The Beginning Farmer

“Winter Wheat, Spring Oats, Summer Clover, Fall Pasture” … that is the title of the final chapter in Gene Logsdon’s book, “The Contrary Farmer”. The main topic of this chapter is the role that small grains can play on the “cottage farm”. As I have mentioned in other posts about Mr. Logsdon’s book her runs a very diverse farm that includes livestock and a rotation of pastures and grains. Just as with the corn he isn’t talking about large plots, but rather he plants smaller areas that he uses for hay and grains for his livestock.

Mr. Logsdon sees small grains as an important part of the contrary farm because they provide different sources of feed and bedding. If one crop doesn’t work out then he likes to have back-ups … that is the beauty of diversification. He spends extra time talking about wheat, oats, and hay in this chapter, but also touches on a few other small grains such as soybeans and rye. Each of these small grain crops has its benefits for the small cottage farmer that helps the farm … if you have the right equipment (see last chapters report).

He likes the wheat because it can be planted in the fall which spreads out his work load and gives him the possibility of grazing for a short time in the fall on the new wheat field. While wheat is good Mr. Logsdon believes that oats is more important to the small farmer because it is higher in protein and other minerals and mixes well with corn for feeding. Also, the oats will provide you with straw that you can use as bedding. One interesting method for harvesting oats that he explains in this chapter comes Karl Kuerner, Jr. Mr. Kuerner lets his oat grains ripen just a little more than when you would regularly when making oat hay and then bales the oats. The result is bales that can be feed in the winter that includes oat grains … either then animals eat the whole thing or they munch out the grains and the rest can be pushed in to their area for bedding (that sounds like something I would try for horses).

My Final Thoughts… All in all these last few of chapters on grain and farm equipment have really made me think about how I want to farm. While I’m not sure if I will be adding them all to my farming plan I believe it was good to look at things from the other side of the fence. Mr. Logsdon is really a “contrary farmer” … he doesn’t line up with the organics … he leaves the pasture only stuff to the guys with more land … and he is not anywhere near the conventional farmers. The reality of it is that if you are going to farm for a full-time living I think you need to think differently and this book has helped me do that. I would encourage you to check this “The Contrary Farmer,” by Gene Logsdon … especially if you are a “cottage farmer” who has other sources of income, but also is a farmer.

I realize that doing is much better than reading … but, you can’t put doing on a Christmas list (at least yet, maybe we have our own place then we can ask people to do stuff!). So, this year my Christmas wish list was littered with what I hope will be some good reading material. I only have one chapter left in “The Contrary Farmer”, so these books arrived at the right time.

Here are three books I received this year:

• Harris on the Pig :: Practical Hints for the Pig Farmer :: This book was written by Joseph Harris and first published in 1883. Some would look at the date and think the book was out dated, but I see that date and know that the book will be full of useful information. Mr. Harris writes about selecting breeds, building pens and buildings, feeding, and other interesting tidbits. The farmers of yesteryear knew what was going on and they raised their pigs on a diverse farm much like we intend building so I think this will be a helpful resource.
• Dirt Hog :: A Hands-On Guide to Raising Pigs Outdoors … Naturally :: You may be noticing a pattern here! I have read good things about this book and mediocre things about this book, so I will just have to see for myself. Just with all things in life I’m sure I can learn from it even if it isn’t the most helpful thing ever written. It contains many of the how-to’s that the Harris book does, but it also attacks pig raising specifically from the pasture based angle. It also includes information on marketing (which is helpful) and on selection and breeding. This book by Kelly Klober looks pretty interesting so I’m not sure which pig book I will read first!
• Making Your Small Farm Profitable :: Here is a book by Ron Macher, the publisher of Small Farm Today magazine, about some of the nuts and bolts involved in making a profit on your farm. Of course it talks about marketing and developing markets, but it also talks about maximizing your net profit per acre and Mr. Macher throws out 25 principles he believes you should follow (you gotta have principles if you are doing a how-to book). I’m not looking for practical working farm knowledge from this book, but I do hope it adds to my knowledge base when it comes to the “business” of a small farm.

As with other books that I have read I will be giving a little book report after each chapter. I find this helps me retain more information and provides a resource for others who are thinking about adding these books to their libraries.

Oh, I guess I did receive one more farming related gift… a nice straw hat so I don’t come home with many more sunburns on the neck. It’s alway nice to try and keep the skin cancer at bay!

Okay, it is safe to say that I had slight problems with this chapter. But, I’m sure it is just a difference of view. Gene Logsdon is writing to the “cottage farmers” who have off farm jobs or other work from home jobs that aren’t part of the “farm”. Also, he does not favor a total grassfed approach or totally pastured system, but I think he agrees they can work. Basically, it comes down to this … he is writing for people who are farming as a second job or farming as a first job and doing something else as a second job. With that type of set-up there is more money for the mechanical things … by the way, this chapter is titled, “Cottage Mechanics.”

