Hello again everyone, it's boxing day! Or it was 2 hours ago. I'm trying to push my internal clock forward for the graveyard shift tomorrow, so I'm up late.
We've had a mix of good and bad times, mostly good of course. The bad stuff isn't much, mainly automobile problems. I had to spend a gob of money on tie rods, and the car is still making some strange noises from the suspension and steering area. I couldn't do the work myself without a very expensive tool, and I needed my car on the road right away.
On Christmas Eve, as I was on my way home from work at about midnight, I was coming around a corner that I KNEW was icy, so I slowed down...but not enough. The road was a thin sheet of ice, and the car started whirling around like a retarded ballerina! I ended up off the road at a rather steep point, facing straight down into the ditch. Someone passing by stopped to offer help, and ended up giving me a ride home (Thanks again, Steve and Samantha!)
Lucky for me, my mother has AMA, so she had a two truck out there today, and I'm out! He pulled my car out by one of the back tires, so I'm not sure if that can cause damage...hopefully not.
With Christmas past, and the days actually getting longer, I've started dreaming of gardens and livestock again. I did a mountain of research into cattle, and I figure I've got 3 choices. One, wait till fall, buy 6-7 weaned calves for about $500 each, feed them through winter on whatever forage they can reach, and perhaps a little hay, and butcher in fall of 2011, selling the beef in sides. Option 2, buy as many cow/calf pairs as I can in March/April, and sell the calves off in 2011 as per option 1. Then, rebreed the mothers and repeat ad infinitum.
Option 3, and a very risky type of option, but with the highest potential for profit. Get a few bottle calves, and try keep them alive long enough to eat forage. It's a lot of work, but the calves can be had for under $100 in most cases! We'll see....I think a mix of Options 1 and 2 are probably best, if I can come up with a decent bit of cash.
I've also got some designs on a market garden, scaled up from last year. The things that really did well, carrots, peas, sunflowers, a different variety of bean, onions, and strawberries, will be the only things I grow. The peas will be grown behind something that will block a lot of light, as that seemed to be the way they grew best. The peas that were in 70% shade last year produced a TON of pods, which decreased for the plants which were getting longer light.
I would also like to get the pit greenhouse covered, and at least a small portion of it planted to something.
I will be planting in rows, after I burn off the vegetation on about 50x20 feet of space. I literally mean "burn" as in flames! I will have buckets of water ready...don't panic now. I have no plans to rototill the ground, except to hack a narrow bit out and place the seeds directly into it. There are a lot of thistle roots in the ground, but they get worse when you cut the roots, or bring them to the surface.
I will certainly need some way to control the weeds, and wheel hoe looks like the best and fastest way. If you've never seen one in action, look it up on YouTube, it's an amazing little tool, if not a bit pricey. A really good one is $350 or more, and then you can get different attachments for them that would cost more. Still not as much as just one weaned calf tho.
Right now, the wind is blowing like mad, which of course means free electricity for us! I have a pretty large list of things to do tomorrow, including water hauling, and wood cutting....unfortunately, the fun and games never end out here, but at least the house is warm for free!
Take care, and happy new year!
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2 comments:
Hi there, I stumbled across this blog through a friend and have found it to be quite interesting... it appears as though you have many great ideas, however I do wonder how much you have looked into this cattle operation? Cattle require a great deal of care through the winter including feed, water and bedding, as well as shelter from the elements in the winter... I think you do need to do a little more research into cattle... Good luck with your garden this summer sounds interesting and I look forward to hearing more about it... Posting more often would be great!
Thanks for the comment, I guess I would post more often if I really knew there were some people reading, and it looks like there are!
As it goes, I have looked into cattle a great deal, and you are correct about what cattle need, but you will probably be surprised to know that a snow covered grassfield has 3 of the 4 needs already present. Cattle can eat snow for water, they will dig down through 10 inches to reach uncut grass, and they will bed in fresh snow, but not ice or mud. A portable wind fence on wheels, as well as a long string of snow fencing will keep the wind chill off. This is how cattle have survived for thousands of years before they were domesticated!
The last century has seen a proliferation of cattle producers who feed cut hay all winter long, but there is a large body of research that demonstrates what I just mentioned. Look at www.foragebeef.ca, under Extended Grazing.
A lot of the things I plan to do out here are unconventional, but they are all proven to work, and if they aren't, maybe I'll be the one to prove or disprove it.
Thanks for the comment, I will try and post more often!
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