Just some farm babbling (and one awesome recipe)

Here is another fall update….

The little piglets have been moved into the garden to forage and rototill.  I am keeping Abra and Avidor in their summer digs for a bit longer to allow the babies to grow a bit faster without the competition of their parents for food.   We figure we will be butchering at least one in December and perhaps the other in February.

We had our first hatching success and have 12 little Light Brahma chicks.   Our success rate was about 50%.  I don’t think that was too bad for our first clutch.  These baby chicks are so friendly compared to the ones I have purchased via mail or at TSC.   I have another 30 eggs going into the incubator this weekend.

 

The Guinea fowl have been banned into the horse barn for the duration of the winter.  They don’t like the chickens so they can’t stay in the chicken coop and they can’t free range because they like Greg’s truck as a daytime perch.   They were doing well up there until they found the cat door……sigh, they are NOT the smartest birds, but they sure do know how to get into trouble.

I finally found something at which I can rival an Amish woman.  I found a superb recipe for a pumpkin log that tastes JUST like one made by the Amish (and maybe better).  A few notes:  1) I did not use any nuts. 2) My jelly roll pan was larger than the required size so the cake batter didn’t cover it; I had to make an additional ½ batch to fill out the pan (but didn’t use ALL the batter). 3) I’m pretty sure they are wrong on the amount of servings; there were a few less than 8.  J 

Pumpkin Log

Ingredients:

3 eggs

¾ cups granulated sugar

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup oil

1 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

Grease and flour a 10” x 15” jelly roll pan; line with wax paper or parchment paper and grease again.  Preheat oven to 360 deg F. 

Mix ingredients together in order listed, excepting nuts.  Spread into prepared pan; sprinkle with nuts.  Bake 15 minutes.  Turn out onto dampened towel. Roll up lengthwise in jellyroll fashion (including towel and paper).  Cool

 

Filling:

2 tablespoons butter, softened

1 package cream cheese, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

Assembly:

Combine all ingredients, beating until smooth.  Unroll cooked cake and remove paper and towel.  Spread with filling, re-roll, and refrigerate. 

Makes 8 servings

 

My dearest hubby hooked up our dishwasher – what a wonderful help.  I had (sort of) forgotten how nice it is to have one. 

My dearest hubby has been such a busy man, since he also finished up the new goat barn and his farm equipment storage shed.  After we had a week of heavy rainfall, they were happy to have this extra space during the next rain.   This barn actually has height enough for me to very comfortably stand in it.  With an additional 200 square feet of floor space I know I’M going to be happy with it.  I’m now storing quite a bit of hay in the goat feed room adjacent to this new living space; this makes it even easier this winter as I won’t have to trudge through the snow nearly as much to put hay into the feeders!! 

Powder, our Satin doe, has finally come of age and we attempted our first breeding.   Not quite enough proper action from our buck, Fudge, the first couple of tries.  We put her in with him and the third time was the charm.  We are due for our first babies around November 20^th, 2012!!

Speaking of bunnies, I picked up two more rabbits yesterday.  They are two young Checkered Giant/ New Zealand cross does.  One will be heading to the dinner table while the other will be a kept as a breeder.   I am seriously on the lookout for some nice size angora does.   I’m doing some research into them and found I can use them for fiber (when not bred or rearing young) and for meat.

The goats are growing wider and wider and wider.   Got the baby monitor fixed and set up ready to alert me to babies (in a few months). 

Ruby

Snapdragon

 

As I get deeper into this world of quality goat breeding, I find more things that are hard for a softie like me.  While I believe that my stock is of pretty darn good quality I concern myself with the small (or maybe not so small) things.  For instance, if I have stock that is of very nice confirmation, good feet, decent worm resistance, good meat to bone ratio, fast growing, has large litter sizes, friendly and  of amazing color but for some reason seems to be more prone to unknown illnesses and/or nutritional deficiencies.   Are those the first I should cull? Or would it be better to cull a family line that is slower growing but that is NOT prone to any illness or deficiencies?  Or perhaps the family line that has EVERYTHING but only gives me single births?  Currently I haven’t had these specific issues or choices to make but I tend to make mountains out of molehills sometimes.  I don’t want to cull anybody to be honest, but I’ve been thinking more and more about currently having 9 does bred and only space to keep 3 more goats!!  I know I would like to keep one Myotonic doeling and two are most likely already sold.  I am hoping I get at least one SUPER colorful and built doe from Nitro and would like to keep that one.  I’m not sure however if I want to keep any offspring from Demon.  He is growing wonderfully and I’ve bred him to Berry and Fiona, but I don’t like his scrotal conformation.  If he throws that trait to his male offspring he will be culled.  I do know that before closing our herd I need at least three bucks that I am extremely happy with or my herd won’t be that constant improvement that all (okay hopefully at least most) new breeders strive for. 

I will be getting gift baskets together soon for this year.  However I wish they could be as full as last year, but unfortunately I didn’t do the canning this year that I did the previous year, so my cupboard is almost “bare”.  However without as many home canned goods, I hope to add a few craft projects, maybe some homemade soap or body scrubs and maybe a few homemade mixes!! 

I’ve put Icee and Reign back together to guard the girls pen as a team.  Icee finished her first “season” at 11-1/2 months of age.  If all goes well, she won’t be coming into heat again until spring; at which point I will either separate them again or allow them to produce their first litter.  I have been extremely impressed with the guarding ability, temperament and intelligence of these two.  When kidding season hits this spring however I think I will keep both Reign and Icee with the boys until the dams and their kids settle in.  I’m just not sure I want to trust ANY dog with my newborns at this time until they prove themselves (supervised) with little ones first!!

