And She's Back

Spring...It's out there.

 

 

 

 

Hey there. Please excuse all the dead air time. A funny thing happened on the way to the organic farm...we got sick.

Indeed it is a rarity and usually comes right after we've bragged about how we rarely get sick, and this time was no different. After a very long and arduous winter we were commenting about how at least neither of us got sick during all those below zero days, all the snow storms, all the wind storms etc...

Oops. Should've kept our traps shut. Flu hit us both and now 10 days later we are finally getting back to normal, up and running, er shuffling in stupid pink slippers, again. Me, not Keith. He's not a slipper guy.

Officially then tomorrow, winter is over. Happy happy day. Our losses were the worst in our 19 history here on South Pork Ranch. Due to the horrific weather we lost 3 large steer, 1 newborn calf, two full Red Wattle newborn litters, a few chickens and one adorable donkey.

What that means in the long term is about 2000 less pounds of beef and approximately 3200 less pounds of pork to sell. Financially, that means lost revenue of around $10,000 for the beef and $24,000 for the pork bringing us to a grand total loss of $34,000.

WOW. Really regretting that I took the time to figure that out.

So what do a couple of respectable organic farmers do? Well we certainly trashed ourselves about ways we could've saved those animals. Maybe. It's easy to think one can control all variables in farming but truth is we did not order the weather and we really did our best. Then we went back to what we do well; we took action.

Two weeks ago we travelled north to buy 10 new calves and 2 new Red Wattle sows. Another $3000 in one long day. Oh well easy go, easy go. Then we took a hard look at our breeding program for the pigs and you can bet there will be no PLANNED litters born next winter (if we're still here but probably not.)

Finally though spring and hope and new growth and all that jazz is here. The weather is warming, snows have melted and the sun shines more. Animals are frisky, chickens are in the yard and some days we are doing chores in jackets with NO HATS!

Soon we will be moving 100 miles an hour towards our life on the new farm while making this farm as strong and viable as it can be for its new owners planning to take possession next fall. Stay tuned and watch us go!

Saponification Sunday, Making an Ash of Myself

 

 Well into my 4th year of soap making I am at the point of saying Ques Sera Sera, oh come on you know..".whatever will be will be", how young are you people anyway?  What I mean by that is I am no longer working so hard for the perfect looking handmade soap but instead have focused on its inner quality.

Rationalization at its best, I suppose.

In the early years I was all about the looks even though my bars maybe weren't as moisturizing as they could've been. But my recipes improved. Still I worried about how they appeared, getting upset if there were bubbles in my bars or the swirls weren't perfect or if the dreaded soda ash appeared.

Soda Ash in all its glory

But now I have learned to Embrace the Ash. In fact might make that statement my new personal motto.

Embrace the Ash

I see bumper stickers, magnets and T-shirts in my future. Soda ash you see, will form when the unsaponified lye reacts with the airs own carbon dioxide. It is harmless and can form anywhere on your bars but most often across the top. It does not hurt anything or anyone to use bar with soda ash on it but some folks do find it less than appealing, interfering with the swirls or other designs on your soap bars.

It can be avoided or lessened a couple of ways. You can spray the top of your soap just after pouring into the mold with (99% Isopropyl Alcohol   . Some folks spray right away some wait 10 or so minutes. Some soapers will cover their soap with plastic wrap. Or spray with alcohol and then cover with plastic wrap or cardboard unmolding after 3-4 days instead of the usual unmolding after 24 hrs.

I have also read that soaping at very cool temperatures will produce soda ash in the middle of your bar but this has never been my experience.  Probably because I am much too impatient to soap at cool temperatures, once I see the lye is dissolved I tend to mix with the oils. I think I like the excitement of moving and pouring FAST before my soap gets too thick.

Which then can lead to some air bubble problems unless you get very good at slamming your soap (hard) in its mold. But back to the ash...



