A Little Radio Time...

Yep, I know I've been missing again ... even after I said I thought I wasn't going to be missing. So, I've just decided I will post when I can. Winter preparations and church life have me hopping right now, so my down times to compose thoughts are fewer and further between. Not that I'm not having thoughts that I would like to write about (or questions that I would like to ask), rather that I just can't seem to settle down enough to process them and type them out.


With that being said, earlier this week we were featured on our local radio station (KNIA/KRLS) during the weekday news shows. I believe our little segment aired three times throughout the day, so that was pretty cool. In case you missed it, and unless you live in our county you did, here is a link to the broadcast (click on the picture at the right, and then scroll down to "In Depth :: Nov. 4th"). You can either listen online or download it. With my Mac I had to download it and use Flip4Mac, but most will probably just be able to listen online.

One thing that I mentioned in the interview was the new term for our type of farming. I just haven't been able to jump on the natural/organic/sustainable bandwagon when describing our farm so I decided to create a new phrase. What I came up with was "Pioneer Farming". I share just a little bit about what this means in the interview, but I think I'll take some time over the next few days to compose my thoughts a little more. In the mean time ... enjoy the interview.

Follow Stoneyfield on Facebook

Becca has recently set up a Facebook page for our farm, Stoneyfield. You can check it out here or from the Facebook button on the right of the page. It contains links to things like our websites and features done on our farm. There will also be some photo galleries. If you become a fan of it (a Facebook term for the non-Facebookers) you will recieve updates about products for sale, any new features done about the farm (hopefully there will be another one or two sometime), and whatever else gets added to the page.

Good 'Ol Pork For Sale

Here is a little self-promotion for your Tuesday morning. If you are in the vicinity of Central Iowa and would love some great small-farm raised pork just let us know.

Happy New Year from Stoneyfield Farm! What a year last year was. We were able to purchase land for our farm, we built our house and are now living in it, and we have brought our livestock to our farm as well. Things are really coming along!

Since you expressed interest in our meat, I thought I would update you on how it is coming along.

Our Dexter cattle are now at the farm and are adjusting to their home. They are growing well and are enjoying the hay made from our land. We are looking forward to spring when the pastures green up and we can start our rotational grazing with them. It looks like we should have a few steers ready for sale near the end of the summer.

Our hogs have been enjoying the farm a bit longer than the cows. They arrived here in June and are now ready to head to the processor. If you are interested in purchasing pork, here is a little more information on them:

The pork that we have available this winter is “Old Fashioned Pork”, just like Grandpa and Grandma used to have. Our pigs are kept outside free of confinement houses and have not been fed or given antibiotics or hormones. They have been allowed to live the way pigs were designed to live - rooting up the ground, wallowing in the mud, and relaxing in the sun. They have been fed a varied diet of soybean meal, ground corn, and ear corn (corn still on the cob) with access to grass and hay from time to time as well.

We will be selling our hogs by the whole and half (or by smaller portions if there is a group you would like to go in with). The pricing for our “Old Fashioned Pork” is as follows:
-Purchase of hog = $1.00 / pound on the hoof (live weight) to be paid to Stoneyfield Farm
-Processing of hog = $0.60 / pound hanging weight to be paid to Milo Locker

The hogs we have this winter are around 250 lbs. The hanging weight should be somewhere around 175 lbs. Depending on which cuts you choose, you would then end up with around 123 lbs of meat if you purchased a whole hog. (Let us know if you would like a worksheet that helps you see what cuts you can have.)

This would equal around $2.89 per pound of meat consisting of your choice of cuts. Please keep in mind that the price per pound might vary depending on the individual hog and which cuts you choose.

We have a processing date reserved at the Milo locker, and the meat should be ready to be picked up the first week of February. We will need to finalize our order for this processing date this week so if you are interested in purchasing pork, please let us know within the next few days. If you would rather have a hog processed at a locker closer, please let us know so we can make arrangements. (Processing charges may be different at other lockers.)

If you have questions or would like more details, please feel free to call or e-mail. If you would like to purchase a whole or half of “Old Fashioned Pork”, please let us know within the next few days.

Thanks again for your interests in our farm and our products. We pray you have a wonderful New Year!

Ethan and Rebecca Book
Stoneyfield Farm
ethan@stoneyfieldonline.com

Just Had to Share This Picture

This is what our farm looks like now. Not exactly what I had planned because it does slow things down a bit, but what are you going to do. The most surprising thing actually is that I had no idea that we would receive so much snow! When we lived in town, and had high speed internet, I was constantly checking the whether reports and radars. On top of that I usually at least caught some television weather. But, now that we live out in the boonies with slow internet and no TV I was kind of surprised when I woke up Sunday morning.

Being surprised by the weather isn't a completely bad thing though. It would have been nice to have a little more preparation done, but on the other hand I think it is good to flow with what the weather decides to give us from time to time. I know one thing for sure, it will slow my outside work down a little bit for some time, but that will just give me more time to work inside.

I do hope it melts and dries out though...

