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Heifer Diary 2012
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December 31, 2011 Saturday, New Year’s Eve
Our morning milking protocol is working well.
First I milk Jasmine. Fern is in her stanchion hopefully getting into the mood to let down. Ella has been separated all night and is hungry. She is tied where they can touch noses. Then I milk Fern who now seems to understand that she gets Ella only after she has been milked. I now get 2 gallons from her instead of the measly quart or so that I was getting when they ran together 24/7.
I was determined not to establish a habit of letting Ella in to start the let down process with her sucking. This does work. It will make a cow let down for sure. But then you have to milk (or wash) slimy teats, or have a bumptious calf on the other side of the cow, or worst of all, ultimately have to drag away a calf weighing a couple of hundred pounds. For the first couple of days there was some bellowing. But I explained to Fern that she was quite simply not getting Ella until she has let down and agreed to being milked. She got the picture fast and now on Day 4 is solidly in this pattern. I am leaving behind some milk for Ella so that she does not tear up Fern. Also Fern and Milton (who wears an anti-sucking guard) share a pan of some fancy calf grain I bought. They don’t eat much.
The area from house to barn remains a sheet of ice. I twisted my knee last week and making the trip to the barn is a challenge. I am using a ski pole.
Our New Year’s Eve festivities consisted of finishing off a bit of champagne left in the bottle we all shared at Christmas dinner. We were in bed by 9:30.
January 01, 2012 Sunday, New Year’s Day
It warmed up a lot today, in fact got over 40F. By evening much of the yard ice had melted but it is still tricky walking to the barn. We put down some sand.
Jasmine and Fern gave 2 gallons each. The new routine is going smoothly. Fern likes coming into her stanchion so well that every time one opens the door into the beefer pen she tries to dart through and come in. In the evening Ella goes right into the pen with Milton and they have some calf grain.
After milking, and after waiting an hour or so waiting for the ice to melt so they would have safer footing, we shut the cows outside to encourage them to try a little grazing or at least get some sunshine. Otherwise all they want to do is stay in and eat their hay.
Sally and the dogs took a nice long walk around the snowless fields. I am still favoring my gimpy knee so had to see the world from the deck. Sally made me a knee band from an old sock.
I made some soup to try out an idea I had. Yesterday I cooked navy beans and squash and today I puréed each, sautéed onions and combined all with some chicken stock to make a lovely winter soup. I included some of the pesto I made last summer with olive oil and garlic scapes. That’s what we had for supper.
I also made another pound of cream cheese and churned butter. Because of the skimpy milk supply I have had until now, this is the first butter I have made in a very long time.
Good news for the sheep: My friend Georgiana is going to lend me a ram, Mr. Reilly, a distinguished Cotswold gentleman. We only hope the season is not too far advanced for breeding. Mr. Reilly is to come on Wednesday.
January 02, 2012 Monday
Jasmine’s production this morning was way down. It might be because there were two mice in her water tub.
Sally got lots of exercise. She took a long walk this morning around her field and flushed a fat pair of partridges. Later she had to search for Ella at the midday cow moving. She had gotten herself on the wrong side of the north fence. Sally found her because she was answering Fern’s mooing. Then after dark during suppertime chores, Willie ran off - same thing he did last night. Sally went out with a flashlight and had to walk all the way down to PocketField before she heard him panting. He probably found a woodchuck hole. With this oddly warm weather they are moving around. This was quite annoying but Sally forgave him. Nonetheless, tomorrow evening he will have to either stay in the house or be on his chain.
The weather today was positively balmy, apart for an odd little token snowstorm about 3pm which changed to hail. It only lasted a few minutes.
Sally made beautiful bread with freshly ground flour. I spent all afternoon catching up on my filing. Had to do it. One of my tax documents was not in the folder where it belonged. Hurrah! When I finally came to it near the bottom of the “File me” pile I felt like popping a cork.
We had a call from DD Abby during a little break from her work. She gets to do a lot of cooking. But she does not get enough sleep. She has two patients at once.
January 03, 2012 Tuesday
All fine with the animals but very cold today. We had to leave the farm on its own because I had an eye appointment in Rumford– just a check-up. The gal said it would be “Just a brief appointment.” I hate to think what a long one would be like. It was for 2:30 and lasted until 4:30, mostly due to waiting in small rooms for somebody to come and move things along. My eyes are still a bit dilated I think and Sally and I are both too tired to think… Of course we left home early enough to do at least a few of our errands and missed lunch. And I am still limping. I’m making it an early night. I did manage to get butter made when I got home, a pound and a quarter. That is what my churn makes.
The good news was that there is no deterioration in my vision.
DD Marcia in CA has ordered a cheese press. She is going to learn to make cheese with her local goat’s milk. Isn’t that lovely? She ordered the Dutch style. I am so anxious to find out how she likes that press.
January 04, 2012 Wednesday
It was 0F this morning with wind. My fingers objected strenuously but other than that, things went well.
The big news today is that I got to meet Georgiana McN, whom I have long wished to know. She and her daughter Jaime generously brought over Mr.Reilly, her Cotswold ram. She is lending him to me to service my four ewes. We do hope it is not too late in the year. Mr. Reilly, a magnificent fellow covered in lush ringlets, seemed to find the ewes quite interesting. He bounded about sniffing and flehming in an encouraging manner and mounted Agnes. Agnes did a certain amount of butting but neither she nor Mr. Reilly have horn sand all have quite deep fleece so no harm is done. By evening feeding they were all lined up snugly at the hay. Mr. Reilly is friendly and gentle. Sally says she likes the Cotswold fleece and the meat is said to be the world’s best. That is what people are already saying about my Suffolk lamb this year. Clearly we are in for a treat.
