TBF 009 :: Becoming Our Own Hatchery, Snow in May, and Hard Lessons Learned

One thing that we have learned on our farm over the last five years is that animals that are born on our farm, from stock raised on our farm, do much better in our farming model than others that we purchase and bring to the farm. We have found even when we bring them from farms that have similar farming models or farms that we really respect, there are some animals that just aren't as hardy or don't grow quite as well on the pasture and in the woodlots. Over the last two seasons of raising meat chickens, we have found the same to be true. In the case of the chickens though, all of our meat birds come from off the farm ... and that is something that I would like to change.

Up until this point, it was something that I was interested in doing but not really in a hurry to do. That changed when our source for naked neck Poulet Rouge chicks (which come from a farming friend) was not able to provide chicks for us this year. If you have followed along with the blog for awhile you will remember my frantic call for help and our solutions (which included ordering chicks from the hatchery). But, the long-term solution is that we are going to begin hatching our own meat chickens and keeping a flock for breeding stock. This means that we need to research all sorts of things from incubators and incubation to various heritage breeds that we can raise!

At this time I am leaning towards the Mottled Java as a bird to try out, but I think I would like to have a few other options that we are working with at the same time so I'm open to suggestions! As far as incubators/hatchers go, we have been doing a lot of research and reading about the various styles and brands and prices ... it can be exhausting! If you would like to check out some of the models we have been looking at for cabinet incubators just take a look at these links:

• G.Q.F. Incubators/Hatchers
• Dickey's Incubators/Hatchers
• Red Rooster Incubators
• Brinsea Incubators

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn. If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five start rating and review (by clicking the link or the image on the right) or on the Stitcher App on your smartphone. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show!

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with The Beginning Farmer and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

TBF Show 009 :: Play in a New Window | Right Click to Download

(if you are interested in the music in this episode check out my brother's record label, Historic Records)

Choosing Chickens

If you follow along with the blog you will remember my frantic call for help a few weeks back as I was in search of chickens ... meat chickens to be precise ... actually meat chicks to be more accurately precise. My original plan wasn't going to work out anymore so I needed to come up with another plan somewhat quickly. Thankfully there were tons of helpful comments posted on the blog, e-mailed, and messaged through Facebook. Now ... we have chicks on the farm and they seem to be doing great.

So ... what did I end up doing? I came up with a solution ... that's what I did! It's not my ideal solution, but I believe it will allow me to accomplish some of my goals this year and then prepare for the future (the future being next year). In fact since I was somewhat late to the game when it comes to ordering I couldn't even really get exactly the chicks I wanted. Here is what I ended up doing ...

Step #1 :: Order 125 Freedom/Red Rangers

• These are the chicks that I have already received and they are doing great
• I was interested in trying them because I had talked with a farmer who raised them at the processor last year and he loved them
• They grow a bit faster than the Naked Necks so hopefully they will be ready earlier than expected

Step #2 :: Order 125 Naked Necks

• I have been very pleased with these birds for the past two years, but I am a little gun shy about ordering from a hatchery instead of a farmer I know
• They are slow growing birds so they will be ready sometime in July hopefully ... perfect for the market

Step #3 :: Order another 125 Freedom/Red Rangers

• This batch is coming from a different hatchery in order to try something different, and because I can add it to an order at the farm store in town (where I used to work) to save on shipping
• Hopefully I can get the scheduling right and then I'll be able to take these into the processor at the same time as the Naked Necks

Step #4 :: Evaluate and Place Following Orders

• While these three sets of chicks are growing I need to decide what to do for the rest of the season
• Hopefully I'll be ordering two more batches of chicks

Step #5 :: Get Ready for 2014

• Thanks to all of the great comments about various heritage breed chickens I have lots to think about
• One thing I'm very interested in is incubating chicks here on the farm ... so lots to research there
• The Mottled Java ... that is one of the breeds that was mentioned and I think I'm going to check them out

It seems like a good plan doesn't it? If it is a good plan I'll let you know how it works out ... and if it's a bad plan ... well, I'll let you know about that as well.

We Need Help!

