The Beginning Farmer

I’ll be hitting the blog with a few days of my chapter by chapter book review of Allan Nation’s book, “Quality Pasture,” because I finished up this week. Chapter 12 is specifically about pasture beef production. This was a fairly good chapter, but again it did seem to focus a bit on larger scale production instead small farms providing food for their area.

One of my favorite quotes from this chapter comes towards the beginning of the chapter. Mr. Nation says, “All pasture management starts with getting your breeding season in sync with your pasture.” I think this is one thing that really resonates with me and just plain makes sense. We need to make sure we are following the system that God set up for the animals. God didn’t create livestock or wildlife to have their babies in January in Iowa. It is cold, it is snowy, it can be muddy, and there is no growing forages that can give the mother and the baby the energy that they need. Also, when the calving season gets in sync, then everything thing else falls in sync. The cows are dry when the timing is right, the calves are weaned when the timing is right, everything can just fall in place with God’s creation.

In this chapter Mr. Nation also outlines a few other business plans for grazing beef cattle. He suggests things like grazing cull cows (you can put some easy weight on them for the burger market and usually 50% are bred), raising stocker cattle on pasture, and finishing cattle on grass. He also mentions some systems of pasture beef management used in other parts of the world. It is interesting to see how few other places insist on feeding corn to their cattle in order to finish them. I think we are missing the boat and spending too much money on corn production for our cattle. God did make the digestive system of cattle different for a reason, and I for one am not ready to try and change God’s system!

This chapter was a good overview beef production on pasture, especially at a larger scale. It provided lots of information on different systems and management ideas for beef production. I do enjoy contrasting this with other books I have read, I feel like it just broadens my knowledge base … if just by a little bit!

While we were at the farm last week I took some video of our Dexters. This is my first attempt of putting up video on Blogger, so we will see how it turns out. I put this one at a pretty low resolution to see how well it works for people. If it loads okay for people with high speed (I don’t think dial-up would work well no matter what the size) I may try it at a higher quality so you can see the cows better.

So, here it is a … a little video of our Dexters hanging out around the farm…

Sorry for the late post today, my brother-in-law is home on leave from the Navy and we had a chance to come up and visit him today. But, I did want to relate a few thoughts from my afternoon yesterday.

Yesterday was the Farm Crawl in Northern Lucas county and Southern Marion county (right in our area). You can check out the details of all the farms by clicking on the link, but basically there were five farms to stop at. A goat dairy, an apple orchard, a pumpkin patch, a CSA/Market Garden, and a farm that is in the process of getting everything up and running (they have a market garden, turkeys, pastured eggs, hay, and mules). The event ran from 11:00 am until 5:00 pm, but with church and everything else I only had time to stop at three places so I picked out the three I was most interested in.

First I stopped off at the goat dairy. They milk 12 goats in their new milking facility. The building has space for the goats to come out of the weather, a small milking room with a milking machine and a platform, a milk handling room, and the certified kitchen where they make the cheese. It was a very nice building and an interesting operation. They had some nice looking goats and some very nice fences! I wish I could have chatted with them about the possible profits of their business because I don’t know all the ins and outs of the dairy business. I do know that they sell their cheese to people at the farmers market and through area businesses. One thing that turned me off a little is I did over hear that they had over $80,000 invested! Nice operation though…

The next stop I made was at Blue Gate Farm. The are market garden, CSA, pastured eggs, and honey farm and do business through multiple channels. A couple things about this place. I really appreciate the work they do there and everything looks really good. They have very nice gardens, honey bees all over the place, a high tunnel for growing, and some pasture raised laying hens. But, I did realize that this probably isn’t the direction that I would like to go. I will say that this is probably the way to be the most profitable on the smallest area of land. The highlight of my stop at the Blue Gate Farm was the fact that I bumped into a Dexter owner there! In fact, I met Dan Thomas of Hazybrook Dexters whom I had just spoken to on the phone a couple days before. We are planning on going over to check his operation out in the next week or two, but it was great to talk Dexters and here some of his experiences and successes of raising Dexters. I’m looking forward to seeing his cattle and chatting with him about his bulls.

