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TBF 063 :: Overwhelmed and Farm Potpourri, Farm News, and a Hard Lesson Learned

ethanandsteigerCheck out that picture on the left … that’s me … and that’s the huge tractor that I drove this past week pulling a big huge wide field cultivator. The good news is that I didn’t even hit anything, and I helped get the field ready for organic corn (but I’m more excited about not hitting anything)! On today’s episode I’ll talk about how I helped prep the soil for the Non-GMO corn I’ll be using later this fall and then I’ll dig into a “potpourri” of farming subjects. This week I’ll be discussing (not so much answering) questions from three different listeners that left comments on our Crooked Gap Farm Facebook page. The topics include: Pink-eye in Cattle, “Pasty Butt”, Livestock Guardian Dogs, and Dexter Cattle.

Here are some helpful links from today’s show …

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 star rating and review (by clicking the link). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. 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 …

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{ 6 comments… add one }
  • Farren Constable May 14, 2014, 6:42 pm

    Nice Steiger! I think that’s the same model my Dad had for a while before he switched back to John Deere. As I recall, it wasn’t very “user friendly” of a machine. I grew up in the cab of a John Deere, so anything else was 2nd-rate to me!

    Love your show. Educational, edifying, and entertaining. And I really appreciate that you keep the language clean — there are way too few podcasts that I can listen to with my kids around.

    After growing up farming 2000+ acres of broke ground with my Dad along with a farrow-to-finish hog operation and a good herd of cattle, I’m now just “hobby farming” on my own 30 acres in NE Kansas. Chickens, ducks, pigs, rabbits, cats, and dogs here and I try to grow my own feed on about 10 acres of broke ground. Your stories really resonate with where I’m at now.

    So, please be encouraged to keep up the excellent show!

    -Farren

    • Ethan May 21, 2014, 11:37 am

      I agree the Steiger isn’t as nice as the John Deere’s, but it is pretty easy to run … it has a clutch, a brake, a throttle, a gear shifter, and a steering wheel. Not as many buttons or computer screens and the new tractors 🙂 I’d love to hear more about your farm!

  • Jess May 15, 2014, 3:48 am

    What type of insurance, and what amount, must you have since you’re selling meat and have visitors to your farm during the Farm Crawl and at other times. Is it a specific insurance or a general umbrella type? Thanks!

    • Ethan May 21, 2014, 11:34 am

      Jess,

      We have a liability policy for the farm that covers the market and on farm events. Ours is through our local Farm Bureau and really is fairly inexpensive consider the $2,000,000 coverage. Luckily for us our agent also serves other members of the Farm Crawl so he knew exactly what we needed.

  • Chad May 16, 2014, 8:06 am

    Your issues with the lambs made my wife and I think about Jacob and his selected breeding from Laban’s flock in Genesis 30. Perhaps the wayward lambs need to be selectively removed.

    • Ethan May 21, 2014, 11:31 am

      We are seriously considering doing a bit of culling to get to the ewes that work for us. This is something that we do with the pigs and cattle, so it only makes sense that we do it with the sheep as well. That being said someone has offered some suggestions so we’ll try those first 😉

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