A Dirty Job at Barn Dance Farm

Am I:

A.  Testing personal protection equipment for a doomsday scenario

B.  Cleaning our front yard after two dogs have spent the winter using it as their bathroom

C.  Freshening up the chicken coop

I'm sure you guessed it, C is the correct answer.  The chicken coop was getting a little ripe with our little bit of warmer weather.  This was our first winter with the chickens and I suspect they spent more time inside than they will in future winters.  Spending more time inside the coop meant that they were depositing all their composting gold in there as opposed to outside on the ground.

The average chicken will create about 8-10 pounds of manure per month.  After some quick math I realized that, with 52 chickens, I have a lot of manure.  The great part is that the manure plus the straw bedding will create wonderful organic manner.  It has a perfect mixture of carbon and nitrogen that will be the start of an excellent garden once it has composted for a bit.

And, here is the big pile of compost.  During the cold winter, there was no smell inside the coop, but as soon as the warm weather began, you could smell the ammonia.  I knew I didn't like it and I'm sure the chickens didn't care for it either.  They now have a clean coop that smells like fresh straw.  They are also now depositing their composting gold all around the grass and dirt outside.  

On a different note, I recently heard that Barn Dance Farm has been accepted into a cost sharing program through the Scott County Soil and Water District.  I am finalizing our seed plan and the planting process and will post the plan when I'm done.

Some Eggcellent Questions

I have really enjoyed hearing from customers who have tried the eggs and are very happy with their quality and taste.  They have noted many differences when compared to store bought eggs.  I have had some frequent questions and it's likely other people are wondering the same things.  I have answered a few of the more common egg questions below.

Why do you have different colored eggs?

We have a variety of chickens and their breed determines the color of the egg.  Some lay white, some lay brown and then we have one that lays green eggs.  They all eat the same food and have access to the same things - so the eggs are all the same except for the color.

Why is it harder to crack these eggs?

Fresh eggs that are produced by chickens that are able to forage will have harder eggs.  Naturally occurring calcium is what makes them harder.  Often large production centers need to supplement their chickens with oyster shells to keep the eggs from being too soft.

What are the little white lines that I see by the yolk?

This white band is called the chalaza and it helps suspend the yolk in the middle of the egg.  It is often present in fresh eggs, but will disappear over time.  You don't see the chalaza that often in store bought eggs because they aren't as fresh.

What was that red spot on the yolk of one of my eggs?

It is called a blood spot.  These are caused by the rupture of a blood vessel on the yolk surface as the egg is being formed or a similar incident along the wall of the oviduct as the egg is being formed.  The blood spot can very rarely cause the entire yolk to be red in color.  The blood spot is not an indication of a fertilized egg.  The egg is ok to eat and the blood spot can often be removed with just the tip of a knife.

Are your eggs fertilized?

We do have a few roosters to help protect the hens, so there is a good chance that most of the eggs are fertilized.  There is no development of the embryo as the eggs are collected and refrigerated right away.

Why are the eggs different sizes?

Just as people are different, so are the chickens.  They all lay different eggs that vary in size from day to day.  The large chicken egg operations use the exact same type of chicken that is bred to produce eggs in a very consistent manner.

Why are the yolks such a vibrant color?

The yellow to orange color of a yolk is determined by how much carotenoid pigment is present in the chicken's diet.  Our chickens get this from eating green plants like the grass in which they can forage.  Eggs produced in this manner will often have a more vibrant color.

Barn Dance Farm Wildflowers

The wildflowers will add variety and visual beauty to the native pasture.  There are many more varieties of wildflowers, or forbs, than there are grasses.  Wildflowers also have a wide range of costs so I will ultimately decide on the seeding plan based on my pasture budget.  Below are a few of the native wildflowers that I am looking to add to the pasture. 

Purple prairie clover (Dalea purpurea)

This legume is very valuable in native prairies.  It has the ability to fix nitrogen with the help of symbiotic bacteria in the root nodules.  This creates a natural fertilizer.  These plants are also high in protein and grazing animals find them very palatable.  It is often mixed together with white prairie clover.

Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)

This 3 foot tall wildflower is native east of Kansas.  It provides cover and food to many song birds and other wildlife.  This is a good plant on hillsides as it helps to prevent erosion.  It is often planted with many types of native bunchgrasses.

Hoary vervain (Verbena stricta)

This small narrow plant will provide forage for small animals and chickens.  It will overtake areas if overgrazed and can be out-competed in vigorous stands of native grasses.

