It's not such a bad little tree.....

Photos:

The logical but most over-grown choice

The birds-nest choice with no topper for the Christmas angel

The prettiest choice

The Charlie Brown choice (the trunk sandwiched in between the other 2 trees)

The winner.....will still need a bit of creative trimming

For the third year, we examined any and all evergreen trees growing on our property for one that could be made to work as this year's Christmas tree.  The 2 acres was nicely landscaped with many types of trees.....about 20 years ago.  There are blue spruce, fir, balsam pine, white pine, Austrian pine, cedar, and many hardwoods (the emerald ash borer has unfortunately destroyed 3 beautiful ash trees out in the cow pasture.)

All of the evergreen choices are really much too large or much too spindly for consideration as a Christmas tree at this point.

We had three choices this year.

The logical choice:  This pretty spruce tree will need to be taken down to make way for raised bed gardens (and allow sunlight through to those gardens.)  When we expand the fenced grazing areas, this tree will be in the path of the proposed fencing and would also continue to block the sunlight from letting any grazing-type forage grow in the small area behind it.  It could grow to be a majestic tree, but it has 3 strikes against it as far as location.  As a Christmas tree, it is really too tall and too mature, and would require quite a bit of pruning at the top and lots of ornaments and lights to make it work.

The prettiest choice:  The one that grows in front of our kitchen window.  It's a specialty spruce, I think, and won't get terribly tall.  But it is taller than it should be for the location it's in, and by next year, the tip of this pretty tree will become tangled in the reaching branches of the maple tree growing by the kitchen doorway, and potentially eliminate it from being Christmas tree material.

The "birds-nest" choice:  The third choice is a spruce tree which was planted too close to the north side of the house.  It will eventually be cut.  The first year, it's life was spared because, almost to the point of being ready to cut it, a robin flew out of the top and we realized that this small tree was sheltering a family of birds.  Three years later, it's still standing, but it's top has died back, and there is no nice pinnacle to place an angel or a star.  Not going to work as a Christmas tree without a serious makeover.

Another tree was hiding where we hadn't thought to look, not seeming very promising when we tried to get a good look at it, and required us to cut it out from between two other trees to even see the top of it.  The trunk had split into two spires.  The largest of these new "leader" branches was OK.  It would have been a lovely blue spruce if it was growing with no other trees around it, but two other spruces had crowded it to the point that the trunk was bent, split and the growth was stunted.  This tree probably would have been choked out within the next year or two.

Enter the "rescuer" mentality of Laura.....  Of course we could make it work!  Of course it could serve a good purpose before being choked into oblivion.  Of course we could trim it up and make it pretty and give it a home......  (Um, we're talking about trees here, not some cute little animal with dewy eyes and a forlorn expression).  :)  And truth-be-told?  The rescuer mentality was playing a part in the decision about any one of these trees under consideration.  Could we make one of them work for a few short weeks of tree-glory, and not just cut it down and feed it to the fire?

Jeremy and Jeff cut it and dragged it out into the open, and it was not a very pretty sight.  But when we moved aside the smaller of the two sections, there was a little hope for what would have struggled to become the main trunk.  

I dragged it over to the back step, being careful not to put it close enough where Rocky could gnaw on it (and yes, he would have).  Jeff propped it up and held it for inspection.  And my comment?

"It's not such a bad little tree, Charlie Brown".  

Jeff chuckled.  

(Honestly, I had been rehearsing that little line for any one of the trees in the running for this honor.)

So, with a bit of trimming, the hopelessly crowded blue spruce tree can now relax it's branches and be the focal point of our holiday gatherings.  We might have to do something about the crooked kink at the top, but then again, maybe that will be the reason we remember this tree through the ages ("Hey, remember that tree with the funny branch at the top?  Yeah, the one that should never have had a chance?  Where the angel looked like it was flying AWAY from the rest of the tree?  That turned out to be the BEST tree!").

Photos to follow, showing it's new identity as The Dykstra Christmas Tree of 2013.