The final stop was at Coyote Run Farm. I probably enjoyed this one the most. I had a bit of one-on-one time with one of the owners of the farm and he was very candid with me and answered all of the questions that I had. Right now they are raising a market garden that they sell at the farmers market and through other places, pastured heritage turkeys, hay, mules (sort of), pastured eggs, and cut flowers. They seem to be making some money and they weren’t totally spending away everything they made. They have hopes of adding some beef and other livestock to the farm once they get some of the pastures back in order. I would like to go out and work with them sometime to have some more time to chat and gain some experience.

All in all it was a great day, despite the rain, and I learned quite a bit and was encouraged by seeing farmers working towards profit in small family settings!

I mentioned in the post below that we fenced in a new area for our Dexters, but we didn’t put them in there yet because we needed a few more fence insulators and because we weren’t 100% sure what the grass was in that pasture. The area that we fenced in just recently came out of CRP (Crop Reduction Program) and is almost completely covered with our unknown (to us) grass. Before I left the farm I grabbed a clump and yesterday morning I took it out to the extension office to see if they could identify it.

The believe that it is fescue. I know that horse breeders run as far and as fast as they can from fescue, and I have read information stating that the endophites in tall fescue are toxic and can cause problems with lactating animals, rate of growth, hide condition and other things so I started to do a little research. And, I must say after a little bit of research I am just as confused on the problems or un-problems associated with fescue. One thing I do know for sure is that the endophyte in fescue is what helps it stay growing longer in hot and dry conditions, but that endophyte is also the cause for concern to some people.

The first source I checked out was my book shelf. I remembered there was a small section about tall fescue in “All Flesh Is Grass” by Gene Logsdon. The first sentence of the section reads, “Fescue is a controversial forage plant in grass farming.” No kidding! Here are a few other passages from that section that I found especially interesting … or at least confusing!

“If it is clipped twice to keep it from going to seed and to keep it short and tender, it holds up better than any other cool-season grass for grazing in hot, dry summer, too.”

“The livestock never prefer it to bluegrass or ryegrass, but they will eat it unless it gets long and wiry. In winter, they nose down through the snow to eat it. I’m told fescue is rough and tough to the animal’s tongue and mouth when it is growing fast in June, but cold weather tenderizes the plant. Clipping must do the same”

“The main management step to avoid endophyte problems is to make sure that your livestock always have access to other grasses and legumes and not just infected fescue exclusively.”

After I read that chapter I posted a question on a couple internet forums that I check out from time to time. On the Homesteading Today Forum I started this THREAD asking about people’s thoughts on grazing fescue. You can check out the response for yourself, but they were somewhat favorable.

Next I checked out a few other websites after searching for information on grazing tall fescue on Google. Here are a few articles that I came across. They all seem to list some positive and negatives of grazing tall fescue, but I’m not sure if I have come to any conclusion. Of note, the third link below specifically talks about tall fescue in Southern Iowa (the area of our farm).

“Friendly Endophyte-Infected Tall Fescue for Livestock Production. This is a short article from the University of Arkansas.

A Tall Fescue Fact Sheet from the University of Georgia.

And finally, there is a short article from the Iowa State Extension titled, “Clip tall fescue seedhead in early June”.

So, there is just a sampling of some of my research. I might remind you that my research has not lead to any sort of understanding yet … so, I would appreciate any thoughts you have on the subject of tall fescue!

Yesterday we took a family trip down to the farm to check out the new cows in the daylight and to do a little work around the farm. I was able to help my dad mow a little bit of hay. Hopefully, weather depending, it will be baled on Saturday. It is not a very big section, but will yield around a 100 small squares and it has a decent amount of clover in it. Just a little more to add to the stock pile. If we are able to make some more we will possibly be able to sell some this winter. Also, we set up a new pasture for the herd, but didn’t move them there yet. We will be doing it soon once we get a couple more pieces for the fences. All in all it was a good day.

As you have noticed I have added a few pictures of our new Dexters. The first picture (above) is of most of them in the lower part of our pasture. We close it up from time to time to let the grass come back a little bit, plus we had it closed the first night we brought the new ones home because it is enclosed with two strands of electric fence. We just thought it wouldn’t be a fair fight with them not knowing where the fence was in the dark and all!

The second picture down is of A.A. Mandy. She is our ten year old cow and is bred, due to calve sometime this coming year. I am glad that we have her because she is an experienced cow, but at the same time she has her faults. That is part of the reason I have been trying to research bulls so much … because we have plenty to improve upon!

