Our Week In Review
January 14th, 2006 by Northern FarmerAnother week coming to an end around here on what the history books call the cold north. Well, it’s sure been mild for almost the last month, and we’ll take it. But in the northland there’s always a guilt complex where people always say, “We’re gonna pay for this nice weather!†But I figure it’s been paid in full many times in the past, we’ll see.
This afternoon mainly consisted of tomorrow’s chores so that I can make it to church in the morning. During chores I was thinking about the coming year around here and was totally amazed at the changes taking place so rapidly on our farm. The big expenses are a thing of the past, no big seed bill, or fertilizer bills. There’ll be a small seed corn bill but that will be for two more varieties of open pollinated corn that I want to introduce to the farm. After last years grand experiment with the OP corn we decided to go one hundred percent that route. So big ag, “we won’t be seeing you no moreâ€. There’s nothing they could say to me to get me to buy their overpriced, low nutrition, corn. Our small grain seed is always our own, in fact I’d be scared to buy and plant a different variety, because through years of selection we developed our own seed that thrives here, a double purpose crop, grain and straw.
Yesterday I went on what’s the closest thing to a vacation that I get, went bull shopping up north. And yes, I did buy one, a durn good lookin horned Hereford bull. Now, this guy is part of our future plans, in fact very much part of them. The old fashion horned Herefords are in my opinion one of the best and toughest breeds of cattle around. They fit in our forage fed beef plans, they’ll out live the other breeds, they can take extreme hot and cold weather. They’re about the best mothers in the cow world, the bulls are very gentle even armed with them curled down horns, plus no other cattle push them around because of them horns. They’ll fatten on grass like few others can. Right now our herd has about twenty five percent Hereford influence, we’re going to continue to breed that way building the Herefords up. These cattle “fit†in our self-sufficiency plans here like no others could. Plus I ain’t getting any younger and these cattle are much easier to handle than many of the modern high strung breeds. One thing for sure, these are going to be about the best tasting cattle a person can raise. And the inputs will be almost nothing, in comparison with many other breeds.
This past week we also got most of our meat processing equipment home. That big Hobart band saw is huge, a big three phase model. Well, we don’t have three phase electricity out here in the country so a family member rigged up a homemade outfit that cost us nothing and “bingoâ€, we got three phase power in our old hog barn. The investment that I made this past week in meat processing equipment made me a little nervous, like three thousand dollars worth of nervous, but this farm can do just about anything now as long as there’s power. If the power ever stops, well, back to the axe, knives, and hand saws. Our first freezer arrived and we also have a large stainless steel cutting table to boot. So the clan here is set for taking care of their own meat. Another step in the right direction.
So that’s what’s happening this week on the farm. A constant moving in taking care of ourselves. There’s so much more to do until we get to the point of making this place like the large farms of years ago, where they did almost everything on their own place. But to be truthful, I never imagined that we’d be going this direction as fast as we are. With so many expenses a thing of the past here it’ll just give us more resources to go in this direction faster than originally planned. But it really should be no surprise, because when a person gets away more and more from the modern culture and looks to take care of family and friends, God, I believe, really gives us a helping hand.
January 14th, 2006 at 6:42 pm
HI there!
Best wishes on your continued success ‘down on the farm’. Your talk of Herefords gives me such fond memories. My Dad had Herefords b4 he got more into Aribusiness. They were quite rugged on the Dakota prairies and quite gentle, small calves, low calving problems. They didn’t have any barns and survived hellacious winters by finding shelter down in the cricks. The 3 day blizzard of March 1966, known around here as the worst in memory found all the Herefords alive but thirsty. We even had 4 Herefords that got trapped behind a little shelterbelt as the snowbanks built up to 15 feet high. They kept milling around a tight circle and compacted the snow under them so that they didn’t get covered by the snowbank.
What sorta government inspections and regulations do you face doiing your own processing and selling to people outside of your own family?
Do you process pigs as well? Have a smoke house? Make your own sausage & summer sausage?
Best wishes and may God bless!
January 14th, 2006 at 9:38 pm
Tom,
Maybe we should point out to those further south that mild does not mean that we have lost our snow cover. I still used my utility sled tonight while doing chores.
My son was telling me that Salatins just got a Hereford bull - with horns. I guess you are in good company.
