A good home dairy book

Anyone know of any?  A friend of ours was asking, and I wasn’t sure what to recommend.

There are plenty of books devoted to the home cheesemaker.  But we’re looking for a book that covers home dairy animals – selection, breeding, milking, management, birthing, the whole shebang.  A section on home cheesemaking would be a plus.

A lot of our books are too generic, I think Storey’s Guide to Raising Dairy Goats is probably the closest.  But I want something one step up.

If I was more experienced, I think I might write the book. 😉  Maybe one day …

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Three Sisters Gardening

As an experiment this year, and partially for fun and curiosity, I have convinced HB to let me devote a small section of the garden towards a “three sisters garden.”

Image from Cordite Country Show Notes

The Three Sisters Garden is a method of planting seeds that has its base in Native American civilization.  Many Native American tribes adopted this form of agriculture, but it is said to have originated with the Haudenosaunee, or the “People of the Longhouse” also known as the Iroquois, of the northeastern United States.

The traditional Three Sisters garden, created by the successive planting of corn, beans, and squash, forms a beneficial mini-ecosystem where the plants rely on each other for nutrients, support, and protection.

From Renee’s Garden:

According to Three Sisters legends corn must grow in community with other crops rather than on its own – it needs the beneficial company and aide of its companions.

The Iroquois believe corn, beans and squash are precious gifts from the Great Spirit, each watched over by one of three sisters spirits, called the De-o-ha-ko, or “Our Sustainers”. The planting season is marked by ceremonies to honor them, and a festival commemorates the first harvest of green corn on the cob. By retelling the stories and performing annual rituals, Native Americans passed down the knowledge of growing, using and preserving the Three Sisters through generations.

A Three Sisters garden is made up of three plants, as previously mentioned:  corn, beans, and squash.  The corn (the oldest sister) provides a trellis for the beans to climb and grow upon.  In return, the beans fix nitrogen in the soil, not only adding to the soil, but also supplying a nutrient that corn relies heavily upon.  The beans also stabilize the corn plants, making them less susceptible to wind damage.  The squash, often in the form of pumpkins and other winter squashes, provide ground cover, helping keep the threat of weeds to a minimum.  Planting squash also helps prevent erosion, maintains soil moisture, aids in a cooler soil, and provides a ground cover that may help keep out predators (such a raccoons) that want to harvest your garden!  At the end of the season, most of the plant life can be returned to the soil to amend it for the following garden season.

Sounding good yet?  There’s more!

Nutritionally, this combination complements each other.  While the corn helps provide carbohydrates, the beans provide protein, and the squash provide vitamins and healthy oils.

Last week I set up a test plot in our garden, and planted corn.  Once the corn is about 4 inches tall, I will plant the beans.  Two weeks later, the squash (pumpkins) will go into the ground.  I’m very excited to try this!  But beware!  Don’t try to plant all the seeds at once, or else you’ll likely end up with a tangled mess of green growth, and probably not a lot of corn due to the competition.

Want to set up your own Three Sisters garden?  Renee’s Garden has the best format to get you started.

Want more information of the historical value of a Three Sisters garden?  The Bird Clan of Alabama has some of the legend.

Want to read more about how a Three Sisters garden can influence children and how they view the world?  The Center for Ecoliteracy has a beautiful, informative website devoted to this topic.

In late spring, we plant the corn and beans and squash. They’re not just plants- we call them the three sisters. We plant them together, three kinds of seeds in one hole. They want to be together with each other, just as we Indians want to be together with each other. So long as the three sisters are with us we know we will never starve. The Creator sends them to us each year. We celebrate them now. We thank Him for the gift He gives us today and every day.  – Chief Louis Farmer (Onondaga)

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Let it rain … into my barrel

I had Wednesday off so HB suggested I head over to the market for Green Market Wednesday and the afternoon’s scheduled rain barrel workshop.  So I did.

