Forest Edge Farm Products

Here on the farm, our main products have been beef, pork and eggs. The beef comes from the males of our herd. This past fall ('06), we butchered one steer and this coming fall we'll have 2. We are working toward having about 10 breeding cows giving us on average 5 steers for meat and 5 heifers to sell. Currently we have six cows.

Most years we purchase a number of weaner pigs to grow out for pork. We've had anywhere from 2 to 12 at a time. 2 is barely
enough to provide us some meat and bless 1 or 2 others with some reasonably priced pork. 12 is too many for our facilities. Four to six seems to work out best for us.

Forty or fifty hens provide us with all the eggs we can eat with quite a surplus. We take the surplus to our workplace and provide co-workers with the opportunity to purchase good, fresh eggs. Any left over, I take to the local feed store and they buy them, or give me credit against my feed purchases.

Lately, we've been feeling the need to diversify our 'products', to possibly create additional income streams. To that end, three addtional products are being 'introduced'. A nest box unit. A drill-powered chicken plucker. And a rabbit water holder rack.

The nest box unit is patterned after several commercial units that we have seen on the internet, reproduced in wood. It has 2 nests and perches. The nest areas are eleven inches square by ten inches high.



The chicken plucker is produced by mounting some commercial plucker fingers on a 4-inch PVC cap. A drill arbor mounted in the center of the cap completes the unit. Northern tool used to supply something vaguely similar.



The rabbit water holder is just that; a ring of stiff wire fixed to a cross-member which allows it to be hooked on a cage wall. This produce hasn't been completely produced yet, as we are having difficulties affixing the metal pieces together. Several types of soldering and brazing haven't worked. I think I need to consult with my metal-working guru friend to see what advice he can render.

Any products I have ready for sale will be listed on eBay; The link for my auctions is in the 'Internet Diversions' section on the right sidebar.

A Sunday Sunset

Last night I glanced out the window to the west and saw a great sunset.  I grabbed the camera and took this picture:

 

 

 

I wandered on out to the garden as I wanted to get a picture showing the couple feet of snow against my raised beds, and got the sunset as a bonus:

 

 

 

 

The raised beds have dissapeared, the hoops usually stand about three feet from the ground:

 

 

 

 

All the time I was wandering around fiddling with the camera, taking gloves off, putting them back on, trying to take a picture with gloves on, (it's still very cold...10 degrees or so) the barncat named Mork was following me doing the walk-between-the-human's-feet thing that many cats do:

 

 

 

The newly-arrived sheep are doing fine.  All the established residents are getting along fine, as well, here at Forest Edge Farm.

 

A Winter Evening's Chores

The winter chore routine at Forest Edge Farm goes something like this:

Stoke up the fire in the outside wood-fired boiler, check chicken situation, feed calves, feed cows, water calves and cows. Along with this comes moving snow. Last night I didn't really have to move any snow, but circumstances conspired against me and, well I did plow a little.

In checking the chickens, I usually throw them most of a coffee can of whole corn, a good heat-producing feed for these cold days. (It was about 5 degrees at chore time) My older daughter is tasked with gathering the eggs and providing layer mash and fresh water in the afternoon/evening. I like to top off the water and throw them a little corn. This picture shows them going after the corn and paying a bit of attention to the topped-off waterer:

Our cattle are mostly registered Dexters. I say mostly because we have one Corriente cow we got from a relative in a labor swap last summer. She (the Corriente) produced a great little calf last year and we hope she'll come through for us as well.

Anyway, our 5 Dexter cows gave us 5 calves last April ('06). Three heifers and 2 bulls (now steers.) They were weaned back in November or so and are now on rations of good second-cutting hay and trace minerals. So feeding them involves throwing a bale of hay in their general direction. Here, they are waiting impatiently for their meal:

The others:

A little close:

Calves, and other animal young ones on a farm, are a constant reminder of life and birth, and God's goodness to His creation.

The cows are, Honey, Millie, Penny, Pumpkin, Jasmine and Cora the Corriente (clever, no?) Two bulls are also in residence, Reggie and Poppy. Our plan is to sell Reggie and use Poppy this year.

The crowd at the 'salad bar' after a fresh infusion of alfalfa:

Watering animals in the winter is a real hassle. There is a heater in the 100+ gallon tank for the cows. Adding 6 or 8 buckets of fresh water is the daily chore. The other animals have smaller waterers and have to be cleared of ice and re-filled. I mentioned buckets, this is the water source during the winter:

Hoses and winter don't mix. We've tried it, but the hose has to be taken to a non-freezing area or completely drained. Draining a hose completely is tough to do. Carrying buckets is actually faster in some cases, and it is a good workout.

Last night's chores went a little long. I was just about done watering and looked out to see a truck in the driveway. The synapses fired a few times and then I remembered what was going on. A cousin and her family that lives nearby had a house fire Sunday morning. We found them at my uncle's house and stopped by after church to ask if there's any way we could help. The response was "We have these 3 sheep....." The fire officials turned off their electricity, so they have no water. We offered to take care of the sheep and the truck in the driveway was my cousin's husband coming to hook up to our stock trailer to go pick up the sheep.

I got the tractor going and bladed a path to the trailer. We got it hooked up and while he went for the sheep, I made a pass up and down the driveway, pushing the banks back a little even though I wouldn't have had to. Net result, three sheep are living in the barn for the forseeable future:

So there was a somewhat atypical evening of chores at Forest Edge Farm.