Purpose Driven Homestead

The most expensive thing each year on our farm is buying hay. In droughts like were having right now, hay is being trucked in from places like Ohio and costs $80 - $120 per bale for standard cattle hay. Horse or alfalfa hay is another $30 -$50 more. Even for small farms, that can routinely run $20K a year. People ask us why we work second and third jobs while we also farm. Its because it takes years of these investments to get animals ready for our customers' dinner tables. It takes 10 months for gestation for them to calve. Then the steers have to get 2 years old to be at slaughter weight. Thats three years of hay, grass, taxes, water, and infrastructure before you see a dime of return. Just the hay alone for those 3 years can cost them $60K even for a small farm and herd. Remember that small local regenerative farmers like us don't get loans, grants, or insurance from the government. We pay for it all ourselves. Support your local regenerative farmer because they only have their community to count on.

Woo hoo! Finally got the beef cows moved into the new pasture that we've shared so many posts about the fencing progress recently. Unfortunately, its not as lush of a grass that it was even a couple months ago when we had received a little rain. The last few months of high heat and no rain have really taken a toll on it. This is the first time its been grazed in the 2.5 years since we planted it. Ladt spring it was waste high with thick green leaves and clover that was 6-7 inches tall. Now its like standing hay with withered clover in it. Its something though and it accounts for days or weeks of not feeding hay. We need slow steady rain. Pop up thunderstorms that barely wet the top layer of sand wont cut it.

Yesterday we hit 101°F here in Eastern NC, with a heat index of 115°F. They keep saying 50% chance of rain but we've had zero in over three weeks now. These temps along with no rain have baked the ground. Most years, we start the spring with my father's pond overflowing with rain from the winter or at least near the top. After several years of drought, this is what it looks like. Its hard to see how low it is until you step inside. You can see the top "erosion" line where the water normally sits, and its down about 15 feet. That's a ton of water in a place thats not supposed to get dry. The pond is mostly fed through groundwater (vs surface water), and everything is just so dry that its seeping out into the surrounding soil vs seeping in. We're over a foot short of rainfall just this year alone. The pastures are in bad shape and we need slow soaking rain badly.

Our layers that we got in Feb have started laying and our daughter calls them "fairy eggs"... 😆 🤣. The first eggs that new layers produce are always smaller, and ive never heard anyone call them "fairy eggs" before. What an imagination!

If you've been following our posts over the last couple of weeks, youve seen us fencing in a brand new pasture/field. This morning before work, I was able to use the weedeater and cut paths through the newly fenced in pasture to put in the poly line out for the individual paddocks inside. The mowed lines arent straight because the grass is 4 feet high... so I couldnt pull a string, but its close enough. I just picked a point on the other end walked towards it. The cattle will eat it and trample it so I can straighten it out later if it bothers me. I have the solar fence energizer ready to go, amd the poly lines are up...so I'll move the cows in soon. I'll probably get the drone up in the air and show some before and after they graze.

Man... we're back to August temperatures in June. When combined with weeks of no rain... these nearly 100°F temps are going to be brutal for the animals.

Its crazy to me to see how the "before and after" looks when rotationally grazing paddocks. I often have some people say to me "rotational grazing isn't something new. People have been doing that for hundreds of years". However... they are wrong. Rotationally or "mob grazing" is a new technique where the cows stay on a partitioned space for a few hours up to a day before moving to the next "paddock". So a pasture of 3 acres might be split into 6-9 different paddocks that the cattle graze for a short time. Then they move to the next paddock and leave the other one to rest. This wasnt possible until the creation of modern solar fence energizer and flexible polywire. This is very hands on and requires constant moving, but it allows for better grazing management and better regenerative practices. Pushing the cattle forward constantly mimics a predator load and prevents the cattle from staying in the same space and interacting with their own waste. This cuts down on parasites and sickness.

So... our lawnmower broke. While I'm waiting to save up enough money to get it fixed, the yard still needs to be mowed... and we came up with a brilliant idea! I've had this portable fencing unit that has stakes and electric line all in one unit on a reel. I can quickly set up a temporary paddock in the yard... bring our dairy cows in to eat it and then repeat the process. Its worked so incredibly well that I'm trying to figure out why I didnt do this before. 😆 🤣 Sure... there are some cow patties, but with a quick spray of the water hose... those disappear to fertilize the yard. This is a huge win! Might do this even when the lawnmower is fixed. If you want to see the Electric Fence Reel that we use... here's the link... https://amzn.to/43XVB76

Next step on getting the new pasture fenced in is done! The 4 wires for the electric fence are up but I needed to clean up the sides by weed eating at the bottom. This side close to a large drainage ditch was growing up fast. Why is it that in a drought, weeds do just fine? Lol. I was able to walk the field this morning and weed eat before having to go to work. I still have the other sides to complete but its a big step to get to getting the cows in. Definitely looks a lot better right? Once the outside is cleaned up, I'll need to clear out paths for the paddock lines.

Pretty cool... we caught this wild swarm of honey bees this year. We lost several hives when it got really cold and snowy this winter. For those who remember, we had a 14" snow and blizzard conditions for a brief snap this winter. First time for that much snow since 1981. This wild swarm has grown a lot since we initially caught them. You can see from the first picture to the last is only a month or so.They have plenty of space... as they just started exploring the top super. Let me know if you want to see how we catch wild swarms.