The first part of the workshop presented a lecture on rain gardens.  Rain gardens are planned depressions in the ground that allow storm water to runoff and collect and slowly infiltrate into the ground.  When used properly, they can lessen the amount of polluted runoff water reaching streams and rivers by 30%.  Runoff water comes from parking lots, rooftops, driveways, sidewalks, roads, and other broad expanses.  Problems arise when large quantities of water, often carrying pollutants from pesticides, fertilizers, sediment, debris and other wastes  are dumped into streams and rivers.

I’ve become more aware of the local water situations living on a farm for a few years now with spring-fed creeks running through the hills.  Somethings cannot be controlled – our neighbors have a lease on the property fronting the road and we have no say in the choices of fertilizers and pesticides they use on land we do not own.  But we can attempt to make the correct choices on our own property.  And we may not be able to control the choices of our in-laws, but I can play a role in the choices HB and I make.

Anyway, back to the workshop.

Once the lecture was over, a gal from the local soil and water conservation group gave a quick talk and then we delved into making our rain barrels.  Literally, delved.  The barrels we were given were old pickle barrels, some (like mine) still containing old pickle juice.  For a person who does not like pickles, it was slightly disgusting.  For any normal person it was probably a little gross.  You tip the barrel to about a 45* angle, then bend over, shove your top half inside the barrel and find your bearings inside the dark and stinky abyss inside.  Lovely.

Creating the rain barrel was surprisingly easy.  Behold, the finished results:

The barrels come by way of a North Carolina pickle company; of course, the cucumbers weren’t American.  I’m sure the barrel isn’t made in American either.  Ugh.  This reminds me of the Mike Rowe (of Dirty Jobs fame) article I read this morning on the future of farming.

The barrels come with a permanent top that fits under the rim (similar to a canning jar), but for the sake of the barrel we remove the lid and fit a screen under the rim to keep out debris.

Pictured below is the overpour spout with attached hose.  When the rain barrel fills, water will flow out of this hose and (for now) onto the ground.  The real plan is to have multiple barrels so that when one fills up, the water travels into the next barrel via the hose.  Cool, huh?

And of course, we needed a spigot at the bottom of the barrel.  I want to build a small platform to raise this barrel just high enough to fit a bucket and/or watering can underneath for easy filling.

Interested in attending a rain barrel workshop at the Lynchburg Market?  The next workshop will be held on June 12th from 11am to 1pm.  You can get more information from the market website.

Created just in time for an afternoon thunderstorm.  Perfect!

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growing like weeds

The goat kids are growing like weeds.  I weighed them the other night, they average around 30 pounds, just over one month old.  Fred and Bogart (Memphis’ kids) are the biggest, and the youngest.  Their bone structure is much more substantial, while Rock and Doris (Abba’s kids) are taller, leaner, but weigh more than you think!

One month.

I can’t believe it.

I spent five months waiting, planning, and in the span of 30 days, time has flown by.  We have a new routine, new kids to play with.  To laugh at.  To cuddle with.  To wince at when they chew a little too much on your hair…

We expect Xenia to kid soon! She is due on Thursday the 29th.  She’s no where near as big as the other does were this close to birth.  Her udder isn’t nearly as full, but I really do think she’s still pregnant – over the past month her sides have taken on a more rotund dimension.  She’s such a high-stress girl.

All the kids have homes:  Doris will remain with us and become a future milker, Bogart will move in with Donut once he’s old enough for weaning – we plan on him to become a companion as we will eventually have to put Sweet Roll down due to his illness.  Fred and Rock will move in with Donut and be fed out and sold to buyers in North Carolina, co-workers of good friends there. I think I managed to pick the most mischievous buckling to keep for our own pet (he will be castrated shortly).  Bogey’s into anything and everything and often keeps me company while I do chores and clean Huck’s paddock.  He finds great joy and jumping on and off objects.  I love his zest for life.  I love all of the goat’s enthusiasm towards life.  It’s something good to model in our own lives.

We put a deposit down on a buckling this week, and we will go pick him up this summer.  He’s a nicely bred French Alpine with good conformation and bloodlines that overlap very little with our current stock.  I wouldn’t have minded something a little more flashy – a nice wide belt? – but we’re not breeding for color — we’re breeding for quality stock with good conformation, attitudes, and milking ability.