   

Laura
http://dykstrasfarm.blogspot.com/

What Ruby wants for Christmas

For Christmas, I though Ruby would be at her new home in North Carolina.  We've hit a small glitch which in turn shined a spotlight on all the little details that we hadn't talked through with the still-interested buyer.

So now, with her new ear tag and traveling papers, she may be going to a new home (hopefully not wrapped under any Christmas tree like a new puppy) or she may be wishing for more Mom-and-Me time with Bessie.  

Which brings us to her second wish for Christmas:  getting her nose pierced.

Charming (the foster calf we brought home in May) is going to his new home this weekend.  That part is on schedule.

Ruby was supposed to be sold by now before cold weather set in.  She's still out back, mildly upset that she can't be in with her mama.  Moving Ruby far away from her mama (across the country, if it still works out) would solve that problem nicely.

Bessie and new calf were supposed to be the only two cows on the property at this point, which would have made things so much easier, given the limited set-up we have back there and the limited space we have where we can logistically keep the cows.

We're re-evaluating the situation in a different way than we expected, and changing plans.  We really shouldn't have two adult cows here.  I don't think we're breaking any laws, being out in unincorporated McHenry county with a barn and a pasture and surrounded by farm fields, but still.....no need to give any reason for neighbors to complain or voice any concerns that our small slice of farm land is not large enough for the number of animals we are housing.  

There is no question that they are well cared for, or that the manure piles are managed (meaning, the whole place is not taken over by manure JUST yet!), or that the cows are healthy and watered and fed and have fresh dry bedding.  The only thing that might cause anyone to suspect the slightest neglect is that Bessie needs her hooves trimmed.  But yet, the responsible thing to do is to have one adult cow raising one calf, and no more than that, because when it comes to cows, a one-acre pasture isn't really enough land for more than one adult, with the baby as a side-kick.  

Ruby, as a now-adult and pregnant heifer, tips the balance towards one too many.

  

Alone in the pasture after Prince Charming goes to his new castle in Marengo, Miss Ruby will let us know that she doesn't like being separated from mama.

She leans way over the dividing wall between cow shelter and Bessie's water tank, trying to lap up the water.  She has her own tank of water from the very same well that Bessie's water comes from.   She just chooses to try for Bessie's water instead!  Maybe the goldfish living in that trough make it taste better?  Or maybe that's the nostalgic taste of water from her growing-up years, and she longs for that fishy after-taste.....  :)

She moos forlornly when Bessie gets fresh hay in the hay ring, and Ruby wishes, wishes, wishes that she could engage in pushing and shoving to get the choicest bits in the unreachable hay-ring.

I let all 4 cows bed down together when it was below zero, for two nights in a row last week.  Miss Ruby and Charming both realize now that it is SO much more cozy when the herd is not separated by 4 tiny strands of electric wire.  Charming even risked being zapped, and slurped up all of Bessie's milk this morning before I could even get out there with the buckets.

The new plan, unless the sale goes through before the end of the month, involves piercing Ruby's nose.  I hate the very idea.  

Here's the reason we would need to even consider such a thing:  

Ruby and Bessie have an understanding.  Nursing is a social thing between mother and daughter at this point.  When they are standing next to each other, it's as natural as a conversation with a friend.  They touch noses, or groom each other, and sooner or later Ruby is drinking her mother's milk, as if this should go on for the rest of their lives.  It shouldn't.  Ruby needs to grow up.  

She just knows that when she's with her mama, milkshakes are part of the equation.

Any teenage/young adult girl would LOVE to have their nose pierced, don't you think?  It could be quite the statement, a big metal spiky ring attached firmly in her nose.  Even better with a growing belly to show the true epitome of "rebel" fashion.....

If Ruby doesn't sell, we'll need to purchase the nose-ring, have the vet pierce it through her nose, and that will ensure that she will be kicked away by her mother each and every time that she tries to nose Bessie's tender under-regions in an attempt to steal some milk.  Bessie's thoughts might go something like this:  "You think you can drink my milk when you're stabbing me?  No way, girlie! Take that ring out of your nose and THEN you can have your milkshake!"  (accompanied by a hefty kick which will damage Ruby's pride but nothing else.)

