We have a small hog barn with a concrete floor and access to a separate pasture. Sara Silva brought over two Tamworth sows, both pregnant. They seem pretty happy with the wet and muddy conditions. It’s amazing to see their powerful noses turn the ground over, rooting around for grubs and worms.
The Tamworth is “a rugged, thrifty, very active breed” and it is a “lean-type hog” with the “reputation of producing the best bacon of any breed.” (okstate.edu, “Breeds of Livestock.”)
Sara arrived with some eggs to feed the sows.
I found another lamb dead in the pasture this morning. It is very disturbing. We’ve lost three of our four lambs this spring. I hoped they were big enough now not to be attacked by a predator. After I found it, I watched its mother and the other lamb cross the pasture to look at dead lamb and see if it would come back to life. I watched it with the same forlorn hope.
We think it must be a mountain lion. There were deep puncture wounds under both eyes. A neighbor had lost two lambs to a mountain lion last year. I’m not sure whether to show this disturbing photo that Milo took but it is compelling evidence. The image has a “terrible beauty,” to use the title of Leon Uris’s book on Ireland.
I don’t know what to do now. How can you keep a mountain lion out? We moved the sheep into a different pasture. Our dogs are away this week (because Nancy is travelling), although the previous attacks occurred when the dogs were here. One suggestion was to have the dogs mark the pastures and that the scent might keep the mountain lion away. We’ll look into electrifying the top of the perimeter fence.
We are also nursing a duck back to health. Last week, he was attacked, which was likely a raccoon. The feathers along the ridge of his back had been stripped and his skin was very red. Ben found him and his girlfriend, Sarah, knew what to do, putting the duck in the smallest box she could find. He stayed there for a full day overcoming shock. Now he’s in a barn stall and each day he seems to improve.
A much more pleasant development is that Sara Silva has moved her 300 chickens and Eggstream trailer into the orchard. We’ll be moving chickens around to mow the high grass for several weeks. The Rhode Island Reds, Plymouth Rock and Leghorns are proficient grazers, plus they provide fertilizer. It’s quite rainy and when it rains the chickens hide underneath the trailer and then rush out the moment the rain stops.
The chickens are protected by an electric fence, which Sara says has always worked for her. Today, she collected 210 eggs from the hens. They seem to like their new digs, not knowing what is happening elsewhere on Pillow Rancho.
This morning one of ewes was bleating sadly. I knew something was wrong. When I looked in the pasture, I saw one of the black lambs was missing. I hoped it was still asleep in the shed.
I found it in far end of the pasture, alerted to its location by a turkey buzzard sitting on the fence nearby. The lamb had been attacked by a predator and eviscerated. It’s a disturbing sight – the open ribcage, the body cavity covered in blood, the deep black of its wool and its delicate head on the ground, eyes open.
We have a five-foot tall fence around the pasture. It is sufficient to keep out a dog or a coyote. It could have been a bobcat. The lamb could have died from another cause and the buzzard ripped it open. Last week, we’d lost another lamb, a white one. It was probably the same cause, although I didn’t see it myself.
I will move the lambs into a pen in the shed during the night. Yet I know there’s something out there that threatens the lambs and will return.
This morning when I got up it was twenty-six degrees. Just a few weeks ago the temperature had reached eighty degrees. The heat activated the jonquils and the fruit trees in the yard. The plums trees are covered in fragile white blossoms when the freeze hit. The north wind blows the petals away.
At Pillow Road, February is the cruellest month.
I harvested some red and yellow beets and carrots that were planted in the Fall. I sautéed the beet greens with garlic.
Milo is holding one of the two new lambs born this week. We have two white, two black; two are males, two females.
I came back from the my trip back East to find a new pair of lambs in the pasture. One of them has a patch of white on his black head. What a wonder!
The rain sensor on the weather station (Vantage Pro 2 from Davisnet.com) has not been working.
I wrote Davisnet and they sent me a replacement part — a reed switch, which is a magnetic sensor. It’s small. I had to solder the ends of the reed switch to a pair of wires. It wasn’t easy. It’s a tiny space and I was doing the soldering outside. I needed another pair of hands.
However, I do now understand how the rain sensor works. Water is collected by a funnel and it drops into one of two cups. When the cup is full, the cup tips over, dropping the water while a second cup rises into position. At the bottom of the mechanism holding the two cups is a magnet; each time the cups swap position the magnet swings over the reed switch and it signals an increment of 1/10th of inch of rain has fallen.
I tested out the new switch and it seems to be working. Unfortunately, the weather station is reporting rain today, so now I have to figure out how to zero out this data.
What to do with leftover homemade chicken noodle soup, beef stew or deli meat that is one or two days past expiration? Do you throw away organ meats bagged inside whole turkeys or chickens? Instead, you might put 2-3 cups in the blender/food processor and add applesauce, canned pumpkin or sweet potato until it purees into a batter texture. If a handful of parsley, greens, spinach or mint is added to freshen breath and improve dental health, even better. Keep some bacon grease in the refrigerator, add a tablespoon or two to poultry based purees for texture and added taste.
Pour the batter onto sheets and put in the dehydrator for several hours until dry and crisp. You’ll have meaty pet treats that don’t require refrigeration and last for months. Compare ingredients to commercial products and you will feel much better about homemade healthy treats. For example, a PetSmart dog cookie lists wheat flour, corn syrup, palm oil, honey, yogurt and 5 artificial colors. The above sample lists organic turkey, applesauce, sweet potato and parsley. Quite a difference. And I deprived the garbage disposal/septic system of a daily meal grinding up my food dollars.
Exercise CAUTION using only slightly outdated food, whole foods rather than processed food or general table scraps and very little dairy for dog treats. Use little or no baked goods, refined flour snacks, bones, raw eggs or dessert foods. Don’t think of it as the “kitchen sink” but rather an extended use for whole food entrees that would otherwise be discarded. And set the dehydrator on the highest temp (around 160 degrees) so the meat content is completely dried like jerky and will not spoil.
If you process leftovers throughout the year, you will have extras for creative pet treat gift packages for the holidays or hostess gifts. Your pet friends will sincerely thank you for economical healthy snack treats.
I had a good look at the steer this morning as I came to feed him and the sheep. Needless to say, he had a good look at me, too. He was wondering why it took me so long.
I met neighbor Marc Felton on Friday and walked around his ranch to see his chickens, pigs and Barbados sheep. He also has a flock of heritage turkeys that he was about to make ready for Christmas dinner. I put my order in.
The flock, no doubt hungry came right up to us. The silver/grey breed was particularly beautiful. The whole flock would gobble as a chorus, shivering their feathers and stretching their necks skyward to make the sound, which started and ended precisely in sync.
