It's about time an update was posted! Our summer has been going pretty well. It has been really hot, which is sometimes hard on the animals. The cattle are 60 degree animals and do not especially like the 90 plus weather. We got about 2 inches of rain last weekend which we were very thankful for. Last week our turkey poults arrived. We start them out a little different than the chickens. It seems as if they are more suscpetible to illness early on. So, last year Ralph decided to start them outside right away. It seemed to work really well. We bring one of the portable chicken pens up to the area around the house so we have access to electricity. We plug a big heat lamp in and put it in the pen for the first 2 or 3 weeks. They have access to grass right from the get go. Turkeys will forage more than the meat chickens do. Just this morning I was out there and one of the turkeys had found a worm and a bunch of the other turkeys were chasing it around trying to steal the worm! The following is a picture of the poults. 

For those of you who have been getting our pullet eggs, they come from hens that have just started to lay. (About 21 weeks old) The eggs start out kind of small. The pullets also seem to be more prone to lay double yolk eggs! These new hens are out in the same pasture as our meat chickens.

Speaking of chickens, the other day I noticed an egg sitting in the seat of one of the strollers we have here for my nieces and nephews. I didn't think much of it because I figured one of my nephews found it and put it there. Well, this morning I was walking out of the store and happened to look in the stroller and this is what I found!

Then I walked by later and saw this.

I guess we need to train that hen where the nest boxes are! The hens aren't the only animals pushing their boundaries. We have one goat here that we purchased as a "petting zoo" animal. Goats are generally very friendly animals, so we thought it would serve the purpose well. Well one day it decided to jump out of its fence. I think I put that goat back at least 5 times until I could gather the materials to tie it up. I wouldn't have been too concerned, but I thought it would find the garden quite tasty. Here he is in front of the barn!

A couple of weekends ago we took the goat, two lambs, and a calf to the Erie Street Farmer's Market in Toledo for a petting zoo for Kids day. The goat formed a great friendship with the lambs that day so the goat is no longer in the barnyard, but out in the pasture with the lambs. Those three make great friends and are always together. 

We have been working on getting our hay harvest complete for the summer. Since we don't feed any grain to our cattle it is important to make as much hay as possible during the summer. What hay we don't make we have to buy in. Ralph is working on some third cutting hay this morning. June is always a little stressful because that is when the first cutting hay is usually made. This year we were dodging rain showers in June. We make the hay into big round bales. With the round bales we don't have to have a shelter to put them under as the rain rolls off of them whereas it would just soak into and rot the square bales. 

We have kept busy this summer and it's hard to believe that August is almost here! Thanks all for your continued support of our small family farm.

-Renae

A new adventure for our farm this spring has been the way we raise our calves. In years past we have tried several different ways to raise the calves to be healthy. When we first switched over to grass farming the big craze was to group feed the calves on a barrel. With this method we had about 10 calves in one group and had 10 nipples on around the barrel with tube going to the bottom. We would pour the milk in the barrel and the calves would gather round and get their fill. This worked well for about one year! After we were done with it for the year it was a mess to clean out properly with all the tubes, etc. One year we did leave some of the calves with their moms, but that was interesting as well. The dairy cows are rotated around the farm to utilize the grass and are brought up to the barn twice a day for milking. The majority of the fences we have around the farm are just two wire fences. We had a couple of problems with this method. One, the calves were small enough to crawl in and out of the fences without touching the wires. So, often someone driving by would stop and tell us some of our calves were on the road. Two, with the cows moving around so much the calves would sometimes be in one pasture and the cows had moved on to the next. So, we decided that wasn't the best way to manage our calves. By this time we did realize that the calves remained healthier when they were able to grow up outside as opposed to when we had tried to start them in a barn. So, we then went to individual bottle feeding. Each calf had its own hutch (three sided shelter) and gate area where it could come outside. Twice a day someone would feed them with a bottle. When they were old enough to figure out how to eat without someone standing right there they were moved into a group of about 5-8 calves and would be feed "calfeteria" style! We used a system similar to the barrel, but it one side was flat and hung on a gate and the other side had the nipples. There were no tubes involved in this system. The following is a photo of the feeder. 

This system seemed to work pretty well, but it was labor intensive to bottle feed the calves and then we still had to dump buckets of milk in these feeders twice a day and make sure all the calves were eating. The next step was to see if we could find a way to raise our claves without producing more work. One of our grazing friends, who also makes farmstead cheese, in Clay City, IN, has been utilizing a nurse cow herd. One day this late winter Kyle went and visited their farm and talked to them about how they did their nurse cows.