Ruby will actually be happier than she is now, once she gets used to the bold new fashion statement attached to her nose.  She has "bling" in her ear now (the ID tag), why not add "bling" to her nose?  In my mind, it will spoil her dainty, beautiful features.  In her mind, she may toss her head proudly and strut around a bit more.......

She'll be back with her mother, socializing with her new half-brother, being part of the "herd" once again, eating Bessie's food that is inaccessible to her now, drinking the gold-fish water in Bessie's water tank, spending nights next to Bessie in the comfort of the straw bedding.....warm and cozy and much, much quieter.

Then we'll have to decide how long we can afford to keep her, and try to sell her at a later date. 

The logistics of keeping Ruby until her calf is born in mid-May aren't what I wanted to deal with, but.....that's the situation we need to work with at the moment, it seems.  She might sell better if she's a first-time mama with a successful delivery under her Dutch belt (pun intended) and getting accustomed to a successful milking relationship as a family milk cow.  We might even be able to sell her with her calf already born, or keep her calf to nurse off of Bessie. 

 

Lots of potential scenarios.  The best one still is, of course, if Ruby would be bought now and have time to settle in at a new place where she can get some more individual attention than I'm able to give her this winter.  And where she can avoid having her nose pierced through for the ever-so-fashionable nose ring that is on every heifer's Christmas list.

Laura
http://dykstrasfarm.blogspot.com/

Cow shelter.....I choose YOU!

Photo and news:  Miss Ruby, who had a successful vet visit yesterday, has her traveling papers and a new pregnancy confirmation, and is all set for her big move to North Carolina next week!

Seeing the title of today's story, the boys would immediately know that I was trying to reference the Pokemon TV show ("Pikachu, I CHOOSE YOU!") and would groan in embarrassment because that is such a lame title.  Whatever.  Sometimes it's worth making a lame joke to see what reaction you can get.

It was below zero last night by a degree or two.  I went out to the stanchion/barn area where all 4 cows spent last night.  I had not separated them during the day, and they fully enjoyed being bedded down together in the thick straw inside the barn area.  Bessie and Charming had been lying back to back, Caspian off to the side, and Ruby in her stall.  I wish I'd gotten a picture of it.  All 4 were contentedly chewing their cuds and happy to be together.  Charming was in his "food coma", meaning (in the vet's words) he drank too much milk that he wasn't used to having and has to doze it off.

Bessie's udder needed to be emptied before the night started (to make sure that no mastitis infection flares up again).  If the greedy mouths of the other cows had left anything, maybe there was just a bit of warm milk to give to the barn kitties....

I opened the door to go into the cow area.  But where were the cows?  

Well, the lack of cows in the stanchion area made it MUCH easier to set up for milking.  I just closed the big door, and didn't need to shoulder or elbow or body-slam any cows out of the way.  That's their cow-language, and to some extent, I have to play along or they won't pay attention.  If Bessie is standing directly in my path as I come out with fresh hay, I put my shoulder into her and shove until she shifts away a bit.  If her head swings towards the bucket of grain and she locks herself in place (IN THE WAY, of course, trying to grab a mouthful of grain before I can pass by her), I assess the location where she is standing and decide how to put her off balance just enough for her to remember "Oh yes.  I WAS supposed to be minding my manners."

Anyway, the milking area was set up in short order, and I opened the door and called "Bessie-girl!" and added a few tongue-clicks.  That's their signal that there's something really good waiting if they trot right on over.  

Who should come around the silo first but Ruby.  Young and spry, she probably thought she'd get a treat if she hoisted herself up FIRST from whatever cozy spot they were bedded down in and trotted into her stall.

My hand went up in the "STOP" sign, and she ducked her head.  If she'd continued towards me, that's when the "stop" signal becomes a clunk between the eyes to enforce that she may not barge through me.  Not mean, just necessary.  I've learned that you do not coddle a fast-moving dairy cow that weighs 1000 pounds.  

