baymule
Garden Master
Congrats on the heifer calf!
Canesister's 2019 farm journal
- Thread starter canesisters
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #63
canesisters
Garden Master
I had COMPLETELY forgotten about her nose-mash addiction until you posted this!!!i never saw it either until just now. something odd happened...nose mash moo space...
This weekend she started it up again. It's a little creepy being all up under her when she's in some sort cow-coma and is slowly leaning side to side with her nose mashed into the bottom of the empty feeder making snoring noises....
I have been making the BEST yogurt!!! It's so thick - the consistency of ricotta! I love it.
WHO-HOO!!!! Started gathering the supplies and making a plan to move the paddock fence & water trough this week. We're supposed to have lovely weather all week (except for today). I felt like I needed to have EVERYTHING worked out and ready since I will be making a hole in the fence once I start.
Still need to : get scrap barrier fabric from work & arrange delivery of a load of gravel
flowerbug
Garden Master
it's something very hard to forget for me because it is so funny.
i would love some real whole milk yogurt. the best stuff i ever had was right out of the kitchen of the place that raised the cows so it was probably very much like what you're getting there. i'm envious! i think it a really good sign of a very contented cow that she can fall asleep while being milked. she knows she's in good hands of someone who loves her.
i like to have things all ready too when i get going on a project. having to run to town and back isn't too bad locally, but the "locally" hardware store doesn't always carry what we need so that means an extra hour round trip not counting shopping time.
redoing a gravel mulched space at work?
- Thread starter
- #65
canesisters
Garden Master
The first layer when building a new cell at the landfill is a liner - heavy barrier type fabric. The boss said there is a piece of a roll that has been sitting off in the back somewhere since the last construction project that I can have. It will work great around the farm under gravel in wet spots - trough, gates, etc. I'm planning to put down a section 6' or so square and sit the trough on it - since the whole point of moving the trough is dealing with the mud that surrounds it.
flowerbug
Garden Master
i think any static feeding/watering station ends up being kinda messy in the end. i've never had any kind of livestock so ignore me if this doesn't make any sense, but can you set it up to be smaller and easier to move more often so there isn't so much of a mud problem?
- Thread starter
- #68
canesisters
Garden Master
Feeders can, and are, moved regularly. Everytime I put a round bale out, I move the feeder to a different spot.
But the trough is very limited because it needs access to the hose - and during the winter, access to electricity for the heater.
But the trough is very limited because it needs access to the hose - and during the winter, access to electricity for the heater.
flowerbug
Garden Master
- Thread starter
- #70
canesisters
Garden Master
More notes, just because this is a convenient place to keep a season's details together.
Two weeks in and I was able to drop Eva down to once-a-day milking. Patty Cow is keeping the front 2 quarters milked out so I'm only getting the back two. Bringing a little more than a gallon in each evening. And getting A QUART of cream each day!!! I'm not sure what the 'normal' percentages are on pure dairy cows but I'm thinking that nearly 25% cream is pretty darn impressive for a 1/2beef girl! Proud as can be of my little cow.
Between the new den floor, rain, family visits, rain, getting back into the milking routine, rain, and this brand new world of spring allergies - almost nothing has happened in the garden. Cool weather starts got leggy and died in their starter cells. Maybe in the fall? Strawberries are uncovered and coming up well. Again - busy with life - I've been dumping milk in the garden and compost when I don't have time to deal with it in the house. Should make happy tomatoes this summer I think. Having Eva in at night has created a need to deal with stall cleanings in much larger quantities. And since there is about 1/3 of the area that I want to be garden that is still lawn, I've started covering that in roughly 4'x4' sections with cardboard and dumping the stall cleanings on it. The cardboard will suppress the grass and the manure/hay/sawdust will eventually compost into very nice garden soil for this fall or next summer. Hahaha - the heart of every garden is looking forward to 'the next season', right?
Two weeks in and I was able to drop Eva down to once-a-day milking. Patty Cow is keeping the front 2 quarters milked out so I'm only getting the back two. Bringing a little more than a gallon in each evening. And getting A QUART of cream each day!!! I'm not sure what the 'normal' percentages are on pure dairy cows but I'm thinking that nearly 25% cream is pretty darn impressive for a 1/2beef girl! Proud as can be of my little cow.
Between the new den floor, rain, family visits, rain, getting back into the milking routine, rain, and this brand new world of spring allergies - almost nothing has happened in the garden. Cool weather starts got leggy and died in their starter cells. Maybe in the fall? Strawberries are uncovered and coming up well. Again - busy with life - I've been dumping milk in the garden and compost when I don't have time to deal with it in the house. Should make happy tomatoes this summer I think. Having Eva in at night has created a need to deal with stall cleanings in much larger quantities. And since there is about 1/3 of the area that I want to be garden that is still lawn, I've started covering that in roughly 4'x4' sections with cardboard and dumping the stall cleanings on it. The cardboard will suppress the grass and the manure/hay/sawdust will eventually compost into very nice garden soil for this fall or next summer. Hahaha - the heart of every garden is looking forward to 'the next season', right?