The picture on the left is of our new 13 month old heifer, Billie of K&K. I really like the looks of her so far. I’m no expert, but when I look at her compared to some others I’ve seen I see some decent traits. Again, she needs a nice bull to improve some of her flaws in her calves, but I like what I’m seeing so far. I can see her sticking around Stoneyfield for a quite awhile if she is a good mother. Also, I like the slightly darker shade of dun that she is sporting.

Finally, this picture on the right is of our unnamed two and a half month old bull calf. I’m not sure what is going to happen to him yet. I do like his looks so far, and I believe he comes from some decent linage. Right now we are just going to let him grow and see how he develops. It is kinda fun having the little guy around and watching him in the pasture. I took some other photos and some video so you will need to keep checking back for those updates. I’ll get to them sooner or later!

I’m also happy to see how well RAD’s Victoria and our steer are coming along. They both seem to be filling out nicely and are really starting to get a nice shine on their coats. Like I mentioned, it was a very enjoyable and relaxing day. There is just some relaxing and quiet about being around these Dexters … I really seem to like it!

I have heard from a couple people that things haven’t been running very smoothly since I switched to my new domain name with the blog. I have since switched it back to the “pure” Blogger.com account so hopefully this will make things run more smoothly. Please let me know if you are still having problems and if things are working better now. I guess I will let you know when the new Stoneyfield website is available (hopefully in the near future as I’m working on the site design right now).

Sorry about the problems, and I hope you all make it back to the blog, because the pointers, tips, and help you have shared with me through this are amazing!

Last night I finished reading the chapter titled, “Baby Calf Rearing On Pasture,” from the book Quality Pasture by Allan Nation. I will admit that just by the title this was a chapter that I was interested in because I knew that I was going to be raising our calves on pasture and I thought this would give some great tips for having pasture forages that would be beneficial for the calves.

In reality I would say that this is the chapter that I like the least of what I have read so far. In this chapter Mr. Nation talks a lot about buying in dairy bull calves in order to raise them on pasture and grain to obtain a large gain before slaughter. He also talks about raising replacement heifers for the dairy industry. While I agree that both of these ventures can be profitable in the real world (and he does back that up with farmer testimonials), I’m not sure if I agree with it in principle. In my way of thinking a lot of the things he proposes in this chapter go against the idea of a small family farm (which is what I desire Stoneyfield to be). He talks about the benefits of setting up a industry in the United States like the have in New Zealand where a master contractor handles marketing to find dairymen looking for replacement heifers and then sub-contracts out the growing of those heifers. It seems like that is taking control away from the farmer and placing squarely back in the hands of a business or corporation. Again, I do not doubt that it can work and be profitable if you manage your pastures correctly, but I do wonder at the principle behind it. In one way it sounds an awful lot like some of the vertical ownership farm that we have now days. You know, the ones where the farmer owns the land, buildings, and buys the food, but a company owns the animals. And, if you don’t have the right land, right building, or right food they will take the animals away from you… It just seems like a system that would only slightly fix the farming problems in America not bring about a needed paradigm shift.

I realize that we are never again going to be a country full of family farms proving all the food needs for the surrounding areas, but I do believe that it is something we need to strive for. I believe we need diversified farms around our communities not single aspect farms like those talked about in this chapter. Maybe I am a little too idealistic, but I believe that is what we need to work towards.

So, did I learn anything in this chapter? Sure I did, I have more understanding of pasture management and how to make a highly nutritious pasture for baby calves. But, more importantly I believe it has made me think about the “business” of farming and how I would like to see that “business” working. At least in my case…

**The picture above is of a little calf from Cascade Meadows Farm located in Oregon. You can check out their website by clicking on their farm name.**

This morning I read another article about selecting a bull. I have been mulling over this bull problem for a few days now, namely the fact that I’m going to need a bull in the next six or seven months. With that in mind I’ve been trying to read as much about selecting a bull as I can. One problem is that it is hard to find information specifically on selecting a Dexter bull.

