Just another update - after a year!

So, the other evening when we were coming back from taking two pigs to be processed, we got talking about the blog and that it is a handy tool to look and see what we have been up to. So in a nutshell - Russ now has beef cattle, ducks, more meat birds and all the layers. 

I shall try to expand on each major event in a more timely fashion from now on!

Here is a blog post that I started and then never posted A YEAR AGO!

Oh well.

Hot work unpacking the plucker!

The Cycle-to-Farm tour went great! The farm looked good and the samples of chicken and egg salads were devoured.

Well, maybe not so great as Russ woke up sick as could be. He toughed it out and then hit his bed when it was over. He did enjoy showing his chickens off and explaining his pastured method of raising them. 

More big news is he now has his own plucker! Now he can process smaller batches, be much more efficient and not have to depend on the kindness of friends for use of facilities and equipment.

He will be also be able to take fresh products to local markets instead of frozen. 

The eggs are selling out! Good and bad problem! But the Barred Rocks should be laying very soon now. One of them flew into the back of Russell's truck last week at the farm. He didn't know that she was there and drove home. She was in the front yard the next morning. She travelled a mile and a half in the open back of the truck! She has settled in with the rest of the home flock. Too funny!

The rabbits are doing what rabbits do best - multiplying and growing. I now have a local restaurant serving my rabbit!

Bike Tour & Meet Your Meat!

Sandy Plains Farm will be one of the stops on the Cycle-to-Farm tour this Saturday. The visitors will see the pastured poultry meat birds, the layers and even some pastured rabbits. A tent and table with samples of products will be set up so the the cyclists can do their own tasting. Russ will be giving tours and  proudly talking of the benefits of pasturing for both animals and consumers. 

Since the last update, more chicks have arrived, some future layers and some cute Silkies that I just get a kick watching them. Russ has processed many birds and is now offering cut-up pieces along with whole birds. 

The home layers are steadily laying and keeping the egg supply up. Besides offering eggs by the dozen, Russ is also offering eggs by a 1/2 dozen. Farming requires the farmer to be their own marketing manager!

The goats are now keeping the back pasture at the house trimmed. They are staying inside the fence for a change. 

The rabbits are doing good. We have processed two batches at the Foothills Pilot Plant and sales of rabbit seems to be climbing. I setup a table at the Mill Spring Ag Center a few weeks ago and served rabbit. It was a "Meet your Meat" event. I served Honey Glazed BBQ oven baked rabbit. Russ was serving his chicken that he cooked on the grill outside. It was a good day!

Problems, problems!

The past few days have been interesting to say the least. The other evening I received a phone call - the goats were out!

Russ had just moved them to a back field at a friends house. However, they decided to ignore the fence in the back of the new field and go site seeing. They didn't go too far and I, with the help of our friends, got them back in the front field. I felt bad that Russell had to drop what he was doing and drive 30 miles to find that all was ok. He did try to call me but I was playing goat wrangler and didn't answer. 

The next morning, he called me from the farm to say that rabbits were out. Oh no! The bottom wire on one of the grazer pens was not doing its job. I had seen that it needed some attention the night before. I should have taken care of it right then, but I didn't think that they would get out. Ha!

We did manage to get them all back, it just took a day. They really just want to be with the rest of the gang so they didn't go far. I am grateful that nothing made them into a meal!

The grass at the farm is lovely. So thick and long, but it has gotten almost impossible for Russ to move the chicken pens and the Feathernet. He hopes to borrow a bush hog in the next few days to get that problem solved.

The past few days has been hot. I have fans for all the rabbits in the Raken Port and we moved the buck rabbits under the house to the 'worm room' to keep them cool. (The bucks can go sterile if they get to hot. It is only temporary, but may last a few months.)

A fox has been trying to get the chickens here at the house. Even with our dogs around, the fox are very brave to come so close. I am sure it is trying to feed its young. We have to be diligent to close the chickens up every evening. 

So we do have problems but nothing that we can't deal with!

The First Home Hatched Chick!

