Maisie c. 2000 to September 8th 2014

Yesterday we said goodbye to a dear old friend.  We never knew exactly how old Maisie was - she came with the farm when we bought it in 2006.  By all accounts she had had a hard life up until the previous owners had taken her in a few years previously.  A Walker hound, she had deformed paws and claws, which may have been due to early days kept in a cage.  A road accident had left Maisie with a permanently injured back and leg, which never stopped her outrunning on three legs, the other dogs on four! For all her troubled past, Maisie was the eternal optimist, grinning from ear to ear her lopsided dog smile accompanied by the ever swishing tail whenever dog cookies were mentioned.  Evenings, after supper when the other dogs went out, were her special time and "first dessert" was called!  Especially good were those times we reached fourth and even fifth dessert as she conned Jorg and I into believing we hadn't reached her limit!  There is a big hole in the evening routine now, and although time will heal it, Maisie's particular enthusiasm for life, despite its setbacks, will always be remembered. She is free now to run unfettered by a gammy leg and enjoy time in the sun with old friends Jack, Shandy and Brigitte.  RIP Maisie.

 

Welcome Violet

Violet just a few hours old

Triskelion's Violet finally appeared at breakfast time on Saturday 14th September 2013.  Mother and daughter doing fine.  Another successful delivery by Rosebud, even though she was some 3 weeks late by our reckoning!  Never mind, she's a healthy heifer and that gives us two beautiful girls who will be looking for homes in 2 to 3 months time after weaning.  As with all our calves we will start handling them and teaching them to halter and tie straight away.  With a height of 21 inches a few hours after birth she will be a mid-sized adult, perfect for milking and will undoubtedly have the easygoing personality of her mother.

Phoebe at 5 Weeks

Phoebe with Tuna


Phoebe is now showing her real character.  Still a baby she is playful and has a lovely personality.  As with all our calves, she is being taught to lead and be tied, with lots of handling.  This time we are trying something new.  The mini-Jerseys do pose problems with keeping their feet trimmed.  If they are easy to handle you can try trimming in place, but even our even tempered ladies find that a bit much!  There are trimming boxes that have an array of supports and pulleys, and we have used the services of such a trimmer.  However our smaller girls do not fit the adjustments intended mostly for full grown Holsteins, and the consequent anxiety and rubbing of lower legs is upsetting.  Phoebe is going to be taught to lift her feet and be trimmed by hand!  Absolutely no reason why not, if horses can be taught then so can our cows.  More in future posts.

Corn Smut

Now growing corn in Virginia is hardly newsworthy in the Country where it is the main crop.  However, after two previously unfruitful attempts, that included not getting a stalk never mind a cob, we were pleased to see two healthy rows of corn complete with cobs.  I initially spent some time watching over them, as one does with a new born, but a freshening cow and a plethora of new rescue horses drew me away; watching paint dry might be more rewarding than watching corn ripening, but it is a close call!  So imagine my disappointment on returning to the corn rows, expecting to see bounteous fruits ready for picking, only to see some of these:

 Corn Smut

Aghast, I call on our chief researcher (Jorg) to identify the offending horror, and find out what new blight has descended on our veggie plot.  This year the rain has been the main offender, as many of the bugs of previous years seem to be in limited numbers, and rain it seems unleashed this fungus on the corn.  Huitlacoche, pronounced WEET-LA-KO-CHEE is well know in Mexico, and by corn growers all over North America.  The latter have been trying to eradicate it, without success, for many years.  The Mexicans, however, love it, and the article in the link under my photo gives a number of good nutritional reasons to try it.  It also transpires that a crop of "corn smut" sells way over the price of regular corn!

Well, Jorg and I have always been willing to try new dishes, and as huitlacoche is supposed to be packed with lysine a nourishing meal of corn smut is on the cards.  We'll let you know how it goes, but that evil looking corn cob might just have a saving grace.

Phoebe

Phoebe and Bessie

 

Mother and daughter doing well.  I have to say that each birth brings with it a different crop of fears for me.  Last year I worried for days that a calf's eyes didn't seem right, and was worried that she was blind!  There has been the inevitable "slow to feed calf", with some bottle feds over the years.  This time I agonized over Phoebe's stiff gait and apparent "bandiness".  Now if you had been ejected onto the ground head first, then expected to stand up and walk around, all in the space of a few hours, you might find yourself a little stiff, even after three or four days!  In the end both stiffness and bandiness have gone as you might expect (although just occasionally there are joint problems in new calves) and Phoebe is a normal week old calf.  Our cow vet, Dr Lincoln Rodgers, is to be thanked for his patience in answering our interminable questions.  We may have got over the initial "Two pregnant cows, and no experience" phase, but we still have a lot to learn!