Today I was going to post a picture of my boots in the mud and talk about how things never go even close to or remotely as planned ... of course that assumes that I make a plan in the first place. I'm sure we'll get to that post eventually, but today what we really need is some help ... and kind of quickly! For the past two years we have raised our Naked Neck Poulet Rouge Chickens as our meat birds. They grow slowly, but do well on pasture foraging and taste great. Unfortunately the source where we purchased our chicks from will not be able to supply them this year so we are looking at other options. Which is where we need help ...

Ideally we want to stick with our heritage or rare breeds that do well foraging on pasture and reach a decent processing weight at 14-16 weeks. I think it is important that we stay away from hybrids because it would be nice to keep a few around and let them go broody so we can begin to raise chickens that work the best for our system. Oh yeah ... one more thing ... they have to be something we can get in the very near future ...

Here are some breeds that I've been reading about ... all of them had seemingly very mixed reviews and there wasn't a lot of information about the amount of time to processing weight.

• White Plymouth Rock
• Delaware
• Buckeye
• Dark Cornish
• Jersey Giant
• And many more ...

If you have any thoughts ... suggestions ... ideas ... helpful insight ... or even want to tell me I'm wrong I'd love to hear your comment. I'm open to all suggestions at this point ...

Virtual Farm Tour :: Pastured Poulet Rouge

Pastured Poulet Rouge Chickens

A few people have asked about the possibility of a "virtual farm tour" that would catch people up on what is happening on the farm. I thought that was a great idea, so for the next few posts (I'm trying to be non-committal hoping that the blogging sticks this time) I'm going to share some of the details of our farm ventures. The first one I thought I would tackle is our pastured Poulet Rouge meat chickens.

Right now we are raising a slow growing naked neck Poulet Rouge breed that fits well in our pasture based system and is full of flavor. It is part of our farm values to help raise and preserve heritage breeds (the naked necks can be traced back to at least 1810) and these chickens help us stick with those values while providing a great bird.

If you have been hiding under a rock this summer I need to inform you that Iowa and much of the country have been experiencing a drought. Along with the lack of rain we have also been experiencing extreme heat, but I have been very pleased with the natural hardiness of our birds ... not losing any with the heat (although the predator losses is a different story). This natural ability to withstand the elements has always been one of the reasons behind our breed choices and breeding selection.

Last year we raised one smaller batch of this bird and so far this year we have/are in the process of raising three groups of about 50-75 average. The birds are being raised on grass in the orchard and they seem to be voracious foragers. Along with their forage we are feeding a 21% protein corn/soy ration that has a Homestead Feeds Chick-En-Egg Concentrate pack added for minerals (it is hormone free and animal byproduct free). During the first batch of chickens our protein level was not as high as it should have been and I noticed that the birds grew slower than expected ... that is now fixed and seems to be working better. We have used the Homestead line of feeds now for almost two years with the hogs and I've been pleased with it.

We process all of our birds at a state inspected facility which allows us to sell at our Farmers Market and on-line cooperative. The other exciting thing about the current processor is that they air chill the birds so they don't soak up a lot of water weight and the meat retains a great texture and flavor. I will say that we are very lucky though to have such a processor so close (about an hours drive).

The downsides ... it does take these birds about 14 weeks to finish out and the rate of growth does seem to be all over the place depending on the bird. We also need to finish building more portable chicken wagons, but that is just one of the many things on our ever growing list! Overall I believe they are good fit for us and I plan on continue raising them and working to build a market for the birds.

One thing that I always tell people though is that I have found that the animals that are born on our farm do better than the animals that we bring to the farm. With that in mind we are very seriously considering raising and selecting our own breeding stock so that we can incubate/hatch our own meat birds. I'm not sure that it will happen, but it is something that interests me quite a bit! If anyone has any thoughts or book recommendations on that subject I would love to hear them.

Everyone Should Have Chickens ...

This evening, thanks to the Practical Farmers of Iowa e-mail list, we were able to add forty chickens to our simple flock (which prior to this had only six members). As you can imagine this is quite an addition! These chickens are all Red Star's and we were able to get them free because they were spent hens (using that word loosely because he was still getting about 28 eggs per day, just not enough for profit margins). The farmer needed room for his new flock coming in, so these needed to head off the farm quickly ... that's where I came into the equation!