Jim
January 15th, 2006 at 5:43 am
Mtn Firekeeper,
I love them real herefords! We had that blizzard too, I can sure remember it.We’ll be doing all of our own hogs from now on and also any other critters that need reshaping. And we do make our own sausage and I’m the smoker in a big cement block smoke house. A person can smoke a heck of a lot in that thing.It’s our neighbors, so I’d better get going and build one for ourselves one of these years, our neighbor is 80. I can’t process for customers, only family and friends, but I do have a lot of friends
Jim V,
Thanks for the reminder! You southerners don’t get some idea like it’s like the Rio Grande valley here.I do sometimes forget some can’t imagine the northern climate. We have a snow pack and by mild I mean we haven’t been below zero for a spell. That zero mark is something else espesially when your below it. But so far this winter has mostly hovered above it.
Salatins must be thinking on the same lines as me. It does surprise me they even have horned herefords there. They’re not as popular as polled east of the Dakotas.But I’m a beleiver in the horned variety, breed the horns out and I think a person looses some of them good old hereford traits that made them famous.
Tom
January 15th, 2006 at 1:11 pm
Tom,
According to my son the Salatins also think the horns make a difference. They aren’t sure why. Apparently those into Biodynamics say that cattle should not be dehorned because their performance is better with horns. I suppose it has something to do with horns playing a part in the overall physiology of an animal. The Lord made them with horns. Maybe we are a little arrogant to decide that the horns are not important.
Jim
January 15th, 2006 at 2:31 pm
Funny my husband was talking of horned herfords too. I looked at him like he was nutz. Horns!!! Tender skin of people!!! Children!! I will have to tell him of your experiences with them.
Although, I am going to recant on the good review of plain talk. Seems, Brian is using it against me. I have gotten into some trouble with getting rid of junk piles and taking lots of trips to town. I mentioned I needed a new comforter for the bed. The dog thought it was a great toy when I had it on the clothes line this summer. Brian said, “NO, remember what Tom says. Trips to town me you lose money. Besides it still covers us up well.” I quickly showed him, I had a catalogue and could mail order the comforter. No trip to town required. I think I may ask for a refund on that CD yet.
January 15th, 2006 at 3:07 pm
Jim,
My very limited experience with animals has shown me that when you breed for a single trait you end up losing, sometimes bigtime in all the other balance of traits. In all fairness I’ve heard that the polled herefords are catching up in most of the traits originaly in the horned herefords. But not quite all the way yet. The horned herefords big advantage is so many farmers and ranchers didn’t follow show fads and market trends and literaly destroy the breed like so many others, including angus. The angus cows are getting bigger and bigger every year and I here tell west of here they have angus cows averaging 1700 to 1800 pounds, where ours are 1100 to 1200 pounds yet. It’s getting harder to buy breeding stock that doesn’t have this new genetics, so in my view the good old horned hereford is the answer here. Also, and I hope this doesn’t get me into to much trouble, the original polled herefords were genetic misfits that were kept because of their single trait of no horns, that was the only trait looked for and the others were pretty bad, but they bred them up anyhow.
KSMM,
If there was any bull that I would have on the place with kids around it would be the horned herefords. Of course a bull is a bull, but these guys are really the best as far as people goes.
And I’m sorry for causing so much strife in your family, that usually happens when I get involved with anything, a curse I guess, oh well
January 15th, 2006 at 5:50 pm
I’m going to sound like an excited young kid, but I don’t care: “making this place like the large farms of years ago, where they did almost everything on their own place”…. that is SO COOL!!
So many think its impossible, but you’re proving them wrong!!
I’ll have to compare the Hereford’s meat vs the Argentine beef!! Although I warn you, I’m extremely biased!
January 15th, 2006 at 7:28 pm
HH,
You know, I was looking at some pictures of them Argentine grass raised beef a while back and the were mostly hereford and angus that I seen. A couple of years ago we had a gal from Uruguay visit the farm and she told me about their ways of making the beef and we even looked it up on the internet. Boy, that looked like some tasty beef. Well, my computer blew and there went the info she found for me. I’d like to find out the names of their beef dishes again, we have meat processing equipment now! So we could cut anyway we want to try it out.
January 16th, 2006 at 3:23 am
I’ve been doing some preliminaries for studying out a cattle choice for our future operation of the Holtzman House. One of the front-runners for our consideration is the Dexter Cattle Breed. Perhaps it’s just the “Irish†in me, but for consideration of a small farm operation on 15 Acres with no more than 6-9 head at any one time they ‘seem’ to be a proper fit for land accommodation, handling, feed an production size to meat the needs of a family of six and provide adequate dairy accommodations with left-over dairy going to the small hog population in feed. (Note: These are very uninformed assumptions
From some notes I have here at the house these are some of the “highlights†or upsides for our thoughts:
DEXTER
These gentle, hardy and easy to handle animals are one of the world’s smallest bovines. They require less pasture and feed than other breeds. They thrive in hot as well as cold climates and do well outdoors year round, needing only a windbreak, shelter and fresh water. Fertility is high and calves are dropped in the field without difficulty. They are dual purpose, being raised for both milk and meat.
