The Beginning Farmer

Crooked Gap :: A Heritage Farm

by Ethan on April 12, 2010

For the past few months (and probably longer) I’ve been fighting with the idea of a new farm name. I Absolutely loved the Stoneyfield name, but there was just too much confusion from a name recognition standpoint, so a new name was needed. The problem was finding just the right name that I loved. Eventually I realized that I just had to go with something and stick with it! So, after months of thinking and trying on several different names for size it’s settled. The new farm name is …

… Crooked Gap …

As you can see from the logo we’ve also added a new tagline (“A Heritage Farm”) that fits well with the farm and the values of the farm. There is just so much to love about the heritage breeds because they were livestock breeds that were developed to thrive in low input situations and pass on hardy genetics to their offspring. With that in mind I’m particularly focusing on the the older breeds that fit well into the this farms system of management. Plus … it gives me a good excuse to focus in on my love of history.

You may be wondering about the name though … Simply put, the farm is just off of what is locally called “the crooked road to Melcher,” so I thought it would be a fitting name for a farm. And the “Gap” portion of the name helps tie everything back to history. You may have heard of some of the famous “gaps” that played an important part in our nations growth and expansion. One of those famous “gaps” is Cumberland Gap which was the main highway for settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains.

All of that local lingo and those historical connections led to Crooked Gap. On top of all that though is the fact that I just like the name. I think it’s unique and fun and fitting! Plus, I don’t think we’ll be having to do a name change anytime soon 😉

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Greg Judy in Iowa :: April 21, 2010

by Ethan on April 10, 2010

What perfect timing! As I’m making my way through Greg Judy’s book, “Comeback Farms” (for the second time) … he is coming to Iowa. On Wednesday, April 21st from 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM he will be in Calmar, Iowa at the Northeast Iowa Dairy Center. As you can see from the flyer below he will be covering quite a large number of topics (in a short amount of time) and there will be a lunch. If you are a Practical Farmers of Iowa member this is a free event ($25 if you’re not a member).

Even though this event is almost four hours away I plan on attending as much as I can. I have to be back in town by 6:00 PM, so I won’t get it all in. Nevertheless, I think it’s worth it and I can’t wait! If you are in the general area I hope you will join me at the event.

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Comeback Farms :: Chapters 15-16 Book Report

by Ethan on April 9, 2010

In chapter fifteen Greg Judy writes about the flock of hair sheep he began with and how he suggests going about beginning your own herd. On his farm they started out with purebred St. Croix hair sheep from a small herd that had never been wormed. The gentleman that Mr. Judy purchased his sheep from had been building his parasite resistant flock for some time and had already gone through the struggle of severe culling and loss of sheep to build the genetics he needed. I’ve got to admit that I think that is a great way to go … especially if you are going to start out with a small flock like I would like to.

The small flock of St. Croix’s was not all that Mr. Judy wanted for his farm. In fact he mentioned that he would like to have a flock of 500 ewes. After searching all over for more St. Croix hair sheep he found that they were hard to come by … or as much as $500 for ewe lambs. As you might guess that would be a bit too much to pay if you wanted to build a large production flock, so he moved on to “Plan B”. That plan involved buying a flock of Barbados hair sheep. What they are doing now on his farm is using the St. Croix rams to breed to the Barbados ewes in hopes of building up their parasite resistant flock. It sounds like a good idea …

Along with parasite resistance Mr. Judy has a few other goals for the type of sheep that are part of his flock. His goal, “is to build a flock that needs no wormer, no lambing assistance, no feed, no hay, no shelter. They must have extreme flocking instinct, lamb on pasture, get no shots of any kind, wean their own lambs, shed off every spring, lamb every year, require no hoof trimming, and have good mothering instincts.” As you can see that is a pretty lofty goal, but once it is reached they will have a flock that fits perfectly into their system and that uses very few inputs!

Chapter sixteen deals with developing the parasite-resistant flock. I can sum it up pretty quickly. Cull ruthlessly … get sheep from your area … find sheep being raised the way you want to raise them … and … cull ruthlessly! Of course he adds a bit more, but I think that’s a good summery.