It is a very fine powder, whitish grey that forms on the top of your soap if not covered and yeah sometimes pops up even when you do cover your soap.  Many soap makers find the ash ugly and use plastic wrap to lesson or avoid the ash. I was one of those. If I still had some ash develop I would take each bar and hold it over a steaming pot of boiling water, which will in essence melt away the ash...and burn your fingers if you are not careful.

The ash also disappears after you use the bar of soap, wash with it.

But last year I said forgettaboutdit. The ash is not harmful and after heaving a heart to heart with myself I believe it adds its own individual look to soap. And in fact since I stopped obsessing about it and just let it be I've noticed its very artistic nature. The way the ash clings to parts of the soap tops but not others, landing on different pasts of the soap swirls.

 

Like snow in the mountains...or soap scum at the bottom of your tub. Its your call.

And Now For Something Totally Tractor

 

Organic Calves Do Not Grow On Trees

 

Recently a customer of ours expressed concern over the increase in our price per pound for the beef she had ordered awhile back. At the time she called we were selling it for $4.75 a pound hanging weight.

Who could blame her?

We all have to keep track of what we are paying for our food, but more importantly WHY we pay what we do. Being good stewards of whatever funds we have available to feed ourselves and our families is an important task.

So, in order to help her and others I thought I would dedicate this post to the cost of certified organic beef.

Yesterday for example Keith and I took a leisurely road trip up to Blanchardville, Wisc. for two Red Wattle gilts (I'll post on them later) and then back through Ridott, IL to pick up calves. The calves are needed to meet our ever increasing customer demand for organic grass fed beef and because our dairy is small, ( just 10-12 milking heifers at any one time) and because cows only give birth to one calf per year (multiple births are very rare) we needed to purchase more calves.

These 10 calves we bought cost us $1.25 per pound live weight and they averaged 200 pounds each. Some were a couple weeks old  and some were up to three months old.

We would love to be able to buy them closer to home but JKB farms is the closest source of certified organic calves we have found. Plus we really like their farm practices. Round trip it is 400 miles which equates to about 7 hours of road time since 60 mph is the average speed when you are pulling a heavy livestock trailer.

Add to that, time to eat and get gas.

Add to that the cost of gas. Mileage on our 12 year old Ford F-150 is less than 15mpg especially when you are hauling over 2000 pounds of live calves plus those 2 big gilts !  Then of course was the time to load, unload, put on calf collars, tag ears, and settle into hutches at 10:30 at night. Although we did pay our hired hand $40 to do chores the morning we left we had to do chores that evening after getting calves home. Please note I did not include our meal costs because if I'd gotten my act together I would've packed up food from home.

And so just 24 hours into owning these 10 calves we have invested:

Calf price   10 at $1.25 per pound....$2025
Hired labor to do chores in am............$40
Fuel for truck round trip...................$ 205
Organic Bedding for truck.................$ 20
Organic bedding for hutches ..............$30
3 new milk buckets..............................$15
Calf 180 supplement for travel stress.  $5
First two Bottle Feeds (14 gallons)     $28
Our time.............................         Priceless

Total for first 24 hrs........................$2368

Now, to make things even more fun, another non-customer but a visitor to our farm last summer wondered about our beef prices since "grass is free isn't it?"

Oh people, how you make me chuckle. No, indeed, grass is not free on our farm. Cows need certain types of grasses in order to provide the right kind of nutrition they need to produce healthy beef. This means we often have to re-seed our pastures and those seed companies, those certified organic seed companies, because we cannot just plant any old seed, actually have the nerve to charge us for that seed. And here's the real kicker, grass does not grow in winter :) This means we must feed hay that we either have grown at a cost (machines to cut and bale hay. Labor to store it in barn. Labor to feed to beef animals) or purchased from another farmer (trucking costs now adding to hay cost.)