A milking cow can produce more milk for its weight than any other breed. The daily yield averages 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 gallons with butterfat content of 4 to 5 percent. Yields of cream up to one quart per gallon are possible.
We have no ambitions toward a commercial venture with these animals outside of distribution to a “few friendsâ€, as a manner of speaking, for meat & milk. This would help with associated costs and a small contribution to the Home Economy.
Perhaps you could ‘weigh in’ with some thoughts on the idea. We’re thick skinned Christian folk so don’t hesitate to be straight forward or say the ideas “all wet†and flawed from conception, if it in fact is, that’s perfectly OK. Right now we’re “All Hat & No Cattle†so I don’t mind finding out things before hand, rather than “loose my hat†latter if you know what I mean.
Regards.
Ps. I like the thoughts on cookin’ ‘moon’ compared with Bio-D, the benefit of not loosing the mash as feed intrigues me. Do you have an idea of the ratio of corn crop (OP of course…) necessary to convert say 55 Gal of moon comparatively? I appreciate you taking the time for the conversation.
January 16th, 2006 at 5:47 am
Scott,
I’ve never seen a Dexter for real but have read enough about them that I’d say they are a very good choice for your situation. The only concern I have, and it’s a small one, is what are the start up costs? I’ve come across over pricing too many times for “homestead” type critters. Other than that this would probobly be the route that I’d take in your situation. In our own situation I think it wise to stay with some regular cattle because it’s always nice with this many critters to by able to sell on the main stream market.
About the “moonshine”, that project is behind schedual bigtime here, it got bumped to the backround with so many other things going on at the present time, besides I don’t have to much corn laying around here this year. We’ll be planting a grain type OP corn this coming spring and see how that does. I do want that still up and running before spring to try a batch out, we’ve got some of the copper now. So once I look that way I’ll keep everyone posted.I’ll give details then.For anyone just dropping in, we’re talking about alternative fuels here.
January 16th, 2006 at 7:22 am
I have had a dexter cow. She gave very little milk - less than a quart a milking. They have not typically been bred for milk production, although I was told that there are some breeders selecting for milk production. Some of them can be very small. The cow we had fattened through the winter (a Minnesota winter) on alfalfa hay only. So they should fatten easily on grass alone. We opted to get Jersey cows instead because the level of milk production was more acceptable.
Jim
January 16th, 2006 at 8:24 am
You guys are all way ahead of the game on us. Three years ago, our family moved to a 14-acre property, and we’re only now beginning to convert it for farm use. You all will probably chuckle, but I’m a bit excited at the fact that I just bought my first tractor over the weekend. Paid cash. My land is mostly wooded and I figure that the expense will pay for itself in a short time by enabling me to get in the back and haul out wood to heat my home with. WIth the price of oil, it shouldn’t take long. It’ll also enable me to clear the land in order to do more farming.
We’ve been raising small animals; chickens, rabbits - and we also raise dogs and cats for pets (see our website - http://www.kephacats.com - and no I’m not plugging. I doubt anyone here would be interested in our critters. We sell mainly to city folk who have pets instead of kids, but we also try to cater to local families who would like a pet but can’t afford the outrageous prices that they go for around here…) I am eager to begin raising something a bit larger, but have yet to pull the trigger. I have no experience with cattle, although I have been reading up on the subject a bit. I’ve read Salatin’s books, Dirk Van Loon, “The Family Cow”, among others on pigs, sheep, etc.
Your plug for Herefords is interesting. I don’t know nearly enough at this point to make an informed decision though. I have read up on Dexters, and I think that they would be ideal for my situation, but they are very expensive (at least around here in Connecticut), so I doubt I will be going that route unless I can find some that are reasonable.
Anyway, I don’t mean to blather on about myself, but I want to let you know where I’m at so that I can perhaps get a bit of advice from the “pro’s†from time to time as we convert our land and our lifestyle. I sure wish I didn’t squander years working at a career. I’m trying to make up for lost time…
January 16th, 2006 at 12:06 pm
Jim,
Thanks for jumping in about the Dexters, that’s a good thing about these blogs, a person learns something.