Hopefully we'll get a few eggs, but that wasn't the main reason for getting them. We have been hoping to get some spent hens before this coming summer to follow our cattle out on the pasture. They do a good job cleaning up the bugs and larvae in the cow patties and help break parasite cycles. I think it was Joel Salatin who said that it would be worth it to have a flock of mean old roosters following the cows because of the job they do even if it meant replacing them every year. Now, we'll have some chickens to follow along and probably get some eggs.

These girls are set up in the shed next to the cows and are already exploring their new little kingdom. Between the cows mooing and the chickens clucking it really is starting to sound like a good old fashioned barn! Which got me to thinking ... everyone should have some chickens around if they can. They are beautifully simple and mesmerizing to watch ... their simple cluck can be very soothing ... the way the move and flap around at times is just hilarious ... and, they are even fun to hold and catch! That's just my little public service announcement encouraging everyone to get chickens. If your town allows (unlike ours) they even make great additions to the backyard, but if nothing else find a friend or family member in the country and see if you can't have a little flock out at their place.

What About Broilers?

A couple weeks ago I asked for your thoughts on getting some chicks ... specifically some chicks that would eventually grow to be a new laying flock for the farm and at the same time do a bit of pasture sanitation for us. But, laying hens haven't been the only kind of fowl running through our Stoneyfield Farm discussions lately because we have also been talking about guineas and, as today's title suggests, broiler chickens. So, I thought I would throw the topic out there for discussion.

My biggest question is this: What do you raise for broilers? If we were to go ahead with some this were we are talking about doing a very small amount, mostly for ourselves and a few customers that are interested, but I'm not really sure what to get when it comes to ordering chicks.

I have read Joel Salatin's book, "Pastured Poultry Profits", and I know that he (and others) are successfully raising the Cornish X Rocks birds because they have found that that is what the consumers want. But, I'm just not totally convinced on this "franken-bird". It almost looks like a chicken on steroids.

I was able to find this discussion over on the Homesteading Today message board dealing with just this question and I notice that there are quite a few people that raise things other than the "super bird". Do you guys have any suggestions for breeds/crosses/specific places to order from? I would love to hear your thoughts!

Chicks By the Book...

I love my wife! When all these crazy farm ideas started hatching in my head and we began talking about buying 40 bare acres and building a house/farm she was okay with it. When we talked about having wood heat (kind of dirty bringing all that wood into the house) she was okay with it. When we discussed the possibility that we would have to move into the house before it was done she was okay with it ... as long as it had a working bathroom! And, when it was her birthday a bit over week ago I knew that she would love getting "The Encyclopedia of Country Living" by Carla Emery.

So, after I posted my question about chicks the other day I got to think, "Duh! I bet my wife's new book has information on raising chicks". I was right! The book had information on breeds, mail order companies, how to start chicks, brooders, feed, water, and so much more. I have combined all of that information with all of the great information that I received from you all (the readers) and the added bonus of having a wife that raised plenty of chicks and chickens as a child (what can't she do!).

I think I'm going to spend the next couple of weeks seeing if we can get everything cleaned out to do this properly. It isn't an issue of having the space or the right equipment, but rather the fact that we have boxes stored where we would put the chicks. Maybe getting chicks would be a win/win situation. The house would get a little closer to being completed and we could have a beginning to the end of store bought eggs (our chickens are pretty much old and on winter strike).

There is still plenty to think about and get ready, but it would be nice if we could add some egg layers to the farm. One thing that I do have a question about though is specific breeds. After doing a bunch of reading last winter I kind of had my heart set on Barred Plymouth Rocks, but I'm finding that they are a bit difficult to find (at least in the three Iowa hatcheries I know of). Beyond that we would like some of the standards. What are some of your favorite brown egg laying breeds and are there any heritage breeds you are especially fond of?

Picking Up Chicks...