We started calving in early March this year when the cows were not yet out on pasture. At first the calves were left with their moms because they were still in the barnyard and we didn't have a place to go with a nurse cow herd just yet. When the pastures were ready, a pasture with a six wire fence was designated as the cow/calf pasture. Kyle chose the cows that he wanted to be the nurse cows and put two to three calves with her and let them bond. If the cow did not accept a calf for some reason he would put the calf with a different cow. So, one cow at a time our nurse cow herd was established. When he felt that the cow and calves were bonded he then moved them to the pasture. Eventually all the calves that we had were bonded to a cow and they were all together. We still had a handful of cows left to calve, so when they did calve he let the calf on the mom for a couple of days so that the calf could utilize the good colostrum from its mom. Then he would bond the calf with its nurse cow. We are now done calving for the spring and have our nurse cow herd completely established. It was a learning experience as all new things are. We have had people comment when they drive by what a unique sight it is too see the cows and calves together. The calves are looking so healthy and are really growing. Whereas last year at this time they were in the groups being fed primarily milk and some dry hay; this year they are able to get the milk still and are really grazing the fresh, green grass. At this point there is not everyday labor involved as there has been in the past. We are pleased with the experience and hope it will go even better next year.

The following is of a foggy morning and a couple of the calves are finding their breakfast.

And a shot of the group.

-Renae

Our growing season is now in full swing. Last Thursday was a big day for our first batch of broiler (meat) chickens as they were moved from under the warm brooder to the floorless pens we have out on pasture. They were three weeks old and ready to be moved to the next stage. Since this was our first batch to be moved out it took a little extra time in getting the pens set up and feeders and waterers arranged and ready to go. Finally, we were then ready to get the birds moved out. We were thankful that it did not rain the first night they were out. It usually takes them about 24 hours to get their new surroundings figured out and after that they do pretty well. The following picture is of the 4 wheeler and wagon. This is one of our most used pieces of equipment we have on the farm next to our Bobcat loader. On the wagon are the waterers and water and feed buckets.

Next are the chicken pens all lined up and ready for the birds. We have five pens lined up here. They have chicken wire around the front half and aluminum on the back half. This allows for them to be able to get out of the rain if necessary, but also into the sunshine. They have no floors in them so they do have the opportunity to forage for grasses and bugs. The pens get moved once a day to fresh grass. You may also notice a white furry creature in the picture. That is our guard dog.

Sampson, is our Great Pyrenees guard dog. We got him as a pup and he has lived out with the chickens ever since. His job is to guard the birds from any predators. In the past we have had problems with anything from owls, skunks, raccoons, opossoms, and fox getting into our chicken pens and causing trouble. Ever since we have had Sampson we have not had any predator problems. For that we are thankful. When we go out to feed the chickens he is standing by their pens waiting for us to feed him. He really likes to be played with, but caution is needed as he is a very large dog and could probably knock me down if he took me off guard.

The birds were finally taken out to pasture and put into the pens. They soon get used to the routine of getting moved every morning.

Then, on Friday we got our next batch of chicks in. These birds change so fast. The above photo is the chicks at 3 weeks and the below are they day old chicks that came on Friday. 

This time of year there is something new everyday!

-Renae

What a beautiful day! I had the opportunity to do some lawn mowing this afternoon. While I was mowing I looked down and saw a tiny little Painter Turtle. So, I brought it in for all to see and get some pictures. We put him next to a quarter to show how small he is.

A view of the freshly mowed lawn.

And some of the tulips that are blooming right now.

The cows also really enjoy this weather! The milk is changing color to a nice yellow from the cows eathing the fresh grass which turns into really nice cheese!

It looks like we're in for a beautiful evening.

-Renae

Well, I have decided to selflessly give up my Saturday afternoon house cleaning detail to update the blog with some springtime news and photos! I know, I really shouldn't do that...but sacrifices must be made! :)

The most exciting news is that the animlas are getting back out onto green grass. The first to go out were the dairy cows. A few days before it was quite fit to send them out they would stand at the gate and longingly look at the pastures. After the ground firmed up enough to send them out they were on their way. I had wanted to document their first trip out in pictures, but was not informed of the exciting event in time. So, I had to settle for pictures once they were grazing away.

Then I was able to get a picture later of them going out the lane to the "grassture" as Ralph like to call it!

Yesterday we had some excitement when our first chicks of the season arrived. They come via USPS mail. The mail carrier said she had some noisy chicks with her! I was able to get them into their pen and under the brooder which keeps them warm. Here are the boxes that they come in.