DD Marcia is interested in having a dairy animal at her new home in CA and Sally has suggested dairy sheep. That sounds exciting to me. I have had sheep’s milk and it is excellent.
My gimpy knee is much improved today
January 05, 2012 Thursday
Milk production remains good and temperatures low.
We put the sheep in the paddock for a few hours today. Mr. Reilly stuck right with the girls, no trouble there. A few hours later when we called them in the ewes came bounding as usual, Mr. Reilly with them, but he overshot the ramp and required some guidance to find his way in. Agnes came back out to look for him. Between us we soon had them all in.
We now have to keep Ella penned at night without Milton. He keeps her off of their hay. Now he will spend the night with the cows. It is a little more nuisance feeding him his milk with cows around as they are inclined to steal it if they can.
I baked one of the fat Luick chickens tonight on a bed of vegetables. Yum! I still had one of the Japanese sweet potatoes Marcia sent a month ago from CA and baked that with it. Those sweet potatoes are the best I remember eating.
Three ambulances and a sheriff’s vehicle went by around noon. I learned just now that my neighbor to the West, Elwyn Brown, passed away. He had heart trouble. He will be missed.
I skipped taking Ibuprofen today and was sorry. I walked to the garden to see the woodchuck holes Sally told me about. Truly vast excavations. But I could not make it down to the river.
Friday, January 06, 2012
It snowed today. The previous meager snow was gone, nothing left but patches of ice. It looks like we got an inch and a half. All the animals seem happy. Mr. Reilly stays bunched tightly with the ewes when they run. Tonight he did not overshoot the ramp. They all seem so happy together.
I witnessed Tamworth, the young male cat, try to catch a chicken. I grabbed for his tail but missed. The chicken got away.
DD Marcia in CA has signed up for a cheese making class and a beer making class. Such a nice thing to do in winter.
It was about 20F this morning and the new snow has not melted so far. The world seems so much brighter when there is snow on the ground.
Jasmine gave 2 gallons but Fern only 1 ½ . I decided to leave more behind for Ella so she won’t pound on her mom so much. Right now we have more milk than we need anyway. I have made butter 3 days in a row. Of course I can use just about as much butter as I can get my hands on.
Max came over and brought grain and split wood. We were running low on both chicken feed and split wood. I am going through what seems like a huge amount of chicken feed what with nothing outdoors to scrounge and a couple of dozen teenage birds.
January 09, 2012 Monday
Much of today was devoted to plans related to our final parting with good old Helen. It is very sad, but she is over 15 and in a lot of pain with her feet and maybe something else. She groans a lot. Most of the time she is lying down but when she is standing she is either eating hay or faced into the corner. There is nothing wrong with her appetite but facing into a corner is not a good sign. DS Martin is coming tonight to assist in a pre-dawn kill. DS Max will also arrive in time. I want her killed here on the farm to minimize stress. Martin is bringing a trailer. Castonguay (the abattoir) wants her by 6am.
January 10, 2012 Tuesday
Today started at 4am. I did not participate, nor did Sally, but the men reported that all went exactly according to plan. All the other cattle (Jasmine, Fern, Milton and Ella) spent the night in the lean-to. Helen was alone in the beefer pen which did not stress her because she has been staying in by herself a lot of the time lately. Martin took the shot. He had studied the butchering book to be sure he got it right. This job had not fallen to him before and he wanted to make sure Helen had a dignified end. They did the bleed, then transported her to the abattoir in the farm truck. It was still pretty dark at 5am when Martin left with the truck. I came out to thank Martin and Max but did not look at Helen. Max went directly home to start on his own chores.
Helen was with us since her birth 15 years ago. Among the animals, she was the main character, much loved but never an easy cow. Without my experiences with Helen I would not have learned how difficult a heifer can be, how much determination is sometimes required when starting off a dairy cow nor discovered some of the ploys I have written about to get that milk and keep it coming.
Helen was intelligent and often outsmarted me by doubling back at the gate just when I had trotted a quarter mile to get her up for milking. I think she loved me but enjoyed the adversarial position. She could hide in the woods and keep so still that her bell didn’t make a sound.
We will always miss Helen but she was clearly suffering. It was time to say goodbye. As one of our forum members said, one of the things we’re able to do for our four footed friends is to spare them terminal suffering.
Martin spent the rest of the day here splitting wood and moving hay. Max came back over and brought me the pork I had swapped with him and Mitra for lamb.
I did not sleep last night so am off to bed.
Mitra wrote this on the KFC Forum
I
am so sad about Helen but I know and understand that it had to be done. It's so
hard to see a beloved cow in pain and now she's not in pain. I appreciated Max's
description of how things went. She was relaxed and laying down. She got up and
came over to Max and Martin who put down a pan of grain for her and then it was
over with one shot.
She was ornery but lovable and she was the cow "I learned on". I had the pleasure of having her here at my farm for just over two years. She was my introduction to raw milk and it was and is the best milk I've ever tasted.
There are many other kind expressions of sympathy on the forum.
Later on Wednesday my vet, Dr.Cooper, stopped by to neuter our two young male cats. They were starting to wander around the neighborhood. We did the surgery on newspapers on the kitchen table. By eight-thirty at night they were recovered enough to go out. During the afternoon we kept them in the house to look after them. We’ll leave the light on for them in the garage.
I gave Dr. Cooper an easy, quick but elegant lunch of ham steak from our new pork that we got from Max and Mitra. I baked it with pomegranate syrup. Besides the outstandingly good ham, we had cole slaw and pumpkin rolls made by Sally.