How is that for a title? That is the kind of post title you get when I have a lack of sleep from spending the weekend in cabins with high school kids and the time to think about a title because of a late post! But really, we are thinking about picking up some chicks and I would love to gather some advice from those of you that are more chick inclined than I am. More specifically, I would love to know how it would work to raise them in the situations that we have available.

We can start them in our mud room which is insulated and warmish (60's) if we leave the door open. Of course we would have as many heat lamps as needed and plenty of fresh newspaper or bedding or whatever you need. Does that sound like a location that would work as a brooder?

The next question then becomes where do I put them next? Or more specifically how long do I leave them in there? I would love to get them as soon as we can so that we have some new chickens laying this summer, but I'm not completely sure what we can do with our facilities. I suppose the next natural transition we would have on the farm would be to take them next door to the storage area which is not heated, but is of course completely out of the weather and the wind. We can have heat lamps over there also.

How long does it take until we can have them outside? As you can see I'm pretty clueless when it comes to these things. All of the chickens we have had so far have been already laying so we didn't have much to worry about. I would appreciate any of you answers or ideas that I missed.

Oh, one more thing ... I know that our bloggy friends at Sugar Creek Farm order from Hoover's Hatchery in Rudd, IA and of course there is Murry McMurry which is also in Northern Iowa. Does anyone have thoughts on either of those places?

In Case You Didn't See...

"286,000 Pounds of Meat, Poultry Recalled by N.Y. Company" according to an Associated Press article that I read on FoxNews.com. This is just another recall in the American food industry and reinforces the fact that food recalls are becoming more and more common. Although there is one thing that makes this recall different than the recent Hallmark beef recall. The beef recall was because of handling of the cattle when they were still alive, while this one seems to be about contamination that could/did happen in processing.

The company Gourmet Boutique, that supplies a little food to Super Target stores, makes many different types of processed poultry foods (chicken salads, burritos, etc.) and it seems that the listeriosis bacteria that was found by the USDA entered the food in the processing step. Once again the USDA did help find the problem, but if 286,000 pounds have already made it to the stores one could say that it is a little too late. According to the article a recorded message that you get when calling Gourmet Boutique says that they have made "environmental changes" at their plants ... ahh, good to know that they made changes after they got caught!

This article isn't surprising, new, or even mind boggling because we have seen it all before, but it did make me think. Are we better off getting our food (particularly poultry in this case) from on farm processing or small abattoirs? This is a point that Joel Salatin has been arguing for quite some time now and he is probably on to something.

I am not sure how much poultry we are going to raise on the farm for selling because it seems like there are quite a few small farm/direct marketing poultry folks around here, but if I did I would seriously consider on farm processing. What do you think?

Oh yeah, I think I should point out that if you head of to the Gourmet Boutique website you will find that they advertise their food as the "natural choice" because they don't use preservatives.

Tyson Chicken ... Raised Without Antibiotics

I came across some interesting news today as I was scanning the internet today. It seems that Tyson Chicken announced a new product and label this summer. They new product and label is/was planned to be called "Raised without Antibiotics". You can read Tyson's press release by clicking HERE. Now, the reason I wrote "is/was" is that that was their planned label for the product, but now the USDA and Tyson have worked out an agreement to change the label name to, "Chicken Raised Without Antibiotics that impact antibiotic resistance in humans". I have a feeling the words that start with lowercase letters will be in smaller print.

One side note is that Tyson Chicken considers the name change a victory. You can read a little bit about a lawsuit that was filed against them by clicking HERE. Tyson won because the judge noted that they had worked with the USDA to change the name.

Now, this news as all very relevant for the farmer and consumer alike, but I think there are a couple of key details that we need to take out of this whole deal...

First of all, if you take the time to read through Tyson Chickens press release you will notice that their main reason for doing this is because the customers were asking for it. So, the people do want better food ... and ... they are willing to pay more for it (because the new product will cost more than "regular" Tyson chicken). I see this is a large food company trying to play catch up. That doesn't mean that small farmers are winning or even starting to win, but it does mean that the small farmers with their intimate connection with their customers can meet their needs and give them something that they are comfortable eating. Plus, if people want "antibiotic free" chicken that means that they probably also desire humanely raised chicken ... we just need to let them know that it is out there! So, there is a bright side to this sad story.