And as often as we have just left those bags of seed sitting in the yard, they have yet to plant themselves. That means the cost of the machines  and or labor and or these farmers time to do just that, plus the spreading of our well rotted manure over those fields in order to return to the soil the nutrients it needs to produce the grass needed to produce the beef.

Such a vicious cycle is it not?

To complicate even more...we only own 10 acres. We rent another 40 acres surrounding us in order to have lots of room for our animals. To protect our landlord's privacy I won't tell you the exact amount we pay but the average land rental in this area is $250 per acre per year.

Additionally of course is the year to year and 1/2 of care those animals require until they are butchering age. Lots more bedding and bottle feeding, those babies think they have to eat twice a day! Then it's into the pastures where we have to maintain fences and electric fence charges and shelters and waterers. Along the way we must continue with all the paperwork required by the National Organic Program and the fees that must be paid for all the meat we sell and the annual inspection which comes to about $1300 year.

Finally about 18 months after the little guys are born we can load them up into the livestock trailer again (think more bedding, gas and time) and take them to meet their (chuck roast) maker.

The cost of slaughtering and processing beef isn't free either.

I do hope I am not sounding defensive but rather providing education about what it really takes in time, labor and cash to raise a calf from cute stage to cube steak. I also hope it will make it a bit easier for you consumers to justify why you would prefer to pay your hard earned money for our hard earned beef. Sure you can buy cheaper beef at the grocery store if you choose but you might want to investigate how that animal is birthed, fed, raised, transported, slaughtered, packaged and kept in a frozen state on the back of a truck.

In the end...you get what you pay for.

The Closed Herd Theory and PEDV...Good? Bad? or Dangerous?



Not our Farm



Not our farm



The following is my opinion. It's my blog, therefore it's my opinion. Please, if you have a small farm and raise pigs do your own due diligence and make the decision that is best for your animals. I am open to comments and discussion from both side so this issue. With that said...

Some of you other small family farmers out there may already be aware of the PEDV virus making its way (AGAIN) through confinement hog operations in the US, killing millions of piglets, and causing great concern for consumers and breeders but for those who don't..

www.pork.org states "PEDV or Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus is not a new virus, nor is it a regulatory/reportable disease. First identified in England in 1971 it is now seen in a number of European countries as well as the US. Since PEDV is widespread in many countries, it is not a trade-restricting disease, but rather a production-related disease. PEDV may appear clinically to be the same as transmissible gastroenteritis (TGE) virus with acute diarrhea."PEDV is transmitted orally and though pig feces with acute diarrhea occurring in piglets within 24-36 hours of onset. Older hogs are not as susceptible. Lab testing is the only way to accurate diagnose PEDV.

That site also states that PEDV poses no risk to other animals or humans or to the pork produced and later eaten from these farms.

Really? Pork that has come from a sick pig is OK to eat? Not for me thank you very much.

According to Reuters.com specific numbers of PEDV are difficult to measure as one "case" reported could involve one or several piglets at a single farm or several locations. How is that for creative math?  Still they have estimated that up to 4 million piglets  "may have" died last year. In January 2014, Reuters went on to state that nearly 40% of the US cases of PEDV were identified in Iowa.




Yes, this is our farm.

Ouch for the Hawkeye State.

So what to do? Well of course the pork industry is playing up both sides of the issue. On one hand they are telling consumers not to worry, the actual pork products are all fine. Don't worry, eat bacon. But on the other hand Iowa State University Specialists as well as Pork Network (www.porknetwork.com) are screaming loud and clear...

BIO SECURITY  BABY!!!!

In other words they want the CAFO's as well as small farmers to batten down the hatches and draw a very solid line between farm employees and farm visitors. Well, to be truthful most CAFO's prefer no visitors at all, ever. And now they feel they are justified in that approach.

I can only imagine how some of these CAFO owners would cringe knowing we have 10-20 visitors on our farm every single day. And none of them wear Haz Mat suits.