The little Silkie hen, Moe, has been setting for a long time. When I saw that she was collecting her eggs and not going out to forage with the other chickens much, I shut her in her little coop. She was setting on 4 eggs for a week but was begging to be let out for a while so on April 16, I opened her door. 

I was puttering around the Raken port and noticed that there was only 1 egg left. Oh no! Some dog that had a very guilty look about him, walked away. 

Needless to say, I felt very bad. So I shut little Moe in her cage again. I took 4 eggs from the layers boxes and hoped that they were fertile. The chances of that were good as my Cornish rooster likes his time with the hens!

Today the long wait is almost over! Little Moe had one little yellow chick under her wings this morning. I noticed a piece of blue egg shell so I knew that at least one had hatched. It was one that I had taken from the layer box. So this little one is half Americauna and half Cornish. Moe is still sitting on the others so hopefully soon there will be a nice little flock for her. 

I really like the Silkie chickens. Their eggs are small but not so small that you feel silly using them. They are so people friendly and they don't travel too far. And they can't fly over the fence!

Some days are just quiet, thank goodness!

For the last few days, things have been quiet at the farm. The horses have been grazing nicely and staying on the correct side of the fence. The Barred Rocks are almost full size and seem happy. The Rhode Island Reds are laying, picking and plundering. 

The next group of meat birds are doing great with the daily move. Sometimes they sneak out in tiny little gaps under the pens or when they are being moved but are easily caught. They want to go back with their buddies!

The rabbits are growing like weeds on pasture grasses. They are so excited to eat new grass that they will graze and then eat pellets. A week ago it was just the opposite. I would walk up to move and feed them and they would scurry to hide. Now they can't seem to wait for the move to fresh forage. 

At the house, the garden has survived the huge rain of last week. The chickens are happy to roam the pasture instead of sitting in clusters in the 'Raken Port' during the days of rain. (Former carport that now holds RAbbits and chicKENs)

The brooder is holding the next group of meat chicks. It is amazing to see the daily changes in them.

Our little Silkie hen has been sitting on eggs but I am not sure that they will hatch. She is doing a great job though! We might have to try again with her. 

Farmer Russ is about to put up a garage/tent to be the processing room at the farm. He found a double sink at the local thrift store and it has a lot of counter space. It will work great for him!

Here he is proudly wearing his Polyface 'lunatic' shirt, along with shorts and rubber boots, a true fashion hound!

New Rabbits, Processed Chicken & More!

After our great trip to tour Polyface, we went to pick-up the new Silver Fox does. A doe is a female rabbit, with a buck being a male, just like deer and goats. The Silver Fox breed is a heritage breed and is on the threatened list of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy.

I had been studying all the breeds of rabbits that are the best for meat. The Silver Fox is one of the top breeds. While I like my two breeds of rabbits (New Zealand Whites and Californians) I just couldn't stop thinking about the Silver Fox breed.

When I saw that Skyview Acres had Silver Fox does, I immediately contacted them about acquiring some. Since we would be in at Polyface in Virginia, it seemed like it was meant to be to go a bit further to pick them up. Arrangements were made and everything worked out!

We now have three lovely does. I have to admit that it took me a long time to name my other rabbits but these girls were named immediately. The two older sisters are Brie and Heather. They are named after the two girls that we met at the Polyface store. The other little doe is named Poly!

Whippoorwill Farm in Maine was making a big trip delivering his good stock of Silver Fox rabbits. I had contacted Jeff when I saw his trip plans and met him in Greer, SC.That is where I picked up Gilbert, my new Silver Fox buck.

The Silver Fox are still in quarantine for a few weeks. They are just lovely, friendly rabbits! I am excited to have my first litters!

Also talking rabbits, it was time to process some of the growouts last week. We loaded them into the chicken transport cages. They happen to work perfect for rabbits too! I felt a bit sad as we drove to the Foothills Processing Plant. But I just kept telling myself that I gave the rabbits a good life, I appreciated them and this is what I was raising them for. I still felt sad. As we waited for ours to be processed that day, I watched a few videos on my phone that had to do with processing. I did feel better after I watched them.