Trophic Levels

http://people.oregonstate.edu/~muirp/trophic.htm

Possibly a confusing post title. and yawn inducing grimace for those of you without a science background!  Simply put, every time we convert energy (in this case by consuming plant or animal life) we lose efficiency.  We happen to be vegetarians, for ethical reasons, and so our animals will live out their life spans and return to the soil; where their nutrients will once again be part of the process that has gone on for millions of years.  Now this isn't a sermon on "veg is better than meat", we leave each and all to decide how they wish to approach that question, but Trophic conversion is important from a sustainability issue, given ever increasing populations, countries aspiring to first world status, and looming climate changes.

Understanding the trade-offs in water usage, protein and other nutritional factors, cultivation, and the use of pesticides, between different crops and food chain elements, is more than an esoteric discussion for scientists.  As farmers, even on a small scale, it is essential to understand the impact that lifestyle has on food production and, in our "designer-led" society where appearance seems to matter so much more than substance, what pitfalls that might lead us to in the future.

http://people.oregonstate.edu/~muirp/trophic.htm

Welcome Phoebe!

 Bessie has done it again, presented us with a pretty new heifer - Triskelion's Phoebe. She stands 21 inches, is 30 inches long and her canon bone is 5 inches. Phoebe has a good solid looking bone structure, and should top out at the top of the mini-range.  Born some time during the night, she took us a little by surprise (as Bessie often does) as Bessie wasn't due for a few more days and didn't have all the imminent signs last night!  Never mind we can live with pleasant surprises, like Phoebe, on our morning walk-through.

Shelter Challenge

 The Shelter Challenge link on the right is for anyone to vote for their favorite rescue.  We would like you to vote for the farm's resident rescue the White Bird Appaloosa Horse Rescue if you have a few minutes every day.  Just click on the link and search for White Bird in VA.  There are some great prizes for the top voted rescues.

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/shelterchallenge.faces?siteId=3&link=ctg_ars_shelterchallenge_from_shelterchallenge

Back Again

If you had been wondering if Triskelion Farm was still going strong then let me assure you we are alive and well, and running like the wind (the snow has gone but the mud remains)!  The year passed us by really fast and we find ourselves once again with two pregnant cows, but with a little more experience!  

Bessie and Rosebud are due in August, and we are hoping for their usual charming additions to the bovine world.

 Bessie                                                                                                       Rosebud

 "The Bug Patrol" (photo courtesy of Kate Follett our Intern)

Following on from our last post (geez was it May last year!) the Guineas have gotten bigger and look ready to combat the might of the crittur world.  Hopefully no more ticks, and a few less veggie eaters in the garden!
We have continued to add to our fruit trees and in addition to apples, pears, peaches, and cherries we have blueberries, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts and chestnuts (hybrid Dunstan for disease resistance).  In a few short years (and critturs permitting) we should be getting a veritable cornucopia to grace our vegetarian table.

Well back in the saddle (or yoke, depending on your animals) again and hopefully posting more frequently.  A Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New year to all you cow and horse lovers out there, from all here at Triskelion Farm.

Bug Brigade

The Bug Brigade

To avoid last year's bug invasion, which basically halted veggie growing over the Summer (after a great Spring start) we have brought in a secret weapon - the "Bug Brigade".  A heavy duty, highly active (as can be seen from the photo above) dedicated group of bug destroyers - The Guineas!  This year we are not messing with the little critturs who demolish our carefully landscaped vegetable garden.  It's total war!  Non-chemical and wholly organic, our little friends will be sent out to off anything alien that dares to set foot on our pristine leaves.  There is nothing as frightening as a Guinea with a mission.  That is, provided we can persuade them that our garden is a better home than our neighbors, or the farm down the road!  Ah well, every solution has a drawback, and we are always optimistic.

"'Tis the Season"

The Dogwood (Virginia's State tree) in the yard is now in full leaf, which means that gardening is in full swing!  Now, I am a reluctant gardener whereas Jorg is an enthusiastic one.  While I am dragged, kicking and screaming, to the various veggie beds I do, of course, enjoy the fruits of our labors.  We have already tasted the first strawberries from our small patch, have harvested the early beet, and have lettuce and spinach available in satisfying amounts for our regular salads (along with eggs from the chickens). Now that the last frosts are over (we hope!) the tomatoes from the greenhouse are in the ground, as well as broccoli, brussel sprouts, and snap peas.  If the bugs don't get them (mild winter, so a possibility) and a possible drought is avoided, we shall have a great Summer feast.  In the pipeline, it takes a couple of years to get them established, are asparagus, paw paws, plums and blueberries, and with the existing figs, peaches, pears and apples, promise a "fruitful" future.  Funnily enough writing that all down makes the back aching work in tending the beds, and keeping the bugs at bay almost worthwhile!