Lead plant (Amorpha canescens)

This 1 to 3 foot shrub is in the pea family.  It is a legume that also helps fix the nitrogen.  Native Americans used its leaves in tea and smoking to treat a variety of medical conditions.

Tick trefoil (Desmodium canadense)

This is another legume that can add nitrogen to the soil.  It is often called showy tick trefoil because of the numerous small pink flowers.  The seeds have tiny hairs on them that stick to any animals that brush up against it.  This leads to wide distribution. 

Blue wild indigo (Baptisia australis)

False indigo

This deep rooted perennial legume can also fix nitrogen.  It was also used by Native Americans for medicinal uses in tea as well as a source of blue dye for clothes.

Wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)

This showy perennial wildflower resembles pompoms.  It is very attractive to wildlife including butterflies, bees and hummingbirds.  It is very aromatic and is often described as similar to Earl Grey tea.  It also was used extensively by Native Americans for medicinal purposes.

I will continue to research the grasses and wildflowers and soon come up with a complete seeding plan.  In upcoming posts I will describe preparing the ground for seeding and the actual seeding process.  

Barn Dance Farm Cool-Season Grasses

The second part of my pasture will be the cool-season grasses.  These grasses typically green up and begin to grow in the spring and then again in the late summer and early fall.  This will provide early forage for the animals in the spring before the warm-season grasses begin to grow.  These native cool-season grasses begin to grow later than some of the introduced cool-season grasses.  I will need to have a grazing plan in place that will allow for this growth before I set the animals out.

Below are a few of the cool-season grasses that I am looking to incorporate into our native pasture.

Slender Wheatgrass (Elymus trachycaulus)

This is a perennial cool-season bunchgrass that grows 2 to 3 feet tall.  It provides palatable and quality forage for the livestock as well as good hay.  It is fairly easy to establish and can be overtaken by other species as time goes on.  This will provide good weed and erosion control initially.

Western Wheatgrass (Pascopyrum smithii)

This is one of the most common cool-season grasses in plantings.  It provides a good quality forage and is long-lived.  This is a sod forming grass that spreads via rhizomes.  This grass grows 1 to 3 feet tall.

Canada Wildrye (Elymus canadensis)

This is also a perennial cool-season bunchgrass that grows to 4 feet.  It has wide waxy green leaves that provide good forage for grazing and hay.  It is fairly easy to establish and will likely decrease over time with grazing.

I will look at the wildflowers next - they are most visually stunning.  They will provide a variety to the pasture that will allow the animals to choose what they want to eat.  The animals are wonderful at knowing what their bodies need and just need access to this variety.  This is why I am trying to provide a variety of grasses and forages.

Barn Dance Farm Warm-Season Grasses

Why do I keep talking about the pasture?  Well, It will be one of the most important parts of our farm.  Grass fed producers are sometimes called grass farmers because the most important crop is the grass and the animals are used to help manage the grass.  I feel a native pasture and grasses are best for the land and ultimately for the animals that eat it.

The three main parts of our pasture will be warm season grasses, cool season grasses, and forbes.  Below are a few of the warm season grasses that I am looking to incorporate into our pasture.

Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), Turkey feet

It is a tall, sod forming perennial warm season grass that is often the dominate species of midwestern tall grass prairies.  It develops from early June to late summer and typically grows 4 to 6 feet tall.  It has a root system that can extend into the soil 6 to 10 feet.  This allows it to thrive in droughts.

Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans)

This is a rhizomatous, perennial warm season bunchgrass.  It grows 3 to 7 feet tall and the leaf blades grow up to 3 feet long.  

Little bluestem (Andropogon scoparius) Beard grass

This is a perennial warm season bunchgrass.  It will grow about 2 to 3 feet tall and the bunches will be about a foot in diameter.  It gets a beautiful reddish-tan in the fall that will last through the winter.

SIde oats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula)

This is a perennial sod forming warm season grass.  It is a shorter grass that is drought and cold tolerant.  It is also the state grass of Texas.

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum)

This is also a perennial warm season bunchgrass.  It is one of the dominant species of the midwestern tall grass prairie.  It is usually not quite as tall as the big bluestem.

I, along with external resources like the NRCS and various seed companies, will determine the best ratio of these and other grasses and forbes for seeding.  I am planning on a late spring or early summer planting and will need to finalize the seeding plan well before that.

Chickens and the Cold

Yep, it has been unusually cold and windy out at the farm.  Because of this I have been asked many questions about the chickens.  Do they do all right in this weather?  Do they need any special care?  Do they still lay eggs?

