide "natural" meat products to the public. Without all the antibiotic residues, growth hormones, unnatural feeds. Growing the stock in a way that is sustainable, environmentally friendly and animal friendly. This year it is our goal to provide the same people with fruit and vegetables. The research we have done through our journey to become full time farmers has taught us allot about all areas of food production. While livestock, cattle in particular, have received allot of media attention regarding how taxing they are on the environment. Vegetable production has stayed below the radar. However conventional vegetable production can have devastating effects on the environment and the health of our families. Mass amounts of chemical fertilisers and insecticides are only two of many issues. Conventional vegetable production means crop specialisation. Huge specialised machinery for tilling, planting, spraying, and harvesting means farmers can only afford to grow one or two types of vegetables. Large scale potato farming for instance involves equipment that can add up to 1/2 a million dollars. These large mono crops lead to soil depletion of certain nutrients that have to be put back with chemicals, and disease infestations lead to huge amounts of chemicals being added to combat the disease. The soil provides nutrients for the plants, which in turn provide nutrients for the consumer. When you continually harvest the same crop, you drain the nutrients in the soil. Conventional farming only really tracks nitrogen(N), phosphorus(P), and potassium(K). A study we read last year showed a comparison of a grocery store tomato and a tomato from a small organic garden. The grocery store tomato had 12 measurable nutrients, the garden tomato had hundreds of measurable nutrients. I can not remember the exact number, but the difference was huge. The same holds true for other naturally produces vegetables. They may not be as pretty as the grocers store vegetables, but they are by far more nutritious.
We are not an "organic" farm but we do our best to produce food that is chemical free, working with nature instead of fighting. My wife had an experience a couple years ago that has pushed us in this direction. While out at a local berry patch picking she realised there were no black flies. At home the black flies were so bad she could not remain in the garden for more than 30 minutes. Just about the same time she saw the 60 foot wide crop sprayer heading out on an adjacent field. Strawberries are very difficult to grow organically. Everything loves straw berries.
We plan on growing a little bit of everything. Rotating crops, growing the soil with composted manure and cover crops, and utilising modern tools and old fashioned know how to grow nutritious family friendly food. This is a learning process so it will be a couple years before we are in full production.

The longer we farm the more we realise we are not just selling food. We sell nutrition.

On another note our livestock guardian dogs are almost ready to go to their new farm. One is going to a local sheep farmer, the others are going to three different sheep farms in Quebec. These dogs have been used for centuries to guard livestock from predators. They live with the sheep and consider the sheep their "pack". There are many breeds from all over the world. We prefer the Great Pyrenees. As the name implies they originate from France. Lambs are a favourite for many people, as well as coyotes, wolves, bears, bobcats, foxes..... There really are not very many carnivores that don't like lamb. Predation is one of the biggest issues in lamb production across North America.

We have had great success with a combination of electric fencing and dogs. We have never lost a lamb to a coyote, wolf or bear. They offer a non lethal way to keep predators away. They rely on the fact that wild animals do not want to fight. When a predator shows up at our fence Jack and Jill (the dogs)meet them. I have witnessed on several occasions a silent meeting at the fence. You can almost read the minds of the animals as they stare at each other. Then the coyotes wander off to eat the lambs of another local farmer. Many of which think we are crazy for feeding these big dogs. I have told them that all the dogs have to do is save three lambs per year to earn their keep. Old farmers tend to be stuck in their ways. In our opinion they are one of the best investments we have ever made. As far as the dogs are considered, they live the dream life (for a dog). They have access to the entire property, but usually stay inside an acre or two of fenced  land. No kennels, no tie out stakes. They eat a balanced dog food, with the addition of extra eggs and meat products produced here. They work for a living, but spend most of their time lounging on top of a hay pile in winter or under a shade tree in the summer.

First 2012 Calf

Happy new year everyone.