Our cheesemaking is going well.  We’ve had chevre transported up and down the East Coast by friends, who all come back with rave reviews.  Our friends have been known to hoard their chevre.  We’re up to several different flavors: plain, herbs de provence, cracked peppercorn, and the newest – a smokey chipotle.  My co-workers love me, since I regularly bring in cheese to share.   I luckily work with some pretty daring taste-testers, lots of foodie’s in one animal hospital!  We call them our “R&D department” and test run new flavors on them and get feedback on new flavors to try.  Some work, others need some tweaking.  They in turn share it with their friends, and we’re already developing a future customer base.  It’s the life of the party.   Not really.  But close. 😉

My father has surgery tomorrow, so please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.  I’m likely to be gone for another short stint depending on how everything goes.  It’s been a rough week:  last Thursday HB’s mom had her first chemo session at the same time her father was having quadruple bypass surgery.  Everyone is doing well, thankfully.

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To HB – Happy Anniversary!

Two years ago today, I married my best friend and we never looked back.

I don’t think either one of us saw where our life together was going to lead, but we welcome the surprises each day holds.  We take on adventures, hand in hand, and conquer.  And if we don’t conquer, at least we tried.  Together.  And we’ll likely try again.  One of us is always able to pick up the reins and carry us forward.

We have both faced successes and disappointments.  With the help of each other, we persevere and try to revel in the small things.  Together we have raised baby calves, baby chicks, and baby goats.  We’ve produced our own food, and I’ve canned more in the past three years than I ever thought I could.  We thrive on our little part of the farm and hold dear the friends that doing so have brought us.

To HB, I can say nothing more other than

I love you more and more every day.

♥ Happy Anniversary! ♥

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emotional swings

I woke up when my alarm went off at 5am, and my first thought was “We should really put Sweet Roll down.”  I spent the next 10 minutes until the snooze went off in a half-sleep, dreaming and thinking about the idea.

As frequent readers know, last year Sweet Roll was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, pemphigus.  We’ve spent nearly a year now, battling infection after infection and seeing multiple vets until it was finally diagnosed (I took him to the small animal hospital where I work to solve the puzzle).  We’ve tried multiple treatments and through it all Sweet Roll has been a trooper.  He’s put up with multiple biopsies, multiple injections, multiple medications in his feed.  The worst was when we tried oral prednisone and he stopped eating completely.  That was just a few weeks ago.

Through it all his skin has continued to deteriorate.  It’s not common to come home and find multiple new lesions, oozing serous fluid and sometimes purulent discharge.  Hair that was shaved for biopsies never grew back, and has left bald spots around his tail and on his chest.  I took his collar off in December because it was rubbing his neck where his skin has hyperkertinized the hair was being rubbed off.  That has never grown back.  His ventral surface is full of hyperkertinized skin and oozing sores.  His teats are extremely kertinized and scaly.  His skin so tender that he flinches when I try to rub or pat him, and using a soft brush on his coat is out of the question.

In short, he looks awful.

And despite of this, his wonderful attitude shines through.  He wants to interact, he is enjoying his meals and hay.  While never gaining weight like I had hoped, he’s maintaining his weight around 100lbs easily.

I’ve been waiting for the point where his quality of life declines to the point where I feel like he’s ready for the end to come.  When he was on the prednisone, I thought we were there.  After a couple of days without the pred, he came back to life.

There are a lot of available treatments for pemphigus, few have been tested on goats.  In fact, there are only FOUR documented, published cases of pemphigus in goats.  3 out of 4 cases are in juvenile goats.  All treatments involve some sort of steroid, and each case is slightly different.

I feel like, looking at Sweet Roll, that this infection and disease has gotten to the point of no return.  I felt like I was asking for a miracle, to remove these lesions and prevent their reoccurrence, and give me back my precious Sweet Roll.

Back to this morning.

I was quiet while doing the morning chores, and when HB asked over breakfast I told him I thought it might be time for Sweet Roll.  HB said he had the same thought the night before while feeding him.

