Chasing Cows

Courtesy Audrey Pavia

Red and I tried our hand at ranch sorting.

When Red first came to live with us, we viewed him as just a mellow, older Quarter Horse, the kind you could put little kids and adult beginners on without a worry. The friend we got him from told me that he had royal cutting horse bloodlines (his paternal grandsire is Freckles Playboy, a world champion, and his maternal grandsire is Nu Bar, who sold for $1.1 million at auction), but I figured he probably just didn’t have what it took to be a cutting horse and so ended up as a trail mount.

One of the first things I did when we got Red was join the American Quarter Horse Association so I could look up Red’s owner history. It’s cool being able to put your horse’s name in the AQHA website search engine and see all the people who owned your horse before you.

The Internet being what it is, I started Googling the names on Red’s past-owner list. I managed to find an email address for a woman two owners ago, and I sent her a note telling her that Red was now living with me.

I was beyond excited when I got her reply. She told me that Red had lived for 12 years on a working cattle ranch in central California, and was an amazing cattle horse. His career there ended when the ranch was sold, and he ended up passed around to several owners before he landed with me.

So when my friend and riding instructor Lisa suggested we sign up for a local ranch sorting competition in town, I jumped at the chance. I would ride Red and see what he could do with those cows.

Ranch sorting is a lot like shooting pool with cattle. The cows are numbered, and you and your horse have to get a designated cow from the herd into an adjoining pen with the help of a buddy on horseback. Cows like to stick together, so getting the right cow out of the group and into a pen by itself is no easy task. You need a good horse to pull it off.

When it was Lisa’s and my turn to go in there and sort some cows, I felt an adrenaline rush. Lisa was going to “work the gate,” meaning she would stand guard between the two pens to make sure the cow that was captured stayed put while more where gathered in numerical order.

When the buzzer sounded, I asked Red to push into the herd of numbered steers and he didn’t even hesitate. My normally mellow-to-the-point-of-lazy old horse suddenly came to life. He seemed to read my mind about which cow I wanted and help me drive the critter away from the group and toward the other pen. When we isolated the cow from the group and tried to push it forward, it tried to arch around to rejoin the herd. But Red was all over it. He dashed forward to form a blockade before the cow could get too far from the gate.

After several runs, we managed to get enough cows in the pen to warrant a third place ribbon. Not bad for a couple of novices. Oh, except for Red, who was clearly a ringer.

Hot Chocolate

The recipe appeared in Edible Earth: Savoring the Good Life with Vegetarian Recipes from Inn Serendipity (Paradigm Press 2007), by Hobby Farms and Hobby Farm Home contributors Lisa Kivirist and John Ivanko.

Ingredients

Hot Chocolate Mix
5½ cups dry milk powder
1 cup plus 2 T. sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

Hot Chocolate
1/3 cup hot chocolate mix
3/4 cup water
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

Preparation

Hot Chocolate Mix
Combine all ingredients. Stir well.

Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.

Makes 7¼ cups.

Hot Chocolate
Bring water to a boil. Add mix and blend well. Add vanilla. Serve warm.

Makes 1 serving.

News

Preventing Anthrax in Livestock

Post author By Dani Yokhna
Post date August 27, 2010
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Courtesy USDA/ Keith Weller
Cattle located in an area where anthrax has been reported should receive a vaccine to help prevent the disease.

In certain parts of the U.S., late summertime means livestock producers should be on the lookout for the resurfacing of anthrax in their animals. Anthrax, which is caused by Bacillus anthracis, is a naturally occurring disease with worldwide distribution.

“Anthrax cases are not unusual, especially at this time of year. This is peak season for anthrax to resurface and affect livestock and deer,” says Dee Ellis, DVM, Texas Animal Health Commission executive director and state veterinarian. “Ranchers and livestock owners should be aware of recent anthrax confirmations in their area and consider vaccinating their livestock to protect against the disease.”

If an animal dies from the disease and isn’t properly disposed of by burning, the anthrax bacteria can spill out into the soil and remain dormant for long periods of time. The anthrax bacteria resurface on grass or forage in ideal weather and soil conditions during spring and summer months. By the time an animal shows signs of staggering, trembling or convulsions after ingesting the anthrax bacteria, death is expected. Animal carcasses, manure and bedding infected with anthrax should be incinerated until thoroughly consumed. This practice keeps wild animals from being exposed to the disease and kills the anthrax bacteria, preventing contamination at another site.