He begins the chapter writing about farming ingenuity and the importance of the farm tractor and such. Pretty good stuff … stuff that I generally enjoyed and agreed with. That being said, let me list the problems in had with this chapter:

• A Pickup Truck
• Hydraulically-Powered Bucket or Manure Scoop
• Cultivating Tools : plow, disk, spike tooth harrow, and a spring tooth harrow
• A Cultipacker
• Weed Cultivator (tractor type or tiller)
• Broadcast Seeder
• Sickle Bar Mower
• Hay Rake
• Baler
• Manure Spreader
• Some sort of Grain Harvester (AC All-Crop pull behind)
• Fencing Tools (stretchers and such)
• Chain Saw, an axe, a peavey, two wedges, and a steel splitting maul
• Tile Trenching Spade
• Shovel and or Spade for weeding
• Pitch Forks
• Grain Scoop Shovel and Bushel Baskets
• Lawn Mower
• Heated Repair Shop
• Pair of Pliers and Pocketknife
• Grease Gun and Oil Can

I must say this chapter … which includes a very long list (with explanations) of tools and implements needed to be a contrary farmer … was very overwhelming to me. I looked at the list (which is what you see above) and felt like there is no way that I could ever get into farming full-time and make a profit. I realize that he isn’t talking about getting these things all at once, but even acquiring them over time takes an outlay of cash that cuts into the bottom line. So, I took a second look at the list and thought a little…

I see where he is coming from on everything Mr. Logsdon puts on the list, but I think I’m going to work with less! He is thinking that many of these items can be purchased inexpensively at farm auctions (which they can) and that the can be used to do various farming activities (which is true). But, I think you can cut out quite a bit if you leave out a few things, which may be inexpensive by themselves but add up eventually. I think I would cut out anything related to growing grains … except the broadcast seeder and maybe a plow. Also, think more about what you can get other people in your area to do for you. Besides the money aspect the thing that scared me about the list was, where do I put all that and how do I fix all that!

As I said, I understand where he is going with all of those things and totally agree with their viability for the “contrary farmer”. I just think I need to look at more inexpensive and less tractor related methods as I work at being a beginning farmer.

One thing for sure … this book does make me think and is inspiring. That is a good thing!

In my neck of the woods there is a “50,000 watt blow torch” of a radio station called 1040 WHO. Well, at least that is what their commercials say! You can here this station beyond the boundaries of Iowa and it carries local programming that I can only call, “pure Iowan” (and I say that with pride). One of the shows on that station that I grew up listening to is “The Big Show” which is the 90 minute farm show on from 11:30 AM until 1:00 PM and is hosted by Mark Pearson, Ken Root, and sometimes others … but, on Friday is the real treat. On Fridays farm broadcaster emeritus, Lee Kline, makes an appearance at the end of the show to tell a story. Mr. Kline has one of those voices that just seems to sooth the soul and his stories often remind us of the days on the farm from years ago.

This past Friday he read a story by Clarence Hill who was a farmer from Minburn, IA. The story, titled “The Christmas Pony“, was submitted to Farm Journal Magazine and was printed in December, 1954. It is a great Christmas story that really tugs on the heart. You must click on the title above to hear the story … or CLICK HERE.

I wish you a very Merry Christmas.

It is always a good idea to take a break from things and focus on what is most important. What is most important to me is my faith, my family, and my relationships. So, for the next couple of days I wanted to share a couple of somewhat agriculturally related Christmas things. I hope that you enjoy them and have a Merry Christmas!

The Cowboys’ Christmas Ball
by Larry Chittenden

‘Way out in Western Texas, where the Clear Fork’s waters flow,
Where the cattle are “a-browzin’,” an’ the Spanish ponies grow;
Where the Northers “come a-whistlin'” from beyond the Neutral Strip;
And the prairie dogs are sneezin’, as if they had “The Grip”;
Where the cayotes come a-howlin’ ’round the ranches after dark,
And the mocking-birds are singin’ to the lovely “medder lark”;
Where the ‘possum and the badger, and rattlesnakes abound,
And the monstrous stars are winkin’ o’er a wilderness profound;
Where lonesome, tawny prairies melt into airy streams,
While the Double Mountains slumber, in heavenly kinds of dreams;
Where the antelope is grazin’ and the lonely plovers call–
It was there that I attended “The Cowboys’ Christmas Ball.”