We had some Livestock Guardian Dog fireworks on the farm the other day. Our two Boz Shepherds have bonded to different things a d we unwittingly created major drama the other day rotating paddocks. https://youtube.com/shorts/VMfgNPyY-z0?si=wAKx7NahavVNSoPj

We made more progress recently on the new fencing. After getting the 18" corner posts previously, my best friend drove 2 hours to help me put in all the Tposts for the outside perimeter fence. Hard to believe but that was an all day event. We used the tractor to push in those we could, but the ground is still really hard and so we had to put in about a third with a Tpost driver. When we tried to push the posts in with the tractor, the ground was so hard and dry that the posts would bend. Im here to tell you that this motorized tpost driver is worth every penny!!! Its dlower than the tractor but works when tge tractor method won't. We were also able to put in several 14" gates that allow me to get the cows in and out at set entry points with a physical barrier. We've found that when cows learn that certain places are the standard entry and exit points, they tend to view them more as the only ways out. Next is to pull the wire for the perimeter and for the interior paddocks. This pasture will have 9 paddocks.

If you saw our prior post, you know we processed chickens for the first time this season on Saturday. Our kids did great and we got through fairly quickly. We have customers who keep asking us when we'll have chicken back in stock, so we are happy to be one step closer to that now. We ended up with several coolers full of beautiful chicken, and most of it is already reserved. If you've never had true pasture raised chicken before, its how chicken is supposed to taste. Find someone local who raises it, and try it for yourself. Do NOT buy "pasture raised" chicken from Purdue at the grocery store.

We're pretty excited! We just started on fencing in another large field thats been growing fescue we planted 2 years ago. This will significantly expand the grazing space for the cattle. We had been putting in hard fencing (rolls of wire), but we're using this as a test for using 4 wire hard fence only. If this goes well, we may approach the farmer across from us to lease his land for next year and try to expand grazing space... but thats getting way out in front of things. First thing is to get this space working and then evaluate. Hard fence is great and if I'm candid, it gives me more peace of mind. However, the prices of all fencing supplies has more than doubled. It doesn't matter if you're talking wooden posts, wire, or insulators... its all nearly doubled in price. Running 4 wire electric fence is dramatically cheaper than hard fencing though... so its a cost play at this point.

If there is any "good news" from some of this, its that a few farmers I talk to are turning to regenerative-like practices in place of petroleum based fertilizers, and they are waking up to the benefits. Several farmers ive talked to have started buying sawdust used in chicken houses as a type of animal litter... and are spreading the resulting manure laden material in their fields and are seeing phenomenal results. Now it still has vaxxines and antibiotics from the chicken houses, but its a start. These guys didnt wake up and start believing in clean food all of a sudden, but they are seeing the benefits of regenerative "methods" to replace petroleum fertilizer... which is a win. https://www.agdaily.com/crops/american-corn-farmers-brace-100-per-acre-losses/

Well... the setup is ready for our first processing day of the year. We're getting a later start than I'd like but we've been working like crazy on other things. People ask us why we grow our own chickens and sell some to the public as well. Its because the average chicken in the grocery store has had 7 bleach baths before they are packaged because of the filthy bacteria laden environment of the dirty factory processing. The chickens are cooled down after processing in huge industrial chillers that have up to 3 feet of fecal sludge at the bottom. Estimations are that up to 10% of the weight of that chicken you buy in the store is fecal laden water that was absorbed in those chillers. Dont even get me started on the treatment before hand of these chickens. Not so with our birds. They are all processed by hand, cooled in clean water in small batches and then chilled in an ice water bath. No chemicals, no cheap illegals doing the work... just my wife and I... along with our children.

Garden re-engineering is coming along well. Front garden (secondary) is tilled and ready to add manure. Then we'll be planting pumpkins, watermelon, cantaloupe, and some late season sweet corn. The primary garden in the back is rowed up and permanent walkways are munched now. Its coming along nicely, albeit a little late. We have around 100 tomato plants going, hundreds of onions (more on the way), chard, kale, collards, cabbage, beans, and lots of pollinator flowers. We also have quite a few Ruth Stout no dig potatoes going. This year we pivoted some and stopped growing things like okra that only a few people in the family like. This year were focusing on a LOT of the core set of plants that most of the family likes. Still have to get up the old border and put our fruit trees and berry plants in.

Read this to the end if you're thinking of having kids or are actively trying to have kids. A friend of mine went to the local cotton gin and picking up cottonseed meal to feed his cows with. Its a waste product they sell as feed. Then I learned that cottonseed oil is used as a "green rat poison". It's called "Evolve" and it's not technically a poison because it works by reducing the birthrate of the rats and mice. The active ingredient in Evolve is cottonseed oil, which contains a natural compound called gossypol. The Gossypol interferes with sperm production and motility for male rats, effectively lowering sperm counts. For females, it disrupts the reproductive cycle. Cottonseed oil is in all kinds of chips, cookies, snacks, crackers, and even in margarine. BigAg and BigPharma tell us that its safe and that the gossypol is removed during "processing". Given the horrible birth rate across Western countries... who do you believe? The same stuff they are feeding rats is the same stuff they are feeding us.

We're a little behind on the garden this year for our growing zone. I just used the manure spreader to put out composted manure into our garden that has been composting for over 2 years now. You can see the need for organics in this old tired soil. The gray color is the original soil and the dark color is the compost that I spread. The manure is all glyphosate and other herbicide free, and It has wood chips, hay, and manure that I've been mixing and turning for those 2 years and its super rich. It will take years of work to get the garden in better shape, but it's a start.

Did you know that the chicken you buy in the store has likely never seen a blade of grass before? On average, they also have received 7 bleach baths before being packaged for your table in a chemical brine to "tenderize" them. Not so on our farm. We raise our birds the way God intended, on pasture... where they can scratch and peck like God intended. You can see 3 different batches of chickens on pasture in our field. Some ready for processing this week, some are a few weeks away, and some just hit pasture recently. Stop buying your chicken from Purdue and sending your money to a faceless corporation that doesn't care about your health or your community. Raise your chickens yourself or buy from a local farmer you trust. If you're in Eastern NC, check us out at: Www.raisedrightfarmstead.com