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Dec update- Bees, Predators, and Oreo cows!

Well, while I have only been home for the Thanksgiving weekend since my last blog entry there is still a lot to write about this month!  Over the Thanksgiving weekend we had a little bit of a warm snap bringing the temps up to the low 40’s, just high enough for the Bees to show me that I was worried for nothing.  When it gets warm enough Bees will break their ball they use to keep warm and take a “cleansing” flight, in order words, go and use the bath room!  Basically, when I went to check on the hives for Thanksgiving, they bees were out and about!  Made me pretty happy to see that they made it through that first cold snap.

The bees going out for a cleansing flight over Thanksgiving



It has not all been good news however since the last postings, we have been having an issue with predators, we lost one guinea to what we think was a coyote in broad day light, but our biggest losses have been from another night time predator, a great horned owl.  One night the guinea fowl decided they would rather roost in a tree rather than their protected house/coop.  Since it was dark by the time Terri got back from work, and they roosted high in the tree she was not able to get them down.  They did this for a couple days and each day we seemed to find less and less guinea but with Terri at work all the day time hours and myself in DC not much we could do  Then  one night when she got back, she went to check on the birds and she saw  eyes shining at her, at first she thought it was one of the guinea but when she turned her light towards them, she was just in time to see the owl ripping the head off a guinea.  The next day being the weekend, Terri was able to get the remaining guinea back into their coop and run, where they have remained since then.  In total we lost about ½ of our guinea fowl, 6 of 12 .  They will remain penned up for the rest of the winter.  That said it has been cold enough over the past week they have not even ventured out into their run, preferring to stay inside out of the weather.

All that was left of one of the guinea after a predator got it, we think it was a coyote

The front poarch rail has turned into one of the favorite locations for the guinea to perch during the day

Picture from the kitchen window with Soju going for a walk

The losses have highlighted the need to get a guard dog next spring.  I will be looking for a great Pyrenees as they tend to do well in a homestead environment and do excellent work guarding livestock, especially during the night.  Of course, I am not looking forward to having to feed a 110 to 120 lbs dog however they do come very well recommended.  I will be looking for one from one of the numerous homesteaders or ranchers/farmers I know as part of my Facebook groups as those puppies will already be being raised in the same environment with the same type of animals as I will be raising and they will already have been watching and learning from their parents. 
This spring myself and Jared, my brother in law, will also work at doing some predator control by hunting in an effort to reduce the coyote population near the farm property (the 40 acers) before I put livestock over there.  We did have at least one instance during deer hunting this year where a pack of coyotes spooked three deer that Jared was approaching so we know they are out there in force.  If you have ever heard a pack of coyotes howling while on the hunt, it is really a sound to hear. 

Picture stolen from the internet of a Great Pyr (the kind of livestock guard dog we are going to get)

We just got the venison back from the butcher, and if you read last months blog you will remember I mentioned that the sausage making would probably at least double the cost over all cost of the processing, well I was wrong, it tripled it!  I am most definitely going to give it a try myself next year!


Well, we also made one large step towards getting our farm going next year.  I placed a deposit on two young Galloway heifer calves. Storm and Ms Kitty will be ready for me to pick up in late April from S & F Crossroads Ranch (https://www.facebook.com/SFCrossRoadsRanch) in Hastings Michigan. Storm and Ms. Kitty are pure breed belted Galloways also known as belties, or as my sister in law Valarie calls them Oreo cows (they do kind of look like an Oreo!).  They are just a variation of the Galloway cattle I have spoken about on the blog before and Ms Kitty and Storm will be great foundation females to build our herd upon.  At the time of the pictures below Storm was about 4 months old with Ms Kitty was one month.
This is a picture of storm at S & F Crossroads Ranch in Michigan during the snows last week
This is a picture of storm at S & F Crossroads Ranch in Michigan

This is a picture of Ms Kitty at S & F Crossroads Ranch in Michigan

This is a picture of Ms Kitty at S & F Crossroads Ranch in Michigan

This is a picture of Ms Kitty at S & F Crossroads Ranch in Michigan



As the farm (the 40 acres) is nowhere close to being ready for livestock, we will be putting them over at the homestead for much of the first year.  Of course, this means I will be spending the first part of April doing fencing repairs and prepping for their arrival at the homestead.   With so few cattle it is not really worth the cost of a bull, so the plan will be to use AI in order to breed Ms Kitty and Storm around September or October for an early summer 2019 calving.  We will still be keeping out eyes open for the possibility of picking up a cow calf pair next spring of either straight Galloways or belties however.  Like anything else with farming, we will have to be flexible.  That pretty much locks in our livestock plans and sources for this first year. 

I am getting more and more excited to get back to MN and start this in earnest with every month that passes.   Right now, I am just over 100 days away, not that I am counting or anything! But I feel it is important to point out not all the wildlife I run into is in Mn, this what waiting for me outside my appartment at Fort Meade Maryland when I came home last week.  The picture is not great but it was taken quickly out the windshield of a car! 

A night time visitor to me at Fort Meade, Md



I started off the blog about talking about how I made it back home for Thanksgiving, this was really the first time we have been able to host a full-blown holiday with a lot of family for as long as I can remember.  I think the final count was 22 people.  You really do not realize how much you miss that kind of thing when you are away from home as much as you do until you experience it again.  That is just one more reason for setting up the homestead and leaving the rat race.  As always I look forward to any comments or questions!  Please feel free to share the blog with those who maybe interested or thinking of this lifestyle!


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