The following are pictures of them once they were out of the boxes and exploring their new surroundings. When we get them they are just a day old. The label on the box said they were hatched at 10:00 AM Thursday.

We have also let our laying hens out to their grass area. They are always so excited to get to forage for grass and insects!

Our beef cows have been out all winter. They were on some ground that we were able to stockpile some grass on last summer. They were able to graze on this stockpiled grass until about the first of the year. Then we did feed them the dry hay.

The thing we are most concerned about this time of year is that all the animals stay where they are supposed to be. With the ground still being pretty soft it is not pretty if they get out and into the lawn. I so appreciate living in an area where the season changes are so distinct. We were able to get some early crops planted in our garden last weekend and the daffodils are blooming and the tulips are up and about to pop open.

Some of my nieces and nephews were here a little while ago and they were full of energy so we decided to take a walk. They like to investigate and see what's new around the farm.

One of the things I enjoy the most are the sunsets over the pond.Our kitchen window over the sink in the house and the store look out over the pond and a lot of times we're doing dishes around sunset so we get to see the beautiful landscapes they make.

So, the grass is growing again and we are gearing up for the growing season once again. In about 3 weeks, depending on what the weather is, the chicks will be moved out to pasture and we will be getting our next batch of new chicks in. We get chicks every three weeks eight times throughout the spring/summer.

The dairy cows have been calving. I think there are about 20 more cows to calve yet. I will talk more in another post about our calf raising this year. We are developing a nurse cow herd so we don't have to spend man hours feeding the calves. It is a learning experiance as most changes are!

I guess there may still be time to do some cleaning. Hmmm...what else can I write about???

We appreciate the support and interest our family farm is shown. Until next time!

-Renae Schlatter

Just this past week I was visiting with a neighbor and we were talking about different types of birds. She has a bird feeder and likes to watch and see what different types come to her feeder. I was thinking how quiet it has been here on the farm all winter with very little bird song. Earlier this week I heard the first Song Sparrow singing for the year. It was music to my ears as it is definitely a sign of the coming spring.

During the spring, summer and early fall months the air is often filled with the songs of many different species of birds. Since we have all of our land planted to grass we often get meadow and prairie birds that haven't been in this area very often before. One of these birds is the Bobolink that is around in late spring/early summer. They generally come and are very noticeable through the nesting season which goes through about June. After the nesting season we don't see them a lot. Another meadow bird that we see and hear is the meadowlark. They are around all summer and into the fall. Blue birds are quite common now also because we have several blue bird boxes on our fence posts. I think some of the blue birds stay around all winter now. The most important way to help the blue birds survive is to keep the common English sparrow out of their nests.

Here around the farmstead we have a lot of barn swallows that nest in our buildings. They are often swooping around and are very helpful in the regard that they eat a lot of flies and mosquitoes. They also go to the pastures and eat insects there. Tree swallows are also very plentiful and almost exclusively spend their time swooping over the pastures catching insects. The barn swallows are usually the first birds up in the morning; you will hear them twittering by 4 in the morning.

There are many other birds that spend their time around our farm; far too many to list. One of the reasons that we can observe this broad range of birds is because our farming practices encourage them to be around. We don't have large machinery that goes to the fields every day. And often when we are out working it is relatively quiet and we can hear them. Since we do not have row crops, and encourage different grasses, meadow birds that are often thought of only being seen in the western prairies are finding homes in our pastures.

We have had snow here since Monday morning. It finally quit around 10:00 this morning. I'm not sure how much we have gotten exactly, maybe 6-8 inches. It's really pretty and the sun is shining right now.

Last time I talked about how grass is healing for soil. The process is also helped along by earthworms and dung beetles. The past few springs we have noticed some strange sounds when we walk in the wet pastures. It's a sucking sound that comes from the soil. We finally realized that this is coming from earthworms. When the ground becomes very wet in the spring time the worms will come to the surface. As soon as they feel the vibrations from our feet then will go back into the soil. There are so many of them that when this happens there is literally noise coming from the soil as they all go back underground. It really is amazing. The earthworms serve many purposes including converting organic material into nutrients that plants can use, increasing the soils water retention, and bringing minerals and nutrients that are deep in the soil up to the top where plants can utilize them. This is another reason why when we get heavy rains our pastures soak up far more water than neighboring row crop fields. 

