Teresa & Mike CHS - Our journal

[RollingAcres]

View attachment 53206 A quick picture of the Buff that is raising 6 chicks. It seems like I can never get more of them in the frame at the same time. The chicks are really leggy and no telling what breed they are. She was determined to be broody so we picked up some eggs at a neighbor who had some they had been gathering for a couple of weeks and let her hatch them.

That picture made me smile.

 

[Bruce]

Isn't it fun to watch the hen with her chicks!

 

[Baymule]

I love to see a hen with her chicks.

 

[Mike CHS]

Teresa finished up the workshop today and we are now officially listed in the Pick Tennessee program which gives a lot of free advertising not to mention sev. UT has a super good training program and added to that there was a lot of networking going on. Many of the people at the training we already know from other events but there were 40 or more people there.

A side event to the training is that after the training sessions made us a bit better informed, we have decided to go ahead and get a couple of calves to run with the sheep herd in our rotation. You have to go at a minimum of every two years to keep your certification so I'll get to go next year rather than wait.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Is there a purpose for the calves?....other than for freezer....

 

[Mike CHS]

They help with parasite control. Several of the people at the workshop were people we know but since there were speakers on a whole bunch of topics, several of those involved pasture/parasite management. One that we met last year ran almost 100 sheep on 16 acres and also ran 7-9 calves at the same time. Since they eat at different levels in the grass the cows serve as a vacuum and pick up a large portion of the worms. They are telling us that parasites that affect sheep do not affect cattle and vice versa.

 

[Mike CHS]

There is another farm couple that have been at our place a few times over the last year that were at the workshop Teresa went to this week. They asked today if we might be interested in breeding Thor to their Great Pyrenees in the near future. She is a beautiful big girl (aren't they all) and they have been here enough to know how Thor is. We had been considering getting another female and breeding but didn't really want to have to deal with a whole litter. We will probably do it and keep one of male pups from this breeding.

 

[Bruce]

Congratulations on the Master Producer certification! I bet that wasn't even on a third tier goal when you started your farm.

Do barber pole worms have invertebrate life cycle hosts? If they do, ducks or chickens rotated through after the sheep can help with the worm problem.

 

[Latestarter]

Congrats to Teresa! Very nice. I'm sure you'll enjoy the training when you get to go.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Yay for Teresa!