Bessie trundled along behind Ruby and shoved her out of the way.  Cow language.  "I'm the alpha female, you young upstart!  You have no right to stand between me and my grain.  The lady called ME, didn't you hear her?  Mind who you try to cut off!!!"  But cow language is so much more efficient.  "Shove",  and the message is delivered and reinforced as Bessie shows who's boss.

Between Ruby, Charming and little Caspian, only a half gallon was left.  Those little pigs....um, cows!  On a normal day, I take 2 gallons in the morning and Bessie still has an extra gallon for me at night after Caspian has nursed at his leisure all day long.  She could give much more if I had a milking machine and milked her to full capacity.  At any rate, the kitties were happy that they got something warm to fill their tummies before bedtime.

After all of this messing around, I went to check on where the youngest two princes were hiding out.  There they were, snug in the darkness at the back of the shelter-that-Jeff-built.  I hadn't made any special preparations back there, and in contrast, the barn area was full of nice clean straw just for them, but it was obvious that if the cows were given the choice, they chose the 3 sided shelter.  'Hard to tell if Jeff was pleased when I told him, but I think the corner of his mouth twitched in a little smile.   :)

Cow-shelter, I CHOOSE YOU!!!!

 

Laura
http://dykstrasfarm.blogspot.com/

One big happy family

Photos:  All 4 cows together, eating shredded leaves and grass clippings (at the beginning of the month), big boy Charming, Charming and Ruby, and (the more manageable idea which will be reality after Monday next week) Bessie and little Caspian all by themselves

It was so cold last night that I took pity on the cows.

Ruby and Charming have been out in the pasture with only a 3-sided shelter for refuge from the cold, while Bessie and her new baby Caspian get the cozy stanchion room and the outdoor cow-pen.  

Granted, Ruby chose to sleep on a bed of hay out in the pasture on the coldest night so far, instead of under the shelter and out of the wind.  She didn't really need my sympathy.  But she and Charming will be moving soon, so I felt I could spoil the two of them just a bit.

I had let Ruby and Charming into the south end of the barn where the sheep live, so that they could have a break from the wind yesterday afternoon.  

By the time I needed to tuck all the animals in for the night, both cows were cozily bedded down in the one-foot-thick wasted hay that the sheep like to sleep on, while the 3 sheep watched in confusion from outside the doorway.  ("What do we do now?  We can't come in out of the cold with THEM in our beds!  We're so confused.......!")

I have a sneaking suspicion that the cows LIKE to get a reaction out of the sheep, based on times when the sheep are grazing contentedly out in the pasture and one or both cows will frolic towards them and start a stampede.  

In the snow two days ago, the sheep were bounding gleefully around, and the cows thought they needed to join in.  In the sheep's mind, these creatures were not "playing" with them, but the sheep probably imagined the cows as 1000 pound wolves with dripping fangs and murderous intent.  There was a stampede back to the safety of the barn while Ruby and Charming frolicked on their own.

In fairness to the sheep, though, the cows nearly stampeded yesterday when a young barn cat dashed past them.  I thought Ruby was going to crash right through the barn door with Charming close behind (which would be a terrible situation with 15 degree weather, snow, and wind whistling through what could have been a sizable breach in the protection that those doors provide.)  

Hopefully I've established that either sheep, or cows, or both are capable of stampedes and damage at the slightest hint of the unfamiliar. 

The situation:  I didn't want either of the animal species to spend another below-zero-wind-chill night out in the cold.  But the sheep needed to be inside more than the cows do (not because they aren't equipped for the cold, but because they wouldn't stand a chance if a coyote breached our livestock fence).  

I couldn't risk damage to animals or the barn if I try to lure the sheep into their own area, where the cows have taken over.  The crashing around and terror that could have happened in the dark of night would be laughable, but only when we looked back on it a few years from now.  :)

Ruby had to be lured away from her nice warm bed with a small bucket of grain.  Charming trotted right behind her so he could get his nose into the bucket, too.  Sheep One, Two and Three quickly dashed in the door and looked around warily.  Their fear was quickly put to rest as they got their own ration of grain and they settled in to pushing and shoving to each get their share.