What worries me is not so much what the CAFO's are doing, making visitors wear booties, masks and I suppose gowns and gloves, not to mention tire dipping into antibacterial, antiviral solutions but the fact that some of my small farmer colleagues are jumping on this Sterilize The World Campaign.

People, people, people. Or I should say...

Farmer, farmer, farmer.

It is impossible to keep all bacteria, all viruses all opportunistic infections off our farms. Do you really believe that dipping the tires of your visitors cars will help? What about the undercarriage? The bugs on their windshields? The notebooks and laptops your inspectors carry?

What about the hundreds of unwashed bacteria laden hands that handled the bags of feed you bought at Big R or your local grain elevator? What about the mail touched by your bronchitis ridden mail lady (hey, its been a tough winter)or  that your germ ridden grandchild (thick preschool bugs) picked up and left in your barn office? What about the acne ridden teenager who swiped his nose with his hands and then carried out your groceries to the car so you could grab a "healthy: granola bar to eat while you did chores?

My point? We cannot prevent all bacteria and viruses from our farms but we can do all we can to improve the immune systems of our animals. It is not unlike a very basic child raising theory. There is no way we can fix every bumpy road our child might run across but we can prepare THEM to deal with that road.

The same theory holds true for our farms. Although we have lost piglets to hawks, coyotes and bitter bitter cold we have to the best of my knowledge not lost one to diarrhea. Why? Because they come from strong healthy stock, they spend weeks and weeks and weeks (8-12) consuming their mothers antibody rich milk and they live in fresh air.

Bacteria and virus really do not like fresh air but oh how they love tight confined wet spaces with poor air flow. All the antibacterials, antivirals in the world will not stop this epidemic or the one right on its heels or the one after that.

Germs has a deep desire to live. They will mutate and change in order to adapt to the poisons we throw at them producing super bugs that are harder and harder to kill off. Just look at human health care for the very best lesson in this theory.

As a new nurse in the early 1980's , we were able to kill most anything with the simplest penicillin and sulfa based meds. Not anymore. Now we have 20 and 30 year old's who come into ER with staph infections so virulent from a scabbed knee or burst boil and they often lose limbs and sometimes their lives. Why?  Because they were started on antibiotics at very young ages at the insistence of their mothers who didn't want Jr. to suffer for one minute, or cough through one night and now there are no meds strong enough to kill what thrives in their bodies.

Of course this insane practice followed us right into our livestock businesses as we vaccinated and inoculated and basically removed all our animals basic ability to fight off illness. Crowding them into smaller and smaller spaces we've shortened their life spans and destroyed their immune systems.

They are indeed sitting ducks...er pigs and chickens and calves and etc...

Please understand, I am not saying that filthy farms are good farms but I am saying that common sense not unlimited bottles of Clorox, Lysol and  is the answer to this and future epidemics. Certainly small farmers should follow some of the basics like:


WASH YOUR HANDS! (But avoid the antibacterial soap)
Purchase only healthy animals for your farm
Use approved cleansing agents sparingly.
Limit the amount of new livestock brought onto your farm bringing on only that which will IMPROVE the genetics and health of your current herd.
Isolate new livestock from other animals until their health is verified.
Build immune systems with good feed, organic feed, raw milk or whey if available, not restaurant leftovers and pesticide filled garden remains.
House your animals in wide open spaces with good ventilation and ACCESS TO PASTURE every day that weather permits
Keep them well bedded, well watered, well fed, well exercised and your animals will...


Be well.

 

The Face Of Lonliness

 

 

 Animal lovers have differing opinions on the emotions of pets. Some think they feel as deeply as we do while other think not so much.

Not having applied for an large grant money that would allow me to do extensive research in this area I can only report what I see.

Ennis is lonely.

When our miniature donkey died unexpectantly last month. ( See A Donkeys Tale) I knew Ennis would miss her pasture buddy but I did not expect to feel it along with her.