During the afternoon Willie had intestinal problems that necessitated his having a bath. He is very good about baths and stands nicely, merely looking aggrieved.
This evening I talked to my sister Barby in CA and had her explain what was going on in Downton Abbey. We decided to join the reset of the known world and start watching the series but we got pretty confused. Sally also talked to her daughter Rose at the South Pole who was anxious for news of the snowstorms in Cordova, Alaska, which is where she lives when not peregrinating. She has her own fishing boat there; a neighbor was kind enough to go out and check on it, but the snow was too deep to see where it was!
I am reading Joel Salatin’s book The Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer. He has a lot of good stuff to say.
It seems kind of empty now in the barn.
January 12, 2012 Thursday
It snowed today. All the previous snow was gone. It is welcome news to all the snow related enterprises in Maine. The X-C races in Rumford last week had to compete on man-made snow. I don’t believe we got as much as a foot but it is enough to make a difference to the plants and pasture which is what I worry about.
My knee has taken a turn for the worse so I am not very frisky.
January 13, 2012 Friday
I started a new teleme cheese and made a big pot of lamb and barley soup. Apart from the standard chores, I lay down a lot. Actually, DD Sally is doing the lion’s share of the animal care anyway. The temperature lingered around 20F so the snow is not melting.
Martin speaks of Helen:
Helen is the ‘Heifer’ of the ‘Heifer Diary’. Since the inception of this, one of the oldest Blogs on the web, she has been the center of the story. Joann has been writing an entry every single day for fourteen years - more than5,000 entries - since before the term Blog was even invented. Helen has been featured in pretty much every one.
So it was not an easy decision to send her to the slaughterhouse. We’ve butchered any number of steers on the farm (including, frankly, many of Helen’s male offspring), so we’re not new to it. However, for a variety of reasons, we have never needed to make this decision with one of our prized milk cows. But as a practical matter, when the ground is frozen, a 1,000 lb dead cow is not the easiest situation to handle. And with continuing problems with her hooves that couldn’t be solved, we didn’t want her to suffer any more.
There was another reason it was a very difficult decision. As a general rule, we make it a policy to kill our animals on the farm. It can be less stressful than having them waiting at the slaughterhouse knowing what’s coming for twelve hours. Although, having been nominated as the trigger-man, I can tell you those twelve hours are plenty stressful.
I must have taken Helen’s picture 1,000 times; fed her I don’t know how many apples. She was always very sure of herself. We as humans may sometimes have a crisis of self-confidence, but this is rarely a problem for the Jersey Cow, and Helen was no exception. She was always in charge and she knew it.
So if it was going to be me sending her off I wanted to do it right.
Like most of us who have spent a lot of time in the barn, I know that farming is not always pretty. I remember my father hurrying back from the hayfield, with the remains of his finger in his mouth, victim of the sickle bar mower. I remember any number of animals, including pets and prized dairy animals (and one in particular that was both), dying. There’s as much grim as there is beauty in farming, but there’s a beauty to that too.
I wanted it to be like flicking a light switch, at the end of a life well lived. And I am happy to say that’s how it was.
Life goes on.
Jasmine was in heat yesterday. Either she was two days late or I failed to notice her activity Thursday or Friday.
It is turning bitterly cold. The sunset tonight was exceptionally fine.
For our supper I reinvented a fish casserole that Sally served me years ago when I visited her in Alaska. If I saw it in a recipe book, I doubt I would have tried it as it does not sound entirely promising. But it is rich and satisfying and goes together extremely fast. Here it is:
Fish Casserole
(use any white fish)
Peel, slice and simmer in salted water until almost tender enough potatoes and onions to cover the bottom of the dish.
Lay on your fish.
Pour on a pint or so of canned tomatoes.
Sprinkle on some dill, pepper and paprika and dot generously with butter.
Pop it in a fairly hot oven for about 20 to 25 minutes or until it looks a bit bubbly.
Sally thinks a crumb topping would also be nice.
January 15, 2012 Sunday
Ten below this morning. I spent ten minutes contriving an outfit suitable for barn chores. I was fine except for my hands. This will require further thought tomorrow. All the critters are comfortable but milk production was down from 3 ½ gallons (total from two cows) to less than 3. I leave some behind for Ella. I just keep the machine on Fern until she is letting down properly (to make my point). Ella has her mother all day and is growing very well. Sally takes a gallon, warmed and split into two feeds, to Milton who gets his in a bucket. The sheep are out in their paddock about 6 hours a day. We put hay down for them through a trap door to the run-in that is under the buttery. Mr.Reilly appears to be enjoying his life. He comes up to have his cheeks scratched.
January 16, 2012 Monday, Martin Luther King Day
Minus 7 this morning but the sun shone and it eventually warmed up to20F. It still felt darned cold to me but I think my gimpy leg is depleting my energy. Milk production has dropped to about 3 ¼ gallons. We got 7 eggs.
DS Max came over. I got a couple of quarts of frozen baked beans out and thawed them for our lunch. I served them with knockwurst from the gift box DS John sent at Christmas. It made a highly satisfactory lunch.
Max brought feed for me. I am trying something called scratch feed for the chickens. I could not find the label but it has a variety of unrolled seeds. It is cheaper than the layer feed, upon which they are not laying well in any case. I hope that with the addition of clabber the scratch will be satisfactory. I am going to try to sprout some.
Sally made a blueberry cream pie. It was delicious and used up a pint of cream that was getting questionable.
