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Published on Leave a comment on Red and Black Cattle
Red and Black Angus
Red and Black Angus

This is the second summer that our friends have brought their black cows to our farm for breeding. Their boys raise steers to show at the 4H fair. They have two black cows each with a black calf. The first summer they brought their cows to our farm their oldest son got out of the truck carrying a notebook. Before we could open the trailer door he double checked his notes to make sure he could identify his cows. He checked their ear tag information. He checked the calves ear tag information. He double checked the tag numbers. When he was certain he could identify his exact cows from our herd he said we could open the trailer door.

I smiled, “Have you seen our herd?”

“No, not yet.”

“Take a look in the field. I'm pretty sure you'll be able to figure out which cows are yours?”

He smiled and laughed, “ I guess I don't need my notebook, they'll be pretty easy to find.”

It was a very sweet moment. He'd been keeping accurate records for his 4H book and was concerned about identifying his cows and calves. Among our herd of Red Angus cattle his are very easy to find.

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Published on Leave a comment on Mistakes of a New Beekeeper

In June north east Iowa was deluged in rain. Our area had over fourteen inches in a few days. Keith noticed one of the cherry trees was covered in bees. Last year we planted more cherry and apple trees where the hives are located. One of the smaller trees had a swarm clinging to the trunk. It's possible that the bees started feeling claustrophobic with all the rain or the nectar flow might have come to an abrupt end causing the bees to swarm.

A swarm in May is worth a load of hay, a swarm in June is worth a silver spoon, but a swarm in July ain't worth a fly. - Old New England beekeeper's saying

The method for capturing a swarm is to place a tarp on the ground then hit the object the bees are swarming on.  If they're on  the branch of a tree you cut it off and shake the bees off over the hive you're relocating them to. In this case the bees were covering the entire trunk of the small tree. There wasn't a branch to cut. The entire tree would have had to be cut down. To hit the tree hard enough to knock the bees loose would have damaged both the bees and the tree. I didn't think either one could have withstood the impact.

Our solution was to cover a fake tree trunk in sugar water to attract the swarm. Once the bees moved onto it we'd place them  into the waiting hive. Unfortunately, this wasn't a viable solution. The bees weren't attracted to the sugar water and shaking the tree didn't dislodge enough of the bees anyway. By the time we came up with another solution the swarm flew off.  I don't know the reason for their swarming behavior but I failed to recognize the signs and didn't capture them. I waited too long to make a decision.  In the end I lost the bees and the birds ate all the cherries anyway. We missed our opportunity. In hindsight I should have hit the tree, dislodged the bees.  Sacrificing some to save the swarm. The tree could probably have withstood the blow, if not it could have been replaced.

It's a mistake I won't make again.

 

 

Published on Leave a comment on MIG Grazing

Our plans for this farm included rotational grazing, we started out following this practice but in 2009 Keith became interested in Management Intensive Grazing (MIG Grazing). It's the practice of heavily grazing  an area by increasing the number of livestock on a small parcel of land for a very short period of time and then moving them to the next paddock. This practice replenishes the soil by allowing grazing, trampling, and animal waste to increase organic cover and vital nutrients.   This restorative practice is essential to preventing desertification.  We've been following the practices of  Allan Savory and Greg Judy.

 

 

This is the 2010 areal view of the planned paddock layout:

 

MIG Grazing paddock layout
MIG Grazing paddock layout

These photos show the paddocks after grazing with new areas the cattle have moved to.

 

Published on Leave a comment on Crooked Chicken

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every now and again we have a chick or a full grown hen whose  neck and head are crooked. This particular chick was in the brooder when I noticed that she wasn't moving to the freshly filled feeder with the rest of the flock. Typically, as soon as the feeders are re-filled, the chicks crowd around them. I noticed her head was tilted on a sharp angle -  almost upside down. I gave her a quick exam; she hadn't been smothered, crushed, or stepped on. I placed her in a small bucket with shavings to cushion her and got out the bottle of B-12 vitamins.

If you ever find one of your poultry with this condition here are the steps to follow:

  • Get B-12. Sublingual drops.
  • Use an eye dropper to administer B-12 (Do not use the dropper that comes with the B-12, you don't want to contaminate the bottle with bacteria)
  • poured some of the B-12 out on a dish, used an eye dropper or syringe (without the needle) to draw up the vitamins. A few drops are more than enough for a chick.
  • Tilt back the chicks head, open up the beak and squeeze in the drops. Make sure the chick swallows them.
  • Don't use more than a few drops, we're trying to heal, not drown, the chick.
  • Keep her in a small box or container that's open on top and place it in a safe area where dogs, cats, or other chickens can't bother her.
  • Repeat the drops three times a day for a couple days.

Every few hours you should see improvement. After one dose her head and neck should start to return to normal. Give the chick water in the same method as the B-12 a couple times a day and offer a small amount of feed free choice. If you don't have B-12 available try using raw liver. Chop the liver very fine or use a food processor to make a paste. Open the chicks beak and feed a small amount of liver. Massage the chicks throat to make sure she doesn't choke. Follow this with a few drops of water. Feeding liver will take longer to correct the crooked neck than the B-12 drops. You should see improvement within a couple of days.

 

 

Published on Leave a comment on Honey Bees are the Bomb

Mine Sweeping Bees

Croatian researchers are developing a new tool to locate the estimated 250,000 mines buried in the war torn region. Their newest tool is honey bees!