Anthrax is a reportable disease in the U.S. Farmers who notice symptoms of the disease in their livestock should notify the Center for Disease Control and their state health department.

“Outbreaks usually end when cool weather arrives and the bacteria become dormant. In the meantime, producers in or near historically affected areas should consult with their veterinary practitioner about the disease in general, and especially the need to vaccinate,” Ellis says.

The following biosecurity tips can be helpful to livestock producers who suspect they have an animal or carcass infected with anthrax:

Wear long sleeves and gloves when handling carcasses or when working with or vaccinating livestock to avoid contaminating any sores or scratches on your arms or hands. See your doctor if you develop an unusual-looking sore on your hands, arms or other exposed skin. Although it’s rare to contract skin anthrax, this infection requires treatment with antibiotics prescribed by a physician.
Practice good sanitation. Wash your hands after handling livestock, even if you wear gloves. Disinfect livestock equipment used on the animals or carcasses. Keep pets and children away from carcasses or bones of dead animals. Move healthy animals away from a pasture where animals have died from anthrax.
Properly dispose of animal carcasses by burning to prevent exposure to other animals, such as wildlife or dogs.
Vaccinate livestock if cases occur in the surrounding areas. Anthrax vaccine is a “live” vaccine, so it must not be administered with antibiotics. Vaccinated animals must be withheld from slaughter for two months.
Restrict the movement of livestock onto or from an affected premise until animals can develop immunity through vaccination (about 10 days).

Urban Farming

Potting Soil of the Gods

Photo by Rick Gush

Using a soil sifter, I sift my dirt and compost for my potting mix.

I cleaned out the main compost bin this week and am really happy with the results. I’m doing some seeding and repotting these days, and the compost has allowed me to prepare what I think of as the potting soil of the gods. Plants and seedlings grow particularly well in this mix, and I even give my friends bags full of the stuff.

My potting soil recipe is simple: equal parts of sifted dirt and sifted compost mixed thoroughly. The only way to make this stuff better is to let it mature a bit. Two weeks after it’s mixed, the resultant soil is fully chemically active and alive with all the microorganisms that make soil fertile.

Garden supply centers often sell bags of planting mix, but those bags usually contain only organic materials like ground up tree bark. The planting mixes are sterile, which can be good for some seeding situations, but otherwise they are a poor substitute for the real thing. The reason they contain only organic materials is mostly because that material is relatively light in weight, whereas dirt is pretty heavy. If the potting mix manufacturers put dirt in their mixes, the shipping costs would jump considerably, and they’d need to charge more for their product.

Photo by Rick Gush

I have four areas in my garden, such as this compost bin, where I harvest compost.

Commercial nurseries also often use organic-only potting mixes because they are sterile and because they are much less expensive. When I worked in a snooty upscale nursery in California where they grew a lot of their own plants, they never skimped on this detail. There was a big area out back where dirt was sifted and sterilized before being mixed with various organic materials to prepare the potting mixes used in their growing operation.

When dirt is mixed with organic materials it provides not only a mineral fraction, but also an important electrochemical capacity that makes the flow of nutrient materials with the soil solution more robust. When I don’t have suitable compost to use, I do buy bags of planting mix, but then I always add a bunch of dirt to the mix before I use it.

I have three places I make compost with our kitchen waste and another pile where I put the big weeds and branches from the garden work. For a month or two, I pile in all the kitchen refuse and lots of the small garden weeds in one place, and then I switch places and pile in one of the other locations. The down time, when I’m not adding material, is the main cooking phase, and I usually turn the pile a few times during the next two months to allow oxygen to enter the pile.

Then, when the resulting compost is really cooked and dry, I am ready to sift it. I use the sifted out bigger pieces around the bases of the fruit trees and the fine sifted material is used in making potting soil and to enrich the soil in planting beds. I think the secret of compost is the high amounts of humic acids that are produced when organic materials like old plant parts are decomposed in an aerobic manner.

Vote for Your Farmers’ Market

Post author By Lisa Munniksma
Post date August 27, 2010
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Photo by Lisa Munniksma

Farmers’ markets across the nation are competing to be America’s favorite in a contest sponsored by American Farmland Trust. Vote for your favorite by Aug. 31, 2010.