January 17, 2012 Tuesday
Peep peep peep! This is what Sally heard this morning when only halfway to the barn. By the time she got there the peeping had ceased so she had no idea where to look. Later she found 3 chicks and their mama out in the snow in the chicken yard. She took a bucket out and caught them and brought them inside the hen house where their mother soon followed. It appears she had been setting under the barn. Today was up to 20F. The previous few days have been sub zero. No doubt there were a whole lot more eggs that froze. The little family appears to be making it comfortably now inside with the othe rhens. They have their own little waterer and dish of clabber. The chicks are more than a day old.
Max came over again bringing a huge round bale of pickled hay. It is sort of like silage. Cows like it a lot although it reminds one somewhat of kim chee. It is reputed to boost milk production. Now Sally will fill the cargo sled with it once a day for them. She gave a bit to the sheep too and they took to it immediately.
Sally and I are getting all excited about sprouting seed for the cows to eat. I already have a couple of pounds going from the scratch grain and as soon as these reveal their viability (or lack thereof) we will expand the operation. I do not expect to have to buy anything except the seed itself. Her tray under lights upstairs is already showing promise of mixed greens.
DS Mark (Dr. Mark) sent me a knee brace to try. At 3pm my leg was too swollen to get it on but I will try it first thing tomorrow morning and see if it helps.
January 18, 2012 Wednesday
Brilliant sun today but cold and windy.
Milk production is steady at 3 ½ gallons/day and 5 to 7 eggs.
The mother hen with three chicks is taking good care of them in a corner of the hen house. They get chicken scratch and clabber and water. I can’t open the outer door or she would probably take them out into the snow so the entire group will have to stay indoors for the present. They would not want to go out now anyway if they have any sense.
The cows and sheep spend most of their time inside too.
I promised Dr. Mark I would see a doctor if my knee was not much improved today and indeed it was a lot better this morning. Then right after lunch I went out to toss hay down the carriage house trap door for the sheep and things went badly. I caught my pant leg on a cast iron grate, tripped and fell wham onto my evil knee. Not good. Actually it was not nearly as bad as I thought it might be but definitely set me back. I will revisit the doctor idea tomorrow morning.
January 19, 2012 Thursday
Well, I didn’t think my knee needed to see a doc today as it is showing signs of improvement, besides it was -10F. Going anywhere when it is that cold makes me tired just thinking about it.
My mother hen is doing a good job. She got some more clabber and chopped hard boiled eggs. I always give some to the other residents of the hen house at the same time to distract them from swiping hers. A couple of cheeky cockerels were very pesky so I caught them and added them to the free range population that lives in the rafters.
This morning I switched over to using the DeLaval to see if it would milk any better. Neither machine is perfectly adapted to my cows. Part of the problem is that my vacuum pump is a bit weak. But getting any cups to hold tight to the soccer ball that is Fern’s udder would be a challenge.
I made a pan of gingerbread using the recipe said to be Mary Washington’s. Just the thing for a cold day.
Rich Sticky Gingerbread (From the Aga Cookbook)
½ pint milk (Crown pt use 10 oz)
2 t.soda
12 oz. plain flour (I usewhole wheat pastry flour)
2 t. ground ginger
2 t. ground cinnamon
2 t nutmeg, freshly grated
½ teaspoon salt
8 oz. butter
8 oz. soft brown sugar
4 oz. golden syrup*
4 oz treacle (molasses)
2 eggs
6 balls crystallized ginger, finely chopped**
Prepare the pan (9x12). Measure the milk into a jug and add the soda and set it somewhere (on the Aga of course) to warm slightly. Sieve the flour, ginger, cinnamon and salt into a large bowl. Put the butter, sugar, golden syrup and treacle in a saucepan and stand on the simmer plate. Heat and stir till the butter has melted. Remove from the heat and pour into the flour and spice. Mix together well and then beat in the eggs, one at a time. Next, stir in the warmed milk followed by the crystallized ginger. Beat well! Pour the gingerbread batter into the prepared tin. Bake near the bottom of the baking oven for 30-40 minutes until risen and a fine skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool and store in the tin.
* No golden syrup? Replace with molasses.
**Not knowing what a ball of ginger is I used a bit more that ½ cup ofchopped candied ginger. Also added golden raisins. The batter is quite wet. I weighed the flour on a kitchen scale.
Cook’s Mag says when making gingerbread, avoid center collapse bybeating well.
January 20, 2012 Friday
-10 this morning but with brilliant sun all day. It was also windy, never any fun, but despite the wind, the eves were dripping. It finally got up to 20F but I am still cold.
Milk production was way down, partly no doubt a result of the cold but today due to the machine not functioning properly. I used the DeLaval. It has an air leak somewhere that I simply cannot find. Dear Sally went back to the house and fetched the Surge. It does not fit either cow properly but at least is makes vacuum.
We learned that Sally’s DS Rafe and GF SallyB in AK are leaving early for the turtle study assignment in NV. They usually go in April. It is near Reno and is something to do with the Department of F&G I think. That will be a big climate change from Alaska. SallyB has gone ahead to Reno but Rafe is first going on an overnight pack trip with Sally’s SIL Torsten near Tok, AK. Believe it or not there are guys who like to carry heavy packs and sleep in the snow. I am trying to remember if I was ever young enough to want to try this. Here are a couple photos from the house that Rafe and SallyB are building. The couch showcases Rafe's Mom Sally's (my DD) hand woven fabrics with Gretchen their dog.
For supper tonight we had our first meal from the new pork reared by Max and Mitra. I baked ribs. The quality and flavor of the meat is outstanding. We also had a fresh loaf of sourdough bread that Sally baked using the starter I just ordered from King Arthur flour. That too was very good.
DD Marcia in CA has started making cheese. She made her first one today. She has a new press, the Dutch style. I am so proud of her.
