The Waiting is Killing Me!

I wait and wait as patiently as possible every year for our cows to calve.  This for me is not easy as I am not a very patient person.  It is now officially driving me CRAZY! 

This week marks the third week that Mabel has been oozing mucous from her behind.  It is getting thicker day by day.  Each day I get excited when I see this and check on her often -usually 2-3 times per day.  So far, no additional progress except that her milk bag is enormous.  In my past experience, which is not vast by any means, once they start this process it doesn't only take a couple days to deliver the calf.  

Maria is also getting close as she has a behind that is so swollen it looks like it will explode.  No other indications that it is impending, except that her bag is also getting full. They both have difficulty getting up from laying down and look so uncomfortable.  According to the vet's calculations last October, these 2 are both due around today!  We always try to guess who will be first and this year it is truly a tossup.  I won't even venture to guess at this point, but I do think that Red will be the third to calve.

This year is extra exciting due to our horrendously cold winter months we had.  Spring, hopefully, is definitely here!

Also, if you haven't noticed yet please check out my new page: Our Girls.  It is a tribute to our breeding girls!

Time to get outside and enjoy this wonderful weather! 

(forecast 74 degrees here today!)

Unbelievable Rules

I wanted to post an update to my recent post about our new adventure that would include being licensed to sell farm-raised meat from our home.  We recently were "inspected" if you want to call it that.  

First of all, a little background on the process: I spoke with the department of inspections and appeals to find out what was required to be able to sell meat from your home.  There is very little to absolutely no info on this available online unless your are actually producing the product yourself.  I was told you have to have a warehouse license and they emailed me an application, which included absolutely no instructions or requirements.

Secondly, in the past few months while attempting to "get everything ready", I made 2 more calls to the department in an attempt to obtain more info on any requirements and both times I was told that the only requirement is a working freezer separate from our own use products.

That was fine, we purchased a small freezer set up in our garage (this is what one gentleman at the dept. said most people do) on our farm and a couple weeks ago sent our application in with the $67.50 fee required for one year.  When I received our letter stating who our inspector was and his number, I called to set up the inspection.  I again asked if there were any specific requirements I should know to have in place for inspection.  He told me there wasn't much to it other than a working freezer.  Ok, fine.

He showed up last Monday, as expected, and was a less than friendly person right off the bat.  Secondly, he looked at the freezer and said his concern was that we use the garage for other uses such as parking cars! No kidding!  Don't most people?  About that time our dog (yellow lab) looked out the door to see who was here and the man said "you have pets?"  I said "yes, we do live on a farm and it's not like the dog will be in the freezer or the car touching the inside of it".  He probably thought I was being rude, but I was flabbergasted!!  He then stated that the freezer has to be in an area free of other activities and pets!!  I was in shock!  I darn near fell on the floor!  No wonder more people don't attempt to do this. 

Needless to say we flunked inspection for the time being and unless we build a "room" for the freezer by itself, will never pass. Don't get me wrong, because I do believe in food safety.  That being said, I think some of the rules are a little outrageous.  Also, if they would have told me the rules on one of the 4 times I spoke with them before sending the application and my fee, I wouldn't have even bothered.  Sounds to me like a way for them to make money without having to do much but show up once to say you are denied.

I am still a little steamed- ok I am a lot steamed- about the whole thing as I have spent $255 to date to get things ready and apply.  We are still mulling over whether or not it would be worth it at all to spend more money on the "room" and risk being denied again for some stupid reason.  And yes, I do think the reasons stated are just plain stupid.  I hate when people are not honest in the first place, which I feel is exactly what has happened here.

Not sure what regulations are like in other states, but I have heard that some don't have any at all for such ventures.  I will not let this setback get us down, but we have some more thinking to do as to what our next step will be.

Hope everyone has a great week as always!  

Bulls and Sex of Calves

As we await the arrival of our first calves, this is the time of year we begin thinking about breeding this year and coming up with our plan.

Last year we decided to purchase a bull, use him for a few months and resell him at the local cattle sale.  This did work out for us, but being an older bull with worsening feet, I was very worried something would happen to him before we could get him sold.  Everything worked out fine and he was sold in October and it ended up costing us roughly $300 to breed 5 cows.

Thanks to a very nice woman who raises some of the nicest polled hereford cattle I have ever seen, we will be purchasing our own 2 year old bull. He will not come to our farm until we are done calving this year. His name is Apollo and he is a magnificent looking creature that will add some color to our herd, which is important to us(mainly me).  Everyone in Iowa has black cows and we prefer each cow have it's own look, because they all do have their own personality!

Apollo

I have learned a great deal from this nice older woman whose family has been raising polled herefords since before she was born.  One of the most interesting things I have learned is that the bull "picks" the sex of the calf.  She said that in her experience if the bull lunges to mount the cow, it will almost always produce a male.  If the bull gently atops her, it will produce a female.  So, if the bull is young  and has to kind of jump up there it should produce more males. It has something to do with the difference in speed, agility and longevity of the sperm.  I remember reading this sort of information about people when I was in my baby-making days.

I will be keeping track this year of the sex of our calves born to kind of test this hypothesis.  Our bull last year was a massive 4 year old that I would say did not lunge, so by her rule I predict we should have mostly bull calves.  We shall see!

I hope everyone has an amazing day today! 

Happy April Fools Day!!  

Photos of Babies and Big Girls

I took these photos the other day out in the barn.  I love taking pics of them and the big girls. They are such characters! Finally the weather is bearable enough for me to get out and do this.

