Coyote Ridge FarmsWelcome To Our New Blog

We will try to explain what this site is about, but we would like to send-out this notice before we lose your interest with our small-time, homesteader ramblings.

Small grain harvest is upon us, no doubt.  The other day I helped Farmer Mike with the swathing of his field of organic peas and barley, and today I planned on cutting our oats and wheat.  The problem is that it rained last night.  Not much, but enough (2/10th).  When I checked on the small grains in the morning, they were still on the damp side.  Why cut when it is wet, right?  The grains dry quicker when they are standing.

Since I was not able to head to the fields right away, I figured I would do a little work in the farm’s wine vineyard.  After 4 years, we finally have some grape vines that look like they may produce a few berries this year.  To help support these heavier, producing vines, a series of wires must be strung along each row.  Our rows of vines are 400+ ft long so 12.5 ga. high-tensile wire is necessary for the main support wire.  I was able to put wire up on four rows before lunch time.  The vines look so much better running along the wire.  Almost like a real vineyard… lol

After a quick bite to eat, I set out to swath the 12 acres of oats.  When that was completed, I was quick to start swathing the wheat cutting.  Our wheat field is 38 acres large.  I was not expecting to finish the swathing… and I did not get it done.  Of the 38 acres, I would guess I have a good 12-15 acres still standing.  I hope to complete that task in the early afternoon hours of tomorrow.

I keep watching the weather reports and the grain reports.  One looks better than the other.  When our part of the country seems to get rain [at least] once every 3 days, it’s the markets that seem most positive at this time.  In the last month, wheat prices have climbed nearly $1.50.  So that’s encouraging.  Last year, the prices hovered around $8, but $6.50 is better than $5.

The wildlife out here is prolific.  I chased hundreds of pheasants out of the oats and wheat – a true experience.  The best part of the evening was at around 7PM.  I was able to watch a lone deer stroll along the fields, nibbling on some of the freshly cut oats.  You don’t see this kind of the stuff in the city.  This solo doe didn’t seem to mind the noise of the swather… she was in no hurry.

The haying is done for now. This time I baled everything into small square bales for the goats (and Ruby, Madison’s mini horse) this winter. A big thanks goes to our wonderful neighbors who lets me use their old JD 24T baler whenever I need it.

I forgot to look at the bale counter to see how many bales I baled, but if I had to guess, I’d say we have approx. 300-350 in the loft now. This hay is mostly used for the nanny goats when they are in the birthing pens and for the little ones in the nurseries. If we had a skid loader I suppose round bales would be the ticket, but when you a lacking certain things for bale handling, the square bales work just fine.

For the most part I was the one to get the bales out of the field. Austin has a job, Madison doesn’t like driving the tractor on the steep hills and Carol has been busy getting her mother ready for her surgery date and then again, there is the occasional sales-barn auction. So.. when the mice are out playing, the cat (me) has to do the work when it needs to be done. This morning and early afternoon, I was able to load, unload and stack 3 hay racks of hay. Later, I was glad to have Austin & Carol helping collect the bales (when they could) and Austin & Madison doing the unloading while I stacked the hay in the loft. Haying is a real family event on this farm. The real labor saver was the the old homemade bale elevator that I pulled out of the woods. It works like a charm. I’m quite happy with it.

The next crop to command attention is the wheat. It is or is nearly ripe. It is such an attractive golden tan with the oats next to it just as golden as it could possibly be.

After the storms last night, the downed hay was to wet to rake. What to do, what to do? In the morning, I went out to the field of freshly baled hay. If I can’t rake or bale I might as well roll the bales on their side. If one rolls the bales so the twine stings are not facing the ground, the mice can’t chew on them. The bales were too damp to stack. Like the hay that was down in windrows, the bales also need to dry.

I then put the bale spear on the loader in front of the IH 560 and then hooked the 3 pt bale forks on the back. The small square bales may be too damp to put-up, but the 600lbs round bales of ditch hay were not. I was able to collect 15-20 grass/mix bales that I got baled on Saturday. Hopefully, we’ll get another cutting from the ditches this year. Typically, we get two cuttings but this year it looks like we may easily get 3. What a difference a year with rain makes.

