The Bovine Bugle

Over hill, through the bog, we'll chase the pollywog

Noah keeps a sharp eye our for spring wildlife while out in the woods to help his dad.

Noah helped me fix some fence this morning, to ready a new paddock for the young heifers and steers. They are doing really well outside, and have actually learned to eat grass. It usually takes about a week to ten days before they realize, hey!, this green stuff is good! We feed them a bale or two of hay a day until they get the hang of grazing.

The high tensile fence Noah and I worked on went up over a ledgey hill, and then down through a small bog to a big red maple that anchored the fence. We replaced a few clips in some insultimber posts, and a couple of pin-lock insulators on a small red maple that was on the fence line. Once the posts and insulators were all set, we used the tightening tool to put tension on the two strands of fence. Now all we needed was the battery-powered fencer to put a charge on the fence.

Noah had a great time climbing the rocks, checking out all the spring flowers, and wading into the water to watch the pollywogs or tadpoles. We finished just in time to get back to the house for lunch and then get Noah up to kindergarten.

Can you spot the frog?

Or find the tadpoles?

Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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Chicken "coop" for the soul

Son Ben begins constructing the frame for one
chicken coop wall.

Over the weekend, my brother, Steve, and his girls and my boys and I started building a chicken coop for someone we know. It"s sort of a community service project for Ben, one we came up with after visiting a customer of our farm's products.

We were delivering beef and eggs to Sylvia Peltier. She and her husband, Ron, have been buying our products for some time. Sylvia has severe rheumatoid arthritis and is wheel-chair bound. During our delivery, she once again talked about her wish to have chickens in the yard in back of her house. Her daughter had given her some money for materials to build a chicken coop, but the cost of hiring a builder was holding her back. As Ben and I headed home from Sylvia's house, I mentioned to Ben the idea of him and I and a few other people building the chicken coop for Sylvia and Ron. He loved the idea, as did Karen, and it would help Ben fulfill some required community service time for the National Honor Society.

We first got the okay from Ron to do the project. He was really touched by the idea. And when we told Sylvia she was so excited she couldn't stop thanking us. Over the next few weeks the project took shape. My brother put together a material list. Then I worked with a friend of mine, Mike Lemnah, who works for a local lumberyard, to price out the materials. Mike, with the blessings of his boss, sold us the materials at a discounted price and also donated 3 windows for the building. The materials were delivered just before the weekend, and we set to work Saturday morning.

Big brother Ben and Uncle Steve help Noah do some hammering on the coop frame.

Between Saturday and Sunday we probably put in 6 hours on the project. We are building the chicken coop in our farm utility building, and then we will dismantle it, truck the pieces down to Sylvia's (about 10 miles away) , and put it together in her backyard. Hopefully by Memorial Day the building will be up and standing behind Sylvia and Ron's house, almost ready for the 6 laying hen chicks that Sylvia has started in a large cardboard box in her home.

One wall of the coop is up by the end of the weekend.

Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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About those chicks we bought earlier...

A reader had a question on the blog about Noah's rooster and the baby chicks. The reader wondered what breed of meat birds we were raising, how long did we raise them until they were proccessed, a what type of pasturing setup did we use for the meat birds.

The breed we buy is a white-feathered bird called Heavy White Cornish. I haven't tried any other breeds yet. I asked another organic farmer what type of meat birds he raised, thinking he would be one who would raise an heirloom breed. He said he raised a similar breed to mine and that they did as well in a grazing setup as other breeds touted to be better than the ones we used.

In the past, we raised the meat birds for 9 weeks before they were processed at Adams Turkey Farm in Westford. The past two years the birds have averaged a little over 5 pounds after processing, with the smallest bird being around 4 pounds and the largest bird weighing 7 1/2 pounds. This gives us a good variety of sizes, and often if we do sell some of the meat chickens, we have demand for the smaller-sized ones first. This leaves the 6 and 7 pound birds for us, which is fine when you are trying to feed three hungry, growing boys.