It was -25 this morning. The hose for watering the cows was frozen to the floor inside the hot cabinet. I started the day by immersing the hose in a bathtub of hot water to clear it. The tap in the hot cabinet was also frozen but Sally was able to free it with brute force, always a risky thing to do with any frozen unit.
I took the Surge milking machine to the barn wrapped in heated towels and carried extra hot water. The machine worked OK on Jasmine. By the time I got to Fern it would no longer establish vacuum. We worked together long and hard trying to identify the problem, unquestionably due to some frozen bit – but what? Sally finally went back to the house for a boiling kettle which I intended to pour over the top of the set–up, pulsator and everything. But while she was gone to the house I lifted the top off and discovered that the lid gasket had lumps of Jasmine’s milk frozen under it preventing a seal. I clawed out the gasket and dipped it my remaining warm water from wash up. I always maintain this water completely clean. I replaced the gasket and the pulsator started up just as Sally returned with the kettle.
By this time Fern, who had been streaming milk, was out of her good mood and I ended up having to milk one quarter at a time and never did get more than half the milk. Thank goodness for hungry Ella. I left her with an extra large breakfast. It was 10 o’clock when we got in with the milk.
Everything is more work during serious cold spells and Sally and I both felt pretty well wiped out all day. Between trips to the barn we sank down to read (me) or knit (Sally) and Sally even fell asleep for a while, unusual for her.
First thing this morning I got out a piece of lamb that is sold in England as “scragg end”, actually neck, and in the US appears, if at all, as meaty bones or else gets boned out. This is a shame as it is a truly delicious bit of meat. I braised it in the Aga, covered, in a heavy pot with rosemary, garlic, snipped up dried tomatoes and a little wine and a dash of olive oil. This made a delicious dinner.
It remains to be seen whether we can stay awake for Downton Abbey.
January 23, 2012 Monday
It was a relatively mild 10F this morning. I continue to have a struggle with both my milking machines. Now even the Surge is reluctant to provide enough vacuum to keep the pulsator going properly. It did function this morning but just barely. It was not an icing issue today, just general weakness and perhaps the need for a new set of rubber fittings. I will order them as soon as I can get my head in gear.
What we did today was to go grocery shopping. We have not been out since Jan 3 and I was low on a lot of items such as copier paper, things available locally only at Walmart now that they have driven out all the small suppliers. Shopping at Walmart is a depressing experience for me. All the carts were stuck together so that we and other customers had to fight them apart, the little man who used to do this having disappeared. The distances are vast and dreary. They have dropped their organic produce. Everything is shifted to a new location and there is no store map and few employees. The goods are mostly shoddy. The only form of vitamin E on offer was the synthetic Dl form which is less than half as efficacious.
We got home before the predicted ice storm and found all the animals to be in good shape. The three baby chicks have learned the local rules and know enough to run out and drink immediately when I bring water or clabber. It is so cute to see them line up shoulder to shoulder dipping their tiny beaks.
January 24, 2012 Tuesday
Suddenly today we got a thaw. Sally heard the spring song of the chickadee. It got up to 40F with bright sun and all the snow slid off of my new (2 years ago) metal barn roof. The milking machine behaved very well, suggesting that most of our woes were weather related. Jasmine gave 2 full gallons and so did Fern despite my leaving plenty behind for Ella.
One new woe may or may not have been weather related. The door by which we enter the chicken room from inside the barn got stuck shut so badly that it seemed more likely to splinter than to open. Sally managed to go around through the chicken yard which meant she had to slither through an ice blocked gate (wish I had a picture!) and then armed with tools, jimmy open the exterior door. This is the door I keep latched to prevent the baby chicks from going out or the cats from coming in to snack on chicks. These three new cats I have don’t know the rules. From inside the hen room Sally managed to pry open the inner door. We surmise that the barn has settled into a new position.
Sally caught and dressed off three young roosters. The balmy temperature made this outdoor job possible. I think the birds were five months old.
I made another cheese today and have it in the press. But I don’t really feel I got a lot done. My knee remains annoying.
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Mitra explains Max’s Snowman in a Jar:
The "ice jar" was taken out of a frozen bucket about a week ago. Max set it on the railing and every night we've been putting a votive candle in the ice jar which looks pretty cool, I must say. Then this morning he felt compelled to make a snowman to set on the railing as he often does. They often sport a lot of twigs on top for snowman hair. Max decided he ought to set this one inside the ice jar to showcase it.
January 25, 2012 Wednesday
One little chick was missing this morning. There is no clue as to what happened. Even though the door to their room is now defective we had it well blocked from cats. So it was either a rat or cannibalistic larger hen. We are sad.
The calves, Fern’s Ella and Jasmine’s Milton, are penned separately from the cows at night. After milking we let them out and Ella gets her milk. (I don’t milk Fern out completely). Lately Milton has been sniffing around Jasmine but he has an anti-sucking device in his nose. Guess what. Today he figured out how to suck with that thing in. I don’t actually mind so long as he does not cut up her teats, which he was doing before he got the nose guard.
Martin picked up the beef today from the butcher. Much to my surprise, the butcher had high praise for the meat. He said he grew up on a Jersey dairy farm and they always had mature cow and it can’t be beat. So Helen’s last gift to the family will be something pretty nice. Thank you Helen.
Martin spent most of the day at his camp in Weld and rejoined us for supper, but not before doing a repair to the chicken house door. I popped a small lamb roast into the oven for us. It was one of our free form mystery roasts with more bone than meat but we all had plenty. I also made sweet and sour red cabbage with apple. Sally made a lemon sponge cake.
