keljonma
Epicurean Goddess
Hope you had a GREAT Christmas!!!! Happy New Year!!
Quail_Antwerp: Words from the Barnyard...
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Quail_Antwerp
Cold is on the Right, Hot is on The Left
There's soo much going on around us, I'm not sure where to start.
First, we had a truly awesome Christmas. Kids said it was their best Christmas ever.
We'll not talk about my backing into another car on Christmas Eve.........I blame the Amish who don't know when NOT to call for a ride - E blames me who doesn't know how to say NO and stand my ground....
New Years came and went - no problems.
Now, onto our big news.
I've been sitting on this for awhile - since October actually - because there's still a small tremor of fear that courses through me when I think about it - worry that it won't actually go through, and happen.
*takes deep breath*
there's a good possibility we'll be putting in a veal barn this year. Now, I realize it's commercially raised veal, I realize that it totally goes against the whole "natural raised, heritage etc etc etc" but I also realize it's stable income - a paycheck every two weeks...
Cons -
we'll have a mortgage
we'll have to pump out and spread smelly manure
we can't go far from home and have to be home by 4:30 pm for evening feedings.
4:30 am feedings
it's not "free range" or "heritage" raised
we have to have loose housing
may be 6 months before financing is complete and veal barn is built
Pros -
Paycheck every two weeks
Mortgage payment automatically deducted (1/2 each pay)
2 weeks vacation EVERY 5 months
We'll own an extra 9.99 acres - increasing our farms acerage
Our home and the land we currently own will NOT be in the mortgage, so if something should happen, we wouldn't lose our home.
Something E and I both can do from home
Our veal barn will have electric (Amish don't)
We're our own boss
bonus checks every 5 months - sometimes enough to make extra morgage payments sometimes more
enough income to expand into beef and/or meat goats...
Financially security - unless the veal market bottoms out....
We've overcome two of our 3 hurdles - getting a contract with the veal company and getting the owners of the 9.99 acres beside us to agree to a purchase price. Next, we're meeting this Thursday to finalize paperworks for our funding. We're looking at a Farm Loan with a Farm Service Agency. They've actually funded a lot of the Amish veal barns around here.
We're hoping that later, after we've had a couple shipments of calves raised out, that we'll be able to put in fencing and fence off the acerage around the veal barn to raise out some beef. E wants to raise white faced herefords, and through a few faster growing beef like Angus in so if we'd have beef ready for the market while the herefords are growing out.
Ok, that's it.
Well, not totally. There's a lot of small details I haven't gone into - but we've been doing a lot of praying and the first two hurdles didn't even leave a splinter in our backsides, so just the big hurdle to overcome now...
we've already got estimates on excavation, a guy lined up to do the well....
First, we had a truly awesome Christmas. Kids said it was their best Christmas ever.
We'll not talk about my backing into another car on Christmas Eve.........I blame the Amish who don't know when NOT to call for a ride - E blames me who doesn't know how to say NO and stand my ground....
New Years came and went - no problems.
Now, onto our big news.
I've been sitting on this for awhile - since October actually - because there's still a small tremor of fear that courses through me when I think about it - worry that it won't actually go through, and happen.
*takes deep breath*
there's a good possibility we'll be putting in a veal barn this year. Now, I realize it's commercially raised veal, I realize that it totally goes against the whole "natural raised, heritage etc etc etc" but I also realize it's stable income - a paycheck every two weeks...
Cons -
we'll have a mortgage
we'll have to pump out and spread smelly manure
we can't go far from home and have to be home by 4:30 pm for evening feedings.
4:30 am feedings
it's not "free range" or "heritage" raised
we have to have loose housing
may be 6 months before financing is complete and veal barn is built
Pros -
Paycheck every two weeks
Mortgage payment automatically deducted (1/2 each pay)
2 weeks vacation EVERY 5 months
We'll own an extra 9.99 acres - increasing our farms acerage
Our home and the land we currently own will NOT be in the mortgage, so if something should happen, we wouldn't lose our home.
Something E and I both can do from home
Our veal barn will have electric (Amish don't)
We're our own boss
bonus checks every 5 months - sometimes enough to make extra morgage payments sometimes more
enough income to expand into beef and/or meat goats...
Financially security - unless the veal market bottoms out....
We've overcome two of our 3 hurdles - getting a contract with the veal company and getting the owners of the 9.99 acres beside us to agree to a purchase price. Next, we're meeting this Thursday to finalize paperworks for our funding. We're looking at a Farm Loan with a Farm Service Agency. They've actually funded a lot of the Amish veal barns around here.
