Unloading marshmallows

Posted on November 18, 2011 by

As we prepare for winter we are moving hay slowly to the farm. We get around 200-300 square bales from one of our fields. We also get 30-40 wrapped round bales from Blue Ribbon Farm in Mercer. These bales look like giant marshmallows when I am hauling them home. The giant marshmallows are called haylege or baleage. The plastic wrap helps keep the moisture in and the grass actually ferments. When you cut the plastic the hay smells sweet. Ruminants (sheep) grow extremely well eating this hay as it has a higher protein content then regular dry hay. In has replaced grain for our sheep. Our pigs also eat the hay during the winter months. You can grow a pig on haylege however it will take significantly longer to do so then straight grain. (our observations are 2-4 months longer for a pig to get to 225 LBS on straight haylege. Grain fed pigs grow to 225 LBS in 5-6 months on average).
Unloading the haylege used to be very difficult when we first starting getting it. I had to park the truck on an incline and push the hay out. (each bale weighs 600-800 LBS) It was easier if their was snow in the back of the truck. However this process did not always work (for obvious reasons). This year we have the tractor and chains to pull the bale out, then push the hay into place. I do not have a set of grabbers for the tractor as of yet. Grabbers are used to, well, grab the bale out of the truck and put in into place. An attachment like this costs anywhere from $500-$1500 used or $3000-$5000 new. Needless to say, I am looking for a set of used grabbers. This year it is our hope to rent a flat bed and get most of the hay in one day instead of getting it when we need it. This would save a lot of fuel for us. (60 miles round trip)
Haylege will not totally replace grain for the pigs. Pigs need lysine to grow and this is found in their grain and dairy. We could potentially completely get off grain for the pigs if we had enough dairy. Currently we have very little. Pigs love milk, cheese whey, and any dairy and they grow very well on it. For now however we do not have enough of a dairy supply to stop feeding our barley/oat custom grain mix to our pigs.

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Getting ready for the season

Posted on November 15, 2011 by

It is hard to believe that Christmas is not very far away. Sunday, the boys and Angel spent the day making gift baskets of jam, jelly, pickles and maple syrup. Angel found a shrink wrap kit and started putting them together. (The boys took turns helping to avoid “disagreements”.) These baskets are available online at MyFreshMaine.com and will be soon on our website.

Sweet and Sour Basket

Angel did inventory to see what we had in stock etc and reported that we had made over 500 jars of pickles this year. We are growing in our preserve business with the farm. Even though I blog quite a bit about the animals, the preserves have quietly become our leading seller of products. I probably do not blog about them much because when you store preserves they tend not to get out and tear up the neighbor’s lawn. It would be a terribly boring blog telling about how the jars sit there waiting to be sold.  But make no mistake, the preserves are selling very well and we have not hit the peak of holiday shopping.

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Forage for livestock in late fall early winter

Posted on November 9, 2011 by

We are always trying to find ways to be self sustaining in feeding our pigs, sheep and chickens during the winter months. We MAY have found an answer.Purple top forage turnips.
The kids and I planted these in late July and they grew to an enormous size in a very short time (2 months). We purchased the seed out of Johnny’s Seed catalog. I moved the pigs onto their winter paddock early because we got an early snow. The winter paddock had a generous amount of the foraging turnips. The pigs tore into them eating them at will. I did not give them grain for a number of days until they had eaten all the turnips. The turnips are a god source of calories for the pigs. But it just wasn’t the pigs I fed them to. I picked a few of them and put them in the chicken pen. The chickens instantly started to eat them and in no time they were completely gone. I was amazed on how eager they were to eat them. Usually when given something new they take a little time to eat the new food, not so. A few days had passed and I picked a few to feed to the sheep and I witnessed the same result, the sheep ate the greens first and then ate the fleshy turnip. In other words, the animals dig them. (especially the pigs)

What is in the turnip?
I did some research to see what nutrients are in the turnips. Turnips are 85-90% water.
Turnips have excellent nutritional value with high energy content (leaves have 69% total digestible nutrients; roots have 86% total digestible nutrients), and good protein levels (leaves have 12-19% crude protein; roots have 9-12% crude protein).

Now what does this all mean? Well the animals love the turnips and the seed is cheaper than purchasing grain. ( grain continues to rise in cost even our custom mix of 50/50 barley and oats). Also the animals feed them selves, even when the turnips are covered in snow thus, the farmer (as in myself) does not need to feed them.

Posted in Farm Life, Pigs, Sheep | 1 Comment

Talkin’ Maine Interview

Posted on November 8, 2011 by

Darren’s interview on Mt Blue TV Local Access Cable station.

Voter Vale Farm from MBTV on Vimeo.

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Being “green” in the news.

Posted on October 13, 2011 by

I was flipping through newspaper articles and came across one right up my alley. I love to talk about being “green” with people and how really easy it really is. (note sarcasm it is not easy).  A prestigious college in Maine (tuition $47,000 a year) was being touted for erecting a “green” building.  Awesome for them.  But as I read the article I found my definition of “green” was not the same as theirs.  To me being “green” is using what you have and actually recycling it, you know like finding an old door in the hay loft and using it in another doorway. It may not be pleasing to the eye but it works and I am recycling it. Well this institution of higher learning erected a building and had all of these politically correct materials in the building to reduce their “urban heat” by planting actual plants in the roof. Awesome idea! But then the article went on to say how the heating oil furnace was efficient. What? Heating oil green? Whats wrong with wood? Too bulky and it takes labor to throw it in? Okay I will give you that but what about a wood pellet boiler? That is greener than heating oil. That is what we use at VoterVale Farm. We use wood because god knows we are surrounded by the stuff and its renewable. In fact I think we have too many trees. I think we need more grass actually for the animals to eat.
I would like to see before a local college claims to be “green” they actually think it through well. To me a more appropriate “green” college or university would look this. All of the buildings would be built into the earth to use the heat from the sun in the winter and the coolness of the earth in the summer. All heating would be from wood pellet furnaces. The cafeteria would serve meals only purchased from locally grown products or grown by the university. ( our local college claims to be green but I have yet to see them purchase anything from local farms instead it is trucked in. How many Food Miles is that? That is not being “green”. Clothes lines would be erected and attached from building to building to dry students clothes instead of dryers which use a ton of energy.  Can you believe some town OUTLAWED clothes lines because it signifies “lower income” families. Really? I think it signifies intelligence and saving money.  Hot water would come from the wood pellet boilers heating the water. Students would also be able to take classes on how to grow your own food. Whoa!! A class that is actually applicable!! On the roof tops of the buildings their would be garden boxes where food could be grown for snacks like carrots, string beans, cucumbers. (I am getting hungry). Can you imagine? What an awesome college!
Now for electricity I do not have a good answer. I say let CMP supply it because there is not a good alternative. (unless we were near a river and had a hydroelectric dam, then I would say hydro).

Now that is a “green” college.

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