Well, I'm happy to report that the chickens are all doing great.  Like most of us, they don't spend as much time outside when it is extremely cold and windy.

Chickens hanging out inside the coop

These are our first chickens and truthfully I wasn't sure what to expect.  I do a lot of reading and learning about farming but nothing can prepare for the actual experience of your own farm and its environment.  One of the salvageable buildings on the farm was an old pig house that was converted to a chicken coop.  This shelter keeps them dry and out of the wind.  It also has electricity so I use heated water bases to keep the water from freezing.  I can also use lights as needed.

The chicken breeds I have chosen are all tolerant of the cold.  Their basic requirements are food, clean water, and shelter from the elements.  For continued egg laying they also need supplemental light, as the number of light hours are a trigger for them to continue to lay.  I use a light on a timer to add light until about 9 pm.  When it is extremely cold, I use a red 250 W infrared heat lamp for that purpose.

Outside in the new snow

Outside, they were a little hesitant of the snow at first, but if I lay down a little straw or hay they have no problem.  I will also throw out some scratch so they can peck through stuff like they do in the summer months.  This gets them out so they don't get cabin fever inside the coop.

I'm happy to report that even at 10 degrees F with a windchill below zero they do enjoy the warm sun and have given us a good bounty of beautiful fresh eggs.

The Native Grass Pasture

One of our core beliefs is to restore the land to its native grasses.  This will involve establishing a diverse mix of grasses and wildflowers.  We want this diversity to mimic how nature works.  The grazing animals will want a smorgasbord of grasses and wildflowers to eat.  Like us, they will want to eat different things at different times.  They don't want to eat the same grass over and over just like we don't eat the same food for every meal.

The native grasses will take more time and management to establish but will reward us with continually improving soils and land.  They have extensive root systems that often reach four feet into the soil.  This means the pasture will be much more drought tolerant.  We will diversify the pasture by seeding different wildflowers.  This will be both aesthetically pleasing and some plants called legumes will provide the ability to fix nitrogen.  These plants have symbiotic bacteria on root nodules that can utilize the Nitrogen from the air and increase the Nitrogen in the plant.  When the plant is eaten or decays there is available Nitrogen in the soil.  A natural fertilizer.

There will be three main groups of plants: cool season grasses, warm season grasses and the wildflowers or legumes.

Cool season grasses are meant to green up earlier in the spring, slow down their growth in the hot summers and have a secondary growth again in the late summer and fall.  Some examples include: 

Slender wheatgrass
Western wheatgrass
Canada wild rye

Warm season grasses will begin to grow later in the spring and early summer.  They will thrive during the summer months .  These two different types of grass will compliment each other very well and allow for fresh grass throughout the growing season and hopefully into fall and early winter.  Some examples of warm season grasses include: 

Big bluestem
Indian grass
Little bluestem
Side oats grams
Switch grass

The wildflowers will add diversity, beauty and help with the natural fertilization of the soil by fixing nitrogen.  There are many, many different wildflowers that could be planted.  We will look at their specific properties as well as costs and put a mix in.  Some examples include: 

Purple/white prairie clover
Black-eyed Susan
Hoary vervain
Lead plant
Tick trefoil
Blue wild indigo
Wild bergamot

We will look at some of these grasses specifically in the coming posts as well as coming up with a seeding plan and the actual land preparation and seeding.

The Farm

The land is what will determine the farm.  Nature had a plan and it was stable for many, many years. but modern farming changed the landscape over the last 50 years.

Above is an aerial photo from 1964.  The fields had many different crops and areas of pasture that were rotated frequently.  It was definitely not a monoculture.  The creek does not have a lot of surrounding trees and the larger ones were Burr Oak.  This area has rolling hills consistent with an Oak Savannah, which served as a transition from the great plains to the mixed forests.  This type of area typically had an abundance of different grasses and flowers.

The above aerial photo is from 2013.  The fields are now a monoculture rotating between corn and soybeans.  The original oak savannah area is now heavily wooded.  The very old oak trees are still here, but they are rapidly becoming dominated by buckthorn.  Once the farm animals were removed from the oak area, the other trees and vegetation grew quickly.  It takes about 20 years for a prairie or pasture to change into a forest if nature (e.g. wildfires) or animals (e.g. buffalo) don't interfere.

Over the next 2 to 3 years, my first goal is to establish a native prairie in the former farm fields.  In the next post I will talk about the grasses and forbes that we look to establish and how that process will work.