Comments on: The Family Cow

By: The Accidental Agrarian » Shopping for Pigs

The Accidental Agrarian » Shopping for Pigs — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 22:59:25 +0000

[...] The Family Cow [...]

By: The Fat of the Land at The Kitchen Garden Network

The Fat of the Land at The Kitchen Garden Network — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:41:55 +0000

[...] of time. It is still in perfect working order despite many years of hard service. I have pulled it out of retirement from a neighbor’s [...]

By: Podchef

Podchef — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 22:36:58 +0000

Exactly, Ryan! Onsite manure, and fertility is key to sustainability and self-sufficiency. Ask any UK allotment holder about last summer’s Aminopyralid debacle. Chemical residue from an herbicide sprayed on crops which produced straw and cattle feed was passed on through the straw and manure, defied the composting process, and ended up wiping out garden crops and has contaminated the soil for years. Even organic growers several times removed from the source of the contamination were affected. I was unaware such a thing could happen, but it has caused me to rethink the straw I use and ask more questions where I buy it from. I am also suspicious now of “free” horse manure I can collect from a local stable owner. The last thing I need is some sort of soil contamination or crop failure due to some far distant barley grower spraying the hell out of a few weeds in his mono-crop.
I don’t have enough land to grow much of the grain we use for ourselves or the livestock. So, I do take a risk importing a bit of “foreign” matter into my soil. But I do raise what I can, and I try to seriously limit the need for off-site inputs like grain for the animals. Most of the stock, except for pigs and chickens, eat exclusively grass and hay except for the odd treat of grain to help them come in, to tame them, or in the case of Bridget, add some much needed weight on her thin frame. Nevertheless, the more fertility and productivity which can be kept on the farm in a cyclical harmony, the better off for the animals, the land, and the bank account.

By: Ryan Crocker

Ryan Crocker — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:41:40 +0000

Love this post. I have read John Seymour’s ‘Complete Guide to Self-Sufficiency’ and he recommends keeping a Jersey for the family dairy and to fatten pigs with the whey. I guess there are pros and cons to every decision in life, but if you are already rooted in a place and your lifestyle is settled anyway, keeping a cow makes good sense. Like you wrote, the milk they provide is just one of many benefits they can add to the productivity of a smallholding. Keeping the fertility of the soil up and improving on an organic veg. plot would be very difficult without farmyard animal manure. Why not get it from onsite?

By: Podchef

Podchef — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 05:02:13 +0000

Thanks for writing Carrie! You are so right, producing food for oneself and others is a lot of work. Adding livestock to that mix can often times be insane. But within that there is a sort of circular harmony. . . .While you’re gardening producing a few extra cabbages, some extra kale, a row of sugar beets becomes easy to mix in with the other veg. This in turn goes towards feeding the livestock which produces the manure which gives you such a wonderful amount of veg in the first place! On top of that by looking for deals and opportunities one can score big–for years now I have driven a tractor for two days during the summer. 20 hours and in exchange I get a years worth of hay. Going around and around the field I figured out how much money I was saving by working hard and not buying hay or owning all the equipment myself. I make something like $140 per hour when I factor how many bales I need, their current market price and how much time I’m putting in to get them. Not every one can find a deal like this–a farm which has plenty of hay but a shortage of knowledgeable and hard working crew–but these sorts of deals are out there to make these sorts of ventures possible. All this work and forethought will hopefully benefit Bridget and her future offspring. It’s not easy, but if I weren’t doing this I’m not sure what I would be doing.

By: Carrie Oliver

Carrie Oliver — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 04:27:20 +0000

Cripes I hate typos, wish there was a nice little tool with major blog providers that would give us a spell check ;-}

By: Carrie Oliver

Carrie Oliver — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 04:26:06 +0000

This is a wonderful post, very thoughtul. I had a large food garden for a few years and that was a lot of work, both morning and evening. Having livestock for which to care would add so much on top of this. Poor Bridget, I can see what you mean by a disastrously (sp?) large udder and she looks thin and haunted. No doubt that your care will lead us to see a before/after image in a few months. Best to you, and please do keep sharing.