January 27, 2012 Friday
We have had odd weather spiking way above and way below freezing. Patches of ice have developed. Last night and this afternoon new snow fell which becomes treacherous on the ice. I wear my creepers and carry a ski pole. The good part is that it all looks lovely and I have a good man to plow. So far none of the animals have gone down. Behind the barn where they go to sun themselves the snow is deeper and is safer. The sheep are always charming as they bound in and out from the barn to their daytime paddock and vice versa. I love watching them. They all seem fond of each other although I never see evidence of ram activity. I believe they are shy. I feel sure that come May there will be lambs gamboling about.
We had a pork shoulder roast tonight from our Luick pork. What a treat. Home reared apple fed pork is incomparable. We also had sweet potatoes sent by DD Marcia from CA and cole slaw made by Sally.
Sally also made bread using the King Arthur sourdough starter. I recommend it.
My "Snowman in Jar" piece morphed into what I now call Snowman Sumo. It is still high art.
Love, Max
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It stormed and blew and snowed last night but is not very cold. It got above 32F today and the sun shone.
Jasmine and Fern each gave 2 gallons. Fern has more but I leave some for Ella. I have not seen further evidence of Milton nursing on Jasmine.
We have been sprouting a pan of grain and served it out today. I ate some and found it tasty but the cows were not interested. However it is typical of cows to refuse new foods. I would not have considered 4” tall blades of grass to be new food exactly but maybe it smells different or maybe they think grass is meant to grow in the ground, not in a plastic box. We will keep trying. The chickens were enthusiastic.
Max came by today with my feed and a repair kit for the sink spray hose. I find the spray hose to be an amenity that is hard to live without.
Joe Mills, Sally’s former renter, also stopped in and brought us up to date on their family life. Their pretty little daughters are now 16 and 20. Joe is looking for work, like so many. Sally gave him a logging chain that has long been half buried at the former rental property. Joe intends to log their farm.
We watched another episode of Downton Abbey (Season 1) on a Netflix DVD.
January 29, 2012 Sunday
Windy today, but otherwise not cold. It stayed at 20F or above all day. The word from Alaska is that it is 45 below and has been the coldest winter since 1971.
Sally and I mostly spent our afternoon tidying up the carriage house and catching up the laundry.
January 30, 2012 Monday
Fern acted like the heifer she is and kicked the machine apart with her left rear when I was only halfway through milking. The surge bucket was already too heavy for me to lift back onto the surcingle support bar so I had to quit. She was not really violent. She got her foot caught up in the air hoses and did not fight me when I grabbed her ankle and lifted it free. But if this happens again I will not hesitate to institute control measures. For starters, tomorrow I will ask Sally to remain with me and lean on Fern’s hip to displace her weight to the left so that it is harder for her to pick up her foot.
Sally continues to dress off extra roosters as the young fry mature. We ate a delicious one tonight. It was a Lakenvelder. They have a particularly meaty conformation and clear marble-like skin. I fricasseed him. The flavor was outstanding and the meat was not tough. She had aged him in the fridge for a week rather than our usual 3 days. Aging of free range layer breed cockerels is essential to edibility. I believe if I were to send for chicks I would get Lakenvelders. My birds reproduce for me so freely that it has been several years since I have been tempted to send for new chicks. It seems there is always some hen sneaking a nest and the mothers are faithful to their job. I do have a current concern that because three of my current four cats were not raised in the barn they are not afraid of the mother hens. Kittens raised in the barn get a very sharp lesson from the hens if they approach her chicks. It is quite entertaining. The mother hen flies squawking at any cat that approaches her family. The cat gets this injured look and walks away pretending it couldn’t careless. I don’t know if this performance by my wee hens will have the desired effect on these three fat cats.
January 31, 2012 Tuesday
It snowed all day and into the evening. The weather was cold and raw.
Fern was well behaved today.
I made butter and ricotta. Sally has been dying wool.
Sally pulled the woodstove forward and did a chimney clean-out. The stove has been smoking outrageously. We found that pieces of tile had fallen down in it and were clogging the draught. Now the stove is once again being good. What a relief.
So far I don’t know the circumstances in detail, but on the way home this afternoon, the school bus in which Roshan was riding was struck by a tractor trailer, head on! Max called to tell me that Roshan had called him on her cell phone to please come and get her,t hat she had hit her nose on the seat in front of her and had a headache. I told Max to take her to the ER and hope he did. The accident was reported on the evening news. They said there were no serious injuries.
February 01, 2012 Wednesday
Both cows produced well but I had trouble with the machine and no idea why.
The bus accident was on the front page of the paper this morning. It could have been a dreadful tragedy, a tractor-trailer fully loaded with logs coming head on into a school bus. Fortunately the bus was stopped (with yellow lights flashing) and the truck was not going very fast. It pushed the bus back 30 feet. Roshan did not go to the ER but Mitra consulted with her pediatrician and was told what to be watching for. Roshan has several contusions including a bruise between her eyes. She saw the bus coming and had braced herself. Road conditions were poor yesterday and worse today. Here is a link to the local Farmington on-line newspaper:
http://www.dailybulldog.com/db/features/minor-injuries-reported-after-school-bus-tractor-trailer-collide/
Sally’s DD Rosemary has now left the Antarctic research station and has reached McMurdo. Departure was delayed due to bad weather. A military plane ultimately diverted to pick them up. The research project is completed.
February 02, 2012 Thursday
A lot of pullets are at point of lay, all birds that hatched her 5 or 6months ago and were raised by their mothers. I get 4 to 6 small eggs every day now. I need to find more customers.
