We have had a wonderful summer so far this year. We sold our herd of Nigerian Dwarf goats, and I do miss them ALLOT. However with our jobs they way they are, and the economy the way it is, we had to make some decisions about the way the farm is run.
#1. If it does NOT pay for its self~it goes
#2. If it does NOT pay for its FEED~it goes
Pretty strict guidelines...
So since we were not milking at the rate we used to the goats were sold.
The alpaca, eat very little and have made me about 20% over the cost to keep them with fiber sales. NOT allot but none the less.. they are carrying their weight.
The Sheep~Have been some changes there. We had sheep for some time, and sold due to PERSONALITY conflicts. IE: I hate skittish wild sheep! We FELL into Finns some time ago, helping the little old guy down the road with bottle babies. Last year we KEPT 2. A Ram and a Ewe. The intentions were to put them in the freezer, BUT the FIBER..OH THE FIBER! plus being bottle fed, I really don't think they ever made their growth potential.
We evaluated the pair. Both being very correct other than size which was NOT genetic factor. We allowed a breeding to occur. On May5th, our MAY was born. A beautiful little ewe lamb. She was xactly what we had hoped for with the breeding. Her fiber is VERY thick and dense. extreme curly coat. Added bone, Length of loin and back and a rapid growth rate.
Of course she was a single. I did not shear the sheep in the fall, recommended for finns.
May and her mother remain on the farm and we traded the ram for a a black and white merino/shetland X. She was a very sweet sheep considering the breed, but it came down again to items #1 and #2 above.
She was a twin, her sister did lamb this spring, she did not. Keeping with the RULES. she at best can give me 2 lambs a year. they are slow growers, and heavy in the grease for the fiber. I decided to sell her and stick to the Finns.
Since, I have made the purchase of a registered black and white finn ram and a solid brown registered finn ewe. Both will be joining the flock with a few weeks.
The ram, out of a litter of 5 and the ewe a litter of 4, both promising for heavy production.
We will have 3 ewes going into the breeding season and with ANY LUCK AT ALL..
we will have several lambs available in the spring. The average production for finns is 3-4 lambs per kidding. Fed properly, they can feed 3. That would provide me with 9 lambs available. We will of course put a couple into our freezer,and the remaining ones will be offered for sale for either freezer, or breeders or fiber. Registered or unregistered, colored and white will be available! We hope to re coupe our costs within the first 2 years!
GARLIC
in 2008 we ordered garlic seed.. this year is proving to be a bumper crop! I will have some available to the public soon. We just picked our first crop of Northern White Porcelain. These are LARGE heads of garlic with several large cloves per head. If you are interested in garlic please contact me before its sold out or
EATEN..I accept pay pal and will ship.
Price will be $5.00 per pound. SORRY SOLD OUT OF GARLIC One head of garlic will provide several garlic plants. I will send growing instructions with them. Use of a raised bed is the best way I have found for growing garlic. Garlic is easy to grow, and very rewarding. Can be stored for several months depending on the variety. We have several varieties and will be adding more next year. In the photo above you can see the raised bed, and the garlic growing. This was taken in Late May or Early June. I planted lettuce in between the garlic rows. This provided a natural weed barrier for them both, kept pests out of the lettuce and I didn't loose all that space. Before planting your garlic with OTHER plants.. be sure to check, because some plants just do not do well together. We do allot of COMPANION planting, but you can totally ruin your gardening if you do it wrong.
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