Irish Dexters, The 4-door Sedan Bovine
November 10, 2008|Comments (23)
Why a four-door sedan bovine? Well, Irish Dexters are the perfect breed of cattle for a family who wants cattle simply for meat and dairy for their own consumption. Not long ago, Josh read about them in GRIT Magazine and decided that we would have them on our future farm. We searched the web for local farmers who might have some Dexters for us to see in person but came up short. No test drives for the family bovine sedan… or so we thought.
Yesterday, friends at our church invited us over for dinner at their farm. We knew that they had cattle but we didn’t know many details about their operation. Josh and John went out to feed the cattle and discovered that they had Irish Dexters. Don’t faint! They were only thirty minutes from our doorstep all along!
Considered the perfect cow for homesteaders, Irish Dexters require half the amount of grazing space as the regular-sized popular breeds. They are small in size and extremely laid back (like surfer-dudes of the bovine world). The Irish Dexters in these pictures are quite friendly and gentle. At about 800-1000 pounds, these sweet babies are full grown. Their size makes them considerably less intimidating considering that they all have horns and are completely unafraid of humans.
As the face of farming changes (thanks to farmers like Joel Salatin), farmers are learning that large-breed cattle are simply not as practical as homesteader-friendly breeds like the humble Irish Dexters. Yes, the large breed cattle produce a great deal of meat per steer but they cost a fortune to feed. So, when one weighs out the cost of feed compared to the amount and value of the meat — the stats don’t lie — the Irish Dexter wins every time.
Josh will return to feed the cattle again this evening and is still marveling that all it takes to winter this breed which produces about 500 gallons of milk each year (the steers easily provide 300-500 ponds of meat) is little more than a bale of hay each day for mother and calf. Read more in The Amazing Irish Dexter.
Sweet Valley High Chicks
November 5, 2008|Comments (25)
Remember our little nudists? The Buff Orpington twins have blossomed into Teen Magazine reading young ladies who have permanent seats at the popular table. Everyone loves twins, but buxom blondes with piercing golden eyes and legs that go on forever — well, it is little wonder that they have such a following.
With all the confidence of couture models and the athletic prowess of the Lakers Cheerleaders (though considerably more class), one could easily picture these gals as the famed California-dwelling Sweet Valley High Twins. Tell me you remember the Sweet Valley High series and secretly wanted to wake up as Jessica or Elizabeth Wakefield. Maybe you still do. Or, for all the poor guys forced to read this site who are feeling uncomfortable about now: perhaps you just always wanted to date them. Secretly, of course. Jessica and Elizabeth — not the Buff Orpingtons.
Confession: I still can’t tell them apart. Does that make me a bad mom?
Guinea Winter Training
October 29, 2008|Comments (20)
Dumb and Dumber, our remaining male guinea fowl, are far too proud to come in out of the cold. I say “proud” in place of “stupid” or “moronic” because I am now a Southerner.
Josh built them a really lovely house and they use it frequently but enjoy roosting on top of it or in the uncovered portion of the thing while frigid rains pour down upon their odd brainless Mowhawked heads. And you thought I was mean by calling them dumb. It’s freezing out there!
Josh and I captured them, locked them in the red chicken coop (very warm), and then began constructing a covered run so they might enjoy the fall days. Josh used chicken wire around the coop with blueberry netting over the top so that the guineas wouldn’t be able to fly over the fence.
Have you ever seen guineas fly? It is really quite a sight. I mean, seriously — those jokers can fly! One could easily spend the entire day sipping Co-Cola (as the locals call it) and watching those silly prehistoric looking birds walk into the fence, back up a few paces, and walk back into the fence before suddenly figuring out that… Imagine!… they have wings and can fly over it with relative ease. In fact, guinea fowl are excellent fliers. When, of course, they remember that they can.
We are hoping to train the guineas (Lloyd and Harry) to actually put themselves to bed once it is dark and below fifty degrees. So far, we have had to catch them and force them into the red coop which they are then reluctant to leave when the coop door is opened and sunlight is streaming in.
The chickens are much easier to negotiate with. Wherever a chicken sleeps is its home and it will return to like clockwork to roost. Like that Metallica song… anywhere I may roam where I lay my head is home. Why can’t Lloyd and Harry be so logical? Am I really asking for birds named after Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne to be logical? Shouldn’t the real question go something like:
Why on earth does Lacy know both the first and last name of the lead characters in Dumb & Dumber?
Really. What self-respecting person freely admits to knowing stuff like that?
Anyway, the guinea winter training continues for at least a week and then we hope to be able to take down the unattractive fencing to let the guineas become vagabonds (free range birds) once more. I’ll let you know how it goes. Promise. Triple stamp, no erasies, touch blue make it true. Any advice? Any closet Dumb & Dumber fans out there?
So, I know you’re wondering why on earth we have guinea fowl if they are A.) dumber than rocks B.) dumber than spit… find out why we’re not totally insane here. Just in case we really are crazy: it’s the cracked ones that let the light in. Love, Lacy
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