Just one more of the amazing things that Jersey cows can do! 

When the real estate agent arrived, I showed him the two babies and lamented the fact that I didn’t have my camera along. Fortunately, he did! My thanks for the picture below that he emailed me.

Two Baby Raccoons

I vote NO NAIS!

I know that Asther has an unusual talent! But she really brings up a great point. NAIS is not needed. It will not make food safe. Widespread food-caused illnesses really started with industrialized food processing. Small, local farms don’t cause massive outbreaks of illness caused by bacterial contamination. If a small farmer has bad product, he is out of business!

NAIS will also make a lot of money for the companies that sell chips, tags, computer software, and other equipment. It will cost that same amount of money for the farmer or rancher to comply with the program.

I’m with Asther. I vote NO for NAIS too!

Love, Asther

One project was hauling dirt to our expanded garden plot. This area used to have a building over it, so it is short on topsoil. We have some good black dirt south of our barn. My whole family has been hauling and spreading this dirt, one pickup load at a time. It’s good work, that has its’ own reward. Seeing the black dirt waiting for seeds is one reward. Harvesting from that garden will be another!

The other project was over-seeding two of our pastures. The northwest pasture got oats and our own special pasture mix. (We sowed this by hand while walking the pasture.) The northeast pasture got alfalfa, timothy, and some other stuff.  (We sowed this by hand while riding in the pickup.) Both got the addition of chicory, to add some deep-rooted plants that will bring up minerals from the subsoil. We wanted to get both pastures sowed before the rain came, and we did!

Here’s what was sown in each pasture:

Northeast Pasture

• Oats – cover crop and grazing (perhaps silage)
• Orchard grass – 5# / acre
• Creeping alfalfa – 7# / acre
• Birdsfoot treefoil – 2# / acre
• Timothy – 2# / acre
• Red clover – 2# / acre
• Alsike clover – 2# / acre
• Oasis forage chicory – 1# / acre

Northwest Pasture

• Orchard grass – 1.5# / acre
• Alfalfa – 11# / acre
• Birdsfoot treefoil – 1.5# / acre
• Timothy – 4# / acre
• Alsike clover – 3.5# / acre
• Oasis forage chicory – 1# / acre

We bought our seed from Welter Seed and Honey.  They are very knowledgeable and great to work with!

One last note.  This is a fun job for children.  They like seeing the different kinds of seed and love mixing the seed.  It will also be a lot of fun when the seed comes up.

At first, I was pleased with my decision. But, as it sometimes happens, initial pleasure turns painful when the truth is known. I put down two bales. These bales turned out to be very light on nutrition. I was immediately worried when I noticed that my cows would not touch one of the bales. They would eat from one but not the other. Our milk production dropped almost immediately. The cows began scrounging through the already eaten-down pasture. This was not good.

Next step? Find more hay. Eventually I found some hay that seemed good. I know the farmer and he has a good reputation. The only problem? This hay is expensive and also needed to be shipped. I was close to having the arrangements made, when another local farmer told me about some hay that his dad had for sale. I thought, “I’ll get smart on this one. Let’s try a bale before we buy.” It was from the third cutting. That bale was beautiful, so we bought more. The next two were great, as well.

On the next delivery, we got a bale from his first cutting. Not good again. The nutrition wasn’t there and our cow’s milk production dropped. We started supplementing from our limited supply of square bales. These are second cutting from my excellent hay ground mentioned above. I should also note that I usually get three cuttings from my hay ground, but the wet spring limited the cuttings to two.

I then asked for a third cutting bale on the next delivery. Two bales come and they were moldy, through and through. I can’t feed these. He brought the wrong bales. Last night we got two more bales that are supposed to be third cutting. They look like they have mold too. I will have to look them over closer in the daylight. We put down another first cutting bale and will continue to supplement with our small squares.

What to do now? I’m back to looking for hay. I’m also selling the first batch of bales we bought. These are OK bales, but not good enough for milk cows. More than anything, I’m praying. I need wisdom and I need a blessing of good hay.

The hay appeareth, and the tender grass sheweth itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered. – Proverbs 27:25 (KJV)