Our first calf of the 2012 year has arrived. Born during the night of January 20th. We don't usually like calving during the winter, for obvious reasons. However last year we were late getting a bull and we could not justify waiting a whole year to get a calf out of our girls. We have at least one more cow that will be calving before spring. Hopefully we will be as Lucky with her. The new calf is what they call a "black baldy". They get this name because they are black in colour with a white face. This colour is usually produced when crossing breeding a black angus with a hereford cow(red and white cow in the first picture). Black baldies are very popular as cattle because these two breeds are excellent mothers and very hardy. By cross breeding them you usually get the best of both. For our set up it the breed is a very good addition because along with being a good mother they produce terrific grass fed meat. My wife, Lynn, loves the colour and has wanted a black baldy cow for some time now. The calf born is a female, so it is most likely if all goes well she will be added to our breeding herd, not for meat production. This has worked out well for Lynn because we no longer have a black angus bull, and we only have one hereford cow. So this was her only chance of getting a black baldy. This year we are using a Shorthorn bull. Shorthorns rival the angus in meat quality and marbling. Angus is just marketed better by the breeders. We were looking to add some diversity to the herd and shorthorn fit the bill.  Farmers from years gone by used to use a three way breeding program to produce good grass fed beef. Every two years most farmers change their bull, and these old farmers would rotate from angus to hereford to shorthorn. In one order or another. All three of these breeds offer good qualities. Most of ther best grass fed breeds are old British breeds. They include the three above plus highlands, galloway, murry grey, welsh blacks, white park and any combination of the above. Every farmer has their favourite, but each breed offers something. As mentioned above angus is only popular because it is the best advertised. The best steaks we have ever produced were actually from a couple of shorthorn cattle. You can see in our pictures we have a variety of breeds and cross breeds. The long haired shaggy looking creatures are highland cattle. They are a unique breed related to ancient Scottish cattle. They actually decent from a different line of cattle then all other breeds. They are known for their hardiness and exceptional mothering. Their meat has won many taste tests when competing with all other popular breeds, including angus. The royal family actually keeps a herd of highlands, and that is their source of beef. They are not as popular with the commercial guy's because they are small framed and slower growing. They require an extra couple of months to finish them. however they fir our program almost perfectly. When crossed with a shorthorn bull they will produce a nice beef animal, and an easy keeping mother. An added bonus is that the Highland does not produce as much external fat. This fat is usually just trimmed off the hanging carcass and wasted, which is a waste of money. Because the Highland has such thick insulating fur, it does not produce the amount of fat other breeds produce. I will be posting more pictures of the highlands as time goes on. Another bonus for us as farmers is the Highlands come in a range of colours. Most breeds have been selected for one or two colours at the most. We find it much more appealing to see variety in the pasture. A field of white or black cattle is just not as exciting to watch. And when calving season comes around it is always more fun to be surprised by a unique calf colour.

