The First Homestead Books to Read!

If you are starting out homesteading knowing nothing about animal sickness problems, assisting in a difficult birthing, etc...and you find the thought of dealing with these inevitable situations overwhelming, there is a series of books I highly recommend! Highly technical? Nope! Easy to find at any new or used bookstore? Yep! Covers all types of livestock and situations? Yes! Lengthy but easy to read? You bet!

The books I recommend? The entire series of James Herriot’s books, beginning with ‘All Creatures Great and Small’. For those not familiar with him...James Herriot was a livestock veterinarian in England for many years, starting in the 1930's, I believe. He was also a talented writer who wrote of his many experiences, for which I am grateful. Now, I don’t believe the author ever intended the books to be instruction manuals on how to deal with problems that arise on the homestead. Yet, time and time again when people talk to me of what books have helped them most in starting out with livestock…it was not any technical ‘How to’ book, but rather Herriot’s books! I believe this is for several reasons.

First…the books are not technical, but rather an honest look at what was going on in a situation, and how he honestly felt about it. He describes the wounds, symptoms, weather, animal’s behavior, etc. His descriptions tell you what you need to be looking for in a situation.

Second…he tells exactly what he did in the situation, and how it turned out. And he will say exactly how he felt in the situation…afraid, exasperated, apprehensive. He even admits…sometimes he didn’t know the answer, but needed time to think about what was going on. He paid attention to little things, and sometimes those were the key to solving the problem at hand.

His books, for me, are a pleasant read and among my favorites. I have read a lot of livestock books and magazines, but when I am dealing with symptoms of an uncertain cause or a difficult birthing situation, his books are what comes to my mind, first. There is so much to glean from his writings that can help people who are newly starting their own homestead!

Making Sauerkraut

Making sauerkraut is really easy!  All you need is about 30 pounds of cabbage; a six gallon (food grade) bucket; canning salt; water; plate and a gallon jug.  Simple...right?  Yes!

First remove outer leaves from your cabbage.  Wash your cabbage.  Cut your cabbage to the size you like your kraut.

Way out five pounds of your shredded cabbage and add three tablespoons canning salt.

Mix the salt into the five pounds of cabbage.
Let rest for five minutes.

Pack down firmly...and I mean FIRMLY!

Continue to add cabbage/salt five pounds at a time until near the top, packing after each addition.


Make a  Brine:  1 1/2 table spoon salt to 1 quart water....boil and then cool...add to cabbage until the brine covers the cabbage by about an inch or two. 


Take a dinner plate and place on top of the cabbage.


Place a weight on top of the plate.  We use a gallon of honey or a one gallon container full of water.


Cover with a cloth diaper, small blanket or a towel.  Each day or two, skim off any film that may form.  Keep cool...around 60 to 65 degrees is ideal.  In about six weeks or so, you will have Sauerkraut!


And you can expect the next step when our kraut is ready to be canned!  Meanwhile, we are just a skimming!

Black Gold

(Cue Beverly Hillbillies theme music)

{Note, open the link above in a separate window}

Come and listen to a story about a gal named City Gurl,

once steeped in the fast lane now moved out to the rural,

took up homesteading and met up with some fellow of her kind,

went out to the hen house and what did she find?

Black Gold, ingredients for Manure Tea

Well next thing you know O City Gurl is got a garden,

planting those seeds and seedlings and similar kin,

Tomatoes and peppers, cucumbers and spuds,

its been a learning process, playing in the mud!

Chicken Manure

Poultry manure (chicken in particular) is the richest animal manure in N-P-K. Chicken manure is considered "hot" and must be composted before adding it to the garden. Otherwise, it will burn any plants it comes in contact with.

Harvest time, time to visit the hen house. I had needed to clean out the coop for quite a while, as evidenced by the 'build up' in the box.

Scraping the box is really not that hard...I don't know why I delay this task.

Bet the 'girls' were glad to have a clean spot to rest.

That is a 5 gallon bucket...it is 3/4 of the way full. As stated in the paragraph above (which has a link to the original article) I can not apply it directly to plants until it is aged. I can however, make manure tea.

I found a few 'recipes' online. From Ehow - take a burlap or grain sack (50#?) and fill 3/4 of the way full, ties off and submerge in a trash can or bin. Let 'brew' for 3 weeks.

That one is just too complicated for me. Sorry. A few years ago a friend gave me some cow manure, I put it in a plastic bucket, added some water, let it sit (who knows how long) out in the garden area, uncovered and dipped an old pitcher into whenever I wanted to water the plants.

I don't know that I will be any more scientific with this batch of chicken manure. Maybe I could bottle it to sell? LOL!