Dung beetles are also amazing little creatures. From what we understand, dung beetles will not come unless the soil is healthy. We have noticed them on our pastures for several years now. They live off of dung piles. They will take little balls of dung and burrow them underground. This benefits us in multiple ways. One is that it is a way of utilizing our natural 'fertilizer.' They take the nutrients from the dung and burrow it underground so it can help and the organic matter goes far below the topsoil. This is kind of a composting mechanism. Flies like to lay their eggs in dung piles. Flies have always been a problem for us, as they are for all livestock farmers. As the dung beetles have populated our pastures we have noticed our fly problem has decreased. This is because the dung beetles are burrowing the dung underground leaving no habitat for the flies to lay their eggs. This past summer we put some cattle on rented pasture a couple miles from our farm here that has only been pasture for 2 years. We noticed how many more flies were at that location than here where our pastures are well developed and dung beetles are prevalant. Isn't it crazy that we don't have to spend money on pesticides and insecticides to get rid of the flies?

We feel our pastures at the home farm have made a full circle to where they used to be, many years ago. Back in the 80s there was an older German soil scientist here at the farm and he went out and dug in our hard clay soil and said, "This soil is dead. It would have great potential if it were healed and made alive again." For the past several years we have had soil samples taken and tested from our pastures. Two years ago, the soil consultant came back with the results and was apologetic about the results. He said that he tried to scrape the ground as to take any organic matters off of the top of the ground, but the tests came back with such high organic matter that he was concerned that he took the sample wrong. The organic matters were high last year also. It is such a testimony that nature and time can heal the soil.

Why all this discussion about healthy soil? If the soil is of poor quality, so will everything else that comes from it; whether it be crops or livestock or any by products of these. Good soil is the root of proper nutrition.

A few weeks back we had some snow that covered everything up and made the landscape beautiful. Since then, the weather has warmed up some causing some of the snow to melt away resulting in a not so beautiful landscape. There was not much frost in the ground before the snow came and it has not frozen hard since, so it has been more challenging this winter as far as feeding the cows go. We bale our hay into big round bales and transport them with a Bobcat loader. In the mornings while there is some new frost in the ground from the night they usually try to move a couple days worth of bales up closer to the animals. Every morning the cows are fed new hay. I've heard it said before that in Northwest Ohio there are two seasons, mud and summer.

The area where we are located is known for its heavy clay soil. If you walk through this soil when it is wet it will stick to the bottom of your boots or shoes and it seems like it will add inches to your height! We have often in the past bemoaned the fact that we have to deal with such heavy soil. It is really not suited well for row crop farming such as we used to do. We have since learned that it is actually an advantage for us to have the clay soil. This is because there are so many rich minerals and nutrients in the clay soil, if cared for properly, that will result in high quality meats and cheeses (from the milk). I understand that grass is a good soil 'healer' and what you see on top of the ground is mirrored below the ground as far as root structure goes. The more roots there are and the deeper they go, the less erosion there is and loss of the important organic matter that is most prevalent in the topsoil layer. There are many organisms that help improve soil quality and next week I will talk about earthworms and dung beetles.

Until then, enjoy what little sunshine we get this time of year.

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This time of year can be a bit slow for us. Since we are a grass based operation, most of our meat products are grown during the growing season. We do winter over our dairy cows as we are not seasonal and do milk year round. Also, we have a beef brood cow herd that is wintered over at our farm about a mile from the home farm. The dairy and beef animals are fed dry hay during the winter time. We were actually able to take the beef animals off of our farm for a few months this summer and to another location. This allowed to grass to grow and become what we call 'stockpiled.' This is nice because the animals are still grazing the pastures and we have not had to feed them any hay yet this winter. About the middle of January we will probably have to start putting hay in for them as they will have the grass all grazed down.

Our meat chickens and turkeys we only raise during the growing season, so we do not have them right now. We do still have our laying hens over the winter. We move them into our greenhouse where they are kept out of the wind and winter elements. They naturally go through a cycle that as they get older they slow down in their egg laying production. We try to keep a cycle of new hens rotated in so the egg production stays pretty steady. Also, during the winter months if the hens are not kept warm, they will spend all of their energy keeping themselves warm and not laying eggs.

We do keep the dairy cows close to the milking barn in the winter. This enables us to feed them hay conveniently. They are bedded down on a straw pack in a loafing shed where they can keep out of the wind. Since they are bedded down we do have the manure to haul out from winter bedding. But otherwise, when the cows are grazing on the pasture they spread their own manure.

As long as the ground is frozen the hay feeding and manure hauling is not too bad. If the ground gets soft it makes these chores more of a 'chore.'

Each season has its own ups and downs. But, we are thankful for the different experiences.