The compromise:  Ruby was once again lured, this time with some overripe pears, into her old stall.  The old stall is built in the stanchion area where Bessie and little Caspian sleep.  

Caspian then needed to be left OUT of the stall with his mama.

Charming needed to be lured and dragged into the stanchion area, because he was worried that the electric fence was still in place to keep him out.

Bessie had to be convinced that this chummy party was OK, and that she and her baby would be safe inside together with her grown-up daughter (Ruby) and her foster son (Charming), who have now become imagined threats to her baby's safety.  

Charming proceeded to check for any available milk, (Bessie's udder is quite accessible to an eager calf who wants a warm cup of milk before settling in for the night).

Caspian proceeded to try to rile Charming up so that they could scamper in the moonlight together.  

Ruby bellowed because she was confined.

Bessie wished for some peace and quiet (and the all-important ROUTINE, which didn't include 2 extra cows in her space).

But....I didn't wake up worrying that the cows would have frost-bitten ears.  

I didn't even have to go out to the barn to milk this morning, because it would be silly to even consider that there would be any milk left for us (and there wasn't)

Also, the vet comes today to give Ruby her health check and another pregnancy confirmation.  So Ruby being in the stall is right where Ruby needs to be.  With a bucket of water, she can be there all day if need be.

The future:  Charming should be picked up this weekend to go and live with a young herd of Holstein steer calves.

Ruby should be picked up on Monday to make her move to a farm in North Carolina.

Bessie and Caspian will have the entire, huge one-acre pasture all to themselves.  No more dragging water buckets to fill TWO water troughs.  No more feeding cows in TWO areas.  No more making sure that mineral and salt is provided to TWO sets of cows.  No more making sure that previous calves who have nursed off of Bessie are prevented from slurping up a nice warm snack that they are no longer entitled to.

Seeing all 4 of them in that relatively small stanchion/stall area, if I didn't realize it before, I certainly realize it now:  It's way past time to cut the cow population by half.  When we've said our goodbyes to two of them, we can adjust to a much more manageable situation.  Whew!

At least for one night (and maybe tomorrow, and Thursday night, too, if I'm feeling generous and if we don't run out of milk!) they can be one big happy family like they WANT to be....  

 

Laura
http://dykstrasfarm.blogspot.com/

Rocky's excellent adventure

Photo:  Rocky behaving himself on another day.   Actually, in this photo, he is guarding a frozen goose egg that he "hid" beneath the picnic table and is trying to warn me away with the pose that didn't work.....

Funny story, at least according to Carrie, who I told it to the first time (since then, I've only gotten rather blank stares, so I can only assume that I told it much better the first time around....)

Rocky the husky was being a pain this morning.  He was on the dog cable, yipping and yapping and howling outside the door, impatient to run in the pasture.  I wasn't behind on schedule or anything.  He was just being impatient.  I told him to be quiet (fat chance).  I banged on the door for him to be quiet (no luck).  I yelled out the door with no results.  

When I came outside, fuming, he thought it meant that our usual routine was about to start, and dashed away.  We usually start in the rabbit area first, with both dogs checking for rat and chipmunk scent around the foundation of that shed.  I usually let the dogs in, shut the gate, and go about my business.  They go crazy, and for Rocky at least, this is the "job" that he waits for so intently, which leads to his time in the pasture (and the time when I make him run until he's exhausted).

Well, this morning I'd already lost all patience with him.  Did I want him to come with me for the usual routine?  Not anymore.  

I yanked the dog cable, collected the hyper-active dog, and told him "go to bed".  He went into his crate in the kitchen and commenced yipping and yapping from inside the crate.

When he had finally settled down enough to just be whimpering instead of actively commanding that I pay attention to him, I was ready to start our day.  But the routine had been interrupted, and Rocky doesn't know what to do with that new reality.

Shadow (the lab mix) was heading out the door, and Rocky burst free.  Granted, I hadn't quite gotten a firm hold on his collar, but this was uncalled for.