Life on the Farm: Really Fast, But Still Slow

**How funny ... on a day when I was talking about how really fast life on the farm is, but still slow I scheduled the wrong day to make this post! I actually wrote this Monday night and then scheduled it for what I thought was Tuesday ... the 12th ... I guess I'm just a day ahead this week. Anyways, sorry for the super late post.**

Now that we have owned the farm for over half-a-year, been building since the summer, and have now actually lived here for about three weeks I have an observation. Life on Stoneyfield Farm is plenty fast, but actually slow. By fast I mean that we seem to be doing a lot of stuff whether it is working on the house, working with the livestock, planning for what we are going to do next, cutting wood, or even catching up on church work. And by slow I just mean the general feeling of life. But, let me break it down a little more...

When we lived in town and my office/youth center was connected to our house it was pretty difficult to get that "separation" from work feeling. I would pop back and forth between work and home all throughout the day and even into the evening from time to time. It seemed like I could never get away (although it is hard to completely get away in ministry). Plus, there was just a general dissatisfaction rumbling around in my brain because of where we were living.

Don't get me wrong we were blessed to live in the house and I really do believe that God set it all up because when we moved here we would have never been able to buy and build a farm and the church wasn't really at a place to have the youth center at the church building itself. So, it was great for beginnings. The beginnings of our family in Knoxville and the beginnings of our youth ministry at NCC.

But, now that I am going on with my fifth year here and we are expanding our ministries at church it really did seem like it made sense to move the youth to the church and move the family to the country ... we really wanted to be in the country, and God opened the doors in His timing.

Anyways, back to the fast but slow stuff. Our life is still plenty busy with church, youth group, activity day, school events, and now the added time of driving to town. But, even with everything that is going on it still seems like life has slowed down a little bit. I think it is because I (and we) can change gears from time to time which brings some refreshment back to my life.

I love the fact that I can put in a good days work at the church planning events, working on messages and studies, and meeting with students. But, after all of that is done I can come home and feed the pigs, cut firewood, or do any number of chores. Even the work on the farm is still work it is a change of pace and I think it helps keep me fresh on all fronts.

So, there is my simple observation ... life on the farm is really fast, but still slow. Of course it probably helps that we haven't hooked up the T.V. and the fact that we have slower internet keeps us off the computer a bit more.

Just In Case You Didn't Hear...

Okay, just in case you didn't see it on my wife's blog or in the comments section of the last post here is a link to the little piece from this weekend. It is kind of an interesting deal because I suspect I spent about an hour talking, and then the recording guy probably spent another 30 minutes just getting sound. After all of that it was condensed and stitched together into the few minutes that you can listen to online. So, the big question is how many people listened to my rambling about the chicken in the muddy pigpen or heard me trying to keep our dog Sophie from eating the microphone...

If you haven't had a chance to listen and would like to just take THIS LINK and then click on the little player above my picture...

The Thing About Bare Land...

The thing about bare land is that it is ... well ... it is bare, empty, and void of buildings! That is the case with the 40 acres that we are in the process of buying, so we will have to build everything that we are going to need. A house, storage, shelters, and fences will all have to be built because we are starting with a blank slate. On one had that can be a bad thing because of all the work that it will take to get things up and running, but on the other hand it gives us the opportunity to do exactly what we want exactly how we want to do it. I'm going to try and be the optimist and run with the latter of those two options!

Let me start with the easy stuff first ... One of the reasons that I brought up the fencing questions a little while ago on the blog is because I knew this land might be a possibility. You can get an idea of the land we are working with from the image at the top of the post. Initially I think we are going to fence along the road and the along the wooded area. I think with a little work the fence on the West side of the property could be usable, but we may end up putting up fence just inside of that and going with high tensile electric all the way around. Yep, right now I believe we will be going with high tensile electric. I'm not sure how many wires yet, now that I'm looking for it I am beginning to see it around quite a bit. In fact there is a PowerFlex dealer not to far away so I think we are going to check them out pretty soon. Once the boundary fences are established we will use all portable fencing inside and then eventually make a few more permanent fences if needed.

As far as storage buildings or livestock shelters go ... we will probably tackle those this fall or as needed. We may make some basic portable shade for the cows and beef up the chicken pen a little, but other than that the fence and the house are much more important building projects.

Which leads me to the house. This is the thing that is probably going to be the most stressful because we don't have a ton of budget to work with. We knew going in that we were going to have to choose between a larger chunk of land or a nicer house. As a family we decided that we wanted the land because we could always upgrade the house!

Right now we are looking at a 36 x 45 x 12 post frame barn (like the image on the right) that would be roughly 1600 square feet. Then we would build our living area inside that barn ... err ... house in an area around 1200 square feet leaving the rest for storage. Of course it would have a slab concrete floor and we would probably build a very small lean-to off the side with a cellar because we live in Iowa (tornadoes). Our house will have no air-conditioning and we will heat with wood in order to save money. We will install some electric base-board heaters for backup though.

