Farming in the shade

Our Belted Galloway cattle (a.k.a. Oreo Cows) eat fresh, luscious grass in the spring, summer and fall. But come winter, the grass goes away. This is when we haul out the hay that we put up during the spring and summer.  The big round bales of hay are heavy, so The Farmer uses the skidsteer/bobcat to haul them out to the field. He takes off the net wrap so that the cattle can get to the chopped hay. Often he has cattle who want to help him and hurry him along with this part of the process. So you will occasionally hear him bellow (he has ear protection on, and doesn't realize how loud he is) "MOOOOOVE!" Whether the ground is bare or snow-covered, the cattle need feeding. After the net wrap is off the bale, he spreads it out a bit, so that all can get at it. So far, we have had three heifer calves this year. This mama cow is heading for the hay pile, and assuming that her new calf can keep up.

Our sheep and cattle are often pastured beyond the reach of a hose. This requires us to haul water to them on a regular basis, and in the case of our cattle herd, we've had to haul water four or five times a day to keep up with their consumption. We've been using our trusty Gator with four 15-gallon water tanks. It takes quite a bit of time to keep up with the demand for water this way, and means that someone always has to be around the farm, hauling water every 2-4 hours. The Farmer wondered about getting larger tanks and doing the water runs less often. We found a few 330-gallon tanks for sale on Craigslist, and set a couple of them on a seldom-used hay wagon. We fitted them with special valves to which we could attach a garden hose. Now we fill two large tanks (each takes 50 minutes to fill) and haul water once every three days or so. The hose is attached to a standard waterer with a float (to prevent overfilling). The water is gravity-fed from the storage tanks, a...

Yesterday we moved the cattle from one pasture to another--a total move that had to be close to half a mile. It was a hot day, one of many hot days this summer all strung together in a row. If you've ever picked a field of green beans, or hoed a field of pickles, or followed a potato digger, lobbing the freshly-unearthed taters into a nearby receptacle, you'll know what this summer feels like. You look up from what you're doing and think, "Didn't I make any progress at all? The end is still so far off..." And then you realize that once you reach the end of your row, you will turn around and start back across the field to where you started. That's what this summer feels like. Are we there yet? We watch the weather, hoping for a break in the heat, or the relief and refreshment brought by rain. People comment to us: "This is what we wished for in February!" And they drive off to their cottage or the beach, while we move our animals and pra...

When we decided recently to add cattle to the farm, we also decided that we needed to set up sorting area and acquire appropriate equipment. We've got some sorting capabilities in the sheep barn that help us with the sheep, but that system isn't set up for cattle. And sometimes we just set up temporary fences and pens and do it the hard way with the sheep, if we are not near the sheep barn. But temporary fencing and pens certainly don't cut it with cattle.  When cattle decide to go a different direction than where you want them to go, there is no reasoning with them. And, at more than half a ton each, you certainly can't force them to do anything once they've made up their minds.  So we acquired a squeeze chute and sorting pen and alley. We set up small but sturdy permanent pens next to the sheep barn.  This particular day it was time to sort off the two steers that were ready for freezer camp. We herded all the cattle into a small pen, and made sure th...

Tuesday we ran errands and came home to a "Guess what?!" from our daughter.  The Farmer guessed. He'd watched one cow stand off a bit, and moo.  First calf of 2015--a heifer calf.

Mo has done his work for two years now, and it's time for him to move on. He is a purebred Belted Galloway, but without registration papers. If you know of someone who would like a fine bull, please have them contact us at shadysidefarmmichigan at gmail dot com. It seems a shame to just sell him at a local auction sale.

About a week ago, it was time to put the bull in with the cows for breeding. He'd been sounding like a donkey for about a week or two, indicating that he was longing for some company. The braying began when we moved the cows to the west of the bull's pasture. I'm sure the prevailing wind brought their scent and sound to torture him. The move itself was rather free-form. We usually set up lots of fences to minimize escapes. In this case, he knew where he wanted to be, and so we were able to just walk along in case he made any wrong turns. Being up close and personal with an animal of that size worries me. In this case, he's paying very little attention to us. And he finds what he's looking for... And announces his arrival: "MOO!" (See his head lifted up?) Glad that went as smoothly as it did.

One of our daughters really loves sheep. For the past two summers she's helped us out by moving the sheep to fresh pasture. But this summer she has been in New Zealand doing a college internship on a sheep farm. We sort of knew she was doing a lot of work here during the summers, but I am learning first-hand just HOW much work it is to move animals around. The Farmer helps out when he can, but many times it is me moving sheep, cattle or (college daughter's) horses to fresh pasture. This has been a fabulous summer for pasture growth. Regular, plentiful rains and cooler temperatures have provided us with lush pastures. A couple of our pastures like the one in the photo below have loads of purple clover in them.  The sheep know the drill. Every other day they willingly and eagerly pour through the small opening I make into the next pasture. I then spend time moving the waterer and the mineral feeder to the new pasture, take down the old fence and set it up for the pastu...

A couple of weeks ago, we set up temporary fence to move the cattle to new pasture. It was a Saturday evening, and we'd finished a day of farmers markets and farm work by eating supper around a fire. Just one last thing to do, and we could clean up and fall into bed exhausted. Everyone else was gone, and so The Farmer and I slowly moved the cattle to new grass. Here's where things went south. The parading ladies caught the attention of Mo, the bull, who is in solitary confinement while the calves are being born. As we were slowly walking behind the cows, I looked over and noticed Mo had his head between a gate post and a building. And he was pushing. I left The Farmer and ran over to him, waved him away from the gate, and rejoined the parade. But he was not finished. He was NOT going to stay in solitary confinement any longer. And before we could say, "I'm tired and I dearly hope this doesn't go south!" he broke the gatepost and was free! I have re...

