Thursday, March 20, 2014

We've moved!

Welcome to Spring!! As of today, March 20, 2014 you can find our blog and website at at new address! Type jenningsbraebankfarm.com into your browser or just go ahead and click here!

We will continue to keep the blog going on this new site so you can keep up with all the farm shenanigans. We hope you'll update your bookmarks and/or RSS Feeds (http://www.jenningsbraebankfarm.com/feed/). This site will remain, but all the new posts will appear on the new site, as will all our old posts. We love our new site and hope you do too!!

Friday, March 14, 2014

Spring is almost here!

Next Thursday is the Vernal Equinox (for the Northern Hemisphere) which means Spring is almost here!!

To celebrate the coming of Spring after this very long winter, we are making big changes with the blog and website. It turns out, that in addition to picking beans, our Tajik Goat Herder does excellent web design. It is looking great and we are so excited to share it with you. We hope you'll like it as much as we do, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, here's a photo of a happy Farmer John:


Wednesday, March 12, 2014

New Hay

Weather rarely cooperates in farming. Last years hay season was no exception. Most years we are able to put up enough forage to feed the Highlands through winter, but this year we were not even close. A summer with very few hot dry days prevented the hay equipment from getting into the field. Our only option was purchasing hay to feed. 
The first batch of purchased hay I thought was a good deal. Turns out it was just cheap. I have slowly learned that with farming a good deal and cheap are two different options. Cheap hay has very little nutritional value so the calves and cows lose valuable weight over winter and don't have the extra energy needed during calving season. 
The second batch of hay I bought was more expensive, but a better deal. It looks green and smells fresh. It is hard to describe the look and smell of quality hay, but you know it when you see it. My cattle should gain weight going into spring.
When dropping off the first batch of the new hay the cattle seemed content. Content cattle stay in fences, look healthy, and have nice calves. Content cattle make for content farmers. 

Monday, March 10, 2014

Newest addition

The first calf of 2014 was born yesterday. "Miss Piggy" gave birth to a little girl (heifer). Mom is very protective of her calf and only allowed photos when I was on the other side of the fence. Once I got closer we were able to see the little one trot along right behind Mom as she walked to the other side of the herd. 

Both the calf and Miss Piggy are healthy and doing well. We are hopeful that this will be the first of several more calves this year. 

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

When you don't have anything nice to say...

We, along with everyone else in the country, are sick of winter. We are sick of all the headaches that come along with winter, but we are sure you have your own headaches, so don't need to hear about ours. 
We have been focused on the farm throughout these cold and snowy weeks. Although, the winter tasks don't lend themselves to photos. Farmer John placed his seed and greenhouse order. I worked on farm expenses and taxes. We painted drywall and shopped for bathroom fixtures. We spent time talking about plans for the spring. 
We also spent a week in California and have spent many evenings at our gym. Although today the farm is buried under snow, the sun is shining. Let's hope the weather breaks soon and we can start working outside once again.
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