This week in review

Winter is approaching fast. We have been in a rush trying to get stuff ready. Sometimes it feels like we are not making any progress, but at the end of the week allot has been done. The last of the carrots were harvested and ready for storage. The vegetable field was plowed down, composted manure is being added as an organic fertilizer. Nest season we plan to offer a variety of naturally produced vegetables. We do not use chemical insecticides, fertilizers or genetically modified seed. We have not decided if we will be selling at the farmers market, privately, farm gate, or a vegetable stand. Lynn has been looking for a location to make our products available in town, but so far a suitable location has not been found.
We replaced some windows in the old house and found some repairs that needed done in the process. Not farm related other then it took time out of the farm work time.
A new winter paddock is almost complete for the cattle. The paddock is loosely designed around Joel Salatins model. The idea is to capture as much of the manure and urine from the cattle as possible utilizing a high carbon bedding. The bedding is completely composted with the help of our pigs. They love turning compost. We use them every spring to turn bedding packs from the cattle and sheep. Usually we leave the sheep on pasture all winter. They are happy with their thick wool coats. Sheep manure is pelleted so it does not run off in the spring thaw. However cattle manure is more likely to run off. Soaking it up in the high carbon bedding allows us to spread it and use the very nutritious compost for fertilizer in the gardens and the fields. Combining pasture rotation and compost has allowed us to double our pasture production. We still have along way to go before the fertility is where we want it.
The rams are ready to be taken out. I think they are done their job for the year. But we put them back in January just to make sure they didn't miss any of the girls.
There is still so much that needs done. The bulk of our hay still needs brought home. It is a slow process. We still have to bring home the combine. We bought some oats off of a neighbour. The oats are a high fiber energy source that we use for our sheep when the lamb. Sheep have a smaller digestive system then a cow. So they just cannot consume enough hay to meet their needs when they are feeding a couple of lambs. Spring lambing does not require any grain. Our philosophy is to mimic nature as much as possible, but in nature most baby animals do not reach maturity. So we supplement with natural grain feeds for the sheep when necessary. The pigs also eat grain. They could not survive our winters without it. Mixing oats and hay with the sows feed keeps them full, healthy and prevents them from growing too big to be efficient mothers. Next year we are hoping to get a good crop of barley, oats, and field peas. If we do then we will be able to make most of the food the pigs will need. Which brings me to the next job. We have about 12 acres that needs plowed down. The grain mix will be planted and under seeded with good clover and grass seed. Many of the hay fields that we cut are in desperate need for plow down. They are full of weeds and rough ground that needs leveling. The pastures will be maintained with manure application and grazing livestock after being reseeded.
The last group of chickens are almost ready for processing. Two more weeks to go.
In the little spare time we have, Lynn and I read. I am reading Joel Salatin new book "Folk this ain't normal". A farmers look at farming , food production, and general problems our culture is facing. I recommend it for anyone interested. It is a very common sense type book. I admittedly share many of the views and opinions Joel expresses. Lynn is reading a book called "The Omnivore's dilemma". I am not entirely what it about. All I know is it brings to light some of the problems with our food production system, how big business influences it, and how too many people put faith into the government as the protectors of our food and health. The government does not make its decisions unbiasedly. Not sure if is any good but Lynn is usually angry or disgusted when she puts in down.

New Cattle coming

If everything works out right the new herd additions will be here this weekend. The new additions are Highland cattle. An old world breed from Scotland. Recognised by its long horns and shaggy hair. The hair on a Highland is supposed to be similar to Buffalo fur. They are a medium sized hardy breed that can excel on hay alone in the winter, and will do very well outside in our cold winters. We have owned some Highlands before. They are intimidating looking but are usually very gentle animals. They produce a very delectable beef product. In fact in taste tests the Highlands usually rank first place. Above angus and other popular breeds. They are slower growing and because of their fur and horns they do not fit well with more intensive feedlot style systems. However they will do well in our pasture management system. When bred back to our angus or similar breeds of bull they will produce a nice beef animal. We are looking forward to the arrival of the cows.

This is a picture of our last Highland cow(the one with horns) The others in the picture are her offspring. For those that didn't know, cows and bulls can have horns.

Fall is flying by

Well it is the middle of October now. Wow time sure is flying. It is a busy time around the farm. Final harvests are coming in, hay needs to be brought home, grain is combined for the ewes, birds and pigs,  plowing for next years crops, and a general clean up of the equipment and yard before the snow comes.

We planted mulitcoloured carrots in the new garden. They turned out great. The taste in unbelievable.

Christina showing off some of the harvest. We did very well this year with peppers, water melons, and cantaloupe.

Some critters raiding our apple harvest. Max treed these 4 trespassers. They returned to their mother shortly after this picture. We had to put Max in the porch. He Doesn't like trespassers

More critters raiding the apple trees. Allison a Christina making a game out of the apple harvest. Like most other home grow crops the apples are very intensly flavoured. We have been planting at least 2 apple trees a year. Hopefully we will have some for sale in the next couple seasons.

A few extra tasks we are doing include building a new cattle winter pen with a solar watering system. Repairs to the old drafty farm house we call home, spreading manure before the gound freezes, as well as trips to the auction barns in an effort to increase our livestock numbers. Speaking of which, we have a rouge cow running around our neighbourhood. She was a new addition that decided she did not want to stay. Hopefully we will get her back before the snow.

Grace decides she likes the rabbits

So I am done until the weekend now. Back to work for the next couple of days. Lynn and the girls will be continueing the harvest. This weekend I have to get more of the hay home. My uncles are coming Saturdya to put new windows in our mainlevel. Hopefully that will help with some of the drafts.