 One of triplets -whether

 Mistletoe peaking

 Twin buck - I love his color!  We will probably whether him so that one of our kids can show him at the fair.

 Triplets that are being bottle-fed.

 Twin doe -little sister to the buck with all that color!

 Our big billy and the producer of all that color.

 Heifer named "Big Red". She is built like a tank and will be calving in a few weeks!

 "Mabel" was our first baby cow born here and will be one of the first cows to calve in early April. This will be her second calf.

"Snowflake" likes to rub on everything!  She is not bred this year, but will be for next year.

This is "Maria". She is a first timer at calving this year also. She is a polled hereford that is a little standoffish still, but she is getting better.

There you have it, our first photo shoot for 2014! There will be lots more photos to enjoy throughout the year.  Hopefully we will have calves to take photos of soon!

Oh yeah and all photos ARE copywrited! If you chose to use one, anyway please include a link back to this page!  Thanks!

English River Farms -Our New Adventure!!

Ever since purchasing our piece of heaven on earth, we have been brainstorming ways that we could possibly make a living with our farm or at least the farm could sustain itself.  It is very difficult to revamp a farm, acquire animals and feed them all if you are on a limited budget.  We finally have built our animal herd into something potentially profitable.  Time to start thinking seriously!

We do all we can to save money such as:

1.  Raise grass-fed livestock (except the animals the kids show in 4H) -This allows us to only have to buy feed (hay) in the winter.  Since we don't crop-farm it would never be profitable to feed our livestock grain as it is expensive to purchase.

2. We do 99.9% of the work ourselves.  From fencing to chores to cutting trees and maintaining everything  --WE do it!

3.  We have mostly been able to grow our herd by retaining the young --except last year we did buy quite a few Boer does for our goat herd.  We only did this after deciding our budget could afford it since goats don't cost an arm and a leg.

Recently, we have been thinking more intensely on the profit side of things and how could we possibly make a decent profit.  That is the point in keeping livestock in the first place! (Also, I love them all)  We are truly blessed to have our 40 acres and maybe someday will be able to sustain our living from it.

We have started the process of obtaining a meat sales license from our state which will allow us to sell frozen meat from our home after being processed and inspected at a licensed facility.  This may sound a little sad, but that is in fact what livestock is intended for. (I just keep telling myself that when it's time to refill the freezer.)

The meat we will be selling is goat, beef and possibly lamb.  The animals are grass-fed.  This takes longer, but the meat is tender, flavorful and leaner than grain-fed meat.  We don't use antibiotics but we do vaccinate.  

I am very excited to get this adventure started and start to market our farm, English River Farms.  I have started planning our marketing strategies, also.  I will be putting up a website featuring our herd, our farm and life on the farm.  We will also sell produce this summer at a local farmer's market.  This is also very exciting as we always have extra produce from our huge garden and will be planting some extras this year for this purpose. 

It's always exciting to begin a new adventure and while it is not exactly "new", it will be different.  I do have high hopes for our adventure.  It will take hard work, but that is something we would never shy away from. 

This farm really is our little piece of heaven on earth!

Love Baby Goat Kids!

I have always loved the babies of our farm and the calves were the first we ever had.  I am still a little bit partial to calving season and look forward to it all winter long.

These days, however, the baby goat kids are stealing my heart.  They are amazingly cute and have so much personality from day one.  We have had 6 babies so far this year and they are such characters.  I thought some of you may enjoy some of the photos I have of them:

Boer billy kid - one of the twins 

Triplets peaking while waiting for their bottles!

Big goats exploring the barnyard after winter.

I love each of these goats and each has a different personality just as people do.   It makes each day very interesting and unpredictable.  Cannot wait until we have more babies to show off and adore.

Spring Has Finally Arrived

Just two short weeks ago we experienced yet another night of -25 degrees with windchill.  Two weeks later we hit 65 degrees today!  I have said time and time again how much I detest winter, snow and cold.  It makes chores an unpleasant job that I hurry through as quickly as I can and that I enjoy so much in nicer weather.  I love to spend time with my animals and I believe they like it too.

Today I let some of the larger goats out of the barn for the first time in what seems like forever.  They loved the warm sunshine and so did I! I spent a couple hours outside with them.

We have had 6 baby goat kids survive being born in our worst winter in years and only 1 didn't make it.  Pretty good record considering that it has felt like the arctic tundra.  All but the new twins are eating hay and grain. We are still bottle feeding the triplets but they are growing like weeds!  I am finally working on names for both girls.  

Baby cows are due to begin arriving April 9th.  This is an event I anticipate all year long.  The most we have had in a season is 2 and this year we are expecting 5 possibly 6!!  Wow! Hopefully everything will go well for all of them as we have lots of first time mommas.  The cows are also starting to spend time in the pasture.  

We are beginning a new chapter in the meat goat raising saga.  Our first two wethers are ready to butcher.  While it is a little bit saddening, it is the reason we started this adventure.  Our meat sales license is ready to send, the locker is lined up and all we have left is to purchase a new freezer exclusive to the business.  We are then ready to start selling goat meat, or chevon.  I will post more detail to the process later for those interested.

We are continuously brainstorming ideas to make money with our acreage.  I have a few more ideas on the table and we will see where they lead.  My ultimate goal would be to sustain our family life with farm income!

As always have a great day!!

"Don't forget to pray today. God didn't forget to wake you up this morning." 

(unknown)