Out of the woods on my grandparent’s old farm, AND after cutting down some trees that seemingly impale anything that sets undisturbed for too long, I was able to recover an old, homemade, 30ft, hay elevator that my dad must have purchased years before his death, in 2005. After getting it back to the farm here, Madison and I squirted every chain link with penetrating oil… then she tapped each link with a hammer to break the rust. My initial fear was that if/when I put power to the elevator the chain would break, but it didn’t. Wouldn’t you know it but the old thing ran like a charm. It’s safe to say this year we will have an elevator to use for putting hay in the hayloft. No more throwing the hay up into the loft, no, no, no…. no!

BTW: According to the data recorded on our home weather station, last night we had wind gusts topping 66mph and sustained winds of 55-58mph. The winds were so strong that it took the hood of the pickup and tossed it nearly 25 ft. east.

Some of you know that Carol grew up as a ‘Townie‘.  With that said, more folks know her as a farm gal.  But being on the farm for only 2 years, there are many experiences left to explore.

The last 2 days, Carol has found herself outside the ring of a couple local-ish livestock auctions, looking for goats & chickens.  It seems we are selling more livestock and poultry directly to our customers than we think we can replace sustainably.  It’s a good position to be in [business-wise] but we want all of our customers (present and future) to be able to buy the meat they want and still have a good selection in which to do so.  So, Carol has been looking primarily for more meat goats as well as a dairy goat or two… the last few weekends, we have been selling-out of raw goat milk too.

Well, today, Carol found a few things at one of the auctions she attended.  She did find some goats, but only dairy goats.  These goats will help improve her herd as she intends to cull some of her lesser quality milkers.  She also purchased a few more layer hens – yep… we have been selling out of eggs as well.  We have standing orders for 6-8 dozen and we haven’t been able to meet the demand.  My question to Carol, after she got home, was how does she know if she got hens that were actually going to lay for us.  It seems that when the hens lay eggs on the way home from the auction, chances are the hens are in good working order.  We’re both happy.  BTW:  You can buy our fresh eggs in Kerkhoven from Kristine at Inspiring Path Alternatives.

Another thing she bought was this little tool.   Or maybe I should say “little tools”.  She bought 2 cases of them.

Tote-N-Cut bale handling/feeding device

She may have paid too much for them… who knows.  But, we have one down in the barn, awaiting to be used.  It looks like it would be a handy thing to have around, but I guess the proof is in the pudding.  If you want one, contact Carol.  She’s selling them for only $2/each.  I tried to find some information about them on the Internet, but came-up empty.  As you can see, they are/were locally made… the question is “When?”

Carol also bought a Home Health brand home milk/juice pasteurizer, if for no other reason than to give folks a chance to experience or taste our farm-fresh dairy products without the worry of things made from raw milk as seeming weird.  Believe it or not, but some folks still think milk comes from a carton and not a cow or goat.  The pasteurizer Carol bought is a low temp unit.  Instead of heating the milk to 165°F for 15 seconds, it heats it to 145°F for 30 minutes.  The lower heat process does not kill all the helpful/healthful micro-organisms, like the beneficial pro-biotics… just the bad (if the milk were not handled properly).  The price of this handy-dandy appliance was 50¢, minus the 25¢ worth of puzzles she sold [that came with the pasteurizer].  Once home, we tested the Home Health pasteurizer and it seems to work perfectly.  If you would like to taste some pasteurized goat milk or goat milk cheese, let Carol know before heading out to the farm.  Of course, our goat milk soap does not need pasteurized milk – soap is soap (even if it is weird).

Carol knew what to do.  She started canning jam.  She had a few flats of strawberries and some stalks of rhubarb that needed to be preserved so she made 9½ pints of strawberry-blackberry jam, and the same amount of strawberry-rhubarb jam.  She then made some cheddar cheese from our raw goat milk.

I, on the other hand, went outside in between rain showers to do a little of this, then a little of that.  One of the tasks was to pound a single post in the vineyard.  Carol and I decided it was time to reinvest some of our time back into the grapes.  We want to string high-tensile wire between the posts for the vines to cling to.  We’re hoping to have better luck with the grapes this year.  Last year we were hit by hail.  The storm took the vines down to the ground.