Secondly, I think this proves (did this really need proving) that the government isn't out there to help the small farmer. Like I said, I'm pretty sure everyone already knows this, but here it is again in black and white. What we need to do is work together as a body of farmers and consumers and then we can begin to effect change. Remember work together ... farmers and consumers!

And finally, this proves that Tyson is producing chicken that has antibiotic impact our antibiotic resistance. Obviously many people already knew that, but once they start running ads on television and in the paper promoting their new product savvy farmers selling directly to their consumers can use it to educate people about real food, real relationships, and real local business.

Let's face it ... Tyson Chicken isn't going away anytime soon (if ever) and I probably wouldn't vote for a governmental law to shut them down (just look how well that works with the USDA as the enforcer!). But, I think we can use this disappointing news for our benefit if we are creative and bold!

What, You Don't Like My Chickens!

"As part of the City's "Comprehensive Clean-Up Program," city staff inspected property located in Knoxville at @%#$ North Seventh. It was determined that a violation(s) of City Code exists. More specifically, the violation(s) include the following listed items. These numbered items may be referenced to the coordinating numbered code sections on the attached page.

The City has recently received a complaint about this property: There is a violation of Section 9-6B-2:Farm animals are not allowed in the City. Please make other arrangements for them."

So, that is the letter I received in the mail yesterday (along with a phone call on Wednesday). The letter goes on to say, "blah, blah, blah ... you have 14 days to get rid of the chickens ... blah, blah, blah ... if you don't get rid of them you are going to have to pay some serious fines ... blah, blah, blah ... Please remember the character of a neighborhood depends on everyone taking pride in their surroundings to maintain quality and beauty for the entire community of Knoxville."

Okay, so above you can see the picture of our movable chicken pen if you have never seen it before. I know that it isn't very pretty, but what about the house around the corner that has over 200 action figures and stuffed animals covering the yard! Or, the house up the street that looks like it is falling down and is for sale for only $20,000 dollars. Possibly we should consider doing something about our neighbors who moved out and only mowed their lawn ONCE this entire summer!

The law is the law, and I have already moved my chickens down to my dad's (more on that visit tomorrow) because I don't want to be in violation of city code. It just doesn't look good for a pastor to be knowingly breaking the law! But, I guess I just don't understand why it is the law. In West Des Moines (really fancy suburb of Des Moines) it is legal to have up to 30 chickens in your backyard! But, in Knoxville (a smaller rural community) we can't have that kind of filth.

Oh well, I'm really not to concerned ... I'm just disappointed because it was my one connection to the farm this winter. The chickens were my "doing" instead of just reading about it all of the time. We had been experimenting with feed rations, winter shelter, and other stuff and we had been having good results. But, now they are just down in the corner of a shed near my cows.

Just to show that I can be a "glass half full" kind of guy ... earlier this week my church board approved a motion to sell the parsonage that I live in, now it has to go to the congregation. The sale of this house would do a lot to help get the church out of debt and that is my main concern, but it will also help us make a move to the country. If the house was going to be listed this spring we would have moved the chickens anyways, this just forced us to do it earlier.

So, the moral of the story ... if your moving to Knoxville, IA don't bring your chickens into town! :)

**By the way, the second picture in this post is of the chickens in their new shed home**

Winter Digs for the Chickens

You may remember my previous post about building a winter home for our five laying hens. It was great because I had some good ideas from Walter Jeffries over at Sugar Mountain Farm and from the comments on this blog ... but, to tell you the truth not much really happened. Life took over for a little while and the chickens seemed to be handling themselves just fine. So, I guess let's just chalk this year up as experimentation!

But, really they have continued laying at what I would consider a good rate because we aren't providing any artificial light. Our five layers have been giving us between 14 and 18 eggs per week (enough for us) through this winter. Most of the winter they have just been on the garden in the same pen that they were in all year. It is in a good spot so that they are pretty well protected from the wind, but it is still all open.