American Farmland Trust is celebrating the work and dedication of farmers who sell at national farmers’ markets through its America’s Favorite Farmers Markets contest and the launch of an online leader-board of the top 20 farmers’ markets in each of the four categories: boutique, small, medium and large markets. Up-to-the minute results have been tracked throughout the month of August. Make sure you get you vote in soon—the contest closes on Aug. 31, 2010.

“According to the USDA, the number of farmers’ markets has increased 16 percent in the past year. People who have voted in the contest so far have told us that they are excited about their local farmers’ market, whether it has five vendors or 50, and they like the opportunity to get to know the people who grow their food,” says Jane Kirchner, AFT’s senior director of marketing and communications. “It’s clear to me that consumers are fueling the growth in farmers’ markets.”

AFT’s America’s Favorite Farmers Markets contest is designed to promote the value of farmers’ markets in communities and helps make the connection between fresh local foods and the farms and farmland that supply them. America has been losing more than an acre of farm and ranch land every minute to development, and farmers’ markets can play a critical role in the economic health of farms, helping to keep farmland in agricultural production by giving them a venue to sell their products.

“Farmers’ markets offer different opportunities—for farmers it may be a new venue to put into the marketing mix for their operation, or a way to tap into the value-added market,” Kirchner adds. “For consumers, it’s about fresh, local food and community. For AFT, it’s an opportunity to bring home the message that we must work to protect America’s farm and ranch land that makes healthy food, healthy farms and healthy communities possible.”

This summer, thousands of individuals have voted for more than 1,200 farmers markets enrolled in the contest, representing 49 states and Washington, D.C. The website is updated after every visit, so you can watch participants race to the finish line. To vote, visit the AFT contest page.

Homesteading

Farm Biodiversity, Conclusion

Post author By Cherie Langlois
Post date August 26, 2010
No Comments on Farm Biodiversity, Conclusion

Photo by Cherie Langlois
Bourbon Red turkeys, a heritage livestock breed

This four-part celebration of biodiversity on my farm wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the heritage livestock breeds and heirloom plants that live and grow here.

In recent years, “heritage livestock” has become a popular term used to denote the genetically diverse, traditional livestock breeds that have been raised on farms in the U.S. and other countries for centuries. Unlike the uniform, high-production animals found on factory farms, heritage livestock breeds possess important attributes that make them especially well-suited for our hobby farms: superior mothering skills, higher disease resistance and excellent foraging ability, for starters. Many of these historical breeds hover on the brink of extinction (those that haven’t vanished already), and that’s seriously bad news for agriculture. As the authors stress in Taking Stock: The North American Livestock Census (McDonald and Woodward Publishing, 1994), a book put out by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy: “Agriculture depends on genetic diversity for its long term health and stability.”

Our farm is (or has been) home to the following heritage breeds: Bourbon Red and Royal Palm turkeys, Plymouth Barred Rock and Buff Orpington chickens, and Jacob sheep. (Learn about other rare livestock breeds from the ALBC.)

Photo by Cherie Langlois
Amish snap peas, an heirloom plant

Like heritage livestock, heirloom plants often have long, interesting histories. Essentially, heirloom plants are open-pollinated cultivars developed and grown during earlier times and passed down from generation to generation. “Open-pollinated” means the plant can cross naturally without human help and will breed true to type when you save and sow its seeds. For example, if you plant Amish Snap Peas and save the peas for planting next year, you get more Amish Snap Peas, provided no hybridization occurred. (Methods to prevent this vary with plant species.)

Many of the seeds marketed for modern gardens and farms, however, are hybrids—artificially pollinated plants that stem from crossing two varieties, each highly inbred to produce certain desired characteristics, such as disease resistance or uniform size. Try to save and plant these seeds, and you might get nothing at all or else a plant with completely different characteristics.

I became enamored with heirlooms several years ago after writing about them for Popular Gardening: Heirloom Farm and Garden, and have been trying more delicious, colorful, easy-care varieties in my garden each year. Some of my favorites so far: Amish Snap Peas, Scarlet Runner Beans, Amish Deer Tongue Lettuce, Forellenschuss Lettuce, Five Color Silverbeet Swiss Chard, Red Russian Kale, Vates Collards, America Spinach, Purple Tomatillo, and (of course!) Black Beauty Zucchini.