We're hoping that later, after we've had a couple shipments of calves raised out, that we'll be able to put in fencing and fence off the acerage around the veal barn to raise out some beef. E wants to raise white faced herefords, and through a few faster growing beef like Angus in so if we'd have beef ready for the market while the herefords are growing out.
Ok, that's it.
Well, not totally. There's a lot of small details I haven't gone into - but we've been doing a lot of praying and the first two hurdles didn't even leave a splinter in our backsides, so just the big hurdle to overcome now...
we've already got estimates on excavation, a guy lined up to do the well....
lorihadams
Always doing laundry
wow.....I don't even think I've heard of a veal barn. Around here I've only seen them put them in calf houses on halters until d-day. Kinda pitiful really. Never been exposed to veal that much though, sounds pretty stable except for the twice a day feedings that may cut into your schedule.
Where did all this come from? You are one busy gal!
Where did all this come from? You are one busy gal!
murphysranch
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I've not heard of a veal barn either. As long as the babies are fed, kept clean, healthy, etc, there should be nothing wrong with raising veal. Sounds like a much better approach than what Lori has seen.
TTs Chicks
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Good to hear from you . . . I was wondering where you had been.
you kept that quiet for a while 
sounds like a good plan for ya'll. 
the big hurdle is cleared as easily as the first 2 were.
you kept that quiet for a while sounds like a good plan for ya'll. the big hurdle is cleared as easily as the first 2 were.
miss_thenorth
Frugal Homesteader
Will they be free raised calves, or stalled and tethered?
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Quail_Antwerp
Cold is on the Right, Hot is on The Left
the way the Amish raise the calves is they are stalled and tethered. There's a manure pit under them so that waste is not on their floors. It drains off and then is pumped out into a manure spreader.
Our barn will be set up as a "loose housing" barn, but the loose housing doesn't go into effect until 2017, so until then, our calves will also be in individual stalls and tethered. They are still able to lay down and stand up. Since we'll be constructing our barn as a loose housing barn, the gates between stalls will be removeable so that once loose housing goes into effect, we'll already be set up without having to reconstruct our barn.
Our barn will hold 260 calves.
And before anyone jumps in and says that's no way for a calf to live, well, I personally see no issue with it as long as they are well fed and aren't getting hurt. They have relatively short lives before they are ate anyway.
We don't like the idea of loose housing simply because calves tend to nurse on eachothers ears and navals. This can spread illness and cause naval infections that result in calf loss.
lori, I'm thinking what you're referring to as calf houses is probably similiar to what our veal barns are. The average veal barn holds 200 calves. They are tethered for 20 weeks and fed 2 times a day.
Our barn will be set up as a "loose housing" barn, but the loose housing doesn't go into effect until 2017, so until then, our calves will also be in individual stalls and tethered. They are still able to lay down and stand up. Since we'll be constructing our barn as a loose housing barn, the gates between stalls will be removeable so that once loose housing goes into effect, we'll already be set up without having to reconstruct our barn.
Our barn will hold 260 calves.
And before anyone jumps in and says that's no way for a calf to live, well, I personally see no issue with it as long as they are well fed and aren't getting hurt. They have relatively short lives before they are ate anyway.
We don't like the idea of loose housing simply because calves tend to nurse on eachothers ears and navals. This can spread illness and cause naval infections that result in calf loss.
lori, I'm thinking what you're referring to as calf houses is probably similiar to what our veal barns are. The average veal barn holds 200 calves. They are tethered for 20 weeks and fed 2 times a day.
kcsunshine
Almost Self-Reliant
Quail, you gotta do what you gotta do for your family. Don't worry about what anyone else thinks. You've been down for so long, it's time things took a turn for the better. But wow, I was excited when you got running water, then a nicer home, and then a chance for some income riding the Amish around and now.......
You go girl.
You go girl.
Up-the-Creek
Lovin' The Homestead
Ali, that is great news! If anyone can make a go of it you can! How exciting! An income at HOME for both of you,..I really hope it all works out for you. Best of luck! 
lorihadams
Always doing laundry
Wow....no, what I have seen is done on a much smaller scale. They are in individual plastic calf houses in a field, tethered so they cannot get to one another.
That's a lot of calves. How do you feed that many calves at once? I'm intrigued. I don't think that there is anything wrong with it as long as they are kept humanely and cleanly. That's a lot of calves. Gonna be one BIIIIIIIIIG barn!
That's a lot of calves. How do you feed that many calves at once? I'm intrigued. I don't think that there is anything wrong with it as long as they are kept humanely and cleanly. That's a lot of calves. Gonna be one BIIIIIIIIIG barn!