The weather was mild and settled. Sally and I and the dogs took a tour of the garden and fruit trees and Sally brought up a bucket of rich soil she had stored in the tool shed last fall. She wants to start some seeds. So do I, but lately have felt tired a lot of the time. I sent in my Fedco seed order last week and now am having fun with the beautiful Baker catalogue.
We made ourselves a beautiful veg soup with a meaty lamb bone left from a recent roast. It was perfect with Sally’s fresh bread.
February 03, 2012 Friday
A sunny winter’s day around 20F.
14 eggs. The hens are definitely picking up production.
DD Abby is now working in Blue Hill near the coast. She called this morning to tell us to try to try to listen to WERU to hear a MOFGA sponsored call-in about keeping a family cow with Diane Schivera and Megan Gerritson. I was able to get it live streamed on my computer! There were several enthusiastic callers including one who gave an endorsement for my Keeping a Family Cow book, referring to it as the must-have cow bible. So that was fun.
Sally and I are both complaining of the Winter Blahs. Time to increase the vitamin D.
Although so far as I can see she is doing as much as ever, what with sprouting things, doing most of the animal care and knitting whenever she sits down.
The temperature remained about 20F today and there was lots of sun.
I made another recipe of whole milk ricotta from the Mary Kaplan book. I am going to send it home with Max when he comes tomorrow. DD Sally has made a pumpkin pie. She also made yeast raised pumpkin fruit bread. And I just got the wonderful news that DD Marcia is starting to make bread.
Sally was looking at our dinner this evening and observed that everything on our plates was home grown. This included the meat in the meatloaf, baked squash, frozen green beans, zucchini relish, and butter. And of course the milk.
February 05, 2012 Sunday
It was -5 this morning so milking was a chilly business and production was down. Eggs are still coming fast though.
The sun shone brilliantly and it warmed up to 20F. DS Max came with chicken feed for me and potting soil for Sally. I have several mines of it here and there on the farm but we never manage to stockpile enough of it in the fall. Max moved a new round bale in for the cows. They do love their hay and now the calves are eating their share too.
Sally took a walk around the fields with Willie and followed moose tracks much of the way. I wish I could see it.
Sally has been growing a tray of mixed greens under lights and tonight I was able to sprinkle a delicious handful on our dinner.
February 06, 2012 Monday
It got up to 38F today under a brilliant sun.
Both cows were up in production, perhaps a combination of warmer weather and the new round bale. Jasmine gave over two gallons and Fern gave two even though I leave quite a bit for Ella.
The eggs are getting ahead of us. I got 2 dozen today. Sally boiled 2 dozen for the chickens and dogs.
Sally washed a lot of floors and I shook rugs. Sally made lard from stored fatback and I made a custard. I got a bit of writing done.
February 07, 2012 Tuesday
The news today was that Jasmine was in thundering heat. Sally was nervous about going in with her.
19 eggs today and both cows gave 2 gallons.
Sally gave Willie a much needed bath and trim. She also dressed off two more roosters.
A tiny bantam that she found starved and cowering a couple of weeks ago is responding to her sneaking it food where the big hens can’t see. It looks much peppier and is gaining weight.
I made spaghetti for dinner.
My Fedco seeds arrived.
It was very warm today, perhaps as high as 40F.
February 08, 2012 Wednesday
The cows are all settled down again.
My poor lonely guinea hen has started calling again. She has established several hopeless nests but of course her eggs are sterile. Originally there were two guinea cocks but they would not settle here in their new home and flew away into the woods and were eaten.
It was zero this morning but was sunny and soon warmed up to 20F.
Max organized a new front gate for me. The one I had was an awful sight all wreathed in extra wire to keep the dogs in and sagging on its hinges. He picked it up for me at Tractor Supply in Skowhegan and came over and mounted it. What an improvement! He also stopped at Hannaford and got 2 organic cabbages. I want to make sauerkraut.
I started cream cheese with 2 quarts of cream. Sally wants to make something nice for Valentine’s Day.
February 09, 2012 Thursday
Jasmine gave only 1 gallon making me think that Milton has been sucking. I am considering taking off his anti sucking device to test if he still cuts up Jasmine’s teats.
My cream cheese turned out really well. So easy, too.
Sally and I shopped today for fruits and vegetables and went to the Free Store.
Sally mailed a bunch of Steinbeck books to her DS Gabe in Kazakhstan for him to use in teaching English.
February 10, 2012 Friday
We didn’t expect it to be so cold last night and did not leave on the light in the warming cabinet in the barn. Consequently there was some thawing to be done before Sally could water the animals. Fortunately it was only a one hour delay. We still have two baby chicks. We both noticed how well they are coming along. They have wing feathers and race all around by themselves.
Sally takes the cargo sled into the beefer pen with the pickled hay for the cows. This morning little Ella got her head through the rope and ran away dragging the sled around and around the round bale frame. I missed this but it had Sally highly entertained.
We finally heard from my granddaughter Rosie that she has left McMurdo in Antarctica and is in New Zealand. It was a brief message and that is all we know.
It ended up being over 40F. I was running around in a tank top for a while. I planted a flat of leek seeds. I envision a stately row of King Richards come fall.
DS Martin and family stopped in on their way to camp. Of course I gave them milk and eggs. Little Henry was pretty mad about having to leave so quickly before he got a chance to play with the toys or ride the tractor. He just about had a fit. Well, he wasn’t that bad. He doesn’t scream. But he had to be carried to the van like an armload of wood.
All the animals think it is spring. They were frisking around in the sun. But it is getting cold again tonight. I hope we really do have an early spring. Otherwise I may run out of hay.