Tonight, Carol and a friend went to the livestock auction in Hutchinson, MN.  Carol set out to buy some meat goats, if there were some available at an affordable price… we’ve been selling quite a few goats here at the farm and felt we want to give our customers a good selection in which to choose from.  This will be Carol’s first livestock auction experience.

… and inspected.

For the most part, I had the fencing project [north of the creek] done yesterday.  But today I added the finishing touches by installing temporary gates to the paddock entrances.   Just before that, I called my local Natural Resource and Conservation Service (NRCS) official and asked him if we could schedule an inspection time/date.  He said, “How about 1:00 PM today?”  My response was, “Um, OK.”  That’s when I put the temp. gates in place and connected the fencer unit.  And right on time, the NRCS guy pulled into the drive.

On an aerial map, I showed him what fences I built/completed and how to get out to the newly installed paddocks.  Roughly a half an hour later, he and his assistant were gone.  I’m hoping everything met government specifications.  That’s how I built the stuff.  I even built it better than what was called for.  While I was fixing the fencing for the goats and sheep (on the south side of the creek) I could see that the inspectors were photographing my fencing – and admiring it, I’m sure.  Once they were gone, the rains came… again.   So far this month, we have had 13 days with precipitation and only 2 day without.  What a change from last year.

Here’s hoping the fencing passed inspection.  Whatever the case, the Scottish Highlander cattle are in some tall grass now.  In some areas of the paddocks, I could only see horns and tail.  I’m assuming all the other parts, in between, are there as well.

The day was cool and rainy, but that didn’t stop our visitors from coming out from St Cloud, MN.  Visitors?  I should say new farm customers.  Three younger fellows searched the Internet for goat meat and our farm came up in the search engines.  We were the closest.

These gentleman were transplants from Kenya, they said… two of them going to school at St Cloud State Univ. and the other at Mankato, MN – all cousins.  They wanted a nice goat or two for a BBQ.  It seems their grandparents would be visiting the United States for the very first time and the boys wanted to make it extra special for them.  These guys were as polite as could be and seemed very appreciative for letting them buy some of our animals for butchering.  Along with 2 goats, they also purchased 3 chickens and 8 dozen eggs.  All three guys mentioned how much better true, farm-raised food tasted, compared to the stuff one normally finds in the super-markets.  The one cousin mentioned he loved our farm, with the variety of animals.  He said it reminded him of the farm he grew-up, 10 years earlier.  He smiled as he said, “I feel at home here.”  He, too, had chickens that were allowed to free-range about the farm.  He expressed to me that he was looking forward to eating one of the chickens as soon as possible.  “The birds in the grocery store are soggy,” he said.  He also commented that farm birds have so much more flavor than the chicken found in the stores and even the eggs taste better.

When they guys were done butchering the goats and chickens, they cleaned-up their mess.  In fact, it was hard to tell they had even been here – not even a feather from the chicken could be found.  They were super neat.  It was a joy to speak with them while they were here.

I sure hope nobody comes out looking for eggs today – we’re sold out.

After helping the neighbors with chores this morning, I was in the mood to do a little fencing… why not!?  I’m awake already and it looked as though rain was on its way.  “Gitter-done.”

I quick loaded 4 cattle panels onto an old hay-rack.   Recently, I have been using this type of cattle panel as semi-permanent gates.  Today would be no exception.  Once loaded and hooked up to the pick-up, I headed to the new pasture area, north of the creek.  Within 45 minutes, all 4 gates were in place and the new 10 acre pasture was now secure and could be used for grazing.

With only a few odds-n-ends to take care of, the Highlanders will be able to cross the creek to enjoy the waiting pasture grasses in an hour or two.  The main task to take care of was the transitioning of the old fence with the new and to make sure the fence wires that crossed the creek were still intact.  The time it took to do this was much less than I thought – easy-shmeezy.  It was now time to let the cattle out (or in, depending on your perspective)… or at least let them know they were able to access the crossing area of the creek.

