A Little More on Efficiency...

What is wrong with this picture?  It's a nice pasture with clover and a source of water but...

...the nearby source of water is not passive (with a little work it could be - but until then it requires effort, note the hose) and it's only accessible at one place in this ~15 acre paddock (and that makes rotational grazing harder to do).  In addition, the trough is low, cattle stand in it to cool down and it appears that some of them won't drink from it after it's too dirty.  Another significant issue is little to no shade.  The perimeter of this paddock is outside of the wood line so there is no way for the animals to escape from the sun by walking into the woods (in June it's already burning hot at 9am).  Perimeter fencing should be inside the wood line to allow animals access to shade (and other forages).

Another efficiency killer is the effort required to keep growth off of electrified high-tensile paddock perimeter (look closely and you'll see three wires, the bottom one is buried in grass).  An electric fence energizer positively charges the wire and negatively charges the ground the fence is on.  Animals are shocked when they close the connection between the fence and ground by allow the electicity to pass thru them from simply touching the wire.  When tall grass and weeds touch the wire it dissipates some of the charge and with enough growth the shock is not strong enough to convince the animals to stay in.  Weed whacking is time intensive, so in this pic the problem is solved by upping the voltage so that is reads 10,000 volts + (we've been getting 3 to 6kv under the conditions above and hope to upgrade the energizer).  10kv or more will slowly kill the grass and weeds that touch the wire.

And if your wire isn't "hot" enough, as soon as the livestock want to get to new pasture they'll move themselves and sometimes tangle your $90 reel of poly wire (we use poly woven with metal wire to sub-divide paddocks and high tensile for the perimeter).  Only a grandma that makes quilts will have the patience to untangle this mess.

And one more very important consideration.  Make sure you place your fencing outside of flood plains.  This pic shows what happens to high tensile when it's overcome by flash flooding.  It can also catch enough debris so that it eventually breaks.  This portion was perpendicular to the flow and was stretched, parallel portions faired better.  Definitely don't use woven wire...

...this is the "velociraptor rated" paddock shown in the last pic of the previous post that had lambs inside.  Note that the chicken coop floated and stopped when it hit this paddock.  If you must use a floodplain to pasture animals use high tensile in the preceding pic.  Woven wire captures small debris and allows resistance to build against the water flow, eventually causing the fence to topple.  At least with the high tensile posts usually won't get ripped out of the ground and in general it faired better.  So far all of the woven wire I've seen within a flood plane has completely failed (even with 4" steel "H" braced corner posts that were 3' into the ground).

What is wrong with this picture?  The first and obvious issue is that Sammy doesn't wear lipstick (look closely at the cup's brim).  Second, don't accept drinks from little kids (Calvin: "Whaaat?  You mean Sammy is just handing us random drinks he takes from strangers?")

Another important but overlooked aspect of farming is fashion, or more specifically color coordination. In this pic I'm wearing a T shirt appropriate for cutting a 55 gallon poly barrel for use as a water trough to...
 

...help solve the problem with the cows standing in the troughs (I haven't seen them stand in the narrow one that's on its side either).  Also note the 2" diameter hose.  The next best thing to a passive watering system (like something that gravity feeds water and is float activated) is a large diameter hose...

...but this is preferred.  Ponds at an elevation that is higher than the rest of the farm (this one is about 100' higher).  With plastic tubing, troughs with floats or nipples this pond can passively provide water for a number of animals.

A good reminder that life is harsh.  Imagine living before the industrial revolution and relying on your property for a large portion of your food.  We were looking forward to a lot of peaches this year until a storm came a few days ago.  Notice that it is still partially attached to the trunk.  I asked the boys to prop it up with a folding ladder to see if we can get some of the peaches to ripen.

Keena: "Hopefully this will work."

Efficiency Is Key

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned before that "efficiency is key."  This post will illustrate why.  TJ and I discussed a cattle rotation plan and I thought we'd use an unused pasture to help maintain a winter reserve and possibly forego hay this year.  Problem is that particular pasture does not have a well nor a passive watering system but is in proximity to a river.  Since I thought I had a pretty smart idea the family created some partitions with electric wire and moved the cows in.