I went to work, prepared ask the doctor when he could come over and euthanize Sweet Roll.  I had already planned his last meal – a flake of alfalfa, a scoop of grain, and his favorite treats.

Late in the morning, the office manager brought me back the latest copy of JAVMA, because dairy goats where on the cover.  It’s a beautiful painting, and after looking at the artist’s website tonight, I really like her work.

I flipped through the issue, and an article caught my eye Successful treatment of juvenile pemphigus foliaceus in a Nigerian Dwarf goat. Intrigued, I sat down to read the article.  Their treatment protocol involved Dex-SP (a very cheap drug) and gold salts. Hmmmm….

I read through the article a few times during the day and this afternoon, approached the vet.  I felt like it was a sign.  My decision.  The journal’s cover.  This article.  A flicker of hope.

I talked through the protocol with the vet, explaining the decision I had made that morning.  How I felt like this was a sign saying that I can’t put him down yet.  The vet was excited, told me to order the drugs.

I call our supply company only to find out that the drug is ridiculously expensive.  Crushed, I go back to the treatment room and tell the vet.  He encouraged me to check the internet for Canadian pharmacies, which I did.  Still expensive, at $23/dose, with the necessary treatment of one dose a week for at least 6 months.  I checked other supply companies, compounding pharmacies, with no avail.

A flicker of hope.

A swift wind.

Blackness.

I hate the fact that in the end, money will be the determining factor as to whether Sweet Roll has a chance to fight this disease.  But money is tight, and I’ve spent more than my fair share on him.  Huck needs ulcer meds and has an upcoming ultrasound in a month.  The goat shed needs finishing so that we can move the girls out of the horse barn.  We have bills to pay and groceries to buy.  All the animals need their groceries too.

One of the girls suggested we do a fundraiser if I really wanted to give this a shot.  We toyed around with a “Save Sweet Roll” campaign that would include selling cinnamon buns. 🙂  I’m torn with this decision.  It’s my first time having to decide when an animal is ready for relief from pain.  But while I don’t want money to be the limiting factor, I don’t want Sweet Roll to suffer.

I’m glad I have tomorrow off, I could use a day of quiet.

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taking a moment

Today, work was just one of those days.  One of those days where you say to yourself, “I’m going home and drinking a beer.”  And here I find myself, not one, but two, beers later.

Jenna wrote on Monday about a similar situation.  Maybe without the beer.  She didn’t mention it.

I came home this evening to HB making dinner and all the barn chores needing completion.  I started with feeding the dogs, since it was raining and Hershey was outside (Chester, with his bad back is on indefinite cage rest and attends work with me daily).  Then the chickens, then letting Huck into the barn lot for exercise.  I fed Huck,  milked Jacqsonne, fed Abba and Memphis, fed Xenia, fed Sweet Roll, cleaned Huck’s’ stall.  Then I fed the cats and wrapped up the night putting down fresh bedding.

It’s amazing what having 20+ mouths to feed does to your perspective.  It gives you something worth doing.  Otherwise, like Jenna, I likely would have come home, curled up with a snack and a beer (well, pre-HB, that would have been the case), and snoozed the night away.

So to all the animals out there on the farm that depend on me, thank you for keeping me in line. 🙂

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The Cowboy Code

As I ran my mid-day errands (post office, feed store, grocery store) I was listening to NPR’s Here and Now and an interesting segment came up when Robin Young interviewed Brent Hathaway, Dean of the College of Business at the University of Wyoming in Laramie.  You can listen to it here if you like, but I’ll summarize it for you.

At the heart of the story, legislators in Wyoming are trying to include “cowboy ethics” to encourage citizens and lawmakers to remember the state’s roots.  The code stresses the importance of living with courage, honesty, sensibility, keeping promises, and upholding your end of the deal.  The code of ethics is symbolic in nature, and holds no penalties for those who do not abide.  The code is taken from a 2004 book, “Cowboy Ethics” by James Owen, in which the code is derived from the book’s “Code of the West.”

