Farming – Page 5 – Canfield Farms

What I Learned About Grass at the KHSI Expo: Part II

Posted on September 21, 2009 by fourfarmdogs

Here is a next bit of my notes from Woody Lane’s lecture on grass and nutrition. First, I should offer the caveat that he gave, which was that he felt he had to oversimplify some technical terms, due to the time constraints of the 2-hour class (which he normally teaches over several weeks). And, a second caveat that if something seems wonky in the information, surely it is my note-taking, and not Woody’s information, which is incorrect. 😉 Comments are welcome if I’ve gotten something wrong.

Woody introduced two terms which are important in considering what grazing animals need to eat in order to grow.

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What I Learned About Grass at the KHSI Expo: Part I

Posted on September 17, 2009 by fourfarmdogs

I’m not sure if I can say which speaker had the most exciting information at The Expo, there were several highlights. But this was one of the top ones for me: Dr. Woody Lane’s two-hour discussion on pasture management and grass. Dr. Lane owns and operates Lane’s Livestock Services, a consulting firm. (I couldn’t find a website to which I could link…). And, everyone seems to just call him Woody. He lives in Roseburg, OR, and frequently teaches a very extensive animal nutrition course in that area.

Woody is an engaging and animated speaker, started out his talk with these fightin’ words: “Pasture rotation doesn’t work.” :-0 Continue reading “What I Learned About Grass at the KHSI Expo: Part I” →

Sheep Summer Camp: The Ferry and OSU

Posted on September 16, 2009 by fourfarmdogs

During the first day of the KHSI Expo, we toured three different facilities. There were maybe fifty people attending the tours, so we all shared rides. I jumped in with a nice fellow named Chuck, who chauffeured me and three other people through the day’s tours. Chuck had a GPS system, and I was comparing its instructions to the printed driving directions we were given. On our way to one of the tours, the GPS started taking us in a completely different route than what the paper directions said. We had a moment of indecision, then unanimously agreed to rely on the technology to get us there. But, I was momentarily distressed to hear Ms. GPS Voice say “turn right and board ferry.” Ferry!?!

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More: Sheep Summer Camp Fun and Learning

Posted on September 15, 2009 by fourfarmdogs

The second stop of the KHSI Expo learning experience was to tour Jo-Le Farms in Scio, Oregon. Jon and Leslie Carter have been raising commercial Coopworth sheep for many years, and decided to “breed the wool off” their sheep in 1999 when Jon started having back problems and no longer wanted to shear. Jon used mainly Dorper and White Dorper genetics to do this, but recently has been experimenting with Wiltshire Horn terminal sire influence as well. (More history on that endeavor is on their blog.)

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What I Learned At Summer Camp

Posted on September 14, 2009 by fourfarmdogs

Well, not summer camp exactly. But I just got back from a four-day trip to Corvallis, OR to attend the Katahdin Hair Sheep International Expo and Sale. I really enjoyed it, they had great farm tours, speakers, and a sheep sale. I bought a few sheep too! I’ll try to write about the highlights, as best as I can capture all that I absorbed there.

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Sneaky Nesting Duck’s Babies

Posted on September 7, 2009 by fourfarmdogs

Sneaky Nesting Duck reappeared from her broody nest on Friday August 28th, right on time, 28 days after I’d first noticed her staying out all night. She successfully hatched four ducklings; out of, I think, eleven eggs. So though her overall percentage is better than the incubator, it’s still not great, and not as economical as using the incubator to produce ducklings. Continue reading “Sneaky Nesting Duck’s Babies” →

Sequestered Rams

Posted on September 4, 2009 by fourfarmdogs

I have sequestered the rams to prevent them from breeding our ewes just yet. I have been racing against nature this summer to finish enough fencing to have a place to put them, and finished this paddock just in time- I could see one ewe coming into heat and them showing interest in her. Ewes generally start coming into heat when the days start getting shorter, so it was time.

It’s not the end of the world if I have some breedings happen now, but I’m hoping to delay most of them until sometime in October. I haven’t picked an exact date yet. My plan is to have later spring lambs, and probably time them to come after daylight savings time, when it’s easier to do evening chores with a little more daylight.

My plan is to also separate them into two groups, so I can choose which ram sires which lambs next year. For now, they are hanging out with the llama in the pasture next door to the rest of the sheep.

Tractor Stuck

Posted on September 1, 2009 by fourfarmdogs

Our tractor got stuck (again) last weekend. Here and there we have spots of old peat bog soil that can sink a tractor tire with no warning. We’ve filled in many of the bad spots, but Kirk found another one mowing near the reconditioned ditch line on our third drainage ditch.

Lucky for us, we have a good friend, Jerry, whom I’ve known since high school, who has a 4×4 truck with a winch. It seems like every time we have a tractor stuck incident, it seems we are fortunate enough to find Jerry at home and available to do a rescue! For some gas money and dinner, he comes out with no complaint! It only takes a few minutes to pull the tractor out of the worst predicaments with this baby. Thanks Jerry! 🙂

It’s Fair Time

Posted on August 29, 2009 by fourfarmdogs

The last two weeks I’ve been spending significant hours on the computer getting ready for the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe. I’m the “Assistant Dog Barn Superintendent”, which means nothing, except that I’ve been unanimously elected to take over in the rare event that my mother, the Dog Barn Superintendent, should get hit by a truck. Unanimously, because nobody else wants to take over her duties. I’m not sure if I, or anyone else, could effectively cover for her anyway!

What I do contribute is some major data processing for all of the several hundred entries that need to be managed in the 4-H dog project over the eleven-day fair.

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Integrating Young Guardian Dogs With Sheep

Posted on August 27, 2009 by fourfarmdogs

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and experimenting with training methods to harness our LGD’s talents and minimize her undesirable behaviors. The biggest challenge has been preventing her from getting rowdy with the sheep. She has affections for them, which does translate to guarding them. But it also translates, sometimes, into her wanting to engage them in a good game of wrestling, ala teenager dog style. This is injurious to the sheep, so obviously has to be prevented. Continue reading “Integrating Young Guardian Dogs With Sheep” →