Real Life vs Virtual Life: Patience and Ben

I have just noticed (well known it for some time time but chose to ignore!) that I haven't posted for 4 months.  Now, as there aren't thousands out there hanging on my every word, I'm sure the world hasn't stopped turning.  Not blogging, facebooking, tweeting, texting or whatever in the virtual world is not a capital crime, but is of course antisocial in this non face-to-face society we now live in.  So mea culpa, real life has got in the way of the virtual one, and I have been experiencing life instead of just writing about it.  Fortunately, that has been more than interesting enough for Jorg and I and although we like to post about some of our derring-do's it isn't essential in running the farm.

However, publicizing our new arrivals is.  In recent days we have seen the arrival of Mayfield's heifer calf Triskelion's Patience, and Edy's bull calf Triskelion's Benedict seen below. 

Patience and Ben

Ben

Both doing well and were enjoying the sunshine and warm days (at least until the cold snap last night!).  Patience will be going off to her Mum's former owner, and inquiries about Ben will be welcome.

Irene and Flora Meet

First meeting of Flora and Irene

 

 

 

The sunshine we have been having here in Southside, VA has been great for getting Flora up and about.  At first confined to the space in front of the cow stalls, and then actually in the cow paddock where she and Irene could meet.  Irene has been racing around trying to impress Flora with her speed and agility, and Rosebud did the dutiful momma thing by pushing her away until Flora was ready to touch noses!  Lovely for Irene to have a playmate instead of those stuffy old "aunties".

Welcome Flora

Flora after one hour

  

After 2 days

Triskelion Farm is proud to announce the arrival of Triskelion's Flora and our second heifer in 3 months.  Thanks to Rosebud for Flora, who is just about our smallest calf yet.  Measured the day after birth she is 22 inches tall and looks very like her very small sire Baby LP (son of Little Professor).  She came equipped with a good covering of hair as the nights had just dropped to frost level, but has acclimatized well to her new environment.  Irene is excited to see another calf to play with.

Irene- once again!

This calf is too sweet. She is the daughter of Riverview's Baby LP and we were surprised at how cuddly she is! All of Bessie's girls have been sweet, but Irene just wants to hug everyone.

Welcome, Irene!

"Welcome, Irene!" was probably not the message we had in mind on Saturday! However, it seems totally apt that Bessie's new heifer calf should be named Triskelion's Irene. She was born today, September 1st, 2011, to Tanglewood Cookie Dough (Bessie). Mother and daughter are doing well. The sire is Riverview's Baby LP, making Irene a Foundation Pure Miniature Jersey, small and cute. After a long and anxious night, we were assured that Bessie had decided to wait another day. We let her out with the other cows, and within an hour, we were greeting our newest arrival. It was a very warming experience to be able to watch, and remarkable how quickly they stand and take their first wobbling footsteps. A great day.

Right School, Wrong Year.

This photograph appears in the current University of Virginia Magazine and portrays a summer school course at the University of Virginia in 1907. Women were not allowed general admission to Mr. Jefferson's University in those days, except to take summer classes like this one, or to earn degrees in a few traditional women's disciplines. It wasn't until 1972 that students were allowed to enroll in all programs regardless of gender.

Throughout the years, classes in stock judging gave way to more mundane foundation courses, as well as the occasional "gut" course such as "Circus in America." While I never signed up for "Circus," I would certainly have been intrigued by the class shown in this photograph. I am sure that I would not have met the style requirement, though, since it appears that wearing an over sized hair bagel was necessary for acceptance.

Photo from: University of Virginia Magazine. Full article at: http://uvamagazine.org/features/article/women_at_the_university_of_virginia/

Agricultural animals; care by owner, penalty. (HB1541)

This bill, which loosens the regulations governing the care of both food animals and horses, has now passed the full committee. We need to make the full GA aware of the implications of this bill by lobbying our representatives. For horses in particular, it would mean that they would lose the option to be taken to a rescue and the obvious conclusion is an increase in the slaughter truck population. Once that happens then the calls for US equine slaughter houses (already showing up across a number of States) will be intensified. This is part of a concerted effort by pro horse slaughter advocates to shoe horn their agenda into as many legislative bills as possible. In VA they can conveniently attach themselves to the big Ag attacks on food animal care regulations as horses are included. In other States they are using bills on the relaxation of food sources to push horse meat production and, in yet another approach, to use the economy and high jobless rates to promote slaughter houses (which employ relatively few people, have little impact on the local economy, but make big profits for the private owners!).