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Comeback Farms :: Chapters 13-14 Book Report

by Ethan on April 8, 2010

What has been going on since I blogged last? Rain, a bit of rain, rain, wind, heat, sun, rain, a little more rain, hail (and damage to the roof), and more rain. It has been bleh … needless to say I’ve been out slogging through the mud and trying to tie up other loose ends as the farmer’s market season draws near. But, I have also been finishing up “Comeback Farms” by Greg Judy and thinking about putting some of those thoughts into practice on the farm. These two chapters deal with multi-species grazing … specifically sheep … specifically hair sheep!

In chapter thirteen Mr. Judy talks about the benefits of multi-species grazing. He says that he had been dragging his feet for years because of all the fears he had about adding sheep or other animals. What I really appreciate is that he takes each one of the fears that he had and then shares how they worked through them on his farm. I thought I would share a few that really hit home with me from this chapter.

Extra Fencing :: He uses 5 wires of hi-tensile electric on the perimeters and then 4 wires for the interior paddock divisions. I’m pretty close to set in that regard.

Worming Sheep :: They are focused on building a 100% parasite-resistant flock of sheep on their farm, so they cull for that and have found quite a bit of success it seems.

Sheep Need Shelter :: Mr. Judy provides no shelter for his sheep on pasture and they lamb out on pasture as well.

This quote from the chapter gives a good perspective on the benefits of multi-species grazing, “What was once nuisance plants, weeds, brush, etc., become food for your animals. The cattle eat the grass and legumes. Sheep go after the broadleaf weeds, blackberry and some grass.” Reading this kind of stuff (and the resolutions to the perceived problems) gets me really excited about the possibility of adding sheep!

Chapter fourteen deals specifically with building fence for sheep and goats. It is nice to have some details of what works on their farm. I especially like the description and pictures of the five strand gates he makes using polywire tape. There are two gates that are at the bottom of the pasture on the farm and this is exactly the kind of gate I was thinking about building. Now I have an idea of how to do it!

As you can tell (and will tell as I cover the next few chapters) I’m excited about the possibilities of hair sheep … there will be more on that to come.

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Running…

by Ethan on April 3, 2010

This has been one of those weeks where I just feel like I have been running, but not accomplishing very much. It has been go … go … go, but not a lot of huge visible results. I guess there will be weeks like that though.

One thing that I did find today was this dandelion (it’s not a weed) pictured above. It’s the first one that I’ve seen this year and it was nice to see something so bright and beautiful on a cloudy day. It did get me thinking about dandelions as a forage though … here is an article I found online. The nice thing about dandelions compared to the other forages I’m going to plant this spring … I don’t have to purchase seed for them and I’m sure they will eventually show up!

Here is a tidbit from the article by Christoph E. Weder Ph.D.:

“Well what does it all add up to? What is the impact of dandelions on a forage stand? For four consecutive years, the same researchers from the University of Wisconsin studied the effects of dandelions in cut hay. Their findings were interesting. First, dandelions did not normally decrease the total biomass of the forage stand. In fact under well managed pastures they added to the biomass. As for feed quality, they found that dandelions had protein values many times in excess of 18%. The only downfall was that they had higher moisture contents than other species in the stand and could affect dry down in haying situations.”

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Comeback Farms :: Chapters 12 Book Report

by Ethan on March 30, 2010

Greg Judy does not use a tractor (at least that’s what it sounds like in this book). He purchases all the hay he needs and moves it around with his truck and a bale trailer. He uses this set up to move the bale around and to unroll it. Besides that it sounds like he uses his ATV quite a bit for everything else. So, the topic of chapter 12 seems to be right up his ally. In this chapter he talks about reducing his fuel consumption and letting the animals do the work. I think I need to agree with him!

