"Thinking is fun"

I just found this as part of an article on Sugar Mountain Farm's blog (They do all kinds of pastured animals in Vermont):

"Another trick is changing the animal species that uses a space. Different species put different loads on the pastures. They each have their own adapted set of parasites and hangers on who can't survive with other species. By changing who is using a pasture or permanent housing space we again break the cycles in a safe natural organic manner.

With permanent housing like the winter dens I carved into the hillside or the post and beam animal sheds we built, we achieve the cleanout by only letting the animals use those spaces for part of the year. These are all winter spaces so during the warm weather the animals are not in them. In the spring, fall and summer the livestock move out to pasture giving the dens and sheds time to air and rest. The bedding gets composted and then used on the gardens. Disease and parasite loads are vitually eliminated without having to use any chemical treatments. This is healthier for us, the plants, the animals and the soil. Good practices like this are also less expensive and less work although they do take more thinking to implement. Thinking is fun."

We've been talking a lot lately about putting in more fencing so we can do rotational grazing with our sheep and goats, which will be complemented by following them with the chickens. But I think it will be poor management practice to give the sheep and goats fresh pasture but then bring them into the same stinky stall every night of the year. I like this idea of only taking them in during winter, and maybe heavy rains. I will have to talk to Neil and also the program. Right now, letting all the animals out in the morning is a big part of the program. It is a regular scheduled activity, giving them a constant routine and the sense of resposibility and daily chores. I think feeding them and other daily care would be alright, without letting them out too. Man that would save me so much work of 2x/wk stall mucking in the summer too!

christmas time

despite the fact that its the middle of december (although its like 50 degrees outside), we seem to be in the middle of some of the most work since we've been here. we're doing tons of planning for the poultry aspect of the farm next year, and that also includes some additions and alterations to the ruminant pastures as well. we'd like to do more of a rotational pasture, following the sheep and goats with the poultry for the health of all the animals and the pasture. we've divided the poultry planning as follows:

housing - brooks
feeding storage - brooks
nutrition - anna
general management (including freezer space, scheduling, moving and feeding) - anna
marketing/sales - brooks

this is for both layers and broilers. the tentative plan is to have between 50 and 100 layers and do batches of 50 broilers every two weeks.

the biggest issue for me designing the chicken tractor has been the waterers, but i think i have it figured out. we're planning on using the EverFull dog bowl that hooks directly to a garden hose and has an internal float valve. the top is open, so we'll turn a pan upside down on it and provide head openings for the chickens to get into it. that way we have a lightweight, fresh water supply. ill draw a picture of the whole idea soon and get a cost estimate on here. one of our biggest points is still in the method of moving. i like the idea of having a levered wheelbarrowish system, but i think anna is into the skid idea more. maybe we should do one of each and see which we prefer, it wouldnt be hard to retrofit either way. the marketing stuff is pretty important for the business plan, so id like to get on that immediately as well. we should talk to the rovners about it by late january i think.

we're got the composting toilet in place and have a third compost bin in place as well. yesterday we made new goat feeder so they dont waste so much hay and feed and today we installed chicken wire in the bunnies' pen so they can be let out. the next big project is the wvo on the mercedes. im meeting with stamm to go over some of it next weekend. but i need to do a cost analysis of that as well.

we're also making some christmas presents! anna had the awesome idea of doing planters with little herb gardens for our siblings. she made noel and jim window gardens out of a couple of plastic planters and covered jims in bamboo (awesomely) and painted noel's. lisa's will be plain wood so she has a clean slate to decorate or bask in its simplicity, and kai's is made of a used coffee maker. im also making devin a planter out of an old alphie toy, we'll put some pics up.

more soon

brooks

feed

a big topic of discussion on the pastured poultry list is chicken feed. id like to do a survey of some of the poultry farmers around here to see what theyre feeding their chickens from day one. many on the group prefer whole grains with some brewer's yeast as a possible supplement. since i have a never ending supply of brewer's yeast, that would be perfect. others raise maggots and grubs for the two important amino acids they need (lysine and methionine). reserch chicken nutrition more as well.

also - do the same for dairy goats. we should find out what they feed at M&B, sandra miller, and any others we can talk to at pasa. i guess really id just like to learn much more about the nutritional needs of the animals wed like to keep.

brooks

projects for the farm

anna and iw ould like to meet with neil and nina sometime soon about projects at the farm. anna is busy outside right now doing some sheet mulching, and im getting ready to sell the motorcycle, getting pictures and psoting it online.

anyway, i already wrote an informative paper to the rovners about humanure, which ill post to the site so everyone can check it out. we have to talk to them about it, but they seem open to the idea. anna has proposed 2 milking goats, which ws also received very well by nina. its a big commitment, but as long as we have people around helping us out when we can't be here, we should be in good shape.

the on other project neil and i already discussed a little is an outbuilding. i would like to have a place to put tools and have a small workspace, but the spot where our mowers are now would be perfect. so if we had a building big enough to keep the mowers and a few other things we would be better off. neil suggested a 10x12 prefab amish style shed, but i think tht may be too small. i think we need to know what is actually going to be in it before we decide on a size.