This part is to be expected, unrolling electric wire to create a temporary paddock.  One strand is sufficient for cows.

 

First mistake.  Since water infrastructure does not exist, how about putting troughs on a skid and moving them as the pasture is consumed?  Great idea, but now I'm dependent on something really big to tow with and...

 

something to fill the water troughs with, like a gas powered water pump.

Trinity is at the ingress end about to drop the hose into the river.

But... (or should I say "butt") the fence is still hot so TJ bent over and got shocked in the butt.  And then for some reason he used the fence meter to see how many volts bit him (which I think is the funny part, for me knowing it's hot is enough, I guess he's getting to the point where he can discern between a 6 or 4.5 kv shock).

Finally, got the pump working.  It is usually reliable but if you have a loose connection air will get in, or if you run out of gas - just more things to protract morning chores.  Not to mention this process takes time if all goes well, and when you add up the time required over months and years, you never want to implement something like this on a permanent basis.

Relying on equipment is never a good idea, avoid it whenever possible, the truck was on the way to pull the water trough to new pasture but... the water crossing was too high and I had to pull it out.

 

Or, there are those soft spots you've got to watch out for (I love our Toyota, all it needed was for something to drag it out so it could just keep going).

Besides getting stuck, parts break, like this intermediate drive shaft (new part is on the bottom).

 

Sure does feel good when it's finally installed and you're back in "bidness!"

Ultimately, paddock nirvana is the goal.  Look for how to incorporate natural sources of water (this stream is rocky and doesn't have banks that cattle will destroy) or a passive year round water system.  This pasture also has plenty of grass, a variety of forage and shade.  TJ made the decision to put them here after my great idea.

Now on to bonus material. We've also begun broilers for this year, except we're starting with smaller numbers.  Sammy can't wait to eat them (we actually recommend they be about seven weeks old and have spent a couple hours in the oven at 350 degrees).

We've also been given an opportunity to work with sheep.  In this pic we've finished corralling them in order to separate lambs from ewes.

Girl power shutting the recently separated lambs into a new paddock.  Tonya says she sleeps better knowing that this fencing is rated for Velociraptors.  Ain't nothing gettin in or outa that paddock!

Initial Pig Progress

Minor changes so far, besides the hat upgrade for Trins we've changed this activity to...

...bulk feed delivery, it saves $91 per ton (a "stop-gap" measure until we can get the pigs into bigger paddocks and save even more money after they are less dependent on feed)

"plus it tastes better"

Sammy making sure the pigs agree while assessing morale.

Cutting of surplus concrete grid reinforcement with bolt cutters to make additional temporary fencing.

They measure 16' x 8' and if cut in three sections you get 48 linear feet of fencing that is almost 3' high (sufficiently high to keep pigs in) but still heavy so as a bonus you get good exercise installing them.  These are going into the wood line so the pigs have access to shade (you need to offer them the means to cool down like in an area for them to wallow or shade since they don't sweat).

Once a new area is available, they don't waste any time entering it.  One immediately hears a slightly squeaky sound as they pull on grass and other plants with their mouths.

Here is portion of a long term paddock plan, still in draft.  Thought has been put into available forages, topology and efficiency - for example this area has a northern facing slope and for some reason is well disposed for huge oaks (which means these paddocks can be used for finishing the pigs on acorns in the fall), there is also a significant ravine on the north edge to be avoided (crossing ravines increases fencing costs in addition to engendering gaps) but I'm still able to define paddocks that are about 1 acre each.  The yellow lines are to be 20' removable gates to funnel pigs as needed and water troughs will be placed across the fencing that divides paddocks in order to maximize their use (as opposed to buying a trough for each paddock).

Now it's time for a break.  What's going on in the kitchen?

Get down from there! Can't focus on this post with plates dropping on the floor!

Where was I?  Oh yeah, about bees.  We had a visit from a bear (wasn't happy to find this).  Notice the comb has been scooped out and piled on the ground (it also left behind tracks).