The plant is clean as a whistle, well run and very proud of the job that they do. I had decided to have my rabbits cut up, it costs a bit more but I think that is the best way to package them. After we brought them home, I put them in the refrigerator for 48 hours to age. Then I took some up to the Mill Spring Farm Store to sell. While I had eaten rabbit alot, it had been a while. Russell didn't remember eating it at all. So I cooked one up for us and we had it for dinner and it was delicious! Thank you rabbits!

A few weeks ago, Russell borrowed all the processing equipment for chickens. He set it up at the house as he still doesn't have the electric service at the farm (soon I hope!). He processed the first batch of Cornish X for the 2013 year. I even helped out, he showed me how to eviscerate and I did an ok job.

He now has 100 or so birds out on pasture and 100 or so in the brooder right now. The weather has been so cold and wet that he has lost some in the past few days. Hopefully they will grow enough so they will not smother each other to stay warm. And hopefully the weather will change!

So right now there are meat birds and rabbits at the farm in growout pens. The layers at the farm are safe in the feathernet fence and the Barred Rocks pullets will join the layers soon. The horses are doing well and respecting the electric fence too.

We have gotten some of the garden in between rain storms. Time will tell if some of what we put in will have to be replanted do to too much rain. However the blueberry bushes are doing great!

Our Trip to Polyface!

This last Thursday, Farmer Russ and I got up extra early. We ate breakfast (Eggs of course!), tended the over 300 animals that are now in our care, and then hit the road for Polyface Farm.

If you are following this blog, you may remember that last year when we first learned of the Polyface http://www.polyfacefarms.com/ method of raising chickens, we were hooked. Polyface offers several guided tours of their operation during the year. As soon as I saw the opportunity to purchase tickets, I did!

We had planned to leave at 7:00 am. Even then, we knew that it would be a tight timeline to make it to Swoope, VA by 1:00 pm. (360 miles!) We arrived just as the 4 hay wagons loaded with 98 other people pulled out of the barnyard. We were told by a nice young lady that they were headed up to the 'egg mobiles'. It was a nice walk to the group as we enjoyed stretching our legs. Six hours is a long time to sit!

When we caught up with group, Joel Salatin was telling the folks about the layers and the egg mobile. Russ was prepared with paper and pen to keep notes on anything that he wanted to remember.


The Egg Mobiles



Russ looked over the egg mobiles. He has a farm wagon that he is in the middle of tearing apart to remodel into his own version of layer mobile. Right now the layers at the farm are still living in the meat bird grazing pens. They forage and plunder the pasture during the day and then sleep in the pens. Unfortunately they are laying here and there as we still need a layer box setup for them. It was good to hear Joel say it was important to have two doors for the hens to go in and out. It has to do with 'pecking order'!

The Meat Birds on Pasture

The next stop was over to the meat bird pens. It was interesting to see the lay of the land. Much hillier than here in the foothills. I was wondering about moving the birds up a hill but they handle it fine. Google Earth makes things look flatter than they really are!


Meat bird chicks in the brooder house

They have 75 chicks in each pen. The chicks are in the brooder house for exactly 3 weeks and then moved to the pens. They are moved every morning, feed and watered. They do use hanging waterers. More birds can drink at once that way. Plus they stay level!

Russ has been doing the same basic things with his meat birds. But he got all excited when he saw the Polyface coop mover, it has bolts welded on for stops! As I don't move the coops, I didn't realize that he was missing such a handy addition to his coop mover. It will have stops welded on very soon!

Then we loaded back on the wagons and stopped to see the pigerator pork. During the winter, beef cows live and are feed hay in some of the barns. After the cows are out on pasture, pigs are then put in the barns to reap the leftovers from the cattle. When Joel asked the group what they smelled. (Russ said to me that it smelled like money!) There was no offensive odor to that much manure at all. The pigs keep it turned and plowed. Joel said that after the pigs are finished in the barns, they are walked up to the woods where they feast on acorns and such. The manure then is spread to enhance the soil even more.

Joel and his Pigerator Porkers!