As you can see from the pictures my wife finally decided to take some initiative and went to Wal-Mart to get $2.00 worth of clear plastic. It's not going to provide much insulation, but it does help some and keeps the wind out. Also, we have added some hay because we have been thawing a bit and they were getting pretty muddy. Besides providing a clean base and a little warmth the hay also provides a little food and insulation for the ground. Just today when I went to gather the eggs (three) I saw some bugs moving around, so I know that our combination is working.

So, here is our recipe ... one $9.00 plastic blue tarp left over from our small boat we sold, two bales of grass hay (from the farm), a few bungee cords (also from boat), and $2.00 of clear plastic from the painting aisle at Wal-Mart. A little more insulation and some light would help, but this seems to be working for us in the snow of Southern Iowa. Plus, the eggs keep coming so these girls are earning their keep over the winter!

Organic Farmers Share Tips...

This past week at a Thanksgiving party I picked up an article from the Iowa Farm Bureau Spokesman (November 7, 2007 issue) that my father-in-law had been saving for me. It was just a short article about a conference that took place in Sioux City, IA, but it did give me some encouragement to see what is happening in my state when it comes to unconventional farmers.

The speaker at the conference was Kim Alexander who currently lives in Texas. An interesting thing about his story is that he had previously lived in Iowa and his family owned farm land. He was not able to farm on the family land because the family decided to put it into the Conservation Reserve Program (new at the time). I don't know all the details, but the article says that he then learned of Joel Salatin and his principals on "growing food people want to eat and how to direct market our farm products" so he decided to grab hold of those ideas and put them to use on his Texas farm. I wonder to myself why he wasn't able to stick around here in Iowa ... maybe this is an illustration of why it is so difficult for young farmers (even those that have farming in the family) to get started in farming. Oh well, he is a making a go of it in Texas (although I'm glad I'm up here in Iowa!).

It sounds like he is doing the Salatin thing all the way around. They have a 40-head cow/calf herd, 2,000 broiler chickens, 1,400 laying hens, 300 turkeys, and a custom poultry-processing operation (that is a good value added option). It is pretty exciting that his family (mom, dad, and eight children) are making a go of it on the farm, but it is even more exciting and impressive that they are doing it on 300 acres of land ... that they don't own! Check out what Mr. Alexander has to say about that: "We rent and lease, for $100 a year, from the city people who go out and buy this expensive $7000 an acre land and then haven't a clue as what to do with it."

That is pretty exciting. The one hurdle that most people always point to is the high cost of land and the lack of availability. I have heard lots of people criticize Mr. Salatin because they believe his ideas don't translate to other farmers because he started out with a serious amount of land. But, the Alexander family started out with nothing ... in fact they might have had a chance at family land, but ended up doing it on their own. Mr. Alexander said in the article, "The shortage here isn't land, it's the shortage of warm bodies who know how to husband the land."

They market their chickens and eggs to local grocery stores and white table-cloth restaurants, but they do other things to make their farm profitable that are slightly more "outside-of-the-box". They collect used vegetable oils to fuel their trucks and build their own equipment for the farm. What an encouraging article for me. Sometimes I wonder if the farming idea is even possible, but when I read articles like this I get another burst of energy and continue to push on.

Winter Chicken Shelter ... An Appeal for Help!

Okay, this isn't as much as an informative blog, although I will include a couple of links to other helpful blog articles, as it is a plea for help! When we originally brought our chickens home we had thought that we would just keep them through the summer and fall and then make them into stew (or somebody would). But, we have decided that it would be a good idea to try and keep some layers over the winter to experiment and learn. Right now the hens are just in their normal movable pen, but as the temperatures drop and the snow flies I realize it is time to do something winterized ... or slightly winterized.

We would like the girls to keep laying a little bit over the winter just because... We have become accustomed to the eggs each morning and if we are going to be feeding them it would be nice to have something from them. I have thought about a few different ideas for a winter house (each of which include a light bulb or heat lamp), but I haven't really decided on anything. First I was just going to use some OSB I scavenged, some tin that we have down at the farm and some 2x4's to make a lean-to off of our shed. We would then attach our movable pen to give them a little room outside. It seems like a good idea, but then we would have lean-to that wouldn't really be used the rest of the year.