Finally, our pasturing setup for the meat chickens. We built ourselves a "chicken tractor" out of PVC pipe that is 10 feet wide, 12 feet long, and 3 feet high in the center. Two thirds of the top of the shelter is covered with a tarp, the other third has chicken wire covering the opening and can be opened easily to feed and water the birds. The sides of the shelter are covered with chicken wire. This "chicken tractor" is moved around the pasture, normally twice a day, to fresh grass. This keeps the birds supplied with plenty of fresh grass and with a nice, clean living area. The design of the shelter also gives them plenty of fresh air and sunshine. Once the chicks are well feathered, around 3-4 weeks of age, we place them in the chicken tractor for the next 5-6 weeks. Once we put the birds in the chicken tractor, we will be sure to send pictures along to show just what it looks like.

Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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Christmas in May--can you dig it?

Preparation!

Our county Natural Resource Council held its annual tree and plant sale last weekend. We had ordered 100 balsam fir transplants to plant in our 2 1/2 acre Christmas tree plantation. We picked them up, but didn't get them planted until a few days later. Ben did the prep work for me this year, using a one-man earth auger with an 8-inch auger to make the 100 12-inch deep holes to plant the trees in.

Success!

Yesterday and today, Karen and I took a couple hours each day to go over and plant the transplants. We mix a shovel-full of compost in with the soil that was augered out of the hole, and then we place the transplant in the hole and pack the soil/compost mix around the roots. Using the auger makes the whole job much easier and faster, and I must say it didn't break my heart to have Ben doing the job this year.

I'll have to get over to the trees later in the week with the DR Fieldmower to get the grass between the rows of trees mowed down. Like most jobs, it's good to get an early jump on it before the job becomes too big. The older trees look great, and with a good summer growing season we should be open to sell Christmas trees this December.

The future!

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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Youngsters get first taste of freedom out on the grass

Today we turned out 12 young heifers and steers that had never been out before. It's always fun to see animals out in the pasture when they don't have a clue with what to do with their freedom. We lead them from the barn, up the road about three or four hundred feet, and put them in a special paddock for first-timers. After pushing their noses into the woven wire fence so they have some clue of what a fence is, we take the halter off and let'em go.

This group of twelve lead exceptionally well out of the barn and up the road. Usually one or two we have to practically drag all the way. As soon as the halter was off, each animal ran into the paddock, kicking up its heels. A couple ran headlong into the woven wire fence, but we have it reinforced so they didn't go through the fence. The rest of the day they spent checking out all the amenities: the bedded shelter, the grain feeder, and the stock tank full of water.

Amy, a Red Angus heifer, managed to get through the fence and into the next paddock. Yukon and I went out and drove her down to the gate separating the two paddocks, opened the gate, and she went through as if she had been doing it all summer. Sometimes an animal will just refuse to go through a gate opening no matter what you do to try and coax it through. What a joy to see more of our animals out on grass. And it makes it easier to get Justin down to the youngstock barn to do the chores since the barn is half empty now.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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Noah gets his rooster, along with 80 baby chicks

Today the day-old chicks arrived at McCuin's Farm and Home store in Highgate. More than a month ago we had ordered 70 meat bird chicks, 10 laying chicks, and 1 rooster for Noah. Noah wants to raise baby chicks, so we'll see how that all turns out. As soon as morning chores were done, Noah dashed up to the house to get the truck keys so that we could head down to "Uncle Owen's store" to pick up our order.

Donna, Owen, and Noah's cousin, Jason, boxed up the chicks for the ride home. The boxes were set inside the truck, right beside Noah. Tiny "peep, peep, peeps" muffled by the closed boxes could be heard all the way home. Noah and I unloaded the chicks into the waiting freshly bedded pen. We filled the waterer and grain feeder, and made sure the heat lamp was hung just right to keep the chicks nice and warm. "Fort Chickie", as Noah was calling the pen holding the chicks, was all set for now.