At first, both dogs headed to the pasture gate like they are supposed to do.  For one grateful moment, Rocky sat down to wait for me to let him through the gate.  And then he realized that I was still taking my first step away from the house and was very far behind him.

Both dogs gleefully sprinted off, with car horns blaring soon after.  Greenwood Road is a 55 mile an hour speed limit, with people going much faster than that as they crest the slight hill and zoom past our little farm.  

I had:  A cow to milk.  Other cows who were bellowing for food, pumpkins, and for the ice in their water trough to be broken through.  Sheep who would soon be bleating for their morning grain and mineral ration.  Geese who were screeching in the barn and chasing curious cats away from the nest where one goose keeps insisting on laying eggs.  Ducks and chickens waiting for their food bucket to be lowered down to where they could reach it and spill it all over.  Barn cats waiting anxiously for their small ration of fresh, warm milk and their meager scoop of dry cat food.....and two dogs who were roaming the countryside on the OTHER side of a busy road.

Shadow came back.  I worked outside for almost 15 minutes more, until there were no more outside chores to get done before milking Bessie.  

Rocky doesn't come to us unless we have bread ("anything for food"!), so I grabbed a couple of rolls, stuffed them in my pockets, grabbed the leash, and tromped towards the road in my muck-and-manure-crusted boots.

This would have been a great time to see Rocky trotting towards me, but no.

I called him, whistled, scanned the corn fields for him, and resigned myself to the fact that he was probably tormenting the neighbors chickens (they're in a small coop, but he's gone there before to see how coyote-proof that chicken-run actually is).  

Walking down the road on the narrow gravel shoulder, cars were zipping past me.  I had a roll in one hand and the leash in the other.  I thought for a split second "Maybe I should look behind me to see if he went the other way" but was fuming a bit too much to stop in mid-stride and actually do it.  

A car passed me, and I thought "Wouldn't it be just perfect if they slowed down and asked if I was looking for the husky that was right behind me?!!!"

Just about then, a furry nose appeared at about my knee, on the street side, sniffing the leash.  Of course, it was the dog that I was so furious with, trotting along like a good dog that hadn't been running crazy just moments before.

I turned around, masked the anger and praised him for being a good boy.  He sat obediently and looked expectantly into my eyes (because he knew I had bread for him).  This "obedient" look is always a bit unnerving.  His blue eyes make contact with mine, but his manner is more "I'll look at you to get what I want, but I'm REALLY paying attention to the much more exciting thing happening next to you".

I offered the roll while slyly (but calmly) grabbing his collar a split second before letting him get his teeth into the bread.  If I'd yelled, if I'd grabbed toward the collar before I showed him the bread, he would have been off and running again.  There is a certain procedure to follow with this dog in any situation; he knows it and I know it.

He trotted happily back on the leash, as if we'd started out for a leisurely stroll in the first place.

If any of the neighbors had been watching, I imagine it would have been just a little comical seeing me angrily stride along in the wrong direction (obviously searching for a run-a-way dog) only to have that dog catch up to me silently from behind and act like he'd done nothing wrong.

It's a happy ending (well, if he'd just quit yipping in the background it could be called "happy") but just how many times can he cross the busy road without being hit?  An excellent adventure today, but one day it will be tragic.  :(

Laura
http://dykstrasfarm.blogspot.com/

From cuteness to "meat"

Seven 12-week-old bunnies are now in the freezer.  It's sad to look at them.  We DID raise them for meat, and we will eat them, but still.....they don't look anything like the "cute-and-fuzzies" in the photos anymore.  ;(

They were the first rabbit babies to be born on the farm (apart from the multitudes of wild rabbits who must have been born here at one time or another!)

Red was their mother, Thumper was their father.  Both parents are meat breeds (New Zealand red, and  American Chinchilla).  There were 3 gray babies (like their father) and 4 black babies (figure that one out.....not sure why they'd be black except that it must be a recessive gene).

They were destined for the freezer and for our dinner plates before we even put the mother and father together.  But still....