Another idea that we had was to park the pen in the garden and just slap some plywood all the way around (or most of the way) in order to close it up a bit from the wind and cold air. This idea seemed okay, and we could move it if we needed to, but I just thought it wouldn't work very well for bedding or provide much room for the hens.

Then my wife stumbled upon Walter Jeffries' post on his blog, Sugar Mountain Farm, about their "Winter Hen Coop". It is a pretty impressive structure (if practical is impressive ... which I believe it is) that also works as a summer coop. I like the idea and I think I could use a couple of cattle panels to make my frame. Possibly I would just tear apart my present coop in order to make this one because I think it would lighter and easier to move in the coming spring. Also, I love the idea of putting a base of hay bales around the bottom for warmth, bedding, and food. You can also read more about adding a sunroom by reading this POST.

So, do you have any great ideas? We are going to get some new hens in the early spring, but just wanted to winter these over in order to gain experience and keep a small supply of eggs coming in. Oh, I should also probably mention that we are talking about five birds right now, but it has been as high as six.

I look forward to hearing from everyone!

The Contrary Farmer :: Chapter 3 Book Report

I am slowly making my way through my copy of "The Contrary Farmer" by Gene Logsdon, but with all my other new reading material (Stockman Grass Farmer) it takes more time to make it to the end of a chapter. The other day I finished up chapter three of the book. This chapter was titled "The Garden is the Proving Ground for the Farm", and I really see it as a great philosophical chapter. Actually, I see most of Mr. Logsdon's writings as great things to help me wrap my mind around the whys and reasons behind farming the way we are starting to and the way we are wanting to in the future. Sure, there are some practical pointers sprinkled throughout every single chapter, but it also speaks to the philosophy and reason behind those practical ideas.

I won't go into a lot of detail nor relate a lot of stories or antidotes from the chapter for you, but I will tell you that this section of the book made me think a lot about what I need to be doing, thinking, researching, and learning as I'm at a point in my life where I'm not on "the farm", but I'm trying to work towards "the farm". Mr. Logsdon writes about the impact of the backyard garden on the working farm of today. How the methods used by today's gardeners can become the large scale workings of tomorrow's farmers.

As I read this chapter, I kept coming back to a couple of ideas. There is a particular phrase that kind of sums up my thoughts on farming and part of my Christian world view in general. I believe that you have enough time (or money, or passion, or whatever) for whatever you want to have enough for. Meaning, if you want to farm then you will make time to get you closer to that goal instead of going to a ball game, sitting in front of the T.V., buying the latest gadget, or whatever it may be that will keep you from that goal. The second thing that kept popping into my mind in this chapter is that quote from my uncle that I have repeated here on the blog several times. "Reading is good, doing is better!" To me that statement basically says that sometimes you need to make things happen and learn from your experiences.

In light of those two thoughts, we have begun a few things over the past six or seven months to take us on baby steps to our farming. First of all, we decided to take our garden up a notch this year. It didn't mean that we expanded the size of what we were doing, it just meant that we decided to try and do things more effectively. Along those lines my wife researched companion plants that would help keep pests away and nourish the soil for one another. We also started collecting coffee grounds from a local coffee shop and composting our household scraps in order to increase the good organic matter in our soil, and we began raking up our grass clippings to mulch around the plants in the garden to keep moisture in and weeds away. Those steps seemed to improve things a bit over previous years and gave us lots of new ideas to try next year.

Secondly, we decided to throw caution to the wind and build a chicken tractor for the backyard. We have been blessed with a decent sized yard so we built a 8 ft. x 5 ft. or so pen that we move around the yard each day. At the most this past summer, we have had six older laying hens in it, and we have received as many as 35 eggs each week. This has been a great learning and doing experience on so many levels. We have been able to experiment with three different types of feed (the mixed feed that my uncle used was the best hands down), to see just how much room these birds need and how much the grass supplements their feed, and we saw how much the birds thatched and fertilized our lawn (just think if had been our pasture!). I have loved having these hens over the summer and have learned so much. In fact, I'm going to be building a winter spot for them and putting in some light to see if we can keep them laying at some level over the winter. Next spring we plan on getting some younger birds to experiment with and sending these off to someone's stew pot.