Once I located most of the cattle, it was time to call them.  Within seconds I have a half dozen, long-horned, cows and heifers running and bucking in my direction.  They know that when I call them it is time to move to new grass… and they were more than a little excited.  Horns were flailing and mud was flying.  Once they got to me, they settled down a little, but when I heard the pounding of hooves, I was quick to turn around to see if they were gunning for me or not.

The cattle waited for me to walk though the gate opening near the crossing before approaching the creek bank themselves.  As they started to eat the grass, I could hear a faint “moooo.”  I looked to the east but couldn’t see anything in the old pasture… then I heard another call.  It was LaVerne and she was running towards me like a big red locomotive.  Apparently, she saw the others eating the grass and she wanted some of that action as well.  Within seconds, she approached the crossing and was ripping the tall dark green grass from the bank, with her mouth.

As the highlander cows and heifers devoured the grassy bank, it started to rain.  I had hoped the girls would cross the creek while I was standing there.  Instead, I simply got wet.  It seemed they were quite content where they were.  Hopefully, they will find their way across the waterway before too long… and w/o incident.  Once out on the north side of the creek, I feel confident they will stay there… it’s the crossing area that concerns me.  Winter was not kind to this portion of the fence line and it was/is a bit entangled and full of duck weed and old cat-tails.   Soaking wet, I headed to the house with fingers crossed.

I received a call this morning. It was a gentleman who identified himself as Mark, from Minnesota Public Radio (MPR)  The main topic, being the raw milk issue in Minnesota, which is just now making it to the national new services.

This is the 2nd interview I have participated in with MPR.  The first being in May… again on the subject of raw milk.  Today’s interview focused on the reaction that we have seen from our raw milk customers.  As I told Mark, Carol and I have not seen an increase or decrease of our raw milk sales, nor have we heard any concern from customers with regards the general safety and/or hazards of raw milk.  I told the MPR reporter that many people have yet to hear about the raw milk issue(s) of the Hartmann farm that has been in the news lately.

When asked about how we would describe our milk customers, I also mentioned that our customer base cannot be put into any one group (other than being raw milk drinkers).  I let Mark know that we sell raw milk to educators associated with the University of Minnesota, wealthy area families… as well as those who once drank raw goat milk when they were growing up and have simply missed the taste of the product.  As I mentioned in my previous MPR interview, our family started drinking raw milk due to the complications associated with Asthma that our daughter, Madison, experiences.  Since drinking raw milk, her asthma symptoms have decreased from monthly (sometimes weekly) to less than bi-monthly.  That is ultimately the reason why we got involved with dairy goats.  We thought a cow would produce too much milk for our family… a goat or two would be perfect.  Since we started raising and milking goats, folks have found us and have purchased our raw goat milk.  We may not make much money selling goat milk, but the sale of the milk does help pay for the goat’s feed and care.

As a side-note… goat milk makes some of the best homemade kefir, cheeses and ice creams we have ever tasted.  Carol is getting quite good at making it.  It truly is some of the most delicious products we have ever eaten.  Our family drinks raw milk everyday and we believe we are living a healthier lifestyle because of it.

Although not much will be gotten done today, we are enjoying the sounds of the much needed rain.  It is so appreciated.

Carol, Madison & I buckled-down and got to the task of constructing the high-tunnel.  We ran string-line to make sure we had a level building site.  It turned out the one corner of the high-tunnel will be trenched approx. 14″ into the garden bed (hill-side).  Where we placed the building, we thought was the most level area on the farm for it.  We had no idea it was so ‘off.’

The girls laid out the structure’s frame work on the ground, where I then assembled the individual framing units.  Later, Carol and I lifted 2 of the frames into place, over the ground stakes.  Not knowing if the wind would pick-up, we assembled the cross frame supports , tying the 2 pieces together.  It should keep the frame from blowing over.

This morning was beautiful – warm, with a nice breeze.  Although we had a birthday party to attend, I headed out, north of the creek to get a couple of hours of fencing.  By hand, I finished pounding in the remaining T-posts… approx. 25.  In the box of the pick-up, I had a few bags of pin-lock insulators, so I installed those as well.  I got back to the house in plenty of time for the party.

