Remember if you live near our farm, don’t throw out those good pumpkins after Halloween! Rocky, Hoppo, Rigel and the girls will thank you kindly for them.
Monthly Archives: October 2014
Fodder Beet Harvest
Our fodder test garden has survived my inexperience and produced some pretty awesome beets! This is the “Mammoth Red Mangels” variety, and we’re quite pleased with the results.
Your milage may vary, at one time Marion was the one of the nation’s top producers for root vegetables, we have awesome soil for this, although it’s been a bit farmed out over time and is loving the addition of manure we’re giving it now.
New Ram!
This is a very exciting day for Eddy Ridge Grassland. We have acquired our first pure bred Cotswold Ram with ACRA registration. With his help we hope to have ACRA and CBA register-able lambs next spring!
His grand-sire is an English Ram (Oakhill Ouzel M61), and we hope he can strengthen the English influence we have from some of our ewes’ English grand-sire (Tingewick Pimm C6913).
We are very grateful to Orion Acres for producing and showing such a fine ram. Under Linda Schauwecker of Orion Acres, our ram has competed well, even bringing home Supreme Champion Ram from Topsfield Fair.
Naming contest! Post a suggestion for a name for this fellow! (Winner gets personal pride.)
Study: Measurable differences in blood tests of grass fed meat consumers
We’re still several steps away from showing a direct link between what we feed our meat animals and positive health outcomes for those that eat the meat, but these blood tests do show an unbroken chain from what goes into the animal’s mouth to what ends up in your body.
Draft Animal Power Field Days Indiegogo Campaign
We do not currently use draft animal power on our farm, but we are members of the DAP Network, and we really respect the wisdom of the DAP farmers. Their sustainable farming practices are gentle on the land and help preserve rare draft horse and oxen breeds. (We do use animal power in the sense that 6 months of the year our sheep harvest their own feed, saving us considerable fuel in harvesting and moving hay. We have been considering oxen for our farm in the future.)
A study in the Midwest found that horse farmers make more money per acre and have a higher quality of life than tractor farmers, primarily through lower costs and taking rest breaks when the animals also need rest. (Total income was lower because they generally work fewer acres.)
The DAP Field Days is a trade show of sorts, a old fashioned country fair focused on animal power.
Consider the Draft Animal Power Field Days Indiegogo Campaign