All bee HOAs have now been upgraded to gated communities (used 16' x 8' grid cut into two sections, so fencing is 4' high), wrecked comb from the bear encounter is where it was originally dropped in the bottom right, the hive was put back together and now inside the fencing.  The resident bee keeper says it's not the honey that bears are after, apparently they like to munch on the brood.  A week later bees were still coming in and out of the damaged have.  I will be amazed if it survives, only 10-15% of the comb was left in it.

A Predicament For Pigs...

Imagine being confined in a room with no way out and no bathroom.  The only food are slices of Wonder Bread thrown in a bin once a day and water that is dirty enough to be confused with tea.  You are also with bunch of other people, including siblings, for weeks and now months... that would be horrible (and you don't have a smart phone either).

That’s the situation that needs to be resolved for almost 100 pigs.  They have been confined in various paddocks which are now denuded of desirable forages (this pen used to have a nice sward).  Allowing the extinction of all the plants and grasses will also hinder future recovery of this area - the wind will send topsoil airborne and when the rains come even more topsoil will leave with surface run-off.

Some paddocks are in better condition but still damaged.  In addition to the poor conditions a confinement model fosters, this particular situation has been unsustainable from a business perspective - the feed costs have been considerable.  They've also only been fed cracked corn which offers too much energy (analogous to Wonder Bread) and insufficient quantities of other essential nutrients like protein.

No... this isn't tea.  Access to water and its quality is essential to ensuring a pig's health.  This trough was the cleanest.  In one paddock it appeared that the pigs weren't thirsty but that was only because the float mechanism was hindered by debris and didn't allow sufficient water to flow to where they drink from.

One quick solution for halting the "bleeding" (i.e., lower or eliminate the feed costs) and improve their diet is to provide left overs from meals, or restaurant scraps.  But the state dictates that feeding leftovers or restaurant food to pigs is against the law.  The claim is that pigs can get sick from the food you or I eat – this has been done since time immemorial with domesticated pigs with no problem, so what's the real issue?  I suspect if the research is done one will discover that the large pork producers lobbied for such a law because it is an abundant resource available to small producers which would greatly reduce their costs and impact the market share of the large producers – a topic for another post.

What’s the solution then?  I think we're going to allow pigs to be pigs, by converting this system to one that allows them to forage as they normally would (also should eventually cut down on labor hours).  Sounds simple, but to implement this it takes research and thought to design paddocks that facilitate livestock management while allowing them to consume what they’re designed to eat without creating a lunar surface everywhere they go.  Once implemented the goal is to cut feed costs 85%.

We opened a small portion of fresh pasture to see what they would do - would they graze or root, and how long will it last?

The condition of that same area five days later. As you can see, they graze.  They only begin to root once the forage on top is depleted.

We plan on posting our progress. We’ve set some initial goals for the next six months but in the time being there is a lot to think about (or meditate on, and yes, for those wondering we’ve scheduled an appointment for Sammy with the Oracle). Now on to other (kind of) unrelated things as usual.

Tried to take a short cut thru some temporary electrified wire.  Idea was to lay a few posts down and drive over them.  Usually works but this time one of the wires caught on a steering component.  I told Sammy not to touch the wires and to leave that for...

...Pippi, who eventually touched the wire and discovered it was "hot."  It's always nice when someone else confirms.  I've noticed that 5-6,000 volts causes adults to involuntarily shout expletives.

Converting Grass to Food

The top right side of this pic would normally be cut by a lawn mower and the clippings placed in the trash or at best in a composter.  What amazes me is that a cow is a machine that converts this resource into milk, butter, cheese or meat.  The input costs are nothing other than the time required to implement sound pasture management practices.  In this pic we just apportioned a new section of yard/pasture for the cows by repositioning fence posts, running more electric wire and moving the water troughs (don’t forget to turn the fence energizer off or you’ll know what an AED feels like).  Size and time spent in an area depends upon the time of year, number of cows and condition of pasture.  Your lawn will not look as pretty as when cut by a lawn mower but… there is a special satisfaction from function staking - by having animals mow AND produce food.  (You apportion and rotate cows thru sections of your yard/pasture in order to maximize the productivity of grass.  If not managed cows will damage the pasture by only eating what is most appealing to them - it happens as the grass is re-bitten after trying to regrow after the initial bite. This is repeated and the grass' root stock then shrinks in proportion to its stalk height.  As the roots shrink more soil is available for less desirable or unpalatable species of grass and weeds so the best grasses in your pasture die off and the less desirable grasses or weeds take over).

