Vaughnshire Farm

It’s been a full, busy, tough week.  While we have had many victories we can rejoice in, this past Saturday we experienced a big loss here on our farm.  We lost our milk cow, Bonnie. 

A combination of her curiosity and determination, a left open barn door and a feed bag, ultimately caused her death.  While, in retrospect, we could kick ourselves for not having the feed more tightly secured and the barn door shut tight, we did learn a lot on Saturday.  Paul and the boys spent a large part of the day trying to save her from bloat.  They even resorted to sticking a water hose down her throat into the rumen to release the air.  I was so proud of my two boys for their hard work that day…even though it was hard.  All and all, the vet said that what happened was bloat leads to toxicity.  She died before we could treat her with antibiotic shots.

Loosing your milk cow isn’t quite like having a chicken die.  We have chickens come and go on a regular basis and although they are part of our farm like Bonnie was…there are so many of them running around here and they just all blend in the chicken flock the same. 

Bonnie was our first family milk cow.  She, in a lot of ways, threw our family immediately into living real farm life!  We learned soo much from her.  Bonnie gave us lots of fresh raw milk, cream and butter and for that we were so thankful.  She was a great big Guernsey with lots of personality and attitude to boot!  People have been asking us the question…”Well, are you going to get another milk cow?”  And, Yes…we will…eventually… and we want a big brown Guernsey….like Bonnie Blue was. 

I took my first sip of our goat’s milk not too long ago— very cautiously.  We have heard bad stories about how horrible goat’s milk is…it’s goaty, tastes gamey, you won’t like it…

However, I was pleasantly surprised that the goat’s milk we have been getting was far from the stories we have been told!  Maybe the taste of milk differs drastically between breeds or maybe all the bad goat milk comes from animals that eat all the brush and wild onions?  All I know is our goat milk is absolutely delicious and we are enjoying having an additional supply of milk.  At a later date, I would love to draw up a comparison between milking goats and milking a cow.  There are many things we have learned about milking cows and goats.  Many differences, but both provide great raw milk for the family. 

Having fresh milk has been one of the most rewarding farm experiences over this last year.  We started last year with milking our cow, Bonnie.   We also have several dairy goats.  One of the business ideas my daughter is pursuing is raising milk goats and selling them to other families who would like to have their own supply of fresh milk.  So far, she is just starting her hand at it, but is loving working with these milk goats. 

With baby goats, comes milking mommas.   Our 9 year old daughter has plunged into milking duties and is loving it.  She and Mally (one of our alpine mommas) are great friends.  In fact, Mally can’t stand to be away from the children when she sees them outside.  She makes all kinds of noise and tries to open the gate so she can come be near them. 

Except for a few bumps in the road – kicked over milk pails, stepping and putting her hind feet in the milk bucket, escaping and sitting down when trying to lead her back to the pasture –She has been a wonderful goat for a 9 year old to learn how to handle and milk.  We have been very pleased as she is providing some very rich and delicious milk that we have been enjoying very much.  We never would have imagined goat milk could be so good!

The only problem is that when Mally does get out of the pasture and makes her way to the house, returning her to the pasture can be quite a chore! 

Beth pointed out here that one of the reasons we farm is for our health.  I would like to point out one of the other reasons is cost.  This article and the articles mentioned in the Parallel Economy post are all strong encouragements to remove ourselves from dependency on the corporate economy and move towards a more local family based agrarian economy.

It is not really about saving money as good as that is for a family of 10.  What is really the driving force behind this aspect of our agrarian adventure is the dependency on a system that is not only unhealthy, but is fast becoming undependable and expensive.  

One of the most important aspects of the parallel economy concept, that really helped our vision and our plans for the farm and family life, was being able to identify which economy we were operating in.  Consider the following purchase of a commodity that is on the rise: (Second Ref)

1 Gallon of Milk

• Corporate Economy
  • Cost $5 a gallon on sale
  • o Dependencies
    • Money on hand to purchase
    • Transportation (For you and the milk)
    • Corporation solvency (milk company, transportation company, store chain)
    • Store hours
  • Cost Drivers
    • Store profit / operational costs
    • Oil prices for transport
    • Feed Prices
    • Farm Workers
    • Equipment Costs and maintenance
    • Cattle costs
    • Federal and state regulations
    • Taxes
• Agrarian Economy
  • Cost - none out of pocket
  • o Dependencies
    • Healthy cow
    • Milk bucket
    • Maybe a rope if the cow is ornery.
  • Cost Drivers
    • Hay for the winter if you don’t cut your own
      • If you cut your own, fuel for your tractor, if you don’t use hand tools

Of course you could be somewhere in between on your journey where you are sharing a cow with some other families, or buying milk from a local farm.  The point of the parallel economy is, to understand where your dependencies are and know what risk you have for each of them, to provide for your family. 

The ability to provide our family with affordable and healthy food is a fairly important concept of freedom.  If you can’t eat, you can’t live.  If you are dependent upon a failing system to eat, then you are depending on this system to live.

I don’t think we are in for a cataclysmic end to our current economy.  All I know is that it will end.  History teaches us that there has never been an economic model that has not ended.  (Can anyone think of one?)  I am rather inclined to believe we will continue the cycle we have begun and will continue to reap bad rewards from bad practices.  The fruit of that is if you are dependent upon that economy you will be subject to it.