If you feel like experimenting with heirlooms yourself, check out the Seed Savers Exchange. If you already grow them, I’d be interested in hearing about your favorites before I place my next seed order!

~ Cherie

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Crops & Gardening

Stink Bugs

Photo by Jessica Walliser
Stink bug nymphs are taking over my garden.

I’ve been finding all these little bugs in the garden all summer long that I couldn’t identify at first. They didn’t seem to be doing any damage, so I wasn’t in a hurry to ID them. But after spending some time in front of my entomology books and on the internet searching through lots of images, I discovered their unfortunate identification. Baby stink bugs. Ack!

We have had a major problem with adult stink bugs coming into the house over the past few winters. Apparently this is happening across the country—and especially on the East Coast. It’s kind of like a horror story:

They came from Asia. Introduced in packing material and, now, they are causing homeowners across the country to scream with fear! Who are these smelly beasts? Big, bad, brown marmorated stink bugs!

Stink bug adult
Photo by Jessica Walliser
Adult stink bugs have been overwintering in our house for many winters.

According to our local cooperative extension agent, they aren’t an agricultural pest yet. I’m thinking that’s going to change. We have found them in the house for four winters now, but I have never seen them in the garden. This year, there have been hundreds of them out there. Which probably means there will be thousands in our house this winter.

Apparently, stink bugs overwinter in the house as adults, emerge in late spring, feed and breed. They lay eggs that hatch into nymphs that pass through several different instars (development stages) before morphing into a mature adult. It’s hard to describe the nymphs I’ve found, because they change several times before maturing. Basically, they start out very small and reddish in color, and then they get about 1/4 inch long and are black with white splotches and spindly, spiderlike legs. Then they flatten out a bit before turning into their shield-shaped, brown adult selves.

Regardless, we’ve got some work to do. According to our extension service website, the best way to keep them out of the house is to seal them out. Caulk all the doors and windows, light fixtures, baseboards, ceiling fans and entry doors from the attic into the house. And use that expandable foam stuff to seal cracks and holes where wires or pipes come into the house. Off to the hardware store I go.

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Urban Farming

Tomato Soup

Photo by Judith Hausman

Some may consider these tomatoes rejects. I consider them soup.

I finally found it. Thanks to food goddess Alice Waters’ The Art of Simple Food (Clarkson Potter, 2007), I finally have the perfect summer tomato soup recipe. After many attempts that turned out too watery, too acidic, too sweet or were thickened with tomato paste, cornstarch, flour or cream, I tried her ultra-straightforward recipe and adore it.

The first “secret” to the recipe, arguably to all her food, is lots and lots of really, really good raw material. The tomatoes don’t have to look good at all; they have to taste good—no, great. I have access to piles of misshapen, won’t-sell, heirloom beauties at Rainbeau Ridge, but you might be able to buy a 1/4 bushel direct from a farm or beg some bumpy ones from a neighbor.

Alice’s second secret is one tablespoon of white rice, cooked with two pounds of tomatoes. When the little bit of cooked rice is blended with the cooked tomatoes, it thickens up the soup just enough to give it body and emulsify it without adding any rice taste, to speak of.

Almost any tomato soup recipe will ask you to blanch and peel the tomatoes: groan. It has to be done or you’ll have annoying slivers of skin to contend with in each spoonful. So be it. While you are at it, cut out the cores and any hard bits or blemishes.

Here’s my own one change: When the peeled tomatoes have cooled some, squeeze out the seeds and juice so you have mainly pulp left. Just pick them up in your fist and give them a good squeeze. Think Aztec ritual and throbbing warrior hearts. Reserve the juice and seeds though. You’ll strain that mess into the soup pot and discard the seeds. Alice has you strain the soup after cooking but I find my method removes enough seeds and is easier than dealing with the thicker cooked soup.

Alice’s recipe then asks you to sauté a medium sliced onion (and a leek, which I omitted) in a combination of butter and olive oil and then to add two garlic cloves. After they are soft but not browned, pile in the tomato pulp and strained juice. I added a few sprigs of basil and some oregano leaves, salt and pepper, and a little fennel pollen we had lying around. (Fennel fronds or even seed will do.) Cook it all until some of liquid has evaporated and the tomatoes have fallen apart thoroughly.