We are still going through the plans and talking to builders about putting up the barn for us. Once it is up we plan on doing all of the interior work ourselves and building a bare bones home that will be full of love ... but not much else! This is were living simply and making sacrifices for what we believe we are supposed to be doing becomes real, and we are excited about the possibilities.

A few more details ... there is no electric, water, or septic on the farm, but the power and rural water lines are on our side of the road so it is not that big of a deal. Also, it is important to realize that right now we are looking at bare bones and no frills. In fact we see this as a temporary house or one that we can "fancy" up as we desire. Hopefully we will live in this barn for a while and then turn it "back" into a barn and a on farm store.

I would like to open up everything for discussion and suggestions though. I would especially appreciate and thoughts, links, or book recommendations that would help in the building of the barn/house. Do you have any great economical ideas on insulating a post frame/pole building? Let the discussion begin! :)

Updates from Stoneyfield...

There have been a few developments around the Stoneyfield farm lately so I thought I would take a few moments in the middle of the week to update everyone.

• First of all is an exciting piece of news. I was hoping to make this a post of it's own, but with the snowy weather and busy happenings at work I don't know when I will able to dedicate some space and pictures to this little tidbit of good news (I eventually will make this it's own post). This past Sunday afternoon our first Dexter heifer, RAD's Victoria, had her first calf. And, it was a heifer! Victoria just went off by herself in the early afternoon and had her calf under a thick stand of cedar trees ... as it was snowing! It wasn't a perfect birth because my family did have to bring the calf inside to help her warm up and gain some strength, but after a short time inside they were able to take her back out to her mom (who was under cover by now) and she started nursing. Now a couple of days later the little girl is bouncing around and doing pretty well. As soon as I'm able to get down and take pictures I will post them for everyone to see.



• I mentioned in an earlier post about the current hay situation on the farm. If we continue to have a full cover of snow like we have now we will probably be able to make our hay last until the end of February. If the snow cover were to melt away we would probably be able to stretch it a little further. With the ground completely covered in deep snow our nine cows and four steers go through about four small square bales each day. But, if it is mostly open ground we can get by with between one or two bales. In fact yesterday (before the snow came) they only ate one bale. The good news in the whole deal is that we probably have hay available to buy from my uncle. He has some big round bales from this past summer or some year old square bales. We will probably go and check it out and get a little of both. Next year we plan on making three cuttings of hay if the weather allows so hay shouldn't be a problem.



• As I just wrote our first calf was born on Stoneyfield, but I think it won't be too long until the second calf comes along. The next cow we expect to calve is A.A. Mandy who is ten years old and dun. She is also breed to a dun bull so in the best case we would have a dun heifer born! Along with Mandy there is a chance that three other cows could cave later in the spring. We bought them as pasture exposed to a bull so hopefully they are bred. If all goes well the Stoneyfield herd will have five new faces in the pasture this summer.



• The last little bit of news is kind of something that I don't want to totally unveil at the moment. But, if you are inclined to pray we would appreciate your prayers for discernment and guidance!

Odds and Ends on the Farm...

We had to go to the farm today to do some odds and ends. As you can see from the pictures there isn't too much snow on the ground, but there was snow in the air while we were there. It is a blessing that the snow has melted off. Until the snow cover left we were having to feed four square bales a day to the Dexters, but now that they can graze a bit on the stockpiled forage we are down to one-and-a-half or two bales a day. Hopefully the Southern portion of the state will stay fairly free of the white stuff for the rest of winter.

While we were down there my dad and I discussed the idea of moving the steers out onto some tall fescue. We have probably 10-15 acres of fescue that hasn't been mowed since last winter so there is plenty sticking up above any snow that comes. By moving the four steers out there we could save a bit on hay which would mean that we may not have to buy in any ... or as much. Now, we just have to wait for a bit of a thaw so we can go put up a electric fence for them. In the future we are going to be stockpiling other areas of the farm with different grasses for winter use, but this is the first winter so we are really just starting to get the plans together.

One thing that I really wanted to do when we were down there is take a picture of our cow, Breagha. She was the only cow in our small herd that didn't have a picture up on the on-line pedigree site. If you haven't checked out our herd yet I encourage you to check out the link in the right column for the Stoneyfield herd. If you are interested in Dexters at all it is neat to read through the different pedigree's ... at least it is something I enjoy!

I must admit that every time I have a chance to spend some time working with the Dexters I become more and more impressed with them as a breed. They are just so easy to work with and so docile. Our herd doesn't really have any interaction with people now other than when they are feed hay in the morning and watered ... and that isn't exactly a personal touch kind of thing. Despite the lack of daily handling they are very calm when we are out there working amongst them and I can usually entice them to come up and eat hay out of my hand. I am looking forward to being able to have daily interaction with them and handling them more often. If you haven't already I encourage you to check out the Dexter breed!

Young Iowans Don't Like the Stink...

"Livestock pollution turns off young Iowans" is the title of an article by Brian Depew from the Jan. 13th edition of the Des Moines Register. I was turned on to this article by Kelli of Sugar Creek Farm. Lately she has be doing some "Ag Speedlinking" with links to lots of interesting articles. In fact if you haven't been over to her blog I encourage you to check it out just so you can keep up on some of the current issues in farming. But, back to this article...