Back on the wagon for a short trip to the beef cattle. They had just been out on pasture for a few days. Some of them had calfs and others looked like they were not too far from having their babies. They all looked happy and healthy! Polyface does no graining of their cattle. They are intensivly grazing all of the pastures and the cattle are moved every day. Joel calls it "salad bar beef". The ground is a mix of great grasses and plants. We have been trying to do this with the horses at the farm. Horses are very hard on the soil and grass. I have to say that after having our horses at the farm all winter, our hay bill is zero. I hate to think how much I had spent on hay last year, but then Russ didn't have the farm then. Our horses do not receive grain either and yet they look great! We do feed and hay the old Arabian that lives at the house but she needs the extra as she is old enough to order a beer.

Pastured Cattle watching the Pastured People!

Joel wished everyone that came safe travels and thanked everyone for coming. I couldn't help but to think how many lives this man has touched with his model of farming.

Daniel Salatin, Joel's son, who is now the farm manager, stayed at the wagons to answer more questions. I was very interested in his rabbits. Daniel has developed his own meat rabbit over 20 years of line breeding. He does have a closed rabbitry. So I had to peek in thru the doors of the raken house. They keep the breeding rabbits in hanging cages and then the chickens pick and scratch under the rabbits. They wean the rabbits at 6 weeks and then they go out into the "hare pens" until they are 12 weeks. Daniel can dress a rabbit in 3 minutes. He is a master at cutting up a chicken too!

The Raken House



The Raken House - about 50 holes for Rabbits



Rabbits with Hens & Roosters



Since Polyface has their own store, we just had to go in! Russ bought another of Joel's books, and we bought some of the products - bacon (delicious), hot dogs (who knew?!) and some 'salad bar' hamburger.

We then left Swoope and headed north to Winchester. I had arranged to purchase some Silver Fox rabbits from a breeder there. Skyview Acres http://skyviewacres.blogspot.com/ is also doing pastured meat birds, pigs and rabbits. We had a nice visit with Sharon and Greg. We loaded up my three new rabbits (I will do another post on the Silver Foxes soon.) and then we headed back to Tryon, NC in some of the worst driving conditions you can imagine. Rain, fog and crazy truck drivers going too fast. We arrived home at 4:00 am to our three dogs that were thrilled that we were back. 950 miles is a bit much to drive in one day!



And they just keep growing

Almost Easter already! The weather has been cooler than normal but it sure hasn't stopped the Cornish X's from growing. They are doing very good with the daily move. You can just about see them grow!



Five Weeks Old!



The Barred Rock pullets are just as pretty as can be. They are very elegant. They are so elegant that a rat, we are guessing, made its way into the coop and attacked a couple. We now have a couple of traps for their use! Poor little chickens.




Some nice looking pullets!



The little rat trap, yuck!

We moved another rabbit grazer pen to the farm. We took apart one of the coops that Russ had built last year. He was going to rebuild the chicken pen but then I asked if we could magically change it into grazer pens. So now I have to keep building more pens before the pieces get used for something else! Funny how that can happen.



More pastured rabbits!



I have to say that it is the farmer's birthday today! Happy 24th Farmer Russell!




Farmer Russ!

Holy Cow Chickens!

The meat chicks have been out on pasture for a week now. They are growing at a fantastic rate. They are into the daily move and seem to enjoy the grass very much!

The Barred Rock chicks are just lovely little birds now. They are settling in the routine as well.

The other evening I pulled into the farm driveway and saw several of the meat birds out. Oh no! At first I thought that something had attacked the coop so it was a relief to see that had not happened. Well, they had snuck out under a high spot in the coop was all. Russ was working so I had to wrangle 9 chicks back into the coop. I plugged the escape hole and all was fine once more!

4 1/2 weeks old

Moving Day!

Russ has moved the current batch of meat birds out to the farm. They left the brooder in carriers and settled right in the movable coops.



Loaded up for the move to the farm




Cornish X chicks tasting their first grass!





He decided to move the Barred Rock chicks too. They look small compared to the Cornish X chicks but they are flying around the brooder so it was time to move them to larger quarters. They were being admired by a hawk not long after they were at the farm! It was standing not 10 feet away from the coop when we saw it. Yikes!