Because honey bees are too light to trigger the devices and they can be trained to hunt for TNT. Read more

Published on Leave a comment on Genetically Engineered Wheat
GE Wheat? We haven't Got Any GE Wheat...or Do We?

 

USDA Discovers GE Wheat

USDA officials are investigating the discovery of Genetically engineered wheat found in Oregon. Monsanto was authorized to field test the Roundup Ready wheat in 16 states from 1998- 2005 but Monsanto withdrew it’s application in 2004. The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services emphasized that this wheat doesn’t pose a food  safety concern. The FDA stated that the GE wheat variety was as safe as any non-GE wheat currently on the market.

Monsanto issued this statement:

“The glyphosate-tolerance gene used in Roundup Ready wheat has a long history of safe use. The gene that was used in Roundup Ready wheat also produces the same protein that has been and is used widely in corn, soy and several other crops by millions of farmers throughout the world.”

My wise and wonderful grandmother use to say, “Right is right even if no one does it. Wrong is wrong even if everyone does it.” I think those words perfectly apply here. Just because millions of farmers world wide are using a product doesn’t mean it’s a safe or that it's a good product.

Published on Leave a comment on Killdeer nest

Cookie ran past me and shouted something about needing to find a marking flag. I had no idea what he was talking about but I followed along to help him look . We found an older, tattered one in the machine shed. When I asked what he was marking he ran ahead to show me. He was seeding the pasture behind the hoop building with oats, barley, clover and rape seed.  He noticed a Killdeer faking a broken wing, carefully he searched for the nest and found it in the gravel at the edge of the field. That's when he rushed past me looking for a flag. I'm proud that our boys have an appreciation for nature and respect their habitats. Over the years we've had unusual guests at our farm. When Garrett was younger he would find snakes in the spring and keep them until August, then he'd release them. Turtles, squirrels, bunnies, snakes, opossum, salamanders, and starlings have all made their way from our farm back into their natural habitat. Here's a small sampling:

Published on Leave a comment on Twin Calves

Frostbite, named because she was born in February 2007 which was a very cold February, had a mother who wouldn't stop licking her ears. We tried putting a stocking cap on her to protect her ears but the cow kept on licking them. We tried using bitter apple (it prevents animals from licking a wound) on the calf's ears, the cow kept on licking them anyway. As ridiculous as it sounds we tried using a helmet, socks, foam tubing, just about everything we could think of to keep the cow from licking her calves ears. After a couple days the cow stopped licking them but the tips were frostbitten. The calf lost the tips of her ears so we named her Frostbite. Her ear tag number is 711. Our ear tag numbering system is simple; year of birth, birth order in the herd. The dams number goes on the bottom of the tag, the bulls number on the top. Frostbite was the eleventh calf born in 2007. She's easily identifiable in the herd - she's the cow with the short ears.

Frostbite, second from the left
Frostbite, second from the left

 

Last week Keith came in the house and asked if I'd make two doses of vaccine for the new calves. I asked which cows calved Keith was pretty sure that Frostbite had twins. We've never had a set of twin calves before. At first he wasn't sure if Frostbite had twins or if a heifer had left her calf behind. Cows always hide their newborn calves. The cow will walk to an area of tall grass and let her calf know that they're not to leave the area unless she comes for them. Amazingly, the calves obey. They'll stay exactly where they're left, not moving, until the cow comes for them. Frostbite hid her calves in two different patches of grass. As Keith watched he figured out they were both hers. When he started walking into the field she looked toward where each was hidden and then walked in the opposite direction to throw Keith off course. Before a cow tries to lead you away from her calves she'll always glance toward them. If you're observant you'll catch her gaze and figure out where she's hidden them.  Keith waited patiently for her to go to her calves. He watched her from a distance so she wouldn't know he was there.  Eventually she went into the tall grass and nudged one calf to nurse. After a few minutes she left this calf, walked across the pasture to another area, and aroused her second calf. Keith showed me where both calves were. We vaccinated, ear tagged, and briefly examined them. Frostbite had a heifer and a bull calf. The heifer calf is a 'freemartin' meaning she'll be infertile. When a cow has a mixed set of twins the female is born chimeric; she starts out with XX chromosomes but acquires an additional XY chromosome in utero from the male twin. Freemartinism is the normal outcome of mixed-sex twins in cattle. Same sex cattle twins aren't effected by this.

After a few days the cows stop hiding her calves. They'll  join the herd and play with the other calves under the watchful eyes of all the cows.

 

Published on Leave a comment on Eva

We have a foster puppy, Eva. She's a twelve week old German Shepherd. If her hip x-rays, physical exam, temperament, and size are exemplary when she's two years old she'll will go into a breeding program. Last week when Keith was backing up the truck and trailer Eva ran underneath. She broke her leg, tore muscles, damaged one eye, was cut and bruised. Have you seen the poster about Lucky, the lost dog? Other than the line about being neutered- that's Eva. Three legged (temporarily), one eyed (temporarily), and cut up.

 

Eva is lucky. She has one good eye, the other is stitched shut. Her front leg has a pin and plate holding it together. The other front leg has stitches and torn muscles. She's cut up and bruised, but healing. The vet expects a full recovery. In the meantime she requires lots of attention, love, and time. We need ear muffs. She's in pain and whines when she's left alone. She also whines when we're in the room with her. She whines when she's hungry, thirsty, bored, has to go out, wants attention, is falling asleep, or when the radio isn't playing her favorite song. Basically, she whines all the time, but that's alright with me. Given the alternative I'll listen to her all day long because she's lucky, and we are too.