Mr. Depew grew up in Laurens, IA and currently lives in Nebraska where he works for The Center For Rural Affairs. But, in this article he is writing about a recent trip back to the family farm in Iowa. His family farm will soon be within three miles 13 "industrial livestock" buildings and he points to that as one of the reasons that young Iowans are not staying in the state. He recounts some of the recent efforts by the state to keep young Iowans in Iowa (basically people like me) and offers that one of the reasons people around my age and younger are leaving is because they are looking for "places with vibrant natural resources, thriving communities and healthy economies". He contends that they can't find those things in Iowa because our state government has sat by as the Big-Agri Business has entrenched itself in the state. Also, this embracing of the big business agriculture has squeezed out the small farm families.

While I do agree with that last sentence to a point (I'm not sure I want to blame just the government, because I know a lot of people that have benefited from those big farms), I'm not sure if I fully appreciate or agree with his main idea ... that young Iowas have left because confinement agriculture has ruined our natural resources, killed our small towns, and ruined our economy. I have lived my entire life in Iowa and have no desire to live anywhere else, but all my friends that have left have gone to larger cities or suburbs that offered a completely different lifestyle than Iowa. Not a better lifestyle, just different. I will admit that confinement agriculture does do its damage when it gets out of control and never will I support it as the right choice, but I'm also not going to legislate how people farm ... if I want to change the opinions of people I will do it by providing a great alternative (I think I can).

As I mentioned I agree with much of the ideas behind this article, but I'm not sure if I can take the entire message. Besides, since when did Nebraska become so great :) (really just kidding!!!). I do believe that the changing agricultural world has changed the life and economics of our small towns, but it will take more than legislative reform to change this. It will take people opting out of the "big systems" and beginning to buy locally. It will take farmers willing to do things differently and invite the cities out to their farms to experience, shop, and eat. It will take a cultural shift ... and those always take time and effort, not government.

I appreciate what Mr. Depew wrote and I encourage you to click on the link to the article. It is a nice article with a lot to think about and the responses from readers at the bottom of the article bring out a lot of back and forth discussion. I will say that I hope Mr. Depew buys local food and supports the small farmers in his area ... I do believe he has a genuine concern for rural America because of his job so he just might already be buying local.

An Afternoon of Work at Stoneyfield

Well, since our town decided that I shouldn't have five chickens on my property I decided to make a quick trip down to the farm yesterday. I had to dismantle the the nest boxes (buckets), grab the feed/oyster shell/grit, gather up the hens, and load everything up into the back of the Expedition. You can scroll down to yesterdays post to see a picture of the chickens new digs. They are just fine, but I don't think they will be as warm (and it is going to be very cold for the next couple days). Since I had a reason to go down I planned on doing a few other things that also needed to be done.

First of all I met my dad in town at the farm store to pick up 6 cattle panels to upgrade a little section of fence with the impending arrival of our bull, Hershey. The entire front lot (about 2 acres) is surrounded by cattle panels except for this one little section that just had the very old worn down woven wire/barbed wire fence. Considering our heifer Vicki can jump that fence at will we didn't want to see what would happen when there was a bull on one side and cows in heat on the other side! So, I dropped a bit of money and we headed to the farm (with a short interlude to pull the mailman out of the ditch).

At the farm I set up the new chicken pen (corner of a shed that had been used for puppies) and mixed up a bunch of feed for my dad. They should be good to go for awhile and I don't feel so bad about bringing the chickens down because at least they will get some eggs! In fact I think everyone (Dad, Stepmom, and brother) are excited about them ... except for my sister.

Despite the cold air and the wind it was pretty easy to put up the panels. In fact we were able to drive in a few t-posts with no problem. After we had the panels set up we set about cutting out the bull calves from the herd in order to wean them. Now, I have heard lots of great things about Dexters ... but, on Thursday I really experienced one. In the morning my dad put out the hay in a small pen we have in the corner of the front lot and then called the cows up (they do come when you call). They all walked in and started eating while my dad broke open the water tanks ... then, six of the girls must have received the memo because they just decided to walk out! So, when I showed up there were just three cows/heifers in there with the four boys. Showing our cattle sorting prowess we both walked into the little pen and I announced that I was going to sort the bull calves over to one side. Just as I said that the bull calves did exactly that! Dad opened the gate ... the girls walked out ... we were done and we were speechless!

This weekend is going to be very cold and while they have some good wind breaks out in the pasture the bull calves in the small pen for the time being had none. With that in mind we build a barricade of hay bales around one corner and put up some old panels around it to keep them from eating all of the hay. I think the boys will be as snug as a bug in a rug ... or at least as Dexters in a corner of hay.

It was nice to get out there and do some work that I had been meaning to do. It is just more difficult because it is such a long drive. After the afternoon of work and being informed that we couldn't keep our chickens we are all the more ready to make a move ... hopefully soon!