VA Bill HB 1541 Would Weaken Protections for Horses and Farm Animals

Virginians for Animal Welfare

ALERT It hasn't been our posture to take a position nor to ask our membership or Alert readers to take a position on farm animals or equines but the language of and strategy for a Farm Bureau/Agribusiness bill (introduced simultaneously in both houses (HB1541-Orrock and SB1026-Puckett) with identical language) which would dilute minimum care standards for these animals not only makes our doing so justified and appropriate but an imperative. We trust you will agree and will speak actively and often against these bills, starting immediately. The language of these bills replaces the animal care standards presently in the Code at 3.2-6500 and elsewhere with new "standards". These new standards are no more than enough "food to prevent emaciation, water to prevent dehydration and veterinary care to prevent [but not repair] impairment of health or bodily function, but none of these are required if the animal is to be humane destroyed or if an act of God or of a veterinarian or if "animal husbandry" makes any of these requirements unnecessary". This is the pending "pushback" against animal welfare the Farm Bureau/Agribusiness has promised in news stories. The bill strategy is to call these "unprecedented care standards" and offer both through seasoned Agriculture Committee members in a short session with many momentous issues and no advance collaboration with the animal welfare community, or any public notice of intent to exempt farm animals from present care standards other than by warning a "pushback" against care standards was coming.. A broad and effective response is critical to each of the Agriculture Committee members below before Wednesday, January 19, 2011, and thereafter until this bill is dramatically changed or defeated. So is a broad and effective response to all your Delegates and Senators whether serving on the Agriculture Committee or not. For any who don't know how to do this, please see below or email us for guidance. We oppose this bill and ask that you do as well for your own reasons or those which follow: 1) There are presently standards in the Code of Virginia for animals at 3.2-6500 and elsewhere, and penalties for cruelty violations; 2) There is Virginia case law upholding these standards and violations thereof, all decided in local Virginia courts and by the Virginia Supreme Court, among which is Sullivan v. Commonwealth; 3) To demonstrate the need for or merit of new "standards", an Attorney General Opinion could have been sought or issued as to the adequacy of the present (or even the new) standards, or whether there were any enforcement defects in the present standards, but no such Opinion was requested; 4) There is a long history of successful enforcements under the present standards; 5) The widely accepted veterinary standards used in prosecutions of animal cruelty cases are nowhere to be found in these new "standards", and are in fact superceded thereby; 6) The new "standards" are both vague and exculpatory, and as such are putatively unenforceable and unconstitutional on these grounds; 7) It appears that no Commonwealth's Attorney or law enforcement groups (VACA or Sheriffs) were consulted about the enforceability or desirability of these new "standards"; 8) The bill was introduced "under the radar", without fanfare (the manner in which the legislation was proposed and absence of full and complete disclosure to animal welfare groups and the general public of its need, purpose and content speaks of its patently self-serving character); 9) The bill mirrors and implements a national Farm Bureau "pushback" strategy; 10) The bill is another step in the promotion of animals as creatures without any feelings, awareness or susceptibility to pain and suffering, is a stark reminder of the treatment of chattels under slavery laws, and likewise unwisely promotes the notion that "animal husbandry" is tantamount to care or compassion. Read the bills and see the existing Code by Googling. Legislative Information System, Virginia Or, if you prefer, you may use either of the following links: Legislative Information System, http://leg6.state.va.us/ For your legislator, http://conview.state.va.us/whosmy.nsf/main?openform (neither gives you Code of Virginia access conveniently; for the bill, go to the following) http://leg6.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?111+ful+HB1541 http://leg6.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?111+ful+SB1026 If you use Google, select Bills and Resolutions then enter the bill number (HB1541 or SB1026) to see the bills; select Code of Virginia and Table of Contents then Title 3.2 then Chapter 65 (6500 et seq) to see the present Code; select Standing Committees and House Agriculture and Senate Agriculture to list Committeemembers; select General Assembly Members and Who's My Legislator to find your legislators (Delegate and Senator) if you don't already know; Email contact is best, but phone contact, fax or letters work fine if that's what you prefer. All this contact information is available on the Standing Committees membership lists by clicking on each member. Be sure to send your first emails (or contacts) to House Ag Subcommittee members: Bobby Orrock, DelBOrrock@house.virginia.gov, (D.W. Marshall, DelDMarshall@house.virginia.gov, Charles Poindexter, DelCPoindexter@house.virginia.gov, Barry Knight, DelBKnight@house.virginia.gov, Richard Bell, DelDBell@house.virginia.gov, John Cox, DelJCox@house.virginia.gov, James Shuler, DelJShuler@house.virginia.gov, Mark Sickles, DelMSickles@house.virginia.gov. There is a separate bill, as you know, in the Senate. The Senate Ag Committee must also be contacted promptly. Please do this immediately, and also please promote additional support among your friends and animal welfare colleagues. This alert was originally posted by Virginians for Animal Welfare and is reproduced here to help spread the word and defeat these bills.

Shelter Challenge

It is Shelter Challenge time again and our resident rescue, the White Bird Appaloosa Horse Rescue, is hoping to move up a few places on the leader boards.  With your help in spreading the word we should be able to gain the two places that would put us in the top ten in Virginia.