Once the grass is converted to milk it is extracted by little kids.  It doesn’t matter if it’s raining.  The trampoline moves with the cows during very hot days to offer shade in paddocks where no trees are present.

If you’re really good at managing cows you’ll have a winter reserve pasture(s).  We had to supplement with hay.  This was a night time drop over the wire of a ~1000lb bale.

You can keep your bales exposed but we try to keep them covered if possible.  They also allow for kids to push each other off of them.  Looks cute but they are ruthless.  The fun stopped after Liberty got the air knocked out of her.  In this pic Keena is about to use Liberty as a step on her way to challenge Trinity.  (This is where I start to digress and this post eventually goes off the rails.)

Caleb used a different approach to feeding his hives this year.  He built these trays for Warré hives and filled them with heated liquid sugar.

The girls did very well at speech and debate this year, they cleaned up with a few of their friends.

It was cause enough for Trins to celebrate with a bottle of soy sauce even though she won fourth place.  Good thing she didn't win first place.

 

This pic was taken at the church where Caleb attends college.  Churches sure aren't made like this anymore.

This pic was taken at our church fellowship meal where we are members (in Caleb's church the stall partitions are made out of limestone).  It appears that Sammy and friends discovered that these lever activated fountains were useful for rinsing spoons.  A good reminder to pray for the Lord’s blessing upon your meal before eating.

Butter, Ergonomics and Recoil.

The grass is now green so the cows are ingesting a greater volume of nutrition which is reflected in the color of our butter. Living grass contains significantly more beta-carotene (offers antioxidant functions that limit damage to cells) and vitamins A and E when compared to a conventional corn fed dairy diet. Note the butter on the bottom is store bought and from European grass fed cows. I suspect it is paler from the cows being on winter pasture. Grass fed butter does not have trans fats and has a higher level of omega 3 fatty acid and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), these are beneficial fats our bodies need. Omega 3 can lower cholesterol, reduce high blood pressure, reduce joint pains, wrinkles and other skin ailments in addition to improving memory. CLA is an antioxidant that may have cancer fighting properties.

Here is the source of our butter and a wonderful moment. In this bucolic setting a little brother is helping his older brother with his milking chore. (In reality what Calvin sees is a little hand occasionally jut in from the other side of the cow and attempt to grab and squeeze while he’s trying to milk – it’s driving him crazy and Calvin keeps demanding “stop Sammy!”)

Here is a pic that's not related to anything except to help ease the transition to a completely unrelated topic:

Now on to the other completely unrelated topic: ergonomics and controlling recoil.

Have you ever handled a FNH SCAR? I recently did and noticed it was uncommonly comfortable, it essentially “fit like a glove.” It was easy to bring up to my line of sight (I didn’t have to move my head down to find the sights) and I could also bring it closer to the center of my body. AKs and many ARs were never that comfortable, so what is the difference?

It’s mostly the stock and the line of sight. The bottom of the stock is low (#2), it is almost even with the bottom of the pistol grip and the line of sight is very high (#3).  The stock also allows for an excellent cheek weld.

Not so with a conventional AK (nor as good as with an AR). Notice how much lower the line of site on this AK is compared to #3, if it only had the conventional iron sites it would be even lower... and in addition the stock is terrible.

But this can be fixed. Replace the furniture with a lower and shorter collapsible stock (from Tapco) and raise the line of sight with a rail from Samson Manufacturing (the RSR1) and a Burris optic and dimensions including the line of sight begin to approximate a SCAR's (the optic is farther out but that does not change the way it feels). It is much easier to handle compared to its former configuration.

I think the SCAR's dimensions better fit your posture in a high stress situation, which is with your head up and shoulders squared towards whatever a threat might be. Bringing the rifle in close (thanks to the collapsible stock) and closer to the center of your body (thanks to the lower butt and higher line of sight) also helps to better manage recoil (in combination with leaning slightly forward and bringing your elbows together).