It's a Boy!

My oh my does time certainly fly! What a busy summer it has been, but more exciting than just about all of it is the addition of a new, little one. A baby calf born yesterday, 9/17/12 to one of our new cows, Lone Star Reba.

Now, he needs a name. Send in your suggestions and the winner will have bragging rights for life Being a purebred, registered (soon to be) Irish Dexter, his registered name has to start with Willows ...

Updates coming soon, including the one with the new GIRLS!!! Both horses and cows.

Lochlann and Roxanne - Our New Additions

Part of the vision I had over a decade ago, was a small with small animals. Not miniatures by any means, but small, very productive animals. The Norwegian Fjord horses are the ultimate in multi purpose, small draft type horses.

Irish Dexter cattle grazing

To them I wanted to add cows. My mother raised cows. My grandfather raised cows. My great-grandfather raised cows. Don't know about further back as my momma doesn't remember and there isn't anyone left to ask. I'm guessing it went a little further back though and is in my blood as well. Anyway, cows. I wanted a small cow, not miniature, that was very productive. In all of my research, the Irish Dexter cattle fit the bill over and over again. Higher fat content than a Jersey for their milk and a higher yield of meat to live weight, with less cost to get them to market than the typical beef breeds. And then there is their disposition. Kind, gentle and absolutely adorable. They are also a "recovering" breed from a rare breed status. While more and more people are breeding them, they are also discovering their amazing beef qualities and so part of what is being "recovered" is also being consumed.

Lochlann still shedding out his winter coat

Without further ado, meet Lochlann and Roxanne. Both registered, purebred Irish Dexter cattle. I specifically bought them because of their amazing dispositions. A breeding bull you can walk up to and pet. Almost like a dog - just don't rub where their horns would be. I say almost, because I don't know any 800 pound dogs and will be cautious around any animal that large. He is very mild though and you can lead him with a halter and lead right into the trailer. Sweet boy! He is a red, polled bull who throws a little more meat on his calves along with his red colored and polled stature (no horns).

Roxanne wanting to visit even in the rain

Roxanne is black, polled and petite. She carries the red and dun genes and has the A2/A2 milk gene as well. She is definitely a sweet little girl and we are proud to have her as part of our new herd.

Cattle Feed Lots

If you are a meat eater, I think it should be a requirement to drive by a feed lot. If you don't know what a feed lot is, it is a fenced in paddock sized for however many cows it can hold ... meaning there is enough room for the cows to squeeze by each other, that's it. Grass? I don't think so. More like manure. Lots and lots and lots of manure. If it rains, it becomes manure soup. Take a look at this one:

No room for roaming and their sole purpose for being there is to be fattened up on things that cows were never intended to eat. Think I'm just "over selling"? Take a look at this paper from the NC Extension Office - Broiler Litter as a Feed for Beef Cattle. Do you know what that is? Yes, really is what  you think it is: chicken poop. And that is just ONE of the "acceptable" forms of feed for cows. Dead cows are also acceptable forms of feed.

Yes, you're right, cows are herbivores. They don't eat meat in nature. Yet, USDA says feeding dead animal parts is OK. Can you say, Mad Cow Disease?

The smell driving by these feed lots is probably one of the worst smells you can imagine. And you can smell them coming and going for MILES! We talked with a cattle hauler and he called it the "smell of money". Yep, you and I are paying for these animals to eat other animals poop every time we eat meat out. Or buy conventional beef at the grocery store. We can hardly wait to start growing our own cows. On grass. As God intended.

Time to jump down off the soapbox, but thought I would share one of the things we saw on the road...

Fair Time! Virginia State Fair

One of the things we told the boys we would do along our trip, was to go to some fairs. We love fairs. Well, for the most part ... as a child, dad took the trailers every year to the fairs, to sell them. The first couple days were awesome. After 2 months at fairs, even the most dedicated rider and animal lover is completely exhausted from it. That was us kids. Year after year, although, to dad's credit, we only did "all" the fairs once. After that, it was the one local fair. Still, spending the last 2 weeks of summer at the fair was not necessarily our idea of a great time.

I wanted to change my apathetic attitude towards fairs and started taking my kids when they were young. Thrilling rides, cotton candy, "smelly" cows and all the other joys of the fair were new again seeing them through the eyes of my kiddos. Today I can truly say, I enjoy the fair again. I don't do the rides, but live vicariously through the boys.

My true joy at the fair though, is seeing the livestock. I love the smells of the barn. Even more so now, not having our own farm for the moment. It really makes my heart ache for our land and the animals.

This calf was born just 15 minutes ago!!!

I miss my little porkers

Virginia. What a smart bunch you are. Putting the folks in prison to work, learning new skills ...

It's not a great picture above, but I zoomed in on the board here:

Yes, you read that right. Virginia Dept of Corrections State Agri Business. How smart of you to actually work on rehabilitating your prisoners and giving them some skills they really can use when they are released. Who was the smart one who thought of that? I would really like to shake your hand and say thank you.

One of the most exciting parts of this fair was it's location. In a little town called Doswell, Virginia, sits the home of the Virginia State Fair at The Meadow Event Park. What makes it more exciting is that the land. See, it was once owned by the Chenery family. Penny Chenery. Sound familar? If you saw the movie, Secretariat, it should. The Meadow is the home and birthplace of Secretariat, the world famous, Triple Crown winner. Still today, the barns sit much as they were. They even had an exhibit with one of Secretariat's great grandsons there at the fair. Did you know Virginia is number 4 for horse populations? Me either until now.

More fun times. Here's Evan kickin' some tires on his new tractor...

And seeing if it's really the right size...

for a nap. Ahhh, the joy. It was a fabulous time at the fair and we had a great time as a family. And the sleeping children on the way home didn't hurt either.

What's your favorite experience at the fair?

Not Fantasy Football. Fantasy Farming. Resolution 3.

Resolution 3 - keep dreaming. 

They guys have their fantasy football teams and I have my fantasy farm. No I don’t play the online game, trade my “animals” or even play with my toys, but I do have them. They sit on my one of my kitchen window sills looking at me every time I walk into the kitchen. Or look out at the real chickens in their pasture.

There are the Fjord horses of course, but you can see there are a few more critters. Chickens, pigs, cows, rabbits, ducks, goats, sheep and yes, there are a couple of those true “fantasy” animals: the elephant and the zebra. No, I don’t really want to raise those, but they are cool animals. The rest – you bet! Earlier this year, those cute little piggies sitting on my window sill were the only ones we had on the farm. You see, I think of my funny little window sill as a visual reminder of my goals. Yes, they are written down and yes, I go back and look them over, but the figurines give life to my vision. Funny as it sounds, it was all a dream.

As I was in the process of selling my prior business, people asked what I was going to do next. I was too young to retire. The dream I had was of a large farm where we would have a variety of livestock animals and groups of people would come out to learn about them. To get up close and personal with the animals, not looking from behind a big glass window. And unique breeds, heritage breeds. Not the genetically modified breeds of today, but true hearty breeds that can have babies on their own, withstand temperature changes and lack of shelter (if need be) as well as be thrifty. Ones our grandparents and great grandparents raised. For good reasons.

For now, until we have our larger farm, I have my fantasy farm...in my mind, on paper as well as my window sill.

Do you like to share your hobby with others? Or is it something just for you?