Green

First of all, apologies to our friends to the East, who have this:

Here in the Pacific Northwest, things look a little different. About this time of year, Mother Nature says, Ding! Your grass is ready to eat!

 

Sprouted Grain Fodder Mats, Done Simply

Another class I enjoyed at last week’s Focus on Farming conference was one taught by David Capocci, who owns Paca Pride Guest Ranch in Arlington- a small alpaca farm and camping destination. David talked about his experimentation with sprouted grains as fodder. David is an engineer and farmer- right up my alley!

A while back, I had attended a class somewhere, where a pastured pork farmer talked about purchasing a turnkey trailer system which could grow large volumes of sprouted seed fodder for livestock. It sounded really cool, except for the price tag- around $30K! David wondered if he could do something like that with simple plastic grow trays on a wooden bookshelf with a light bulb and a basic water pump on a timer. And proved that yes, you can! No fancy trailer required!

 

In Search of Alternative Feeds for Chickens

I went to Focus on Farming again this year, and enjoyed it, as usual. Sometimes there is a session where no class jumps out at me as a “must hear,” so I just randomly pick something, and end up finding it really interesting. The first one of these was a class called Locally Sourced Grains for Poultry Production. It was taught by James Hermes, Extension Poultry specialist at OSU. In fact, he’s the only Extension Poultry Specialist in the West; and the last one hired since the ‘80s.

 

Guest Post from Art @ The Art of Milk!

Hey folks, a treat for today~ a few weeks ago, I posted about being excited to learn that there was a new raw milk dairy near me. The post generated a LOT of discussion, speculation and opinions- more than usual, by far! In retrospect, I realize as some were speculating about the farmer himself, I regret that it didn’t occur to me then, well, why don’t we just ask him?

Art Groeneweg, the owner, happened upon the post, and was watchin’ for me when I pulled up last weekend to buy my milk. We had a great talk, I am endlessly fascinated by the whole subject; from the realities that farming has to change from the “standard way” in order for farmers to keep making a living, to some of his dairy peers thinking he’s gone crazy, to the fact that Art feels his cows are calmer and easier to handle now that they’re not amped up on grain anymore. It’s truly insightful to learn from someone who has a long family history of dairying, who can remember the “old way” it was done, but knows the modern conventions backwards and forwards as well.

Art offered to address some of the comments and questions that came up in the last post. And he promised to answer more questions- but in due time; he’s not a blogging junkie like some of us who read every day!

 

140 Bags ‘O Feed in the Barn

Last year was the first year I was equipped to buy grain in bulk. I price-compared the two feed mills closest to me- close being a relative term. Wolfkill in Stanwood turned out to be cheaper than Conway Feed, so that’s where I went. Either place is about a 45 minute drive for me.

This year, Wolfkill has closed down and Conway’s prices are still high. And of course, higher than last year. I need more grain than last year, so was looking at making two trips to Conway, which pretty much kills a whole weekday and uses a lot of gas in our flatbed truck. There is Cargill in Burlington (even further), and I did call them; but the salesperson promised to call back with pricing, and never did. What to do…