After coming home from the birthday party, I went straight to work on the new fencing again.  I finished the installation of the insulators… then I ran the high-tensile wires.  In a few short hours the job was completed.  I do have a few wood posts I need to get pounded into the ground on the ends of the paddock, before calling the pasture ready for cattle.  I had time to pound post.  Unfortunately,  the tractor I use for driving posts had a flat front tire.  Needless-to-say, that’ll need t be fixed.

All-in-all, it was a great Sunday.  A good day to be alive.

Carol, the girls and I headed south to the Granite Falls, MN area.  Our mission was to look at a Scottish Highlander bull that we’re interested in leasing for the summer.  We heard of this bull (name Curly) from Farmer Mike, who called me last week.  He asked if we’d found a sire for our four cows.  When I regretfully told him no, he mentioned he had gotten a phone call from a fellow farmer and among other things, this farmer asked if we had gotten a bull for the summer.  It seems the guy’s aunt had a Highlander that she may be willing to lease… and that’s how we got to this point.

The ranch we visited belonged to a gal named Terry (of Red Tail Valley Beef), who raises grass fed Angus/Highlander beef for direct marketing to [I believe] restaurants in the Metro area.  She was a lovely human being with a real passion for what she was doing on her ranch.  Her small spread was nestled in a river valley, with grass as far as the eye could see.  It was a wonderful site… like a mini version of the ranch on the old TV show Bonanza.  As we drove onto the place, Carol mentioned to me that she recognized Terry from an Organic Seminar we attended a year or two ago.  Anyway, after some light chit-chat, she escorted us to the pasture to “meet” Curly.  We first walked past some of her beef cows… a few with calves and then there was Curly.  WOW!  What a handsome little bull.  Immediately, we could tell how he came upon his name.  His forelocks were more curls than long hair.  He was dun in color.  I say he was a “little bull” only because when one thinks of bulls, we think of massive, almost monstrous creatures, but Curly was not that.  He’s a Highlander and as Highlanders should be… he was smaller in size, especially compared to Terry’s cows.

The size of Curly impressed me.  As most folks, who know me, know that I’m not a real big fan of large animals.  Big cattle are less efficient, harder to maintain if things get tough and they don’t dress-out as well as smaller cattle.  Large cattle have a higher ratio of bone and gut (waste) to meat than do smaller creatures.  Personally, I believe it’s easier to sell a small amount of beef than it is to sell lots.  If you want a half of beef, I think one can find room in the deep freeze for 300 lbs of meat much easier than 450 lbs.  Smaller is better. And Curly was small… just right for our cows.

After leaving the pasture, we talked about what she wanted from us for leasing her bull.  I asked if she still thought $25/cow was enough.  She thought it was fair… but after a few seconds of thought, she changed her mind.  She asked if we raised turkey… we said we did.  She mentioned how she would be interested in one of our free-range, heritage turkeys for Thanksgiving (instead of a store-bought bird).  She also thought some lamb-chops would be good too.  It seems as though $$$ is over-rated, but we all need food.  Score another point for team barter.  One could say we are trading beef for turkey and lamb.

After we got back from or little road trip, I headed north of the creek to do a few more hours of fencing.  I know have the wires on the east side of the paddock up… not all the insulators are on the posts yet, but the wires are there.  I also had time to finish all my H-post assemblies on the north side of the paddock.  I have more work to do on this side… like measure and mark the positions of the T-posts, install the insulators and then run my wires.  It sure is exciting to see this phase of fencing draw nearer to the end.  Once the perimeter is fenced in, I think I will let the cattle start grazing this area as I subdivide it into 3 smaller paddocks.  The grass right now is quite tall.  A little grazing over the entire pasture will do it some good.

The girls, with friends, went to an annual rabbit show in Hutchinson, MN. on Saturday.  No biggy, right?  Right.  But, on their way back home (I think) they stopped-in on some garage sales.  This is what they found.

Carol Found This Book At A Garage Sale

Who says you can’t get anything for a quarter these days?  Carol bought this little gem for only 25¢.

When we first started making soap at home, this was one of the books Carol checked-out from our local library.  In our area, this publication can’t found in book stores.  I think Amazon has it for $13-14.  Needless to say, it was quite the unexpected find.