Just yesterday I looked out and saw all this brush sticking up in the pasture that I’m going to reseed in the next week or two. I decided that I need to go out there and knock those down with the mower (you have to realize that these are basically just sticks coming out of the ground because the cows striped them bare last summer). So, I fired up the tractor and hooked up my 5 foot brush hog. After a couple of passes I realized how wasteful this was really going to be. It wasted my time and my money and all to knock down a few sticks! There are a couple patches that I need to knock down with a saw, but really I don’t think they will hamper the no-till drill any and once we get out there grazing I’m sure they will disappear under some cattle pressure.

This all leads me to what is really on my mind right now … pasture seeding (I know that was a short book report, but it was the end of section one of the book so it was a good break). I am now on the list to use the no-till drill that is housed at our County Park (funds for it coming from multiple sources) and I need to get my pasture seeding mixes nailed down.

Last week I mentioned the Grassfed Webinar that I listened to online and I was very excited to see the “pro” (in this case Doug Gunnink) offer a good pasture mix for Iowa that he likes to see people use. Here is the mix he suggested:

35% Pradel Meadow Fescue
35% BG 24T Perennial Ryegrass
13% Baraula Orchardgrass
10% Green Spirit Italian Ryegrass
7% Alice White Clover

I think all of these varieties are from the Barenbrug company and I’m not sure yet if I will be able to find them in my area. So, I was wondering if anyone out there had any suggestions for pasture mixes. Mr. Gunnink suggested seeding that mix at 25 lbs. per acre. I’m going to hit part of my pasture this year and then see what happens next year. Thanks for any thoughts or help!

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Comeback Farms :: Chapters 7-11 Book Report

by Ethan on March 29, 2010

I have to admit that while I’m writing my book report for chapters 7-11 I’m actually reading chapter 26! Needless to say, I’m really flying through this book and I’m really enjoying it. I’ve combined these chapters together in a bigger chunk because only a couple of them really hit home with me. Not that it’s not good information, but rather it is stuff that doesn’t exactly fit my situation … or it’s just a funny story (as is the case with chapter 9 about the rodeo cattle). For example, chapter 7 deals with Greg Judy’s shift from stocker cattle to dry cows. It makes sense because their nutritional requirements are lower, but with a lack of cattle experience I don’t really want to learn on other peoples dry cows. If you have the experience then I suggest you think about it!

Chapter 8 is a great read because in this chapter Mr. Judy shares a lot of the equipment (and brands) that he uses. After reading though it I was feeling pretty good about most of my purchases because he strongly recommended Stafix fece chargers (have one), O’Briens geared reels (have three), O’Briens tread in posts (have lots), and Powerflex posts (not sure how many I have, but I have them). While I haven’t had as much experience with other products out there like he has I would have no problem recommending all of those names above. And, it was really nice to see him share about the equipment he uses because that is one thing I’m always wondering when I read a book or an article.

Chapters 10 and 11 gave me quite a bit to think about … for the future. These two chapters covered leases, both losing leases and keeping leases. His previous book, “No Risk Ranching,” goes deeper into the leasing issue, but these two chapters did enough to get me thinking about the idea. I feel like if I had a bit more livestock knowledge going into this farm deal I would have been much better off going the leased route (and probably would have regardless of my knowledge), but I also think leasing could be something I look at in the future.

One thing that keeps popping in my mind when I read about that low cost leased ground that he is always talking about is this … CRP ground. I don’t know what it is like anywhere else, but around here there is a lot of marginal pasture ground or bad pasture ground that has just been placed in CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) and most of the time I can’t compete with those payments. I guess when it comes time to look for leased land I just need to start contacting land owners and see if they have it in the program or not!

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Where is the Bottleneck?

by Ethan on March 27, 2010

Whether you call it a slaughterhouse, abattoir, or processing facility the truth is that it seems it is getting more and more difficult to find one close by that meets the standards of the farmer and the customer. In thirty mile radius we have four or five facilities, but only two are state inspected (meaning they can process meat to sell by the cut within state lines) and none are federally inspected (these facilities can process meat to sell nationwide). If you would like to process chickens for sale then you have to go even further. We’ve had a few problems so far, but we have also had some processing facilities that were willing to work with us.