Also, once I am ready to put my plants in the garden I will dig down deeper than needed, place a small shovel full of manure in the hole, top up with some dirt and then place the plants in there.

While searching I did find a forum which was discussing making manure tea, they had some interesting suggestions.

If you'd like to age your manure, you can add it to a compost pile for 6-9 months. This site, had some good information as well.

How much manure can one chicken produce in a year? 50 gallons! I might could rustle up some jingle if I sold it...just maybe.eport Song

SongLyrics&Wor

Great Pyrenees Facts

There are many different kinds of dogs that can be used as livestock guardian dogs. I personally like Great Pyrenees because most of them have a natural tendency to be gentle toward people. Some LGD’s can be over-protective of the livestock under their care, even toward the owners! I have not found that to be the case with this breed of dog. Here are some basic observations I have collected through the years.

Great Pyrenees shed twice a year, spring and fall. Some folks simply shear the dog in the spring, while others choose to comb and brush the shedding hair out of the coat. I choose to brush my dogs, as the longer hair in the summer helps to protect the dog from biting flies and mosquitoes. I have noticed as my dog has aged that his hair is more likely to mat up. I always have a pair of scissors available as I brush to cut out any mats that may have formed. I have been told about a special comb called ‘The Furminator’ that is supposed to be outstanding at removing undercoat shed, and I think I will be investing in one soon!

Dew claws are one of the signatures of the Great Pyrenees breed. They have single dew claws on their front legs, and double dew claws on their back feet, for a total of 6 dew claws. THESE NEED TO BE TRIMMED regularly along with their nails! If not, the back dew claws will curl around as they grow and embed into the dog’s flesh. This is painful but avoidable. Some vets offer to remove dew claws when they spay or neuter, and that is something to consider.

Barking at night is a normal ritual for many Great Pyrenees. It used to bother me until I learned why they bark! I am not referring to the alert bark that says there is a predator too close to the fence. I am talking about the ongoing deep woof-woof-woof that many Pyrs vocalize that may go on for hours. What they are doing is setting up an audio warning to any predator within the sound of the bark, that says ‘This property is protected and will be defended so stay away!’ The bark is usually low and bass, and will travel on the damp night air for quite a distance.

Fly strike can happen on ears and feet, but the nose is usually the worst place affected. Biting flies will come and congregate in one area, biting repeatedly and causing an open sore. A friend of mine uses an equine product called ‘War paint’, which comes in a deodorant-style container that is applied to the affected area. It repels flies, and the dog cannot wipe the stuff off. I have a brand new stick to use this year should the need arise! Available from Jeffers!

Digging holes is a favorite summer pastime of many Great Pyrenees! They do it to get cool dirt to lie on and cool off, or that is as far as mine have gone. Another friend owns a Great Pyrenees who may be mining, she digs so deep! The caves that dog digs are impressive!

Training a Great Pyrenees to do its job is largely unnecessary. Dogs from working stock already know what to do to protect their flock, and you will have a hard time convincing them to change their minds to your way of thinking. Protecting livestock has been bred into them for hundreds of years, and chances are you can’t improve on what they naturally want to do.

So why do I like my Pyrenees? Peace of mind. When a friend lost her Pyr unexpectedly due to illness and had a time with no LDG…she said that she did not sleep well at night, and was nervous during the day for her animals. The confidence in knowing her animals were safe was gone...she hadn’t realized just how much the dog’s presence set her mind at ease. Another friend…the one with the Pyr who dug caves…decided she no longer wanted to deal with barking, hole digging, stubborn dogs…and gave hers away. I am not exaggerating when I say that within a few hours of her Pyrs leaving the property…she had loose dogs trying to get in the pasture where her goats were! She managed to win that round, but first thing in the morning they were back and she was running around like a crazy woman in her pajamas with a pistol. Later on that afternoon, she had one of her Pyrs back on the property, and the stray dogs stayed away.

I really like having my Great Pyrenees LGDs, and hope that as long as I have goats, I always have a trustworthy Pyr to guard them. They are worth their weight in gold for the peace of mind they bring, and I have been truly blessed to have them!

Great Pyrenees Puppies

A great livestock guardian dog has to start somewhere! I personally own two Great Pyrenees males. One is about 7 years old, and one is 5 months old, so we are dealing with ‘puppyhood’ all over again. We got our older male as a roly-poly white ball of fluff, who looked just like a little polar bear. He was cute and sweet and happy, and was born on a working farm. When we got him, I was concerned about putting him in with our mature goats as they weren’t very fond of him. I could tell by the not-so-subtle way they tried to head-butt him in the ground like a fence post every chance they had. So, to be on the safe side, I kept him in a pen on the other side of the fence. Well, I tried to, anyway. He didn’t care that the goats wanted to kill him…he kept climbing the fence to be in with them. Though I was scared to have him stay in with the goats, I let him. Obviously, they did not kill him! He did quickly learn to stay out of their way.