I cooked one of the cockerels Sally dressed off recently. I simmered it in well flavored stock and served it in a sauce over rice. It was amazingly juicy, tender and flavorful. I am so pleased to have finally worked out how to make barnyard roosters turnout delicious. There are so many of them all the time. Every time we think we have them thinned out another wave appears. Of course they are a different dining experience than the Luick meat birds. Those are tops.
I am rereading The Long Emergency by James Howard Kunstler. He does not flinch in his predictions for America’s future. All the same, he is very good reading. If you are already convinced of the importance of owning land and planning for food production, he doesn’t sound too daunting but I think to those trapped in suburbia he could be unsettling.
February 12, 2012 Sunday
It was zero this morning, finally made it up to 10F with the sun shining, tonight is back down to zero with a strong wind blowing.
By now all have heard my complaints about my milking machine. I pretty well ruled out the Surge unit itself by talking to Parts Department and buying all new rubber. Yesterday the vacuum was so weak that I had to milk just two quarters at a time in order to be able to maintain enough pressure. Martin and family are at camp and Martin agreed to see what he could do.
Martin arrived here expeditiously this morning just before milking. In about 10 minutes he brilliantly justified his degree in engineering by taking out a couple of screws to open up the intake on the pump and, using a wooden chopstick, cleaned out a bunch of gunge. Hurrah! Again I have a functioning system. Both cows milked out rapidly and completely. Later I carried the DeLaval machine out to see if it too would behave. As those with this type will know, without reliable vacuum the cups don’t just flop down and hang there as on the Surge, the whole cluster hits the floor with potentially messy consequences so even though it is in many ways a better design, I have not been able to risk using it. But tomorrow I intend to.
Sally
and Martin combined efforts to remove the anti sucking device from Milton’s
nose. So far as I can tell, he did not nurse Jasmine today. He will be happier
without it. If he does resume sucking, I have a problem.
February 13, 2012 Monday
Zero again today but it did not seem so bad. I must be getting used to it.
I used the DeLaval machine today and it did a good job. It is not quite suited to Jasmine as there is barely room under her for the claw but it’s OK so long as she stands still which she always does. Well, almost always. Don’t want to tempt fate here. It is distinctly better suited to Fern than the Surge which does not reach her teats properly even at the shortest setting on the surcingle. With either machine, on Fern I need Sally’s help to hold the unit in place while attaching it.
After letting the cows out Sally called me to see what Ella, Fern’s calf, was doing. Ella had finished nursing on Fern and decided to try Jasmine. Jasmine was making no objection at all. So far as I can tell her calf, Milton, has not nursed even though he could now that his nose ring is off. I actually have no objection to either calf nursing so long as Jasmine does not get bitten. That has been the problem.
The most recent ricotta I made from the Mary Karlin book is a big success. Sally used it today in her Valentine cheesecake along with my cream cheese.
February 14, 2012 Tuesday
Not so cold today. It started out at 10F and got up over 30F.
Sally took the trays of sprouted wheat out to the sunny windows of the buttery to harden off for a few hours.
DS Max and DIL Mitra came to visit and to bring me some supplies. These included a giant cabbage from the farmers’ market. Max put another round bale in the barn and turned over the baleage to make it more accessible to the hay fork.
We all ate some of Sally’s delicious cheesecake.
We are so very far ahead on eggs that we decided to hard boil a lot more, chop them up and freeze them in quart containers for future animal feed when there is a protein shortage.
February 15, 2012 Wednesday
Now the weather has warmed up again. It was over 30F today.
Georgiana and Jaime came today for their lovely Cotswold ram, Mr. Reilly. He has been here about 6 weeks (I think) visiting my four ewes and we feel sure he has met all his obligations, if their rapidly increasing appetites are an indicator. Jaime caught and led him to the trailer very easily – she is clearly a pro at animal handling.
Us four ladies had a lovely tea party and chat and ate cheesecake that’s ally made with all home produced ingredients.
We heard a lot of bleating from the ewes this evening. I think they were missing Mr.Reilly.
February 16, 2012 Thursday
My gracious, it was spring like today. It was over 40F for most of the day and everything was dripping.
Both cows gave more than usual despite the fact that the pulsator on the DeLaval was wheezing. Sally had to push down on it the whole time. Furthermore I could tell from Jasmine’s chapped teats that Milton sucked yesterday (and we saw him later today thus occupied). He is still getting his two bucket feeds as well. The milking machine bucket was filled to within 2” of the top.
Sally replaced the clappers on a couple of lovely cowbells and put them on Milton and Fern. Now as soon as I am able to sleep with the window open I will be able to hear the cows at night.
I chopped and shoveled snow off of the deck to make a path down the middle. Then I reclined in my deckchair in the sunshine for 10 minutes or so. What fun.
Sally has garden plans going. The tomatoes are up in a tray and today she planted sweet peas in plastic cups.
February 17, 2012 Friday
Last night I disassembled the gasket fitting in the pulsator and gave it a thorough scrubbing in case there was invisible scum interfering with the air seal. Sally, who has better hearing, said she suspected that air was leaking past it. Today the machine worked very well so it must have done some good. Or possibly it had not been seated correctly.
Once again this morning the garage door was frozen shut necessitating treatment with boiling water and beating it with the maul. DS Martin says that next summer he will install a rain gutter over the door so the drip goes somewhere else. Besides locking us in, an ice dam builds up dangerously. I have to spread ashes or sand several times a day.
It was warm again today, 40F. I was able to do some barn floor scraping in the milking area where shavings were frozen on. Sally did a big clean-up in the carriage house storage area.
Sally now has bells on both cows and both calves. They make a sweet chorus.
Georgiana reports that Mr. Reilly is in a bad mood.
©Copyright 2012 Joann S. Rogers