But, it seems that I don’t have it as bad as some people do in other parts of the country. I came across this article from The New York Times titled, “Push to Eat Local Food is Hampered by Shortage“. In the article the expose some of the difficulties farmers and consumers alike are facing to get the food that they want. It seems that the ability for local meats production is there on the farmers end and the demand is there on the consumers end, but the problem is getting the products processed and into the hands of the consumers.

This quote from the article sums up the problem the best I think, “According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the number of slaughterhouses nationwide declined from 1,211 in 1992 to 809 in 2008, while the number of small farmers has increased by 108,000 in the past five years.” I don’t know if that is counting all types of facilities (exempt, state, and federal), but regardless it shows just how few processors there are out there right now for small-scale farmers.

I think there are many reasons that we are losing these facilities, but a couple that stuck out in the article for me were the lack of skilled employees and the regulations. Agricultural Secretary Vilsack was quoted in the article saying, “It’s pretty clear there needs to be attention paid to this…” I hope that attention is paid soon (I kind of doubt it will be) and that actual help will be given to those that currently run processing facilities and those that want to open them (help includes things like making the regulations bearable).

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Comeback Farms :: Chapters 4-6 Book Report

by Ethan on March 25, 2010

In chapter four Greg Judy talks a lot about the importance of using purchased hay to rebuild your pastures. He uses a bale un-roller that he pulls behind his truck to spread out the hay and the nutrients (along with seeds). There is also a good picture and a nice description of us bale un-roller in this chapter … if I was handy it looks like it would be pretty easy to build. I’m still trying to wrap my mind the whole bale un-rolling process and how it would work in the winter and the muddy times on our farm, but I do love the idea. Another thing I have questions about is if there is much hay wasted on the ground … although I’m guessing Mr. Judy has enough cattle to clean up quite a bit each day instead of just laying down on it. One last thing from this chapter … I sure wish I could by grass hay for $15-20 a bale like he mentions! Grass hay around here is $45 (for pretty bad stuff) and up. Of course all hay is at a premium this year because of the weather.

I can sum up chapter five in just a few words. When there is a drought don’t graze your grass to the ground. In Mr. Judy’s words, “Resist Opening Gates During Drought” (that is the chapter title). This is a reminder that I’ve seen in quite a few places and I think it is sinking in for me. Hopefully we don’t have a drought any time soon and hopefully if we do I remember the good advice! The problem with opening the gates he writes is that you are giving up on your grass and hurting it not just for that season, but in the future as well.

Controlled burning is the topic of the sixth chapter and I have to admit that this is something I will probably never mess with. We don’t have a lot of acreage right now, our house is in the middle of it, and there is plenty of conflicting opinions out there on the merits of controlled burning. Mr. Judy has burned in the past, but he writes that he has changed his mind recently because of the harm that it can do above ground and below ground. I guess burning can damage the roots all the way down to three feet.

If you read this book (and I think you should) you will find that Mr. Judy shares a lot of stories throughout. I love that personal touch because it makes him seem like a grazing human instead of a grazing superman! Although he is light years ahead of me he still is learning and making mistakes.

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Grassfed Farminar

by Ethan on March 24, 2010

Last night was the final installment of the Practical Farmers of Iowa “Fishbowl Webinar” series that paired a beginning farmer with an experienced farm. Each presenter (the beginner and the old hand) had some time to share a little bit about their operation (or proposed operation) and then the beginner, along with those viewing the webinar, asked questions. I have watched a few of these after the fact because I haven’t been by a high speed connection in the evenings when the happen, but since it dealt with grassfed beef last night I wanted to watch it live. I’m glad I did because there was some good stuff!

You can check out this link to watch the archived webinar (and this one to check out the other topics covered this winter). Let me just say this though if you take the time to watch the archive. The first part is great with Dave the beginning farmer and the last section is great with Doug the experienced grass finishing farmer. But, in the middle there were some technical difficulties that lead to “this guy” filling in and not sounding very intelligent because I’m just a beginning farmer too!

Nevertheless, these farminars/webinars are a great resource and I encourage you to check them out.

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