There has been one sad departure since our last blog entry.   Monte (aka Monkey) has moved to live with children.  I think the change was most likely sadder for me than it was for Monte.  I’m sure he will be very happy with a couple of kids to dote on him!!

There have been two additions since our last entry.  Jasmine (aka Jazz) is a gorgeous 10HH pony mare.  She will need a lot of work on trust issues, being a bit head shy.  We have had her here about three weeks now and she has come a long way, if the weather would cooperate I’m sure I could work her more often.  She is my new cart prospect and hopefully by spring we will have a harness on her.

 

The second addition to our homestead is 10 acres surrounding our current 2 acres.  We have put in the fencing for a two acre horse pasture and will be planting pasture grasses and a few trees in the spring.  The remaining acreage will be planted for haying.  Hopefully in the spring I will be also doubling the size of the both the buck pen and the girls pasture. 

Well, until next time…..

What a Great Pair of Knees can do for you....

Okay I'm not the first person to make that joke nor will I be the last.  However it seems an appropriate way to start out a blog entry focusing on our Great Pyrenees dogs and the roles they will someday fill here at Cornerstone Acres Farm.
We aquired Icee, a female Great Pyrenees, on January 14,  2012.  Icee was born on 11/25/2011 and is an all white Pyrenees from working parents.  She was born and raised with goats on a farm in Fremont, Michigan. 

Icee (9 weeks)

We then aquired Zip, a 3 year old intact male, from a friend who needed to "pyr proof" her yard before taking him back home.  We would have loved to have made him a permanent addition here as he is quite a sweetheart, but I suppose that is why his owner wants him back!  He originally came from a sheep farm where the owner had sold off his sheep due to health problems which left Zip without a job.

Zip (3 years)

After deciding we liked having a pair of Pyrenees to work our small pasture we began an almost half hearted search for a partner for Icee.  Well, as fate would have it, an email arrived one day and after a couple of phone calls we added Reign to our family.  He officially became our dog on February 17, 2012.   Reign is a 7 month old intact badger male who had to be given up by his family due to allergies.  Reign originally came from a breeder in Ohio.  Although he was not raised as a guardian dog he seems to be quite a natural, with very attentive instincts when around the goats.  We will continue to monitor him closely and only allow him with the goats while supervised. 

Reign (7 months)

So now that I have introduced you to our Livestock Guardian Dogs (LGD) let me explain what their roles here will be. 

     First and foremost they are to work as a team to protect our livestock.  We specifically chose the Great Pyrenees breed for their tendancy to use their shear size and presence as a deterrant and only resort to force when necessary.  Since we tend to have visitors to our farm that are either buying goats or just want to play with them, we needed a dog that was relatively people friendly.   We do have a coyote population in our area.  Although we have lost a few free range chickens to possible coyote attacks, I have not witnessed any pressure on the goats.  I have witnessed coyotes withing "spitting distance" of our barns and pastures so it could be only a matter of time before pressure increases.  It would only take one hard winter to make the goats look pretty tasty, especially when we schedule our kidding for January here.  Our team of Icee and Reign along with strong fencing and electric wires should eliminate any losses due to coyotes or stray dogs. 

     Secondly these two are fun loving companions for both humans and goats.  In holding with true LGD philosophies they should only be human socialized to a minimum degree.  This is to strengthen and encourage their bond with the goats  - they need to prefer the goats company over human company.  But, as I stated earlier, Reign was raised for the first 7 months of his life as a "pet" not an LGD.  He has a bond with humans already.  However due to the fact that we only have about 1 well fenced acre at this time to "guard" there just isn't the huge concern that the goats will wander away without their protectors.  Icee on the other hand DOES have the bond with the goats.  She is a very sweet dog and loves cuddles and petting, but almost always prefers to wander off with her goats.  She is quite happy walking the fence perimeter and marking "her" area.  These two are very good companions when I spend my time out in the pasture, both loving and attentive.  Happily though, they are calm and content with the company of each other and the goats when I leave.
I'm very happy with both dogs and look forward to watching them grow and learn.  They have a long way to go to reach maturity.  Great Pyrenees don't mentally or physically mature until around 18-24 months of age.  At some point after Icee reaches the ripe old age of two, I may breed her and Reign for a litter of pups. We will make that decision based on their temperment, conformation, guarding abilities and over all health as they mature.  Some time in the next few months we will be planning a segregation plan for them to keep them from early and unwanted breeding.  Due to the slower growth rate of the giant breeds, females often will not reach their first heat until a year of age or older.  If we decide not to breed them, we will definately have both of them fixed.
We will eventually allow our pair to roam with the horses, bucks and does by using jump holes.  We are also in the process of finding a way to feed them without the goats gettng to the dog food.  I will definately post pictures and instructions when we find a way that works for both of these issues. 
I learned a bit of interesting information about the breed while researching why the older Pyr, Zip, might not be eating or drinking as much as I thought he should.  It seems to be a constant issue with many Great Pyrenees dogs, especially those used as guardians.  They do not like to stick their heads into "deep" buckets (such as a horse grain or water bucket).  One school of thought is that it confines their "line of sight".  After moving his food and water to one of those low sided rubber pans he is drinking and eating at a much better rate.  Funny how quirky dogs can be...just like children.

Icee and Reign getting aquainted

Well it's time to do a bed check on all the goats and dogs.

Until next time.......