The town was Anson City, old Jones’s county seat,
Where they raised Polled Angus cattle, and waving whiskered wheat;
Where the air is soft and “bammy,” an’ dry an’ full of health,
And the prairies is explodin’ with agricultural wealth;
Where they print the Texas Western, that Hec. McCann supplies
With news and yarns and stories, uv most amazin’ size;
Where Frank Smith “pulls the badger,” on knowin’ tenderfeet,
And Democracy’s triumphant, and might hard to beat;
Where lives that good old hunter, John Milsap, from Lamar,
Who “used to be the Sheriff, back East, in Paris sah!”
‘T was there, I say, at Anson with the lovely “widder Wall,”
That I went to that reception, “The Cowboys’ Christmas Ball.”

CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE…

If you would like to watch a reading of this poem make sure you click on THIS LINK.

Yes, this post is about King Corn, but no it is not about the documentary that I have discussed so much lately title, “King Corn“. Todays post happens to be about chapter eight in Gene Logsdon’s book, “The Contrary Farmer.” That chapter just happens to be called “King Corn” … are you throughly confused yet? Well, this was actually probably one of my favorite chapters in the book yet … and, Mr. Logsdon is talking about corn being king because it is a good thing! I should note, that this is a chapter that my dad would really resonate with. Since we have brought the cows to the farm he has mentioned a few times that it just seems unnatural to not be feeding them any grain … almost un-American.

Well, Mr. Logsdon actually speaks highly of corn in this rather informational and practical chapter. I don’t know where he lands on the idea of large-scale grain farming, but for the “cottage” farmer he loves the idea of having a small (1-5 acres) plot of corn. He loves the corn because it is reliable and in his own woods, “even a fool can grow it.” Corn also has earned a place on his farm because it can easily be harvested by hand (no need for big machinery) when it is done in small amounts. But, his love of corn for the farm is best summed up by these words from the chapter,

“If nature, in her contrariness, dries up the pasture grass, I will feed corn. If she hurls hail on the corn, I will feed oats. If she blows down the oats, I will feed wheat. If she floods out the wheat, the grass will be lush.”

Basically, he sees corn as a piece of the bigger picture on his diverse farm where everything needs to earn is keep whether through monetary value or plain aesthetics.

As I mentioned just a moment ago this is one of the more practical chapters in the book. Mr. Logsdon talks about how he prepares the land for corn, plants it, cares for it, and harvests it. In each of those little sections of they chapter I learned interesting little tidbits about how he still has a place for the mold board plow, how open pollinated corn can be used, how to harvest by hand, and so much more.

I must admit that after reading this chapter I’m thinking a little more about the place corn could have on a farm that we have. I’m not so sure that I will go so far as to say that I’m ready to feed it to my cattle, but on a small-scale it could be something useful for any hogs or chickens that we had on the farm … and we plan on having both. Plus, I must admit the open invitation to use a plow (with a proper field rotation of course) and the opportunity to hand husk corn is almost a little to enticing to pass up.

I’m going to look into some open pollinated corn for this springs planting season. I know that I could get my dad to plow up some ground and put some corn in. I bet I could even get him to cultivate it if I let him drive his prairie gold tractor! But, more importantly I would like to experiment with it a little bit. Hey, if we could get any that would just be that much less that we needed to buy to feed the chickens.

I’ll let you know when the corn picking party is!

**Greenfield Farms is a place that sells open pollinated corn if you are interested in ordering online … Reid’s Yellow Dent is what Mr. Logsdon mentioned … I’m going to check around my area**

The whole process surrounding our search for a bull has been very interesting and informational. I have learned quite a bit about what to look for and the signs and measurements that you can use to help choose your bull. I have really taken the old adage that the bull is half your herd to heart and I tried to find something that was more than just male. To that end I have had a lot of help from people in the Dexter community and folks that just plain know cattle.

One guy that I was pointed to quite often was Gerald Fry. He has a website called, Bovine Engineering, that has a lot of information about grassfed beef, selecting genetics, choosing a bull, and so much more. One article that John Potter recently pointed me to is this one titled, “A Well Balanced Bull and the Benefits of Masculinity“. It is just a short article, but it is full of great information on selecting a bull.

Mr. Fry describes a well balanced bull with this sentence, “The objective for a well-balanced and functional bull is to get 85% of his cow’s settled on first service and do that job on grass and or hay and maintain his body weight.” This is something that I couldn’t really judge as we picked out our bull, but it is something that I’m going to pay attention to in our future breeding. Mr. Fry also places a lot of emphasis on selecting a bull that is masculine. As I have mentioned in the past this is one thing that has been difficult as we looked for Dexter bulls.

According to the article a good bull will show its masculinity in its head, neck and shoulders. Look at things like the amount of muscle, the thickness of the skin, coarseness of the head hair, position of the legs, and more. A well balanced bull as described in the article will be a benefit to any beef herd.

