Cavies are intelligent, interesting pets. They originated in South America and were first brought to Europe in the 16th Century. The second word in their scientific name, Cavia porcellus, means ‘little pig’ in Latin. Contrary to popular opinion, cavies are more closely related to chinchillas and por…
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Animal Profiles: Esther
Esther is one of our oldest Holstein milking cows. She was born in January 7, 2003, so she's just over 14 years old. She was a 4-H Calf in 2003, though she totally had a mind of her own. Most calves catch on to halter training really quickly. With Esther, it wasn't that she didn't understand how to …
An Introduction to Peacocks
Peacocks are one of the many types of poultry that we have on our farm. They make all kinds of crazy noises, but also add a lot of beauty to the farm.
The Peafowl is a type of poultry from the family Phasianidae. These are the birds with the beautiful iridescent blue and green feather…
Exposing Milk Ingredients
Geraniums: Sun or Shade?
These two Geraniums are different colors, but they live in the same size of pot, and came from the same 'end of season sale' ($0.99!) in late spring this year.
The difference is that one on the right has always lived inside on the bathroom counter. The other spent the summer outside on the porc…
Where do you get your facts from?
So we're done our first weekend at the Royal Winter Fair. It was a good weekend. We started by visiting some friends that we know in Toronto, then headed to the fair Sunday morning for the Youth Goat Show. Matthew placed 6th in Senior Showmanship, and 2nd in the Nubian goat class.
The nice …
Treats for Your Rabbit
At our farm, we really don't feed a lot of treats to the rabbits. Their diet is probably 98% rabbit pellets that are formulated for us by our vet and delivered in bulk direct from the Masterfeeds Elevator in Cavan. Rabbit pellets are the best nutrition for rabbits. They provide every…
Lambing in Cold Weather
As the weather starts to get colder, we all know that winter is coming. You may be one of those weird, unique people who actually enjoy the season. We don't.
Well, we enjoy looking outside at the beautiful snow, but don't enjoy being out in it. Having animals means we spend a lot of time outsi…
Dairy Goat Breeds
We've been working with our 4H Goat Club all summer, teaching them how to train and show their goat, and also helping them learn the facts they need to know for the show ring. Unlike most other types of animals, where only the handling of the animal is judged, goat judges ask the showpeople …
Saving Stuff for 'Crafts'
Are you guilty of this? You know that depression-era need to hoard everything for a rainy day? I think the concept worked well in the depression because people literally didn't have anything, but now in the affluent 21st century where a lot of us now live, storing up random bits of stuff is not as g…
When to Call For Help
Farmers are innovative, self motivated people who can problem solve like engineers. Much of the time, they can fix what's broken, and run their farms without a lot of outside help. There are certain things where farmers call in the experts though. This includes feed specialists who help balance the …
January 3 Closeup - Show Halters
So, I got a little busy over the weekend, and didn't get the answer to Sunday's close-up photo posted until now. The picture I posted is... a pile of leather show halters used for dairy or beef cattle.
While rope halters are very adjustable and can fit almost any animal, leather halters …
December 27th Close Up
Sooo, the answer to the first close up challenge is....
Brooklyn's Fur
Brooklyn was the Holstein x Fleckveih heifer we had at the Lansdowne Fair in 2015. This is picture of her and me, just after I won the talent show by singing 'Born to Fly' by Sara Evans.
I like this picture, because, w…
Jesus Has a Gift For You
Well, it's Christmas Eve here again, and while it might not feel like Christmas, given the grass, mud, springlike weather, and sunshine, it is Christmas Eve all the same.
We hope you're looking forward to a great few days with family and friends, celebrating the season of giving.
We especi…
Making Waffles at Home
Last time I bought waffles from the store, they were $1.99 for a package of 8. Since I got a waffle iron for Christmas last year, I’ve been making my own waffles at home and saving a lot of money. I haven’t gone through the unit costs of baking ingredients recently, but I estimate that my home waffl…
Debunking a Few Myths About Dairy Calves - Change.org Petition Part 2
So we’re back to discuss the Change.org article asking everyone to boycott the evil dairy farmers.
If you haven’t seen the actual article, it is here.
https://www.change.org/p/the-honourable-lawrence-macaulay-island-farms-stop-abuse-on-dairy-farms?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&u…
The Real Story on Dairy Cows - Or Why You Should Check Your Facts Before You Start a Petition
So months ago, I signed some sort of worthy petition that I don’t even remember the content of, and am now ‘on the mailing list’. This means I regularly get notices of new petitions from Change.org. Usually they are worthy causes, though I have not signed one since the initial one that got me on the…
The Three Reasons Why We Don't Mow Our Lawn
The picture that accompanies this post is looking out my back window this afternoon. The glare from the window makes it a not so great picture, but you get the idea. I heard their hoofbeats before I saw them, but I’m not worried, because yes, they are supposed to be at the back of my house.
The…
Claire - And Why Fleckveihs are Amazing
When we went to the Outdoor Farm Show for the first time in 2011, we were excited to see new stuff, like big tractors, innovative farm equipment, and robotic systems like the amazing Lely and DeLaval milking robots installed, and milking small herds of cows for the duration of the show.
We saw al…
Can You Trust God When You're Broke?
It’s easy to trust in God when things are going great. It’s also easy to tell people they should just trust in God when things are going bad. But, be real here, can you trust God when you’re broke?
I came to realize not all that long ago, that as long as my bills were paid, I was sort of in…