I moved the cows today...

I spent about 4 hours moving the cows from one pasture to the other today. Most of the time was spent at the barn where I ran each of them through the headgate. I coaxed them in there with a little kelp meal (they love that stuff). But it still took about 3 hours to get all six of them to decide to walk into the headgate for a couple bites of snack. But they did it. And without any whooping, hollering, or hitting from me. I'm trying to train them that the headgate is not a bad thing so that when the time comes that I really do need to run them through it for some reason, it won't be a big deal. I think they enjoyed the experience.

Here they are in the other pasture.

Blackberry Munchers

Mara and the goats are hard at work trying to stay ahead of the blackberrys that are coming on strong now. They have their work cut out for them.

We put Mara and the goats out to pasture every morning around 8:00 and bring them back in about an hour or two before dark. Hopefully, keeping them in the barn at night will keep them safe from coyotes.

Strip Grazing

At Full of Life Farm, we practice what is called "strip grazing" (or "rotational grazing" or "management intensive grazing"). The idea is to mimic natural patterns of herbivore populations in natural settings. The key principles of this system are first to keep the herd moving around so grass has a chance to re-grow before it is bitten off again, and second to keep them mobbed up which encourages them to eat all of the varieties of grass/legumes/weeds and not just their favorites. This practice results in better health for the grass, soil, and animals. Everybody wins.

Notice in this picture the grass on the right hand side of the cross fence has not been grazed yet. A single electric wire is all that is needed to control cattle. We'll move them to the right-hand side of this wire later today. And we work our way across the pasture that way.

Alternative medicine for worming our goats

We've read that one of the most serious problems facing goat producers around the world today is the increasing resistance of parasites (worms) to drugs. Here at Full of Life Farm, we have chosen to use herbal based wormers instead of drugs. It is our belief that since goats managed to live healthy lives for thousands of years prior to the invention of worming drugs, they can do so again still today. Also, we're not really being mavericks here. Others have tested the effect of herbal wormers against modern drugs and have documented favorable results.

Another benefit of using herbal wormers is that there are no dangerous needles for giving shots and no toxic chemicals. As a result, our children can participate in the process. In the pictures here, Ryan is measuring out doses into each of our goat's feed bins and "Snowball" is enjoying her dose of herbal wormer.

Moving the chickens

We move our chickens at least once every day to fresh grass (and bugs). These pens have no floors. The chickens just walk along the ground while the pen is being moved. Half the pen (sides and top) is covered with poultry netting (aka chicken wire) and the other half with aluminum siding. The pen protects them from predators and adverse weather while allowing them to be out in the field on pasture.

In this batch we had a mix of the Cornish Cross breed and heritage Red Pacs.