**I hope you enjoy the pictures of our cattle. From top to bottom: 1.) Ginger with her face all up in the camera; 2.) Vicki, who is staring to look very pregnant; 3.) Ginger looking longingly at her calf in the pen; 4.) The boys eating by their hay wall**

Winter at Stoneyfield

As I mentioned yesterday I needed to make a trip down to the farm yesterday to do a couple of things for my dad. I was more than excited to have a reason to go down, even if it meant getting behind on my work, because it had been so long since I had a chance to see the herd. As you can see from this picture there is plenty of snow in Southern Iowa right now and even though we had grass stockpiled it is under snow and ice at the moment. So, it seems they spend much of their time up in the front lot where we feed them and where they have water.

Speaking of water ... along with lots of snow it has been really cold lately and we don't have any tank heaters in the cattle pen. So, when I arrived the tanks were solid ice from top to bottom (guess you can't always trust the Amish to do your chores the way you would do them). I spent a while hacking out the ice with an axe, and constantly pushing my cows out of the way so I had room to swing the axe! They were rather friendly today and I was able to get my hands all over them. As you can see from the picture they were also rather thirsty.

The picture on the left is of one of our heifers, Billie of K&K. She came to us from the Anderson farm in Missouri and I think she is shaping up rather nicely under that heavy winter coat. This coming year she will be bred to our incoming herd sire, SGF SANT Hershey, who is also dun. Of course we are hoping that she will throw us a nice little dun heifer calf in 2009, but we will just have to wait and see!

Now, this last picture is ... well, it is of my confusion bull! I call him that because I'm just not sure what to do with this little guy. He is around six or seven months right now and is smaller than everyone else that is younger than him. Because of his lineage there is a possibility that he carries the chondrodysplasia gene, which isn't the best thing if you would like to use him as a sie. So, he will probably end up in someone's freezer. Unless... someone has some non-carrier cows and they would like to use him to bring down their size? I think he has a good look to him for his size and age, but he is just so darn small. Either way, I'm not sure he will be ready to finish next fall!

So, there are some shots of the Stoneyfield herd in the snow. I was very pleased with the way the are looking this winter and I can't wait to see them in the coming spring!

Make sure you check out the blog on Monday because I'm having another farmer question and answer series...

We Found Our Bull!?!

Well, I think it is safe to let the cat out of the bag finally since I have signed a contract and sent out the deposit! After much searching, learning, discussing, and all of that good stuff I think we have settled on a bull for our herd. Finding a Dexter Bull that I was at least partially satisfied with has proven more difficult that I thought it would be. If you remember back in October I wrote THIS POST and THIS POST about selecting a bull. Both of those posts linked to articles and forum posts discussing the qualities and traits you should look for when picking out your bull. Things were more difficult because it just doesn't seem like there are a lot of good Dexter bulls out there ... I have a couple theories on why that is, but I won't get into that now.

So, here are a few requirements that were on my short list ... He had to look like a bull, not an old cow or plain steer ... He needed to be dun or carry dun genes ... He needed a decent background ... He needed to be old enough to work next summer and old enough to get a better idea of his looks ... And, he needed to be horned or dehorned. Well, I think I did pretty goods fulfilling those requirements and I may have even ended up a little better.

With out further ado let me introduce to you, SGF SANT Hershey! Here are the details ... The "SGF" stands for Spruce Grove Farms which is John Potter's farm in Michigan. Mr. Potter is a well respected breeder of Dexters and Dexter bulls and I had a chance to have a great conversation with him as I was learning about bull selection. In fact I would have loved to get a bull directly from him, but at the time I talked with him he didn't have anything that fit my bill. The "SANT" speaks to the year he was born and his sire who is Antares. Antares seems to be a pretty popular bull as evidenced by the 52 Dexters that he has sired! His dam is also out of Spruce Grove Farm's breeding so that is a plus. He is horned as you can see ... he is dun as you can see ... but, one little bonus that you can't see is that he carries a gene for red. So, if we had a cow that carried the red gene we would have the possibility of a red calf!

Hershey is about 20 months old so he will be plenty ready by next summer and we also have a decent idea of how he is going to turn out based on his looks right now. He has a nice set of horns on him so we will have to give him respect, but he also can be gentle and I have pictures of his former owners with their arms around his neck. Gentleness is one of the traits in Dexters that led us to bring them to our farm. All in all we are pretty excited about bringing him home and I'm really looking forward to the 2009 calving season!

He will be coming from Marian and Erik at Five Ponds Farm in Southern Missouri. They have be a joy to work with as we have gone through the whole process and I'm looking forward to meeting them in person when we get a chance to pick Hershey up (not sure when yet). If you are interested in Dexters, Navajo-Churro sheep, Red Wattle hogs, or even daylilies and hostas I encourage you to check out their website. They have a lot of neat things going on at there farm.

Hopefully in the next month or so I will be able to post pictures of Hershey at Stoneyfield!

Pigs or Sheep?