Now…we made it a point not to be overly affectionate to him at the beginning, to make sure he got his comfort from the goat’s presence and not people. We would pat him and speak kindly to him, but would not play games with him or spend a lot of time with him.

It is very important to note…I had NO GOAT KIDS at that time. A Great Pyrenees puppy will ‘play’ with goat kids, and may end up damaging or even killing them! I generally tell people not to trust their pup with goat kids unsupervised until the pup is eighteen months old. Many people put their puppies in with their bucks if they don’t have a kid-free pasture.

And…the chewing. Unbelievable! Give them acceptable things to chew on, and keep things that you do not want chewed out of their reach. Move hoses, cords, tools, feed dishes, buckets, etc…away from their area , or you will find these items chewed up and in their pile of stash. This includes wiring and lights on trailers that are parked in the pasture. YOU WILL NOT BREAK THEM OF CHEWING! It is your responsibility to keep things you don’t want chewed out of the puppy’s reach, or the destruction is your fault…don’t blame the puppy.

I highly encourage owners to spay and neuter their LGD pups. This helps the dog to focus on its responsibilities, and not be distracted by hormonal urges.

In the end, it is worth it! Maximus, my older male, has protected my flock from coyotes, stray dogs, birds of prey…and who knows what else. I am sure if he could talk, he could tell me some pretty amazing stories! I have never had a goat killed or damaged by any predator these years he has been on duty. As long as I have goats, I want to have a livestock guardian dog standing guard. However...they all have to start out somewhere!

Taking a Goat's Temperature:How and Why

Temperature. It is a good idea to take your goat’s temperature when they are well and keep it written down somewhere. This is because each goat, just like people, may not have a classic textbook ‘normal’ baseline temperature. Two of my children are like me, and run at 98.6. But, my middle child takes after my husband and runs a degree below…his normal temperature is 97.6. So…if I take their temperature and they are 98.6…they are probably running a fever. And while a fever of 101 in me or my other two children is uncomfortable and warrants watching…I am not too hyper about it. In my middle child or husband though, I know they are really unwell at 101! They feel terrible.

To take a goat’s temperature, you will need a medical thermometer. I personally like digital thermometers, as they are inexpensive and give a quick, accurate reading that is easy to see on the LCD display. It is easiest to put the goat on a milk stand with some feed to occupy one end while you are at the other end. Goat temperatures are taken rectally. If a milk stand is not available, you can tie the goat to something sturdy or have another person hold their head. Apply K-Y jelly or petroleum jelly (Vaseline) to the tip of the thermometer. Grasp the goat's tail gently but firmly to get it out of the way, and then gently push the tip of the thermometer into the goat’s rectum about ½ to ¾ of an inch. Hold it in place until the digital thermometer beeps, and then remove the thermometer. You can tell the goat what their temperature is, but you will still not be on their favorite person list for a little while! Clean the thermometer before using an another goat or putting it away. And…write down the temperature, soon, in a place you can find easily, like a folder devoted to that goat’s care and treatments. Knowing their normal baseline temperature will help diagnose illnesses that may crop up in the future, as some illnesses cause their temperature to drop, while others cause their temperature to rise. Having the baseline could be a valuable piece of information, but you can only get it when your goat is well.

Lesson Learned

I was mentally kicking myself for allowing the situation to happen. I SHOULD have known better! I do know better! Where was my brain?!?!?!

I have 3 types of chicken situations:

1. 'Regular' chicken coop with a yard, which has a safe environment for the chickens to roost at night, nesting boxes and opens up into a chicken yard. Approximately 30 x 30 (maybe larger);
2. Fort Poultry - this is 2 cinder blocks high with a 'baby pen' on top (1/4 inch hardware cloth) and keeps all predators from snacking on my fledglings and pullets;
3. Portable coop - 1" chicken wire, with solid sides, moves around the yard allowing the chickens to 'free roam' without the danger of predators swooping in or running through and having buffet to go.

Fort Poultry - meant to be a temporary situation until the pullets were old enough to 'free roam' and not stick their heads out and get them broken off by hawks, owls and other types of predators (raccoon and possum). They get my feed mixture, but no fresh grass.

Portable coop - mature hens (whose heads won't go through the 1" wire), ready to lay, receive my feed mixture, and have fresh grass/bugs daily as they are moved.