I look forward to continuing to learn about selecting a herd bull so we can begin improving our herd through our breeding. Do you have any other links or thoughts on selecting bulls? Let me know if you do!

Yesterday I mentioned in my post, almost in passing, the importance of “thinking outside of the box”. Well, it is fitting that I did because this afternoon I was checking out the New Farm front page again and I stumbled across this ARTICLE titled, “On the Plains, there’s room outside the box” by Pete Letheby. It is a short little OP/ED article that gives a short summary of what the Switzer family from Nebraska has done.

When Adam Switzer returned to the family ranch they thought that the conventional cattle ranching of the area wouldn’t pay the bills like in the past. Long story short, they looked at their land and tried to think of ways that they could use it to work for them. While they still run a cattle operation on their ranch they have built added an extra source of income … a source that has become their largest. What started out as a couple of cabins has turned into 70 lodging units that is often full. They realized that they had more than just acres of range for cattle, they also had things that others would come and enjoy. They had prairie chickens (people like to watch them), they had spring-fed streams for canoing, they had wide open spaces for horse riding, and they had hunting opportunities. They thought out of the box … beyond what their neighbors were doing.

So, what other “outside of the box” opportunities are there out there for farmers to boost their income. Agri-tourism is something that has been thrown out there a lot, but there can only be so many B&B’s on the farm … hunting places are starting to pop up around our area, but they don’t always mesh with a livestock operation if you have limited amounts of land … grassfed beef/pork/poultry is something that is growing and I see that as a great thing … I think that capitalizing on new ideas is going to be the key of successful small-scale farmers in the time to come. Yes, grassfed and naturally raised is here to stay, and allowing people to come to the farm and experience where their food comes from is great … but, what else can we do?

That is one thing that I’m thinking about a lot these days. In any future farming venture we do I would like our pastured animals to be the centerpiece, but we are beginning to think of other ideas. Maybe we could add Christmas trees, not open to the public, but as a bonus opportunity for our customers. Possibly an Amish market … more than just a farmers market, but a place where multiple Amish gather together to sell their goods. How about becoming a respected breeder of purebred cattle (that is one direction I would like to go)?

There are a lot of “outside the box” ideas out there that are being done and that haven’t even been tried yet. It is time to be creative and build on those ideas! Do you have any ideas…?

I just have time for a short post today because the week leading up to Christmas is a busy time for me with Sunday service and Christmas Eve service and all the things that go along with it. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll have a chance to share a little more. But, I did want to point you to an interesting article that I found over at the New Farm website.

“Striking a Balance” is the title of the article by Deborah A. Hyk and the subtitle is, “Family learns that good farming is like an evolving dance.” There are a couple of reasons that I found this article especially interesting.

First of all the VanDerPol family is farming together as a family. Their son and his wife joined the farm in the 90’s and they have been able to create enough income for them without buying up all the available land around them. These kinds of examples are especially interesting to me because the common thought in Iowa is that the family farm only can produce enough income to support one family so the kids have to leave the farm. With the kids gone and starting new lives without the farm when the parents retire there is nobody to take over … what used to be a circle of land passing on to generation after generation has become a dead end.

The second reason I enjoyed the article is because they have made a transition from conventional farming methods to more pasture based methods and they have succeeded. I wonder what they would think of my post below and the idea that we can’t produce enough on pastures. These success stories are not only great resources for finding farms that are doing things right, but they are an encouragement to me because it shows that it can be done.

Here are a few quotes from the article to pique your interest:

Initially, the VanDerPols decided to put pigs and sheep on pasture. Although Minnesota does not have a climate suited to raising hogs on pasture year-round, Jim noticed that even Minnesota pigs benefited from the seasonal pasture time. Weaned litter sizes were larger when the sows farrowed outdoors, he said; the sows were generally healthier, as well.

This was the first significant step away from a cropping system as a way to support livestock. The farm still includes crops as part of the rotation—alfalfa and orchard grass hay for two years between small-grain crops, with corn or soybeans as occasional visitors to the mix.

They also knew they wanted to keep the farm an intergenerational success. “I grew up here,” says Jim. “But I’m one of the last few still farming the family farmstead from the years when I was growing up.” Across Minnesota and across the country, farmers with large-sized acreage have acquired farms but haven’t had an opportunity to pass them onto the next generation. Jim and LeeAnn wanted their farm to be one of the exceptions.

To make that happen, they needed to make certain their acreage was as productive as possible. Maximizing pasture clearly seemed to be the key.

“Our customers are people who appreciate the locally grown, environmental sustainability of our products—and they are folks who like the taste, as well,” says Jim.