The question running through my mind lately is this ... Pigs or Sheep? What should the next addition be to Stoneyfield Farm. Even though we are not on the farm yet and have no definitive plans of when that will happen (if ever), I would like to see us, and the us in this case means myself and my dad, take steps in the direction that I would eventually like to end up. Maybe it just means I help with the research, marketing, and ideas or maybe it means I'm there working on the farm everyday. Either way, I'm beginning to think about what to add to the farm, if anything, in the spring.

On one hand, we have talked quite a few times about bringing some sheep to the place. Either ewes or wool wethers or market lambs. We don't really have a clue as to what we would do when it comes to the sheep. In fact, between the two of us our knowledge of sheep is practically nil. The one thing we have going for us is that my uncle (dad's brother) has quite a bit of experience with sheep so there would be some help close by. One of the positives of sheep is their browsing ability and the help they would give in cleaning up old fence rows that criss-cross the property. We would like to clean out a lot of these areas that are over grown in order to replace fence or put up more effective fencing. In this case, we would be using the sheep as a labor force. The other reason we are considering sheep is because they are a great animal to follow cattle on pastures because they are a dead end host for the parasites (and cattle the same for sheep). It would be nice to have this tool in our arsenal. We just need to continue to research this idea. We are planning on going to a few sales in the area to see what the market is like right now, and I would like to find some cattle people who are also raising sheep, or vice versa.

Pigs ... can't live with them, can't live without them! Pigs are kind of a sore subject in my family. In the late 80's, when the hog market was high, we had a lot of pigs on the Book family farms, and they all smelled really bad. Once the market dropped we got out, but it was never a really enjoyable thing having that hog lot on the place. Obviously we would be doing things quite a bit differently this time, but the stigma still exists. On the plus side, we have personal experience with raising hogs from farrow to finish. Of course, this knowledge is in the more conventional setting, but it still would apply. I like the idea of adding pigs because there are some areas that I would like to reclaim to pasture or savannah as I have previously mentioned, and because I really like to eat pork. I figure if I'm going to raise food I better be passionate about eating that food also! Again, there is still much research to be done, but maybe we would feel a bit more comfortable going into this animal than any other ... if we can get past the stigma!

If you are interested in reading some more about pigs, pasture, and the combination of those two things, I encourage you to check out this THREAD over on the Homesteading Today forums. I had initially asked about different heritage breeds that people were using in their pasture situations, but it also brought up a lot of good thoughts on pastured pigs and breed selection.

So, Pigs or Sheep ... Do you have an input?

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!

New Pasture for the Stoneyfield Herd

I absolutely love to read. I have enjoyed reading my entire life, and not a day goes by without me reading. I usually am working my way through a couple books and magazines at the same time and take a chance to read whenever I need a break. But, as much as I love to read about becoming a farmer it was so great today to actually get down to the farm and do something!

Yesterday we went down to do some much needed work. With the expansion of our herd, our pasture that was wonderful for a heifer and a steer was not nearly enough for a herd of thirteen strong. We had kept them in the smaller lot and fed them hay since we brought the new ones home because my family was going to be gone and the Amish neighbors were going to be doing the chores. We just wanted it to be easier for them to water them and such and not have to worry about them getting out. But, today was the day to go out and expand the pasture. I would say that we encompassed about seven or eight acres of land to go along with the one and a half of the other lot. They are connected with a lane right now, but I plan on closing them out of the lot and building a water wagon so that they can just stay in the new pasture. There is actually room for the pasture to expand out there so hopefully they can winter in that area. Also, I think it is a good place for them to calve because there are some trees that they can get into to get out of the weather, and it is one of the more dry areas of the farm.

Our fence is just a single wire electric fence with rebar posts every ten paces or so and t-posts at the corners and on top of hills. There is a five-strand barbed wire fence on one side and a woven wire with one barbed wire at the top on the other side. I'm pretty confident this single wire will keep them in (it's at Dexter nose height), but if they do decide to get out, there is a lot of room for them to roam before they hit our boundary fences. Plus, where they are, the grass is literally greener on the inside of the fence because we let that grow since we knew we would be fencing them in there and had mowed the rest. It goes up quick and seems to be effective!

All in all, it was a beautiful fall day to work and my only complaint was that we didn't have enough time. With the farm over an hour away and a job that does require my work here, I didn't have as much time as I would have liked. I had hoped to also build a pen to wean off one of the bull calves (soon to be steer) and the black heifer that came from Illinois. It wasn't going to be my ideal weaning set-up, but I don't want those calves on their mother all winter long so I will have to make do with what we can. The bonus of having them weaned is that the family can spend more time with them and get the heifer calf used to being handled. I plan on turning her out with the bull (that doesn't live here yet) next summer for a spring '09 calf.

One bonus from today is that I was able to give my dad a list of materials I need to build our chicken shed for them to winter in. We thought we would try and keep our chickens over the winter in our backyard, but we need to build a permanent structure for them to keep them somewhat warm and put a lamp in so they will lay a few eggs hopefully. He is making his way through on Saturday so I should be able to get started on that next week.