Regular coop - receives the same feed mixture, however, no free ranging on fresh grass.

Which is where my problem started. Occasionally I let the RC gals (and 1 guy) out to free range and eat fresh grass, which is what I did yesterday.

Then, I needed to put new hay, fill the water and feed container for the Fort...and decided I would 'lift' the lid of the cage and allow them out. This particular pen has 5 pullets and 1 cockerel.

Enter the problem...2 roosters out, loose. Cockerel not too concerned about the other rooster and/or his hens. Older rooster eyes the new 'ladies' and decides he wants to sweet talk her. She is resistant, he pursues. Chases her into the woods, ravishes her and then returns

Minus the pullet...which made me think of the story of Dinah (Genesis 34) who went out to see the daughters of the land and was violated.

Wait for the pullet to come dragging back in...go out into the woods and try to spot her...wait longer. Come back out and hear her 'calling' to her sisters. They are answering, but she does not come out of the woods. Rats! Getting darker, she is going to roost out in the woods and and probably get eaten.

GREAT! Just great...another pullet almost ready for laying (and paying back all that feed!) and now gone. All because I was not diligent. **sigh**

Prayed about it...my son prayed about it...last night and today. Looked around this morning. Nope, no hen. Well, okay Lord, lesson learned...will be more diligent next time and NO mixing.

Went out later this morning and lo and behold, who was nipping fresh grass in the yard?

Did NOT try to catch her...came inside and found some old oriental noodles and went out to the portable pens that she was hanging close by...and gave THEM some...she of course wanted some. Opened one of the doors to the portable coop, tossed noodles inside...edged around and slightly behind her...causing her to move away from me and towards the open door. All the while praying, O Lord, PLEASE do not allow the other pullets to come out.

Finally, she steps over the threshold and is IN! Yes! Thank you Lord. WHEW! Now she will have some adjusting today as the other hens are on 'their' turf, but she is safe and will make it through. I am so thankful!

Which reminded me of this verse:

Mat 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.

If HE is looking out and noticing sparrows...He is taking care of wayward pullets as well...how much more me? AND confirming HIS guiding and protecting hand in all situations and circumstances.

Hypocalcemia Event!

Three days ago I noticed my 8year old Saanen doe looked a little ‘off’. She was kind of quiet, and her ears weren’t perked. The next morning, she did not want to get up. I finally did get her up but she was very weak and uncoordinated, with no appetite. She was slightly bloated, which I chalked up to a new feed mix I had introduced a few days ago, and on top of that, the new hay bale was mostly coastal hay instead of the normal ( and greatly adored!)perennial peanut…must have been from the edge of the field. At any rate, the herd was not impressed with it, and my Saanen must not have had any. She did love the new grain, though, and her milk production increased by 1/3 when it was introduced to her.

I began treating her for bloat, enterotoxemia, and tetanus, just in case, but she got weaker throughout the day…refusing to get up at all, moaning, labored breathing. I just did not know what was wrong with her, at all. Evening came and I went to sit with her. Her eyes were half way rolled back in her head, she was having a hard time breathing, she was trembling, and she was drooling on my arm as I cradled her head. I believed it wouldn’t be much longer before she was gone. I kept thinking of an e-mail that someone had sent me earlier that evening, that mentioned ‘milk fever’ a.k.a. hypocalcemia.…but they dismissed it as what could be wrong because though the doe was lactating, it had been over three years since she had freshened. Hypocalcemia is associated with animals who just began a heavy lactation following giving birth. I decided to look up the symptoms, and what I read made me get out my 23% calcium gluconate solution. I injected 20 cc’s sub q along her ribs, slowly, in several different locations. A few minutes later, I did it again. About five minutes later, I noticed her ears were pricked up for the first time in 36 hours. About five minutes after that, she laboriously got to her feet, urinated, and then laid back down again. I went inside for a couple minutes, and when I came back out, she was looking much more alert and interested in her surroundings. I fed her a few peanuts, her favorite treat. I then went inside to get my husband to have him see the improvement, and when we got back out to the pen, the doe was eating hay at the hay rack, head butting the other goats out of her way! I gave her 40 more cc’s sub Q an hour later as a follow up. About 2:30 in the morning, I went to go retreat her again, but when she saw the second syringe, she said ‘No thanks!” and got away from me. I gave her about 20 cc’s sub Q later in the morning. She was still not 100 %, but fully alert and picking at food, though that was minimal at best. I began to give her 30 cc’s of CMPK orally, and the next day ( today, actually) she is eating browse, and peed and pooped. I learned several lessons out of this adventure, more to follow up, but I am very grateful to God for still having my herd queen!