The final thing we have done this year is actually a rather large step. We decided that we wanted to get a couple Dexters to experiment with and learn about grass-finishing beef and then preparing grass-finished beef for the table. So, after much ... much ... much research, we decided to go with purebred Dexters. We went out and got ourselves a bred heifer and a steer to finish for next fall. These animals were going to end up living at my dad's farm where grass was abundant. Well, two turned into six ... and lo and behold six turned into thirteen. Now we have nine cow/heifers and four bull/steer calves. The reason this research/experience developed so quickly is because we believe there is a market for Dexters right now in our area of the Midwest (either as beef or breeding stock) and because land on the farm just came out of CRP opening up much more grazing land. It is practically as easy to take care of thirteen as it is two ... you just need bigger fences, more hay for the winter, and a few other things. We decided we had all of those things and went ahead with the beginnings of the Stoneyfield Dexter herd. From this we have learned and practiced so many practical things dealing with fencing, grazing, pasture management, forages, cattle health, and so much more. Plus, I have now roped the rest of the family into this whole dream of ours!

The point being is that we are taking these "garden experiences" and trying to learn and grow from them so that we can work at a larger level. We don't know when or where God will take us, but we know that we have a passion for His people, His creation, and bring both of those together in the beauty and wonder of all that God is.

So yeah, it was a good chapter and really made me think!

Quality Pasture :: Chapter 13 Book Report

I have to say, this chapter and the final chapter were probably my favorite of the entire book. The other chapters were full of interesting information, pasture ideas, and grazing plans, but the final two really hit at the heart of where I see our farming ideas going. Chapter 13 in Allan Nation's book, "Quality Pasture," is titled, "Multiple Species Grazing." Although the chapter is short it gives a nice overview of possible polyculture grazing and it's benefits.

The first option he writes about is sheep. I found this section especially interesting because my dad and I had just been talking about the possibility of bringing some sheep to the farm to do some clean up on old fence rows that need to be taken out or replaced. We were talking about the possible benefits of using sheep as our brush hog and workers and providing a bit of income also. But, Allan Nation mentions some other benefits of adding sheep to a rotational cattle grazing operation. Combining cattle with sheep cuts down on predator problems associated with sheep, they break each others parasite cycles, and there have been studies that show adding the two together increases the performance of both ewe and lamb weight gain while only slightly decreasing calf weight gain. This was encouraging for me and practically makes me want to jump in the truck and head up to the Colfax sale barn! (One other thing he mentions is the option to graze wool wethers, no need to go for weight gain)

Next he brings up the idea of pigs in the pasture. If you have read much of my blog lately you know that I'm extremely interested in this idea. One cool thing I found out from reading this chapter is that cow manure provides an excellent source of vitamin and mineral for pigs. It won't be the only source needed, but it is perfect because that will mean the pigs will be breaking up the cow pies and helping stop the parasite spread and speeding up the breakdown of the manure. There is a lot of great information about pastured pigs in this chapter (the Kerr Foundation research details being one), but since I have talked about pigs a lot lately I won't bore you with repeat information. I will say, that it is almost worth the price of the book for a beginner to be exposed to the ideas in this chapter. It just makes all the great pasture management information bonus!

The last animal he brings up is chickens. It is just a small section and he basically pats Joel Salatin on the back for the work he has done in this realm. I will say that reading it again from another source has practically sealed the deal for me. I now know that I'm going to be getting chickens for the farm next year whether my dad wants them there or not! I think the just add something to valuable to not have them (breaking up cow pies and eating the bugs), so I'll get some laying hens and just feed them a minimal ration ... no fancy laying ration. He'll get a few eggs if he wants, and I'll know that we are helping our pastures!

I believe combining animals so they work together for the pastures and the pocketbook is the only way to go. I realize right now we only have cattle, and chickens 60 miles from the cattle, but I also know that when we make the move to the farm we will start out diversified from the beginning. It may be diversified on a small scale, but it will be diverse so we can really learn what works best and see on a small farm can work! If you can't tell, this chapter really got me excited...