The Cowboy Code:
1. Live each day with courage
2. Take pride in your work
3. Always finish what you start
4. Do what has to be done
5. Be tough, but fair
6. When you make a promise, keep it
7. Ride for the brand
8. Talk less, say more
9. Remember that some things are not for sale
10. Know where to draw the line

Reading through the code, and listening to Robin interview Mr. Hathaway, I couldn’t help but find the beauty in the code’s simplicity.  Just like the code dictates in Rule No. 8 “Talk less, say more” the code simplifies the ways to live a good life.

I feel like we live in a very superficial time.  The media runs stories that plays to their advantage, and often the real news is missed.  I’ve gotten to the point that watching the news tires me – it’s full of negativity and outrageous events.  In some respects, it’s nice to be left in the dark.

Our education system is a joke to me, a child’s ability to learn is rated by standardized tests.  I hope my children have the fortune of a good education.  I love the idea of alternative schools, home schooling, and charter schools for that very reason.  I want my child to be able to learn, to be able to freely express themselves, without having to be compared to everyone else.  Be that in academics, athletics, etc.  Children are not taught values in school, and many parents do not teach them either.  I think children understand much more than we believe them to, and if given the chance, they will surprise you.

So many people take no pride in what they do.  They have no idea where the things they want in life come from, what goes into their production, and how it affects the planet’s ecosystem and population.  It’s amazing what a self-centered world this has become.  We’re lazy, and want convenience, even at the risk of our health.  I’m guilty of all of this, I admit.  But every time I hear a story or meet a person who is able to provide for themselves and others, it warms my heart and gives me hope that one day I’ll be the inspiration for someone else trying to find their way.

It’s often a lonely world out there, but it doesn’t have to be.  So I hope you get as much out of the cowboy code as I do.  To me, this code means a lot, but mostly it means hope.

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Signs of Spring!

*My horse, Huck, is starting to shed!

*Jacqsonne is slowly increasing her milk production

*The young does are starting to fill out their udders

*The hen’s egg production is increasing

*I can finally seen grass, not snow

*The grass I can see is surprisingly green; maybe that’s because it’s  been hiding for two months?

*Seed catalogs are pouring in; and seed displays are popping up in stores

*Birds can be heard chirping

*I have a hankerin’ for salads

What signs of spring are you seeing/hearing/smelling?

(Apparently the two months of snow has slowed down the spreading of chicken manure on nearby fields, because the air smells positively pristine!)

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one month to go

Abba and Memphis were bred October 23, 2009.

As of today, the yearling does have been pregnant roughly 117 days (16.5 weeks).  Xenia is approximately one month behind the yearlings.

We are barely a month out from their expected due dates!  This means it’s time to do some preventative management.  The care of pregnant goats revolves around keeping them happy and healthy.  This includes minerals, immunizations, hoof care, and nutrition.  Please keep in mind that this spring is my first time freshening goats, so what I’m about to share is simply what I’ve picked up from my own reading.

Making sure the does are current on vaccinations in important, not only for their own health but also for the health of the developing fetus(es).  It is recommended that does be vaccinated one month out from kidding.  Thus, this week I plan to vaccinate the two does due mid-March with a “CD&T,” which is a vaccine against Clostridium perfringes types C and D (the cause of enterotoxemia, aka overeating disease) as well at tetanus.  There are other, more comprehensive, vaccinations available if such diseases occur in your location – such as Caliber 7 or Covexin 8.  One vet in the area recommends using Covexin 8, others say it’s not necessary.  Last year the wethers were vaccinated with it, this year I think I’m just going to use the regular CD&T unless something changes.  Jacqsonne, Memphis, and Abba will all receive this vaccine this week.  In order to maximize the exchange of antibodies to the developing fetus, Xenia will be vaccinated in late March.

Some people use a vaccine called Lysigin, which is for the prevention of Staph. aureus.  S. aureus is a bacteria known to cause mastitis (inflammation of the mammary tissue that can affect milking ability and potentially be career or life ending for a dairy animal).  S. aureus is a pathogen frequently found in the soil so it is hard to avoid.  I’m still debating about using this vaccine, this year I’ve chosen not to but as time goes by I may consider adding it.

