Bee~ Journal of then...

[freemotion]

Why am I not surprised that you are "the good daughter?"

 

[Beekissed]

I took this one of my local library, but didn't make any other notes on it, so can't remember many specifics. Book has since disappeared from our library's shelves; never checked out.

Herbal Handbook for Farm & Stable by Juliette de Bairacli-Levy. A guide for those concerned about the overuse of pharmaceuticals, herbicides, and insecticides; poultry, bees, goats, horses, cows, sheep, and sheepdogs.

Another Gene Logsdon gem if you are interested in grains. It covers corn, wheat, sorghum, oats, soybeans, rye, barley, buckwheat, millet, rice, and other small grains, such as triticale, spelt, beans, flax, and sunflowers. Small-Scale Grain Raising

Living at Nature's Pace: Farming & the American Dream also by Gene Logsdon. A collection of essays written over a 12 year timeframe. Just a very good read.

I will definitely be looking these up, Kel! I want to raise these sheep pharmaceutical-free...just to show it can be done! There are some major big farms out there who are doing it and you never hear about it. People don't want to hear it~evidenced by a few threads on adjoining forums. You know of which I speak, Free!


I have already started it with my chickens. I can't afford to go completely organic on their grain feed, so I'm exploring ways to limit their grain intake~like improving the nutritious perennials that already exists on my property by managed grazing.

Like growing mangels and other grain alternatives for supplementing winter feed.

Like adding ACV to their water on occasion for a health boost~I read that it also increases egg production!

Like buying some Basic H for deworming and growing garlic and pumpkins for the same purpose. I'd like to juice some onions and garlic and freeze, or can it, to mix with feeds and ACV/water to improve flock/herd/dog health on this place.

 

[freemotion]

My hens are now diving into the lawn hay I made for them last spring and summer when the grass was most nutritious. I thought it was a failed experiment because they showed no interest at all, so I just started feeding it to the goats....well, with a couple of weeks of snow and ice cover here and nothing green sticking out of the snow, they are running for some lawn hay twice a day! I'll be making and bagging as much as I can next year, for the goats, too. It is free and organic, no chemicals here. I just have dh use the bagger and spread it on the driveway when he mows in good hay weather. I turn it often and by late afternoon, I can bag it into feed sacks...or sometimes the second day. If it gets rained on, into the compost pile it goes, still useful.

I put up 7 large bags and gave 3 to my father and still have plenty to last until early spring, doling it out carefully.

Next year I may gather leaves on my dogwalks and dry them for the goats. You can pick a lot in 30 minutes a day! I'm out there anyways, may as well double-task...

 

[keljonma]

We grow clovers and timothy for our flock. The chickens love them as hay in the dead of winter.

ETA: we never have any luck with sunflowers here, unless they are in containers. Slugs either get the seeds or the tiny plants. I even tried transplanting last year without much success (1 plant out of 20 planted).

 

[dacjohns]

Glad you're back, and the slobbering cow too.

 

[Beekissed]

We grow clovers and timothy for our flock. The chickens love them as hay in the dead of winter.

ETA: we never have any luck with sunflowers here, unless they are in containers. Slugs either get the seeds or the tiny plants. I even tried transplanting last year without much succes (1 plant out of 20 planted).

You need ducks, Kel!!! Supposed to be great slug eaters, they are! I've never seen a slug on this land but the yellow finches get to my sunflowers long before they are ready for harvest with ripe, full seeds! I've contemplated putting some bridal netting over each head but, what the heck, let the little buggers get some food too!

 

[Beekissed]

Glad you're back, and the slobbering cow too.

Thanks, dac! Good to be back in the land down unda....oops! Wrong song!

 

[keljonma]

We grow clovers and timothy for our flock. The chickens love them as hay in the dead of winter.

ETA: we never have any luck with sunflowers here, unless they are in containers. Slugs either get the seeds or the tiny plants. I even tried transplanting last year without much succes (1 plant out of 20 planted).

You need ducks, Kel!!! Supposed to be great slug eaters, they are! I've never seen a slug on this land but the yellow finches get to my sunflowers long before they are ready for harvest with ripe, full seeds! I've contemplated putting some bridal netting over each head but, what the heck, let the little buggers get some food too!

The chickens ate the slugs during their (the flock's) first year, but our 1 year old and 2 1/2 year old birds aren't interested anymore.

My mom used to use her old nylons (before pantyhose days) to cover the heads. She's no longer around to ask how to accomplish that with some of the really large sunflower heads.

 

[Beekissed]

I haven't used pantyhose in years and years and years....but I might be able to scavenge some from old ladies at church. They say ducks are death on slugs and snails and those Indian Runner ducks are sure comical and cute!

 

[Beekissed]

I slid over to Backyard Cows and they removed my whole thread on grass fed cows!!! Why in the world would they remove the whole thread? Do they just not want anyone to even consider the idea at all? Is grass feeding such a threat to folks or such a hot, debated topic that it must be removed?

I intend to keep a running discussion and information flow on my journal about the progress of rotational grazing as I experience it, the articles I find to support it and the benefits to the health of the animals.

I see it as another way to raise animals in a more SS way and reduce dependency on commercially grown grain. I can't see where this is in any way a threat to those who do use grain and feedlot methods to feed their livestock.

I just think that its only fair to introduce alternatives to this commonly accepted mode of keeping livestock. My journal will also include tips and info I find on all-natural ways to deworm and keep one's animals in optimum health without giving chemicals, drugs, or processed supplements.

And, please, mods...if you have a problem with any of this, please edit content and not lock a valuable thread!