Steve,
Thanks for sharing what your up to over your way. My plug for the Horned Herefords has to be looked at differently in everybodies situation. Here, on larger acreage we run larger cattle that can take living on their own, with us just supplying their winter feed. This size of cow could be a problem on small acreage where smaller stock would probably make much more sense. And I’m talking beef, we don’t milk these cows at all, so that has to be taken into consideration. Also on small acreage you’d probably not want to be supporting a bull year round, they do eat a lot. A thought just came to me, a while back I thought I seen an advertisement for miniature herefords, hmmm. I’ll have to keep an eye open. I know they have miniature angus, I forget their name. Food for thought.
Tom
January 16th, 2006 at 1:29 pm
Jim V
My son was telling me that Salatins just got a Hereford bull - with horns. I guess you are in good company.
Or, maybe, the Salatins are in good company.
Tom,
re: needing power to run your operation, I know you’ve been looking into power generation. Your wood stove system can provide heat for steam engine, or you can use corn alcohol to run gasoline type engines, or you can use soybean oil to run diesel type engines.
My research is pretty sketchy, but the people I’ve talked to seem to think any of those options are good, depending if you can grow trees, corn, or beans.
$3000 is a chunk o’ change, but with equipment as good as you said this is, that is a pittance to be able to extricate yourself from dependence on the system for processing.
Good luck, or, to put it more properly: God Bless!
January 16th, 2006 at 1:39 pm
Tom,
I think alot of the differences between the Argentine and US beef is how the meat gets cut. I used to have a diagram of how the Argentine’s did it which I’ll have to find in my files. Once you start processing, I’ll take all you can give me of the sweetbread (the glands). They are fantastic on the grill with a little lemon on them! I can’t find any here as most processing throw it away- such a sacrilege!!
January 16th, 2006 at 4:25 pm
JFC,
I figure I need about a century to catch up to Salatins, but at least we’ve started! I can grow corn and trees but ain’t all to interested in soybeans. My neighbor always says that with all the wood we burn between us that we should figure out a steam powered generator and capture the used heat for ourselves. There’s a lot of different ways…
And I know three thousand is a chunk, I still have tears in my eyes parting from it.But this Thursday the first family cow gets butchered and then ground up a few days later so that’s the first $300 bite out of the bill.
HH,
If you ever run across them Argentine cuts let me know, I truly am interested in that. Food is my hobby, or should I say eating is my hobby. So much enjoyment….
January 16th, 2006 at 6:13 pm
I wanted to add some information on Dexter cows. Seems they have quite a reputation for genetic defects. A friend of ours is trying to work with them and has had one dead calf after another. Cows dying too. It is the bulldog something ruther. Another gal contacted me via email to report a dead dexter calf. I am noticing a trend with these cows. Just thought I would mention some of the local experience around here. I realize all farming can have bad years, but for such a small operation over the past three years our friend has had more dead calves and cows than anyone should have to go through. It just could be his luck.
I am a little biased toward Jersey’s, I understand there are minitures of the breed too. They are so hearty and gentle, but they are prone to keytosis and milk fever. A good preventive program should help.
Tom: When you get your shine thing agoin’ Brian wants to hear more about it. It really sparked his interest on the PT CD.
January 16th, 2006 at 6:38 pm
I’ll keep you informed when we get to it. A reader “Clint”, down Tennessee way has some experience with it, I gotta get serious on this. Talk about going to what my moonshining forfathers did, they used a breed of corn called Minnesota 13 for their really good shine, well, we’ll be planting quite a few acres of that corn this year. What goes around comes around, eh.
August 23rd, 2006 at 7:16 pm
Hi,
I just came across your site talking about the Dexter cows and the bulldog calves.
Information about this can be found in this scientific paper http://www.ava.com.au/avj/9803/98030199.pdf
There is now a test to isolate the gene that produces the bulldog calves which are dwarves.
The ’short legged’ dexter is primarily the carrier so ‘long legged’ dexters are usually fine. I have long legged dexters.
Unfortunately many people have bred with beef foundation cows to get their dexters and destroy a lot of the good milk production in the full blood dexters (mine come from jersey foundation cows).
They are a lovely cow (I’ve had jersey, holstein, murray grey, hereford cross) and for a small farm who wants both excellent quality milk and meat they are ideal.
Their milk should contain almost the same butterfat content as a jersey and the meat is very much like wagyu.
Hope this dispels any concerns about the dexters.
Regards
Suzy