Wand-blender it all, and then add a cup of water and another tablespoon of butter.

Tomato.com. No stock, no paste, no celery and carrots. So good, so summery, so easy, just like the title of the cookbook promises. Go, Alice!

We served the soup cold with chopped herbs to sprinkle at will, a bowl of Greek yogurt to garnish it and a loaf of olive bread. The soup is just as good hot and cream can be added, but then be careful not to boil the soup in re-heating. If you want to freeze it, do so before the last cup of water and/or any cream, which you can add after you defrost it. Oh, and definitely double the recipe—you’ll want more.

Driving a Nail

I was driving a nail the other day and managed to smash a bit of the fleshy part of a finger. As I watched it turn red, then blue and finally black, I reflected on how simple driving a nail is and yet how terribly complex the entire operation can be. OK, swinging the hammer is as simple as is hitting the nail (at least for others), but the concentration of force that occurs is anything but simple. As the broad hammer head meets the nail head, the weight of the hammer and the force of the blow are transferred to the point of the nail. As it moves down into the wood, it splits fibers, moving them aside until the force has dissipated and movement stops, waiting for the next blow of the hammer.

Of course depending on where in the piece of wood you are aiming the nail and what kind and thickness of wood you are aiming at, splitting may not be such a great idea. Years ago, I read that the key in placing a nail successfully without splitting the wood too much was to dull the point. The flattened end now crushes wood fibers instead of possibly splitting the grain. A light tap of the hammer to the nail tip is usually enough.

I tried the technique and have used it ever since. Like so many things in the shop or life, what we learn from others can seem to be a little thing but can make a big difference in our success at what we are doing.

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News

Controlling Flies Around Cattle

Post author By Dani Yokhna
Post date August 24, 2010
No Comments on Controlling Flies Around Cattle

Flies can transmit diseases and reduce weight gain and feed efficiency in cattle.

They buzz and they bite, but the flies that cause a nuisance to people can also bring disease and nuisance to cattle. Fly control is essential in maintaining the health of dairy and beef cattle herds, whether in the pasture or the barn, says Purdue University entomologist Ralph Williams.

Pasture Flies
For pasture cattle, the two primary fly pests are horn flies, which are a biting fly, and face flies. Face flies don’t bite, but they feed around the eye tissue and can transmit bacterial conjunctivitis, or pink eye, to cattle.

“Horn flies are the No. 1 fly pest in the United States,” Williams says. “The threshold at which we recommend control is when those flies reach 200 per animal. It is not uncommon to see a thousand or more horn flies per animal.”

While horn flies don’t transmit diseases to cattle, they can cause economic loss by reducing cattle weight gain, feed efficiency and calf weights.

Barn Flies
For cattle in confinement, the stable fly is a biting fly that breeds in the accumulating feed waste and soiled bedding. As with the horn fly, stable flies don’t carry disease, but they, too, can result in economic loss for farmers.

House flies are the other common confinement pest. While they’re not directly associated with cattle, they can be a nuisance to people and surrounding neighbors.

Controlling Flies
“In confinement flies are best controlled through sanitation,” Williams says. “Farmers should identify and remove fly breeding sites, like waste and soiled bedding.”

In the pasture, however, fly control can be a bit more challenging. Topical insecticides can be effective as long as they stay on cattle for an extended time. One such method is through pesticide ear tags.

“Some of the products available are pyrethroids and organophosphates,” Williams says. “The pyrethroid-based tags generally are not very effective for horn flies because of a genetic resistance. Most of the organophosphate tags are very efficient for horn fly control. Abamectin is a new product that is available in some tags and has been very effective for both horn flies and face flies.”

Some tags also are available with a combination of insecticides that will control both face and horn flies.

Other fly-control options include self-applied dust bags in a forced-use situation, which cattle need to access daily, and pour-on insecticides, which can last up to a month. Feed-through insecticides, ingested with feed and released in the manure, can also disrupt flies. However, if not all cattle in the area are using them, flies could still be present.

As a biological fly-control option, farmers can introduce parasitic wasps to the farm. The females of these wasps lay eggs on fly pupae, and the wasp larva consume the fly before it emerges. Parasitic wasps may be purchased by biological pest control companies, which provide beneficial predator insects.