Coyote Ridge FarmsWelcome To Our Rural 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.

Around 2:20 this afternoon, I could hear a truck pull into the yard.  I was working on the corn planter, so I couldn’t see who or what it was… but I was hoping it was Larry Kidrowski, with his excavator.  As I was walking towards the house, my phone started to ring.  It was Carol.  As soon as I heard the ring-tone, I figured it was Carol, telling me that Kidrowski was here.  It was a correct assumption.

Larry Kidrowski's Excavator

Larry was hired to do the digging of the basement (house is in the background).  Although the mason that we hired doesn’t want the hole dug for the basement for a week or so, Larry mentioned that he might have some labor show-up on Saturday to dig stumps.  With the stumps gone, the digging of the foundation should go relatively quick and easy.

Carol ran some errands in Willmar today.  She picked-up some much needed and important things for me – a tractor tire inner tube, fencing insulators, electrical polytape, isolated fencing handles, beer and Papa Murphy’s pizza.

On her way out of town, she stopped into the county office building.  A couple days ago we got a call stating the farm’s building permits were approved and could be paid for, so today Carol did.  I must say, the permits are expensive in this county.  It cost the farm $1100… but here they are.

Building Permits

What next?  Get the excavator out here to start digging a hole.  We hired Larry Kidrowski for that project.  He done excavation work for us in the past.  Larry has also done work with the masonry and construction contractor that we hired.  For the basement construction/masonry – we’ll have Matt Haats do that for us… and for the house’s framing needs, we’ll hire Joel Johnson.  I’ve known Joel since high school… he’s also our neighbor (just across the section).

Carol and I had a meeting yesterday morning at an area FSA office.  Meeting us there was farm advocate and Land Stewardship Project’s (LSP) board member, Lou Ann Kling.  We met was with Michael J. Forsberg – Farm Loan Manager, at the Benson, MN FSA office.

The meeting started with a brief explanation of our situation and why we are seeking loan money.  Since Carol and I have been farming for less than 10 years, we are considered beginning farmers.  With that in mind, Mr. Forsberg went over the FSA loan program(s) that would best fit our financial needs.  He discussed loan rates, terms and fund uses.  He was very thorough and pleasant.  He did mention his concern with the farm being in a trust and how the FSA rules, as he understood them, does not allow for a trust to receive a loan.  The loans can only be awarded to owner-operators and his rhetorical question was simple, “How can a trust operate a farm?!“  Good point.  Mike said he would speak with higher-ups and see if there was a way for the trust to qualify for a loan.

As usual, I ordered my seed later than I should have.  It still hasn’t gotten here.

We’ve been in the fields, but not as much as we would like.  For awhile, most folks in this area were a bit worried that we may be experiencing a serious drought.  As of the end of March, we hadn’t got much for moisture since the end of July 2012 – very little snow and just a few showers.  We did get about and inch in the beginning of April.  The advice I was given was by friends and neighbors at that time was, “don’t work the fields unless your going to plant.“  A person needs to conserve the moisture and one needs the seed to be in contact with the moist soil.  In a typical year, rain will do that job and there is little to worry about.

Today, Carol and I made our way to the county office building to get the ball rolling on the farm’s new [to us] house.  We dropped off the permit application, site plan, building plan (floor plans, section drawings, and dimensions), and the septic compliance papers.  All of these documents are needed in order to move in a used house.

We were told that it has been taking approx. 10 days for the permits to be approved.  We’re hoping we included all the paper-work needed for this to move through the system smoothly.  There was no mention of elevation drawings being needed… but, just in case they are needed, we have been working on those as well.

Below, are the drawings, thus far.

Front of house

Side of house

Back of House

To say this post will be simple may be an understatement.  It’s about rain.

From a townie’s point of view, we’ve had a sucky weekend and maybe an even a suckier (if that’s even a real word?) forecast for the week.  But from a farmer’s point of view, it’s heaven.  It’s been dry out here and we need the moisture bad.  Except for two days giving us a less than ½” of rain each, about 3-4 weeks ago, we really haven’t had much pecipitation since August.  Our winter season snow was minimal, if that.  And our spring has been feeling more like summer – sunny, warm and dry.

Since the 5th of the month, we’ve been watching two of the farm’s Scottish Highlanders for signs of calving.  9 months ago, on June 28th, we brought home our new bull, Eldorado.  Well, we’re happy to announce that one of our big red cows (Sammy) dropped the first calve of the season.  She apparently had a trouble free birth.  When found, the calf was dried-off, had pooped and was quick getting to his feet.  That’s right “his” feet.  Sammy had a bull calf.

The 1st Calf Of The Season

Last year, Sammy wasn’t so lucky.  Although she, again, had the first calf of the season, she delivered prematurely and the calf was dead.  She had a little heifer calf – the same color as this year’s calf.  So, even though she had a bull calf this year, we were excited to see a living, breathing and on-time calf.  We’re thinking of naming him Conway.  The name is Gaelic in origin, and the meaning of Conway is “hound of the plain“.  In our area that would be a reference to a coyote, which we have plenty of.

June 28th of last year, we purchased Eldorado, the farm’s AHCH (American Highland Cattle Association) registered Scottish Highland bull.   It was that same day when we turned him out with our cows and older heifers.

Tomorrow, and the following weeks, we will be watching for calves.

For the longest time, we were thinking we either had an American Guinea Hog boar that was no good, or we had a sterile gilt.  Last year, the farm purchased a breeding trio and in December, we had our first litter.  Mathematically speaking, the gilt that had the pigs (Curly Sue) wasn’t bred by the boar we had paid for… and brought home.

The other gilt (Jane), who looked pregnant (nearly all the time) still had not had her pigs.  That’s the reason we thought either she was no good or the boar was no good.  Well. we’re happy to say that we know for certain, that both the gilt and the boar are both able to produce.  We no longer need to wonder.

Jane finally has her piglets

As many of you know, Carol & I have been toying with the idea of putting a commercial dairy [back] on the farm as a business enterprise.  The girls (Carol and daughter Madison) have been milking goats on a small-scale for a few years now.  Last year we even tried milking the farm’s 16 yr old Scottish Highlander cow – we didn’t get too far, as it was obvious our old cow couldn’t produce enough milk for both her calf (Mac) and us.  We’ve even tried milking sheep.  These animals have all been milked by hand – no machines.  We do have milker units and a small vacuum pump, but decided our dairy critters didn’t produce enough milk to warrant the effort and expense of cleaning the equipment everyday.  Hands are easy to wash.