The gray ones grew the fastest, and were a full pound heavier at 12 weeks than the black ones were.  The black ones were more shy, the gray ones were curious.  Gray ones weighed about 6 pounds each, black ones weighed just over 5 pounds each.  Finished and packaged for meat, they are each about half of that.

In their freezer wrappings, they remind me of the hairless babies that they were to start out with, huddled in a fetal position to ward off the freezing chill.  

I wish the butcher had been willing to cut them into fourths for me.  He and his wife said that typically a rabbit is packaged whole.  I just don't like to see them like that.  I'll need to cut them in quarters anyway, and even though I've gotten used to doing that with chickens, this is a new type of food that I'm not used to preparing.

As far as meat goes, they look lean, probably very tender, and will "taste just like chicken".  We'll see.....

As for cost, we fed those 7 baby rabbits and their parents for 12 weeks from four 50 pound bags of pellets plus a bale or two of hay.  A bag of pellets costs around $16, times 4.  The hay costs $5 per bale, times 2.  

Adding it all up:  $64 for pelleted food and maybe $10 for hay, divided between 10 rabbits equals $7.40 per rabbit (not exact science, since the 7 young-uns were growing during that time and the 3 adults were maintaining their own weight)  I'd guess that each of those babies cost us an average of $8 each over their 12 week life-span, with $4 a piece for the butchering.  (My math has been known to be wrong, many times, so feel free to point out what I'm overlooking).  

Works out to $4 or $5 per pound for home-grown meat.  (Sounds cruel, to think of it like that, but I have to emotionally detach myself from the cuteness of baby rabbits and look at the reality of growing our own food.....plus, I was curious to figure it out once I got going.)

It's a much better pay-back than the 2013 pig experiment (we spent WAY too much on feed, WAY too much feed was wasted by Pig One and Pig Two, and we need to approach things very differently next time we have pigs, starting with buying feed in bulk instead of feeling guilty and buying bag by bag from the feed store!).  

It's a better payback than the 2013 turkey experiment (they were supposed to free-range with the chickens and other poultry, but flew up into the white pine trees and also over the fence.  They needed to be penned up again and ate well over $50 worth of meat-bird feed EACH!  They would have eaten quite a bit less if they'd just pecked and scratched like I wanted them to be able to.)

Ducks?  Still working that one out.  They are rather prolific IF the mother stays with her babies after they hatch.  Otherwise, many ducklings die or are taken by rats.  Not sure of the final cost for the dozen or so ducklings which are in the freezer right now.  None of them was raised by their own kind, but had to form their own little sub-flocks until they were accepted by the grown-ups.

Geese?  No babies in 2013.  The geese are still eating and haven't produced any offspring or freezer-fillers yet.  They will need to have a lot of babies to offset the amount of feed that they've eaten in the past 2 years.

Sheep don't really eat much, but we haven't had a lamb to put into the freezer yet to offset the cost of their $15 a month bag of feed or the hay that they eat.

Cost of cows?  Ouch!  At $5 a bale of hay this year, and with cows going through at least 2 bales a day, it's rather expensive.  The good news?  Bessie eats the least hay of any of the cows out there (with the exception of her new baby, who is only sampling hay at this point).  Once Ruby moves to her new home and when Charming is picked up by our friends, we'll be putting much less hay out there on a daily basis.  

So yes, the rabbits are much more cost-effective to raise than some (all?) of the other animals have been.  That's progress, I guess!  And we're in the learning phase with all of it, rabbits, pigs, cows and all, I have to say.

But still....they once were so cute-and-fuzzy.....

Jeremy has grand plans to cook up rabbit for our New Year's Day meal.  I think we'll have to do a trial run before then, so I don't burst into tears on the holiday and ruin his excitement.  

Laura
http://dykstrasfarm.blogspot.com/

Princely play-date

Photos:  Charming and Caspian meet, cow-fashion; Bessie and Caspian; "Aww, MOM!"; and "Playing it cool, but I guess I'm just about the handsomest fellow around"

The two Princes had a play-date out in the pasture this morning.

Some explanation is probably in order.  

Ruby and Prince Charming have been keeping each other company out in the pasture with the cow shelter behind the silo as their protection from the weather.