We checked the chicks several times through the day. They seemed to be settling in just fine. In about three weeks, after the chicks are well feathered and the weather has turned warm for good (it was 18 degrees here this morning), we will put the chicks out in the moveable shelter so they can enjoy the goodness of the grass and sunshine.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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Out on the grass, finally, the cows are in hog heaven

Today was the day we had been looking forward to since last fall, when the cows went on a full ration of round bale forage. The cows were turned out on pasture this morning. We had hoped to turn them out a week ago, but the 3 1/2 inches of rain over the last two weeks had made things a little muddy around here. Since Tuesday afternoon we really haven't had any rain and things have dried up a bit.

We had been working on mending fences the past several days, and finally this morning after milking I plugged the electric fencer in and opened the gate to let the cows out of the barnyard. They were off like a shot, running and jumping out into the meadow. Even the oldest cows acted like youngsters as they ran here and there, sniffing and snorting. When we see our cows celebrating like this, out in the sunshine and fresh air, I feel sorry for all the cows kept on farms where they never even get to leave the barn.

There isn't a lot of grass right now, but the sunshine and warm temperatures that we will be getting over the next few days will make the grass take off. Then we will have the wonderful challenge of moving the cows through the grazing rotation to have them eat the grass before it gets too tall. The people here at Howmars Farm enjoy the grazing season just as much as the cows.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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Up to our armpits in trouble at monthly herd clinic

Today was monthly herd clinic with Dr. Steve Wadsworth. We had the list of the animals to check all made and the cows all sorted when Dr. Steve came into the barn. The heifer calves that were born the end of March/beginning of April were the first animals to be attended to. Dr. Steve dehorned them right away, so that he could check them in an hour or so before he left the farm to make sure they were fine.

Then we started running animals into the milking parlor to do preg. checks and post-calving checks. The fresh cows were doing fine. About half the cows we checked for pregnancies were pregnant, a little below our normal success rate. The open, or not bred, cows were all cycling normally so we will catch them next time. We had one last cow to check in one of the maternity pens. Dena, a 10-year old cow, had not eaten her grain last night or this morning so we wanted Dr. Steve to check her over. We thought she was just having a little indigestion. Much to our surprise, and Dr. Steve's, Dena had a twisted stomach, or DA (displaced abomasum). This was the same thing our other cow, Bess, had surgery for a few weeks ago.

Dr. Steve had another clinic to do that morning, but he said he would be back in about 2 hours to do the surgery to fix the problem. The surgery went fine, and Dena was an exceptionally good patient. Dr. Steve felt that the poor quality forage we were having to feed the cows had probably caused the problem for Dena. She was alert and fine when Steve headed off to his next call.

Below: After making a small incision in the cow's stomach, Dr. Steve inserts a needle and tubing to allow for pent up gas to escape. The vet puts the tubing in his ear so that he can hear for the last of the gas to go, bringing great relief for Dena, an exceptionally good patient.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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Into every farmer's life a little grain must fall

We took a delivery of grain from Morrison's Custom Feeds today. The truck that came today was a tandem axle truck that can carry up to 18 tons of grain. Sometimes their tractor trailer rig makes the delivery. I think it can carry between 25 and 30 tons on a load.

Today we took delivery of 12 tons of grain. We started getting this size load a few months ago because we get a discount on the price per ton if we take a 12 ton load or larger. The price of organic grain is high right now, so if we can lower the price we pay by taking a larger load less often, we will do it. Since late last summer the price we pay for our grain has risen almost $100 per ton. Morrison's field man, Mike Thresher, attributes much of the price rise on the increase in demand of organic grains for human consumption. I'm glad to hear that consumers are changing their eating habits and using more organically raised grains, but I wish it didn't mean an increase in my production costs.

It took Ethan, the grain truck driver, about 45 minutes to blow the grain into the four grain bins located inside our barns. After filling the bins and unloading the bags of chicken grain, kelp meal, and trace mineral salt that he brought along on his truck for us, Ethan picked up his flexible grain pipes and headed back to the grain mill 2 1/2 hours away. Once the grass is growing well, we will be able to feed less grain, and a lower protein grain, to the cows to help lower our production costs through the grazing season.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

ABOUT THE BOVINE BUGLE

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