She has been very quiet, mopey, distant. She is eating and drinking but without joy. The first few days she looked confused and that face changed to just plain sad. She would stand for long periods just looking out away from the barn. She would even turn her back to me when I came in the pasture to feed her.

She has never been a disrespectful type...until recently.

Sure I could've rushed out and gotten another donkey or a goat or maybe even threw a calf in with her but I think that would've been insulting.

Doolin was not a donkey whose hooves could so easily be filled. So instead of pushing another bunkmate on her, I have taken the time to just BE with Ennis.  Now instead of tossing her some hay and hurrying about the rest of my day, I open up the doors of our tack shed and sit in the wicker chair in back.

While she nibbles at the fine pieces of hay on the tack room floor we chat. We share a few memories and admit to each other that yes, Doolin was a real ass sometimes, but now that's he's gone, well we miss him. We really do.

At first, right after Doolin died, Ennis was very detached from me. Walked away when I petted her. Avoided eye contact. Wouldn't return my calls. But this last week its gotten better, After weeks of acting as if she really did not need me at all she has started nickering when I come out of the house.

And she leans into instead of away from me when I groom her.

Yesterday she put her face on my shoulder and grudgingly admitted she too was looking forward to spring and maybe a few rides.

A big improvement over the day I caught her with my laptop listing all her and Doolin's tack on Craig's list. Grief runs on its own time schedule.

Even for horses who lose their little donkey buddies.

Hail Dorothy (Mark) The Wicked Witch is Dead (For now)

I speak not of munchkin land but of another alternative world where farmers might actually be allowed to raise the type of hog (beef, chicken, eggs, fill in the blank_____) without government interference and in Mark Bakers case, prosecution.

A brief background. For over two years Mark Baker of Bakers Green Acres has been deeply entrenched in a battle with his own government over a few curly haired, outdoor raised, HEALTHY hogs. Seems Michigan's Department of Natural Resources thought they knew best about what type of hogs should be raised (all white) and where (In all white buildings.)

The DNR threatened fellow farmers raising the same types of hogs in Michigan with large fines if said farmers did not destroy these domestically raised and managed pigs for the sole reason that they looked different and might perhaps one day become or return to their feral status.

Even though each and every hog had been born and raised in pleasant, pasture-based, well- fenced farms.

Many farmers, fearful of their own government, shot and killed their own stock. Who wants to go to jail? Be fined thousands of dollars? Live in fear of raids and governmental bullying?

But Mark Baker, a 20 year Air Force Veteran, husband, father and Patriot flipped the table on these thugs...and they are big time thugs...and in turn, sued THEM.

And this week... he won. Sort of.

You see the DNR, cowards that they were, after 2 1/2 years of making Marks life hell, of limiting his ability to make a living, support his family, feed his children and the customers who relied on him for decent, healthy pork, decided that Marks pigs were not illegal after all. As Mark put it "they cried uncle." The DNR knew they had no case and decided to take the cowards way out.

The way most any bully will back down when you stand tall.

This means Mark and his long tailed, curly haired, Mangolista hogs can go about their business. Isn't that nice?

But who pays for all of Mark's lost revenue? All his time fighting a government that is supposed to be protecting Americans from foreign invaders not domestically raised, grain dependent oinkers? Who will give him back all the sleepless nights, the tense days, the travel time, the gas money, the lawyer expenses, the stress on his family,  for his fight to keep and raise and sell the hogs he had been told were illegal but now suddenly are not?!

Apparently Michigan's Department of Natural Resources and its director were never raised with the concept of consequences. When one makes a mistake, it needs to be not only admitted but then fixed. Made better. But sadly, our government has left leave of their senses and our founding fathers senses which leaves so many of us out there fighting on our own.

But "alone" we are not. As more small farmers find their voice, get serious, get busy and get angry, without ever being violent, more inane rules that keep us from making a decent and honest living are being eliminated, one by one.

BRAVO to you Mark Baker, your family , your attorneys and your customers. Keep up the hard work and so shall we.