Barred Rock chicks - not sure about this!



Russ bought a Feathernet fence and a new nifty fence charger. The charger works great! The horses have now learned to respect the electric fence again. The Feathernet will surround the hoop house for the layers. It will hopefully keep preditors away.



Un-rolling the new fence



New Feathernet fence



Using the fence tester



Bubbles, the mule, keeping her distance from the fence!



I took a display of what is going on at the farm to the Farm Day at the Ag center on Saturday. I have a couple of information boards made up, took two different cages with young rabbits, some bagged rabbit manure and some of the composting worms.

We had many folks stopping by to see our display and of course, many people wanting to pet the rabbits. I did sell three, one for a pet and two to become future breeders for someone. I had not planned to sell any!



Display on Saturday!



After the Farm Day, we took the rabbit grazer cage with three of the rabbits and unloaded it at the farm. There is so much grass there, even for March. They seem very content and happy!



Rabbits finally at the farm too!





Growing like crazy!

The new batch of meat birds are just over two weeks old and they are twice the size of the new Barred Rock chicks that are just a few days older! They are all doing good, thank goodness.

Cornish X's at two weeks old

The eggs are selling great! We try to keep some at our store and also have them for sale at the Polk County Farm Store in Mill Spring. We have been selling some chicken as well. We roast one every week or two and we are still so happy with how good they are.

Russ helped make the first pasture grow-out pen for the rabbits. I am thrilled with how it turned out! Now we just have to build a bunch more. Each one will hold about 5 or 6 rabbits and will be moved every day. The rabbits will be in the pens for about a month or so. I am still working on a time frame between weaning the litters and when they make the move to the pens.

PGP - Pasture Grow-out Pen

The worms! The worms are doing good as they are multiplying. I have them in bins in a room of our house that is located under our living room. That room was my office years ago, was transformed to a feed/storage room and now is my worm room!

I did make up some worm composting start kits and have them for sale at the Farm Store for now. If anyone had told me a year ago that I would be raising worms I would have told them that they were delusional!

Worm Composting Started Kits

Chickens, chickens and more chickens

Last week, Russ received 50 Barred Rock future layers. They are little balls of black fluff. In the last week, they have grown a lot already and seem to be very hardy.

Barred Rock chicks

Also arriving was a bunch of Cornish X's, future meat birds. They are not near as hardy as the other chicks due to being a hybrid bird. They started out in half of the brooder but we found out quickly that they needed to be even warmer than the Barred Rocks. They are currently in the house where the temperature is more to their liking. Even with two heat lamps on them, they just got too cold outside. Being in the house agrees with them as they have doubled in size in just a week!

Cornish X chicks

Russell saw an ad for Rhode Island Red layers and also some of the movable pasture coops. It turned out to be the same couple that we had bought the Americaunas from last summer. So off we went with a flatbed trailer and the chicken carriers. He just loves the new coops! He bought four, they are well made and a bit smaller than the two that he made last year.

The new RIR's are in two if the coops at the farm until he can get a hoop house built for them. They have been laying pretty well for having their life changed in a big way.

"New" pastured poultry coops

Russ is in the coop moving business again! He moves the layers each morning, they learned fast to run to the front of the coop for the daily move.

Here at the "440", the layers are doing good. The Americaunas love to lay in odd places so we are always on the lookout for eggs in the hay now. The layers are joined by the two Silkies during the day. Larry has turned out to be a very handsome rooster and Moe is just as sweet a hen as can be. She is laying cute little eggs too. I would like to try to have her raise some chicks soon.

Two of the Cornish birds did not end up on dinner tables. Peg is a nice little hen that had lost her leg do to an animal attack at the farm. She hops and flies all over. At night she roosts in one if the layer boxes.

Peg, the one legged Cornish hen

Peeps is the little bird that was squished and could not stand when he got abused in the brooder box. I had brought him in the house and put him in a sling. Russ thought I was nuts, but I had to try. After two weeks he was good as new. I put him out with the Silkies and he must think that he is one of them. I have never seen him fly at all. (Silkies can't fly do to their feathers being more like hair.) He has turned into a very handsome rooster and seems to know it!