Bessie and now the new calf (Prince Caspian) have the official cow-pen and the area inside of the barn where I milk Bessie in the mornings.

The two groups of cows have not mingled except for once, in the entire 3 months since Bessie went "dry" (her milk dried up in preparation for the calf's birth).

But now, (good news!) Ruby is going to move to North Carolina, to be the milk cow for a woman who is interested in Dutch Belt cows.  A friend of a friend up here in the Woodstock/Harvard area came by to see Ruby last week, gave a good review to her friend in North Carolina, and everything looks promising for Ruby to be moving away.  We have maybe 2 weeks left with her.

One thing that I promised to help with:  Ruby has gotten lazy as far as letting people handle her.  The Princess mentality keeps getting in the way.  You go up to her to pet her and she tosses her head and sprightly moves just out of reach.

So, Miss Ruby is on a lead (a thick rope, about 6 feet long, with a clip attached to her halter).  I lured her back into her old stall, which wasn't really luring at all when you stop to think about it.  Ruby trotted right in because a bucket of grain was waiting for her.  Anything for food!  There, I clipped the old lead to her halter and left her tied up inside the stall.  

Over the next 2 weeks, until she is picked up by the North Carolina farm woman, I will get Ruby accustomed again to being brushed, handled, and to even stand still or walk on the lead.  The lady who is buying her will need to do a bit of work in handling her before Ruby's calf is born, but.....Ruby was much better with the dairy-heifer attitude when she was being approached and handled on a daily basis, so I'm happy to work with her a bit each day to re-acquaint the opinionated heifer with the idea that people are in charge.  :)

Which brings us to the play-date.  

-Mama Bessie was munching grain in her milking stanchion, clipped to her own lead, which prevents her from backing out and leaving whenever she wants.

-Miss Ruby was clipped to the lead in the stall, contentedly munching grain as if she'd never had those 3 months of freedom out in the pasture with no-one tying her up at night.

-Prince Charming was calmly munching Bessie's old hay (Bessie gets a fresh bale every day, and Ruby and Charming usually get their breakfast when I toss Bessie's left-overs to them and they nose through it for anything worth eating.)

-Prince Caspian, spunky little guy that he is, was dashing to and fro, trying to engage Charming in something a little more fun than waiting for Mama Bessie to finish eating.

I left Ruby in the stall, unclipped Mama Bessie from the stanchion, and opened the electric gate between little Caspian and the wide open pasture where Charming was.  

Caspian scampered right out.  Bessie moo-ed in motherly concern.  Charming went right on munching (sometimes I wonder if making him into a steer also took away part of his original charming personality).

Anyway, Caspian prevailed.  Charming couldn't resist, and took off bucking and galloping with the handsome younger prince.  Bessie couldn't stand it, and rushed to intervene (readers from last year will remember the description of the large cow moving surprisingly quickly as her tremendous udder swung all over the place)  

Caspian would have none of Bessie's mothering, and continued to peer out from behind her, daring Charming to run with him again, while Bessie tried her best to head-butt Charming into submission.

Back in the house, Shadow the lab-mix was whimpering uncontrollably, because she cannot STAND to see such craziness out in the pasture.  

Rocky the husky was calmly watching the action from his usual perch on the picnic table by the maple tree, although he was probably plotting how to get out there and be the instigator.  

Sheep, geese, and ducks had just been let out of the south entrance of the barn, so they weren't there to take part in any of the action (they would have been chased by the spunky little calf, which would have just added to the hilarious mayhem.)

All is calm now, for the time being.  Charming has gone back to eating Bessie's left-over hay.  Caspian  is taking a baby-nap (I keep wanting to call him Spunky, as in "Spunky Dunkers" the donut shop where our son Chris worked for a year or two).  Bessie is munching her fresh hay again, because NOW her naughty baby is behaving himself and she can relax and enjoy breakfast.  And Ruby is quiet out in the old stall.  

Hopefully, she's not feeling too left out of the merry-making.  

Laura
http://dykstrasfarm.blogspot.com/