I put up a couple pictures with the post today. The first picture is of our little dun bull calf and the new black heifer (no name yet). For a while I was thinking of letting the little boy develop a little since he was looking sort of beefy, but now I'm thinking he might be short-legged which can be a bad thing in Dexter bulls. I may have him tested just to find out if he carries the unwanted gene found in some short-legged bulls. The second picture includes the two mentioned already and a couple candidates for freezer camp in the future!

Like I said ... it was great to actually be doing yesterday!

More Thoughts on a Business Plan...

Yesterday I posted a portion of an article about creating a business plan. That information comes from Penny Huber who leads a class called, "Growing Your Small Market Farm." I am realy awaiting a brochure for this coming years class and praying that it doesn't take place on Wednesdays! I thought that little section that I posted yesterday was eye opening for me ... when it comes to a business plan I am clueless. (Hmmm, kinda sounds like me and farming.)

I found the "myths" and "facts" interesting. When I take a step back and look at myself I see that communication is not a problem, work ethic is not a problem, even farming ability (or the capacity to learn) is not a problem ... but, I have been scared of the business part. I feel like if I can get started down the marketing path I can do that, but I have wondered if I could ever tackle the business side. It was reassuring to read that it is possible to learn how to be an entrepreneur. Hopefully I will be able to learn some of this from Penny Huber!

As I mentioned yesterday, points number two and three resonated most with me. Point number two says, "The business planning process must involve everyone in the family and/or business." This is very important to me because becoming a beginning farmer is a very big step emotionally and financially. In fact, with our Dexters we have already taken a large step along the way. I think it is very important that my wife and I are on the same page as we look at how the farm will work and how it will pay. Another factor is my father and step-mother. Right now that's where our cows live and possibly where farming could take place so it will be important to have them on board with any business plan we formulate.

The second point is as follows, "The business plan must reflect reality. 'Interview other people already in the business to get their input.'" Since I got this farming bug in my system I have tried to seek out sources of what is actually working. I have read books, magazine articles, and research reports. I have talked on the phone with farmers, I have had e-mail correspondence with people making their farm pay their salary, and I have visited local farmers who are farming full-time or working towards it. This research has been helpful because it adds reality (to steal a word from the quote) to the ideas that are bouncing around in my head. Also, I hope to make it out to more farms and see what is working for people in Iowa. (Hmmm... Sugar Creek Farm ... do you accept visitors!?!)

That little article that I quoted in my post yesterday was a good introduction to a farming business plan for me. I would like to investigate this further and will be searching out people to talk to and information to read. Here are a couple of books I was thinking about checking out via inter-library loan. If you have any thoughts on either of them I would love to hear your thoughts.

Farm Fresh : Direct Marketing Meat & Milk by Allan Nation

Making Your Small Farm Profitable by Ron Macher

A Business Plan?

Do you ever feel like you are out of your league. I'm a high school soccer coach at a school that doesn't place a lot of emphasis on a sport unless it ends with ball (football, basketball, baseball, and softball). We don't have the greatest equipment, but we make do with what we have. I know for a fact that when a team shows up at our place with matching warm-ups, bags, water bottles, shoes, and more my team feels like it is out of its league! Well, whenever I read about or start to think about a business plan I feel like I am out of my league.

But, I feel like a business plan is an important part of any farming venture that I want to be involved in. I want to have an idea of what I'm getting into, what it's going to cost, what I need to return, what I can invest in, and how much I need to sell. So, last night I did a little "googling" to see what I could come up with. Below is a section from an article about the 2004 Practical Farmers of Iowa Conference. If you would like to read the article in its entirety you can click HERE. Below I have copied the section that specifically speaks to farming business plans in general:

How to develop a workable business plan

When you run your own farm, you’re an entrepreneur as much as a producer. That means you need to understand business planning 101, said Penny Brown Huber, program administrator for Iowa’s Growing Your Small Market Farm Business Planning Program.

“Entrepreneurs are innovators,” Huber said. “They have a strong desire to create something new. They also have a vision of how their business will grow and a plan to make it happen.”

She presented these contracts between popular misunderstandings, and what she knows about farmers and entrepreneurs:

Myth: Entrepreneurs are born, not made.
Fact: Almost anyone can learn business skills.

Myth: Entrepreneurs are their own bosses.
Fact: Entrepreneurs work for many people, including investors, bankers, customers, employees, and family.

Myth: Entrepreneurs set their own hours.
Fact: Entrepreneurs work long and hard for their success.

Myth: Entrepreneurs love high-risk ventures.
Fact: Entrepreneurs look for ways to minimize risk.

Huber gave these steps, and comments, for successful business planning:

1. The business owner assumes the lead in the business planning process. “You can’t expect an Extension agent or someone else to write your business plan for you.”


2. The business planning process must involve everyone in the family and/or business.


3. The business plan must reflect reality. “Interview other people already in the business to get their input.”


4. Develop contingency plans for worst-case scenarios. “If you get sick, a building burns down, a hailstorm destroys your vegetable crop, or your livestock get infected with disease, you have to have a plan.”


5. Set objectives and goals that are achievable. “Two to three strong, clear goals and objectives will really help you move along,” Huber said. “Your first goal can be, ‘I will write a business plan.’ Your objective can be, ‘I will write my plan by Dec. 1.’”