The article I read this morning was titled, “What Does a Good Bull Look Like? Do You Know?” It just happens to be from The Stockman Grass Farmer and is by Allan Nation (the author of Quality Pasture). Mr. Nation talks about a visit he had in 2003 to a large ranch that seemed to, in his words, “be doing everything right.” He was impressed with the steps they were taking to improve their herd until he came to their bull development area. The area was full of steer-looking bulls. Basically, bulls that looked more like steers than big, masculine, mature bulls. The man who was running the bull development said that he automatically culled any animal that was big in the shoulders because that would mean calves that were difficult to birth. According to Mr. Nation (who wrote the article) and Gerald Fry who was also at the ranch at the time that is wrong approach to take. Mr. Fry says that a good bull, “will look like a buffalo. “It will have a wide chest, a large head and big shoulders.” This statement goes against much of the thinking in the seedstock world these days. The article again repeats the importance of having a quality bull to increase the level of your heard. While a good cow can make a clone of itself even if the sire of the calf is sub-par (something called cytoplasmic inheritance), a cow can never improve upon herself unless she is bred to a higher quality bull.

Another thing that I found very interesting in this article was this statement, “Highly masculine males create highly feminine daughters. The shape of a cow’s udder is determined by the shape of her father’s scrotal sack. Big shoulders on a male create a big butt on a female. It’s the yin and the yang. Good males create better females.” I have been told to look for big and muscular rear end on my potential bulls. According to this I should be focusing on the front end of my bull and not as much on the back end. If you are interested in selecting a bull I encourage you to check out this article. I found it pretty interesting even though it may have added to my confusion.

So, what do you think? Have any thoughts on what I should look for when selecting a bull? Especially a Dexter bull?

The Dexter Bull pictured above is Rainbow Hills Big Mac owned by Silver Maple Dexters. He is classified as excellent (91).

With our growing Dexter herd it is becoming apparent that we are going to need a bull to breed our four cows next summer. We have two that will calve after the new year and then two that will be ready to breed whenever, so we are going to shoot for the summer to give us late March or April 2008 calves. I have been contacting different Dexter breeders in the area in an effort to see what is available, and I have found a few possibilities, but since I have never selected a bull before I decided to do a little research on the subject.

Initially I posted a question on the new Irish Dexter Cattle Forum. Olga from Impromptu Acres had a few good thoughts for me. She wrote, “I wouldn’t buy a young calf; a sexually mature (around 12 month old) Dexter has more to judge him by. I would find a bull from a breeder with a large number of animals, whose animals exhibit consistency, and whose animals have the characteristics I’m looking for.” Also, she said, “But generally, you look for a herd sire that’s going to “fix” the faults of your cows in his offspring. I don’t know of anybody who has perfect cows, but we should all strive for a perfect bull. That way the offspring is always an improvement.” I think she made a lot of good points in her post and you can read the rest of them in the link. One problem that I am having is finding a mature bull and someone with a large number of cattle. But, I really appreciate the comment about having a perfect bull in order to improve the offspring of our cows. I believe this is something that I am really going to study to gain the knowledge to pick out that “perfect” bull. I have been looking at lots of pictures of Dexter cows and I do find my self thinking a lot of the time, “that is what I want my cows to look like.”

HERE is another article that I read about selecting a bull. The author points out, “The choices you make impact your herd in next years calves and further down the line if you keep replacement heifers. If you’re building your herd up the bull you choose can map the next dozen years – or make or break your program.” This quote really hits home with me because we are looking to build our herd here at Stoneyfield and I realize this bull will have an impact on our following batches of calves if we are keeping back heifers to grow our herd. You can read the article for some other thoughts on selecting a bull if your would like.

On thing about selecting a Dexter bull is that you have a few other things to consider that you normally wouldn’t have with other breeds of cattle. First of all you need to remember that the Dexter breed is only moderately popular and there aren’t a lot of animals out there to purchase. Also, with Dexters there is always color to be thinking about. Most Dexters are black followed by dun and then red. The colored animals usually bring a premium when they are sold so it does behoove someone to have a bull that at least carries some color. I personally would like to have a dun bull, but we will just have to keep looking.

If you have any other tips on picking out a bull please let me know in the comments section. I need all the help I can get!

P.S. The bull pictured above is “Boxcar”. He is a Legacy Dexter which means he comes from some of the older lines of Dexters and has many of the early Dexter traits. He is currently owned by the JAMS Hundred Herd and is possibly for sale if you are in the area and interested. I would be interested if I was in the area!