Farm Animals
Our farm contains a multitude of different animals, but they are all connected, as is the case with any sustainable farm.
Our dairy goat herd consists of nine senior does, three purebred American Alpines, four purebred Oberhaslis and two Alpine/Saanen cross does. All are excellent milk producers, healthy and good tempered. My junior does consist of two Alpine/Oberhasli cross does. My current and future breeding program will be for does that are able to produce at least a half gallon milk per milking on minimal grain. I am also looking for good temperaments, vibrant health (my goats are not vaccinated for anything) and of course I like a goat that is pretty to look at. In early summer, I'll might have young buck kids available for meat.
The goats spend their days out in ten acres of pasture with unlimited browse, but when I'm home to supervise them, they have access to over 100 acres of pasture and browse. This ensures that they are able to consume plenty of natural forage throughout the day. They are fed grain only when they are on the milk stand. At night, they come up to a paddock with shelter and have access to grass and alfalfa hay. Thanks to this very natural diet, the milk the goats produce has a wonderful, sweet flavor and is extremely nutritious. The soft cheese I make from the milk is spectacular.
When the does deliver their kids, I leave the kids with their mothers 24/7 for the first week or two of their lives, then they are put up in a separate area adjacent to the does at night and I milk the does in the morning. Over the years, this arrangement has worked very well for me. The kids are able to nurse and be with their mothers all day; the mothers get a break from their kids at night and I get the milk in the morning and unless the doe is an unusually high producer, I don't have to milk at night.
Eventually, the bucks will be sold for meat or butchered here and I may have to do some evening milking, but the more milking the kids can do for me, the better it is for me.
In addition to the goats, I have one Jersey milk cow. She's a young cow that came from a local dairy. She fell during the winter of 2009 and was slated for the meat processor when she calved in August of 2010. I bought her in May of 2010 and I'm very lucky to have her. She's lame, but she doesn't have as far to travel here as she did at the dairy and doesn't have to stand on cement for hours waiting to be milked. Her name is Gwen. She consumes grass, grass and alfalfa hay and minimal grain. Like the goats, her milk is rich, creamy and delicious. When I am milking both Gwen and the goats, I combine their milk and make a soft cheese that is extremely flavorful and creamy.
We have raised several Jersey bull calves from the local dairy on goat and cow milk and it's worked out really well. Beef from a Jersey cow is the best there is. It has a wonderful, sweet and mild flavor to it. Now that we've had Jersey beef, we won't eat anything else.
In addition to raising calves on goat milk, we also raise pigs in the spring and summer. In addition to milk, they receive whey from my cheese making and all the vegetable scraps they can consume. Whey-fed pork is tender, juicy, flavorful and nutritious. Again, the best you'll ever eat. Throughout their lives, the pigs are allowed to forage for grass, roots and other goodies.
The summer of 2011 we added meat rabbits to our farm. Instead of choosing conventional meat breeds, I decided on two heritage breeds of rabbit: American Chinchilla and Creme d'Argent. Both are meat breeds and both are listed with the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy as either critical (American Chinchilla) or watch (Creme d'Argent). According to the ALBC, these breeds (of rabbits) are threatened because agriculture has changed. Modern food production now favors the use of a few highly specialized breeds selected for maximum output in a controlled environment. In rabbits, this would be the New Zealand breed. Many traditional livestock breeds have lost popularity and are threatened with extinction. These traditional breeds are an essential part of the American agricultural inheritance. Not only do they evoke our past, they are also an important resource for our future. Our rabbits spend some of their lives in large (36 inches x 36 inches) conventional wire cages and part of the time living in a colony environment. I hope one day to have them all living in a colony. They are fed some commercial rabbit pellets, but a bulk of their diet is high quality grass and alfalfa hay, oats, sunflower seeds and of course all the vegetables and weeds they can eat from the garden. Contact me for availability of purebred rabbits to start your own breeding program or processed fryers for your eating pleasure.
We maintain a good-sized flock of true, free-ranging egg-laying chickens and ducks. We also have guinea fowl to keep the insect (primarily tick) population down. In 2012, we'll begin raising pastured meat chickens, most likely a heritage breed rather than the conventional Cornish cross.
We have a pride of thirteen indoor/outdoor cats that keep the rodent population down. All of the cats eat a home-prepared, raw meat diet. For more information on feeding cats a raw meat diet, read my book, Raising Cats Naturally.
Finally, the most important creature on the farm is a Border Collie named SC Angelus ("Gel"). Gel moves all of the livestock from place to place and keeps them where they should be when necessary. We could not do what we do here without him. Rose, our livestock guardian dog keeps all of the animals living here safe from predators.
Thanks to all the hard-working animals that live here, we produce almost all of the food that we consume. That is a wonderful feeling. We eat really, really well. We have a limited supply of eggs, pork, beef and rabbit from the animals raised on the farm. Contact me for availability and more information.