It seems like every year I do a post on dying. Life is easy to share with you. New lambs, new corn plants, spring--it's all good! But you cannot have life without both ends--birth and death. And while I am usually pretty jazzed at the end of life of a corn field (harvest is a pretty exciting time), I am less excited about the death of an animal. Yesterday we found one of our barn cats had been hit, but was still alive. While we made plans to put her out of her misery, she dragged herself off somewhere to die alone. The past week I've been struggling with a lamb with a broken leg. He was too old to teach to drink from a bottle, even though I tried. For a while, we wondered if his mother was still caring for him. But we found his body yesterday when we moved the sheep to a new pasture. This little lady's mother developed mastitis. It went septic, and by the time we realized the severity and decided to treat her with antibiotics (thereby making her no longer organic), ...

When I blogged yesterday about what to do with the dwindling feed problem, I didn't tell you that we'd already made a plan and carried it out. I wanted to see what others would have decided, though I realize I didn't give all the information. Things I left out included lack of money and the fact that we are still lambing. The first year we had sheep we had the ewes giving birth out in the pasture, and it Did Not Go Well. Since that time we've chosen to lamb inside, where conditions are much more controlled. Anyway, this past weekend it was apparent that we had a dire situation on our hands. Denial of the situation was not working; something needed to be done, and it needed to be done right then. But of course we had these cows in the way. So the first order of business was to sort the calves from their mothers, and remove the bull from the group. Enter the sorting chute we recently purchased (which probably has something to do with our cash flow problem). We spen...

This has been the first winter we've had the Belted Galloway cattle. It was an epic winter, full of snow (over 144" last I heard) and bitterly cold temps. We are very pleased with how they fared. We had a little trouble with them walking over the fences , but fortunately they are all present and accounted for. Until the pastures regrow, we need to keep feeding hay. In the post linked above, I mentioned that the cattle had gained access to our hay stash and made a royal mess. You can see evidence of their misdeeds on the barn floor in the photo below, as well as in the bottom left bale (partially hidden by a conveyor belt, left). Our new skid steer has served us well, and continues to be useful in so many ways on the farm. Our old one was lost in a small  fire , and The Farmer has fashioned a bale spear for this new one. He can carefully remove a bale from the tall pile, even in very tight quarters. I am grateful for the cab on the skid steer, as it would protect him in cas...

During the worst of this endless winter we had some problems with drifts and drifters. The snow drifts covered the electric fence in places, and caused it to become not-electric. And some of those drifts were so stiff and sturdy that the cattle could walk on top of them. Can you see where this is going? Yes, the cattle drifted over the fence, and into a more sheltered area between buildings. That was fine, sort of, as we'd actually discussed moving them there to give them a little more break from the endless winds. We opted not to move them there, however, as we use that area for storage of equipment and hay, and because we are regularly driving through that area to make compost. Cattle can be hard on buildings and equipment (they don't realize how big and strong they are). And any hay that they have access to they gorge on. So I guess they knew better than we where they needed to be. And moved themselves there. I can't say that they damaged any equipment, and for ...

Our six new Belted Galloway cows have produced four calves so far--three heifers and one bull.  They seem to be thriving on life out in the pasture. They are rotationally grazed, like the sheep. We move them every few days, based on the size of the paddock and the weather conditions. We've had lots of rain, which keeps the grass growing optimally. It's always a joy to see the little ones enjoying life. The calves learned very quickly that they could sneak under the single strand electric fence and wander away from mom. They explore, or play together, or just take a nap away from the rest.   The cows call them to come back. Like human children, sometimes they obey, and sometimes they don't. What did I tell you about picking your nose in public?

Just before Shearing Day, in all the hubbub of getting things ready, The Farmer traveled across the state to pick up his latest project. A new addition to the farm. His friend Mark went along. Good thing, as we don't own a nice big truck and trailer. They got home late afternoon. Brinkley was wondering what was on that trailer. Lots of new smells... The occupants of the trailer were sniffing the wind, too, wondering what they'd gotten themselves into. They got off the trailer fairly easily, and headed out to the snowy pasture. Six new brood cows, all due to calve in March. Belted Galloways, also known as Oreo cows. They're beautiful, and have settled in nicely. Why cows? Because sheep and hay and corn and chickens and oats and compost and wheat and dry beans aren't quite enough to keep The Farmer busy, I guess.

Cows have four stomachs. The averages cow has more than 40,000 jaw movements each day. Like snowflakes, no two cows have exactly the same pattern of spots. Cows are herbivores, so they only have teeth on the bottom. Cows can detect smells up to six miles away!

Calves are born without any antibodies and must receive them from their mother's first milk, called colostrum. One cowhide can produce enough leather to make 20 footballs or 18 soccer balls or 18 volleyballs or 12 basketballs. Mature cattle have 32 teeth: 8 incisors on the bottom front, a tough pad of skin instead of teeth on the top front, and 6 molars on the top and bottom of each side.

A series of photos taken by our daughter... Anyone want to write witty captions for these photos? Nothing's coming to me. Disclaimer: No animals or humans were harmed in the taking of these photos.

The average calf weighs 55 to 100 lbs. at birth, depending on the breed. An intact male bovine is called a bull. Once he is castrated, he is called a steer. "Cow" is a generally accepted name for bovine, regardless of gender. However, a cow is technically a female bovine that has given birth. Until that time, she's called a heifer. "Have a cow" is not a polite thing to say.

Cows drink a bathtub full (35-50 lbs.) of water each day. About 72% of the calcium in the U.S. food supply comes from dairy foods.