6. Include innovative marketing ideas. “Developing recipes that feature the foods you raise can be a great way to promote your business.”

Once your write your business plan, review it often and use it as a guide.

I thought the article brought up some good points for a total business plan beginner like myself to think about. I don't want to make an extra long post here, but I will comeback tomorrow with some of my thoughts on the article. Let me just say the points that really hit home with me were numbers two and three. One of my major reasons for farming is the family aspect ... my family and the families that we will sell to. And, I am all about learning from the experience of others. In fact, that is what a majority of the posts on this blog of mine are about, learning from others. I would appreciate any thoughts on business plans in general or more specifically farm based business plans.

Done on the Farm...

Well, on Saturday I was able to head down to the farm for a few hours. Really, it was just a time to unwind after a busy week and before a busy evening. I didn't really do too much work, but I was able to repair a little fencing, take some pictures, and walk around the farm inspecting some potential pastures. Plus ... I was able to talk with one of the Amish neighbors for about thirty minutes.

My main piece of work was to shore up the fencing a bit in the area where the cows are going to over winter. We had put up a cattle panel fence around roughly two acres of pasture (was plenty when it was built!), but we put it up quickly so some of the panels were attached to the posts and to each other with twine. What would we do without twine? On Saturday I just went around the fence and wired everything together so that nobody would be breaking any twine and getting out. It was a beautiful day and it was a wonderful time of work.

After I did that I just spent sometime walking around and inspecting the new cows. Remember, last week we more than doubled our herd size and I really hadn't had the chance to check out the new additions in full daylight because it was dusk when we picked them up and after midnight when we dropped them off. All things considered I think our new additions have brought up the quality of our herd. The two black 5-year old cows are very nice looking animals with some great lineage ... plus, they have great calves at side (one beefy bull calf and one nice heifer). Joanna, the cow with the bell, looks great for a cow that is 8-years old. At first I wasn't going to get her at all, but once I saw her I was really impressed. I'm hoping to get a few heifers from her. The last two new additions are a 20-month old cow and her young dun bull calf at side. She calved way to early (they didn't know she was bred), but delivered a healthy calf and she looks alright herself. Her mother is Bailey, which is one of the new 5-year olds. I think she is a little smaller than our heifer Victoria, but that may just be because she has been nursing her calf during a time when she would normally be growing.

If all goes well we will have six calves on the ground in 2008, which will give us a nice jump while we are building our herd. Plus, we will have the opportunity for at least nine calves in 2009. I'm excited about the way our herd is shaping up. We have five females that carry dun, so I would really like to find a quality dun bull.

After hanging out with the cows for a while I took off to go check out some potential pastures. I was waylaid by the Amish neighbor on the way and had to listen to him scheme about making money for himself off of my Dexters ... it was really pretty funny and nice to chat with him! We have about 20 acres that we can turn our cattle out to when we get some fencing up. I would like to get them out there this week so they have have some green grass before we really need to start feeding them hay. We had them in the small pasture this week so the Amish could do the chores easily. Also, I'm excited about the grazing possibilities for next year ... and the hay production possibilities!

It was a great day to be on the farm and really got my juices flowing. I am going to start putting a business plan together it he next few months just so I can begin to quantify some of my farming desires. I think this is an important step because I don't want to go flying into this farming deal without a plan. I know some of you are probably wondering if I already have ... but, I don't think so. The cattle we have now are sort of the test group. We can learn from them and sell them as seedstock if we decided to go a different direction. We will see what I can come up with.

Picture Descriptions From Top to Bottom :: Ethan standing with the herd; Kenosha and Bailey in front of the herd; Joanna, Bailey, and bull calf; Joanna with her beautiful bell; the Stoneyfield herd; Bailey, Joanna, Kenosha, and the heifer calf.

Today is the Work Day

You know how I went to the farm last week? Well, nothing that needed to be done was done last week ... and the things that were needed to be done are magnified now because we have more than doubled the Dexter herd. So, since I am living the bachelor life today I am going to head down to the farm to spend some time with the cows and do some work. I won't have much time so I will spend the day doing some fence repair and prepping their winter pasture for the cattle. If I have a chance I may working on fixing up a fence where we are going to move them until the grass turns brown. The weather is nice and it looks to be a fine day for working.

The picture I have put up with this post is of the farm. It is one hundred and sixty acres and includes everything inside the red box. There are three small ponds and a bunch of rolling hills and timber. Roughly, less than half of the land is pasture with the rest being timber.

The land needs some renovation, but most on the edges between the pasture and the woods. My dad test drives zero-turning mowers so the pastures have been mowed continually and what was once weeds comes up in mostly bluegrass and clover (except for the portion of fescue). It is almost like we have been rotationally grazing much of the land for the past seven years ... we were just rotationally mowing it! I'm hoping to use some live stock to clean up the brush areas on the edges of the woods and hopefully open them up a little bit from the multiflora rose mess that they are. Oh, and the arrow points to where the cows are now!