Now that our laying hens are finished with their molt, it is time for them to get back to work. Chickens naturally lay the most eggs at the time of year when the days are longest. You can fool them into laying more by putting lights on in their houses to extend the day length. [...]
Archive for the ‘Farming’ Category
Early Birds
Posted in Farming, tagged chicken houses, eggmobiles, Pasture-raised eggs on February 6, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Cow Catering Truck
Posted in Farming, tagged grass-fed beef, hay wagon, organic hay, soil compaction on January 31, 2012 | 3 Comments »
In the winter, every day is a slow day on the farm. That is why we got so excited when our new hay wagon arrived this week. With this wagon, we will be able to transport hay to the far corners of the farm with fewer round-trips, so it will be easier to move the [...]
State Vet Visit
Posted in Farming, tagged brucellosis, corral, rabies shot, tuberculosis, veterinarian on January 19, 2012 | 2 Comments »
Last month, we got a visit from Tara Turcogeorge and Alicia Maclean, who work as veterinary technicians for the State of New Hampshire. They really gave our Temple Grandin corral a workout, testing our cattle for brucellosis and tuberculosis. (They test all cattle in the state on a regular basis.) While they were at it, [...]
Research Farm Visit
Posted in Farming, tagged daikon radishes, Dorn Cox, mobile biodiesel refinery, tillage radishes on December 27, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Last week, Steve and I took a trip with Marty Michener to visit Dorn Cox at his farm in Lee, NH. Dorn has developed his own mobile biodiesel refinery, and he is planning to publish his design so anyone can build one. By Dorn’s calculations, farmers in New England could produce all the fuel for [...]
Spring Chickens
Posted in Farming on December 16, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Since we have to brood a batch of chicks to replace our own laying hens, we decided to double our order and open a new line of business: certified Organic, ready-to-lay pullets for sale. These Rhode Island Reds will start laying eggs in April, and we are now taking reservations for April delivery at $16 [...]
Molt
Posted in Farming, tagged Pasture-raised eggs on December 3, 2011 | 5 Comments »
If you have stopped by the farm recently, you may have been disappointed to find the egg supply very low. And, if you know the farm well, you may have noticed that our laying hens are looking very spiffy. These two things have the same cause: our chickens are going through their annual molt. When [...]
One of These Things is Not Like the Others
Posted in Farming, tagged grass-fed beef on November 22, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Last year we rented a Red Devon bull with hopes that his offspring would improve our herd. Unfortunately, he had some difficulty with his job. We expected our cows to be pregnant within a month. But ultimately, it took five months. What’s more, some of this year’s babies look like Daddy, but some of them—not [...]
Freak Storm
Posted in Farming, tagged Frank DeGennaro, October Snowstorm on November 3, 2011 | 1 Comment »
We got hit pretty hard by the snowstorm that knocked out power and cancelled Halloween up and down the northeast last weekend. Our generator was running throughout the storm, but falling trees crushed our fences all over the farm. A fox (we think) helped himself to a few of our laying hens when the snow [...]
Egg School
Posted in Farming, tagged Craig Fournier, Dr. Kenneth Anderson, Pasture-raised eggs on October 11, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Who knew that you could fill a whole day learning about egg quality? Not me! Not until this week, when I attended a seminar by Dr. Kenneth Anderson from North Carolina State University. In this photo, Dr. Anderson (background) is giving pointers to Craig Fournier on how to grade an egg. Besides grading, here are [...]
Temple Grandin Corral
Posted in Farming, tagged grass-fed beef, Temple Grandin on October 3, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
We finally have finished building our corral using one of the designs published by Dr. Temple Grandin. As you can see from the video, the cows move quite calmly through the corral, with no yelling on our part and zero cattle prods. This is thanks to the genius of Dr. Grandin, who has revolutionized the [...]
