Meet the Farm Animals ...

It's true that we grow mostly vegetables, but we know first-hand that farm animals are irresistable. If you come to the farm, you'll see some of these guys hard at work eating, playing, or maybe sleeping. We don't consider our farm animals pets - everyone has to do their share of the farm work - but we do consider them a crucial part of our farm "ecosystem".

Nigerian Dwarf Goats

Rhode Island Red Chickens

Bourbon Red Heritage Turkeys

Border Leicester Sheep

Maremma Livestock Guard Dogs

 

Nigerian Dwarf Goats

                                        

Above Left: Our herdsire Wooly Dog Down's Tilsit - chocolate & white pinto Nigerian Dwarf

Sired by Clover Springs Serenado out of Caprine Queen Roca Bleu

        

People say that Nigerian Dwarfs originally came to the US as food for lions being sent over by ship to American zoos. A few lucky goats were left over and they became the foundation of the breed in the US.

The Nigerian Dwarf breed has been selected to resemble miniature dairy goats. All colors and patterns can be found. Ours are white, white with brown markings, fawn colored, dark brown, etc.  We like these goats because they have great personalities - and if they are standing on your foot, you barely notice! If they get too stubborn to go where you want, you can just pick them up! They are little and sweet. We like to feed them all our spent greens (kale, collards, etc) and they have done a great job with the poison ivy on our farm, too.

Nigerian Dwarf does produce one to two quarts of milk per day. The milk is high in butterfat and makes excellent cheese and butter. We milked ours for a short period last summer and mostly just drank it straight. Does generally breed year-round and produce twins, or even triplets. The Nigerian Dwarf goat is considered to be "recovering" by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. Find out more at www.albc-usa.org

Rhode Island Red Chickens

   

We have a flock of about 1500 laying hens on the farm at most times of the season. Sometimes we downsize in the wintertime and the older chickens are bought by neighbors for stew. Does this sound coldhearted? Do you eat chicken? We feel that both the animal and vegetable food webs are an integral part of the farm ecosystem.

Our chickens are housed out in our fields where they spend their time eating clover that Chris has planted as a cover crop (to add nitrogen to our soil), bugs, and digging holes in the dirt. Anyone who has tasted eggs from pastured chickens raves about the difference from store-bought eggs - the yolks are very orange and the egg has a lot more flavor. Our eggs are higher in Omega-3's as well (this comes from the chlorophyll in the greens the chickens eat) so they're better for you, too!

Bourbon Red Heritage Turkeys

    

We are no longer raising Bourbon Reds comercially for Thanksgiving, but we still have a pair of birds at our farmstand. They are beautiful birds (as you can see above) and they fly! Sometimes neighbors have called to us to tell us our turkeys are headed down the road, and they have ended up at other farmstands. (Human) baby Forest was herding turkeys when he was just four months old!

The Bourbon Red turkey is named for Bourbon County in Kentucky’s Bluegrass region where it originated in the late 1800’s. The Bourbon Red was an important commercial variety through the 1930s and 1940s. As time went on, however, the broad breasted varieties were developed - the standard "Butterball" you see in the supermarket today. Commercial turkeys today gain twice as much weight in half the time as these heritage turkeys, and get so fat that they can't fly, can't breed, and can barely walk. These heritage birds, on the other hand, are real birds. They can mate naturally, forage for themselves, and because they grow more slowly their meat tastes fantastic!

The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy has placed the Bourbon Red on their list of rare breeds to "watch". Find out more at www.albc-usa.org

Border Leicester Sheep

We have two ewes, one is white and one is black, and one ram named Infinity, who I brought back from Maryland on a charter tour bus (that's another story). We had 3 very nice lambs this year.

Border Leicesters are known for their long, soft wool that is excellent for hand-spinning. They aren't very common in the US compared to many commercial breeds, and are considered a heritage breed.

The Border Leicester breed was founded in 1767 in England and were introduced into the United States by George Washington, who kept a small purebred flock of Leicesters and used the rams extensively in his flock of 800 head at Mount Vernon.   However, the decline of the wool carpet industry in the 1940's resulted in reduced numbers of all longwool breeds including the English and Border Leicesters.  By the 1970's, increased interest in handspinning and other crafts had rekindled interest in these unique sheep with their distinguished heads and long, curly, lustrous wool. Thank goodness!

 

Maremma Livestock Guard Dogs

In Feb 2007 we purchased two Maremma livestock guard dog puppies (sisters) from a breeder in Pennsylvania. This is a breed from the Italian Alps, which was developed mainly to guard sheep. We've been using them to guard our large flock of laying hens from raccoons, weasels, and hawks. Before we got the dogs, we sometimes lost as many as 40 birds at a time to predators, and now lose almost none.

Maremmas are not pets, andmost breeders won't even sell puppies to anyone who does not have a flock of animals that the dogs can "work". They are so rare in the US that they are not even recognized as a breed by the American Kennel Club, so they can't be shown. A lot of people think this is a good thing, because it means they are only bred for their working qualities, not their looks. They need lots of room to roam and live outside year-round.

If you have an LGD I would love to hear from you! You can learn more about Maremmas from the Maremma Sheepdog Club of America.