other projects in the works are:
WVO conversion of a diesel (once we buy it)
rainwater catchment system
electricity in the greenhouse
solar water heting (maybe to be used at first for animal watering system)
better chicken tractor design for next year


brooks

first pictures

It sucks that I didn't take any pictures of the chickens as they grew up, but anyway here is a picture of the empty shelter. The first picture shows the grass before and after the chickens were on it. And the state of the garden now, hopefully a big contrast to how it will look next year!

first post from anna: more about the chickens

So I will try to get used to this, and write in it all the time when there is stuff that is useful to keep track of, interesting to share, or entertaining to tell.
Before I forget, here are the flaws/mistakes as far as we can tell with the first batch of chickens.

First of all, we got the chickens mail order from mcmurray hatchery. They come in a cardboard box and you have to pick them up at the post office. They were rock cornish which are broilers bred to just get fat fast. And then you eat em.

The 25 chicks arrived on August 11, and were in the barn under a heat lamp for the first couple days. They went outside 2 weeks later on the 25th. My Dad helped me build the chicken tractor, and it was the same design I used at the Johnson's dairy farm. 6' x 10', 2x4s for the base with 5 pvc pipes on 9 inch nails arching over it. There is chicken wire around that with a tarp over the top. Maybe one of these days I'll get a picture up. The chicks cost ~$40, their structure ~$40, feeders and waterers ~$50, and each back of food either $6 or $10 (depending on if it was chick grower or layer mash, we got whatever they had!). Altogether they went through 13 bags of food, about ~$115. 2 chicks died within the first 2 weeks, and then the last few days another got sick and died on the way to the processor. They were 9 weeks old when we got them done on Oct. 13, which cost $1.50/bird = $33. So that's ~$280 for 22 chickens, which means they cost us ~$12.75 each. But, without the structure and feeders which should be a one time cost, just food and the bird cost us $8.50 each.

And here's everything we would like to do better next time:

1. BIGGER feeders! Our local feed store only had small, 2' long narrow feeders, and even with three of them in the chicken tractor, we could not put in enough food at one time to keep them happy all day. Not to mention there wasn't enough space for them all to eat without being kind of on top of each other. By the last few weeks, I was feeding them three times a day, and overflowing the feeders just to try to give them enough.

2. Buy bulk feed. We were buying 50 lb bags, which were marked up like pet food. We could do way better if we can buy and store feed in bulk.

3. Chicken tractor design alterations :
- Our front door was a piece of plastic mesh fencing tacked on the sides and tied with twine at the top. It got pretty worn down looking by the end , and definitely wasn't easy to get stuff in and out.
- Water was a big pain. We finally bought a heavy duty 5 gallon waterer, but when it was on the ground the chickens just filled it with poop. So we had it raised on a block, which was ok unless they sometimes knocked it over. And it was pretty heavy to lift out when full. We are thinking of how to use a hung waterer that we can have a hose leading to from the outside.
- Feeding would be easier if besides having bigger feeders, we could somehow use a hopper to pour grain in without having to open it. Basically it just is a pain to go in there at all, so the less we have to open the door the better.
- Although the shelter was very easy to move, chickens sometimes got stuck under the side. We could always tell when they were stuck and go free them, but there was one or two that had pretty messed up legs, i think from getting stuck. So we are thinking of a better way to move it, like maybe with detachable wheels on axels off the sides that raise the base up a few inches, so if you go over a chicken he just pops out the back.

4. Transportation to processor. I ordered chicken crates, but stupidly not in time for the day we needed them. So we were out at 6 in the morning just catching them and throwing them in the back of the truck. Messy messy. We went to Eli Reiff in Mifflinburg, who is a very nice, no nonsense, mennonite family operation. We were supposed to be there at 8, but due to my lack of planning ahead, we did not have correct directions and didn't get there till after 9. OOps.

5. Post-processing. So you have to put them on ice right away, without the bag cause apparently they hold heat too well in the bag. We were in a rush and didn't have much cooler space, so we jammed them all in and threw the ice on in chunks, not realizing that they would freeze as positioned. so a bunch are quite dishevelled looking and some even have damaged skin from the ice. Probably want to avoid that if we are gonna sell them.

But I'm pretty proud of us anyway; overall the shelter worked pretty well, they seemed pretty happy and healthy, it was a good experience and we definitely learned a lot for next time. its very exciting to now have a freezer (thanks Clint!) full of chicken, which will probably diminish rapidly since we want to give many away to friends and family. And we also have a nicely manured garden with lots of weeds flattened and eaten, perfect to sheat mulch for next year!!!! (pictures coming soon i hope...) Chicken for dinner tommorrow :)

first post

here's the first post to our new farming blog. we got the chickens processed on friday, we'll have to add in a description of what we did and how we did it, including everything we learned along the way. but this is just to get us going. word!