If the corporate economy came to a halt tomorrow, do you know where your next loaf of bread would come from?  What about if it continues a slow decline that lasts until your grandchildren are parents?  Are you training your children on these principles?  If you doubt the importance of what I’m saying, ask yourself this question; How is it I know the phrase “Russian bread line”?  Russia was once a thriving economy, but that is not what she was known for in recent years.  I would submit that we are on the same path as Russia.

(Pro 22:3) A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.

I caught myself thinking a very agrarian thought today as I looked out into the field and watched our cows munching on some fresh hay in the middle of a frigid January winter.  The happy thought hit me, “Look, our milk and meat eating hay!” 

I never use to see cows as anything else but a cow.  However, the agrarian life has opened up an entire wing of thought and introspection like never before. 

Not only that, but it has greatly expanded the subjects of conversation at the supper table. 

In other farm news, our goats are ready to be picked up from the breeder.  However, we have to wait until the weather warms up a bit or we might end up with goats that get pneumonia??  It is strange to think that not too many months ago, it was 100 degrees hotter than it is tonight. The 2 super baby chicks are doing great out in the milk barn in their warming box.  We are still unsure if the milk cow was bred successfully, however, we should know in a few days.  Our hens are laying up a storm thanks to the boys focused efforts in separating them from the roosters, giving them a light and lots of kitchen scraps for food.  Our barn cat catches squirrels and the boys built a “plow” out of an old bicycle.  Now they are just anxious for the ground to thaw so they can ”plow” in the garden and finish their paying job of hauling dirt for mom.   

We recently started experimenting with making our own homemade hot cocoa.  We love hot winter drinks, like hot apple cider and hot cocoa or hot chocolate….but the hot chocolate in the packets is filled with too much refined sugar to be any good.  We discovered that you can make wonderful…even better tasting hot cocoa with milk and pure cocoa and a bit of sweetener. 

We poured about a half-gallon of raw milk into a sauce pan and turned the burner on warm.  I add 1  to 2 tablespoons of cocoa and 4 tablespoons of turbinado sugar.  You can adjust the sweetness to your liking.  Do not let it boil or become too hot or the milk will leave a film on the top.

You can also whip cream in the blender on low until it thickens just enough to make peaks. (Do not blend the cream too long or you will end up making butter;-)  Add a dollop to each cup of hot cocoa—it melts fast and looks like you put butter into your cup anyway. 

 Hey, it’s snowing.  A brief blizzard of sorts lasted a few minutes and then vanished away.  An exciting happening of the day.

Bonnie, the fat and furry milk cow.

The rest of us were a bit under the weather so to speak and spent the day resting– sipping down hot tea and soup.    The girls worked on our household notebooks (more on that later) while the boys spent afternoon playing games. 

Freezing bone broths or other types of broth in freezer bags or containers, make an easy way to make homemade soup rather quickly.  The above soup is a mixture of deer and chicken broth with diced potatoes, cut carrots, diced red and green pepper and chopped onion.  Add a couple of crushed cloves of garlic and a dash of cayenne.   Add salt and pepper to taste and throw in chopped cabbage a few minutes before removing from the heat.  Cabbage makes an excellent addition to any soup.   

This is the first day in 9 days that we have not had at least some rain fall.  It had to end sometime, but we sure were enjoying the front porch and the gentle refreshing sound of the rain each day after the long dry August.  But today, in place of the rain, we received our first hint of the coming of fall.  With a high around 70 and sunny skies, very little time was spent indoors.  All the work that we did not get done because we were hauling water during the drought, was still waiting for us today.  Not to wax poetic of romantic or anything, this is a cattle update.

Due to the drought ending rains, we now have grass growing in the fields once again.  We moved the cows back into paddock 1 today with about 6-8 inches of growth on 40% of the field.  We’ll see how that lasts.

The thing with temporary fencing is that its…well temporary.  That in itself isn’t so bad, except it is not suppose to be the cow that decides how temporary it is!  Just for the farm records, Bonnie the independent, ornery, ovulating, milk cow found a path over the electric fence in paddock number 3.  There is a single strand of wire that makes use of the steep incline along the side of the hollow.  Unfortunately, Bonnie found a place that wasn’t so steep and stepped right over the wire.  (Update - The boys fixed this on Saturday after she escaped the second time Friday evening and we placed her back in the main pasture for the night.)

Of course something like this doesn’t happen when the dad is at home.  Nope, it happens when it’s been a very long and trying week and dad is away teaching class.  So now mom arrives home from the store with a van full of groceries and children only to find her milk cow grazing next to the road and that she now would have the added adventure of figuring out how to “catch” a cow and get her back into a fence that she obviously knows how to get out of!

Just as an aside for any young men out there.  Consider moments like this when you are discussing the attributes and character of a good wife!  If you think a young lady may make a suitable wife, place her in this situation and consider how she might respond.  That will tell you a lot about a woman!

I only say that to play up how proud I am of my wonderful wife.  She and the boys jumped out of the van and quickly went into action.  Bonnie was back in the fence in no time.  What is even more amazing is that I didn’t get a phone call or an e-mail or anything.  I didn’t even know it had happened until I got home.  What a team!

Bonnie and Monsanto remain in Paddock 2, but we cut it in half today leaving it about 1.5 acres and paddock 3 about 2.5 acres.

The boys ran the cross fence after we checked the old wire and repaired damage from falling trees, limbs, etc…

Over the next couple days they will finish the gate on the cross fence and run a check on the wire around paddock 3.