Peeps, one fine looking Cornish rooster!

All Quiet at the Farm, for Now!

Since the meat birds have all been processed, things are quiet at Sandy Plains Farm.

Russ has the horses there. They have all of the 20 acres and are doing great on grass. We do have my old Arabian mare here at the house. A few weeks ago she was found in the middle of the night a few miles down the road! We have no idea how she got out. So she is enjoying being the queen here at the "440".

Russ has said that it is odd to not move the birds each morning. But he does have the goats to tend to. They are doing good, a bit on the noisy side at times. They are still located in the side yard at the store. They get a lot of attention there too!

Here at the house, the layers are doing pretty good. We have been successful enough with the eggs, that we are adding a flock at the farm.

It is not very quiet at the house though! Russ has also ordered more meat bird chicks as well as some layer chicks. They will spend 3-4 weeks in the brooders and then go down to the farm. Then it will be a daily move again!



New layer chicks! Very loud layer chicks!



After having some semi-successful gardens on the south side of the house, I decided to move it to the north side. The garden will have more light during the day. I plan on putting in some raised beds. Time will tell on that!



We did get 8 blueberry bushes planted this past weekend. They are 3-4 year old bushes so we should have fruit this year. The chickens were very into inspecting the job!



Helping to plant blueberries!

The rabbits are doing good. I have had 2 nice litters this past week and another due next week. I need to get my grow out pens built soon! My goal is to have 10 breeders and I am more than half way there. I plan to have meat for sale at my store and the Mill Spring Farm Store.


Six fat little California babies!





Quiet grazing horses at the farm





The Last of the First Birds

On Wednesday Russell and I crated up the last of the birds for processing. He has sold some to people that wanted small flocks. So 27 of the last remaining birds took a little trip to Restoration Farm. Dawn Jordan is good enough to let us use her place for the processing process!

I wasn't sure about watching the process. However I did have a request for a cleaver so I drove in just to drop it off. I ended up staying just about all afternoon.

Along with our birds, Dawn had some Red Rangers and the Polk County School farm had some Cornish Cross (X) to process. There were a number of students to help along with the two Ag teachers. Everyone pitched in and got the job done. (I took pictures and tried to stay out of the way!) The weather was not too bad for an outside event in the middle of January, thank goodness.

I was proud of Russell as I watched him coach and teach the students how to eviscerate a chicken. He even instructed his old high school Ag teacher. I mean 'old' as in former!

I had purchased a vacuum sealer so after Russell helped to clean up, he brought the chicken to the store. We weighed each one and the vacuum packed it. Instead of freezing them right away, I had decided to age them in the refrigerator for 48 hours. I have read that is a good idea as it will bring out even more of the flavor of the meat.

The birds are now for sale at the store and also at the Mill Spring Farm Store!

Crazy Warm in January!

It is a lovely warm day but it is the middle of January! What will the next few weeks be like?

All is good with the livestock. The goats are all settled in. They are still in the side yard at the store. Russ is working at getting electric at the farm. He will need better fence chargers to keep those goats in! And to keep the horses where they belong. Right now they are all back at the house and we are feeding a lot of hay!

Staying dry on a rainy day.

The chickens at the house are laying about 2 dozen eggs a day. We enjoy watching them interact with each other.

We did have a sad evening when we found one of the Silkie roosters dead. We have no idea as to what happened to him. We were around pretty much all day. A true mystery that we can't solve.

Russell and I took a Heritage Poultry class the other day. It was very good! We learned quite a few things that were good to know. He has decided to get some other duel purpose birds. He is thinking on the breed, there are a lot to choose from!

This morning I took a picture of the pasture when Russell moved the remaining birds. You can really tell the difference of where the chicken coops have been. Green and healthy looking grass!

Look at the green tracks!

The rabbits are doing so/so. I have one great doe that kindled 10 kits a week ago Friday. A couple of them were very small but she is taking great care of them and the little ones have almost caught up with the others. I have bred the other two does and hopefully they will have some nice litters in about 3 weeks.

10 newborn New Zealand rabbits!