We've been very busy around here now that Spring is FINALLY here! Well, sort of...we still have some snow, but we can now see the grass & more importantly, we're boiling sap.
This morning I made blueberry sour cream waffles so we could celebrate all the hard work we've been doing to make maple syrup. I will never complain about the cost of maple syrup ever again. It is a huge amount of work, but a good kind of work. I really enjoy boiling it out in the pole barn. It's not a fancy operation at all. We've got 3 pots boiling on top of an old wood stove. We just keep adding sap to the pots & wood to the stove. We only tap 8 trees, so we just hope to make enough syrup for us for the year & a little extra to share with a friend. For the last 2 days I've been doing schoolwork with the kids out in the barn-the kids have enjoyed that-feels kind of adventurous & cozy, too.
Another thing we've done is we banded the bulls. My husband had hoped to do that a month ago, but he was in a lot of pain from his cervical vertebrae & had surgery. I was a nervous wreck about him doing the banding this past weekend. We have headlocks & he tranquilized the cows, but it seems that whenever things go wrong with the cows, it goes wrong in a really big way-usually not benefiting the humans involved. He had some help & everything went well, thank God! I did not want him to hurt his neck only a month after surgery. I tried to get him to change his mind, but he said it had to be done before it got warmer & flies were around again to keep down the risk of infection to the cows. In case you're wondering what banding is, it's placing a very tight band around their noogies so that they atrophy & fall off. I always feel sorry for the cows when this has to be done, but it has to be done. We usually try to do this when they are pretty young, but our cows were at another person's place mixed in with his cows.
I am contemplating getting involved with our local farmer's market. I'm a little nervous about it, especially after reading all the membership rules. I have to get a tax number, too. I don't know...it's a little nerve wracking. :)
Also, does anyone know why our cows might be eating the bark off the trees in the pasture? They have a salt/mineral block, so I don't know what the deal is.
Hi Holly, You were the winner of the twirly skirt on my blog :) Can you use the contact me tab and please email your shipping address to me?? I'd love to get this off in the mail to you :)
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I'd guess on the cows is that maybe they need another kind of salt block?? Like around here cows are deficient in Selenium. So, you could have a salt block, but not have the right one based on your area. My husband says too that one year we fed our cattle too rich of food (straight alfalfa) and not enough roughage (grass with stem) and that during that year the cattle ate bark off our trees. Ours will do that to younger trees no matter what, but anytime I see animals in a field with lots of bark missing off lots of trees, I always thing deficiency.
ReplyDeleteHas your husband ever considered an actual metal Headgate (like from Priefert). Jon has one of those with a stand the cattle stand on, plus he ties it with chain to fence posts and panels. He says a squeeze shoot would be easier, but he has made due with the panels plus the headgate with stand. Usually, they don't/can't give you a hard time once the cattle are in those, unless they are super wild. I was skeptical when he bought it, but I can't imagine him doing cattle now without it, and he is making money off the cattle anyhow, so it paid for itself.