Also at this point, each doe will get her hooves trimmed.  Hoof care is a very important, often overlooked, aspect of caprine management.  With horses there is a saying, “No hoof, no horse” that stresses the importance of hoof care to a horse’s athletic ability.  Goats, while not athletes, are productive animals who deserve the best care possible.  I like to put the goats in the milk stand, give them a little grain for entertainment, and trim them.  The goats don’t seem to bothered by it this way.  Today, after trimming my horses, Anita helped me trim Jacqsonne’s hind hooves, which are overgrown.  HB and I worked on them individually about a month ago.  Before we trimmed again, we wanted a little input on how to advance their growth and try to return them to normal.

Nutrition is important to any animal, let alone a gestating animal, and especially one you plan to milk.  It is important to not let them get too overweight during pregnancy because that can cause birthing problems.  However, you don’t want them too thin when they kid, because once they begin lactating it’s hard for them to recover any lost weight.  Some people offer free-choice grain, but for now we offer grain twice daily.  We are currently using Blue Seal’s 20% dairy goat pellet.  Since Jacqsonne is milking, she gets more milk (close to 3 pounds daily) and right now we’re slowly increasing Abba and Memphis’s grain intake.  The plan is to slowly increase grain so that by the time a goat gives birth you are giving them the amount of grain they will be receiving on the milk stand.  This way their digestive system slowly adjusts to the increase in grain.  If you suddenly offer  a lot of grain, it can upset the bacterial population of the rumen (and other parts of the digestive system) and cause problems – and potentially be fatal.

We do, however, keep good quality hay (75% alfalfa, a legume, and 25% orchard grass) available at all times.  We also keep alfalfa pellets available.  In a separate container, the goats have access to special minerals as well as baking soda (there seems to be a 50/50 split on whether offering baking soda is a good thing) for them to munch on if they feel they need it to neutralize and upset tummy.  We started offering baking soda when we were using a textured grain with a high percent of molasses – we’ve recently switched to a pelletized grain, but for now are keeping the baking soda out.  Grains high in molasses and other starches are thought to potentially increase the chance of acidosis and other problems.

Selenium is an important mineral known to be an autoimmune stimulant and is often linked to Vitamin E, since they typically work together in the body.  Selenium is an intracellular antioxidant while vitamin E is one of the major antioxidants in cellular membranes.  When deficient, immune responses are impaired.

Bo-Se is an injectable supplement available through licensed veterinarians.  One ml of Bo-Se supplements 1mg selenium with 50mg vitamin E; making the vitamin E work 6 times more efficiently and making the high amount of selenium non-toxic.  While most research suggests that the concentration of Vitamin E negates the potentially toxic effects of such a high level of selenium, some people only want to supplement it in selenium deficient areas.  Unsure if your area is selenium deficient?  Click here for a map of the country showing Se levels (from the USGS, you can zoom into county-wide statistics for a range of minerals).  Keep in mind, that if you’re feeding local hay and grain then you’re not really changing your selenium status.  Selenium deficiency occurs when the soil contains less than 0.5 mg Se/kg of soil (source).  So, in my area of Virignia, the Se level is 0.138ppm or 0.1338mg/kg (conversion factor is 1).

Copper bolusing is another relatively new addition to goat care.  Copper deficiencies are linked to a number of ailments such as anemia, lack of growth, hoof deformities, parasitic susceptibility, and autoimmune deficiencies.  Because of this, many breeders have added regular bolusing of copper to their management schedules.

Keeping the parasitic load at a minimum is critical to maintaining herd health.  It is important to monitor the herd’s parasite load by performing regular fecal counts and dosing according to the types of parasites present.  If you are planning on consuming the milk, it’s important to remember that many types of dewormers (and other drugs) have milk withdraw times – check the list.

Looking for more information?  Click on the “Favorites” link at the top and scroll down to the Dairy Goat Information links.

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