Tuesday, March 15, 2011

FOR SALE: Suzie Abbott


FOR SALE: Heamour Farm NC Suzie Abbott
Experimental doe. Wonderful markings. She is the middle one in this picture. Her brother Clarence is for sale too, but is not registerable. Mother has nice udder with high rear attachment and pleasant fore udder. She is gentle and easy to milk considering she has not been handled a lot. Dad is a well bred Lamancha. This would make a very nice dairy doe for someone. $200

For Sale


FOR SALE: Experimental Doe. Blue Dairy NC Angelica
Blue Dairy is Claire's prefix. This is a very lovely experimental dairy doe. Her dad is an extremely well bred Lamancha with smashing udders all over the pedigree. He does improve common does, but when you cross him onto something as lovely as Claire's doe Kickadee Hill KHJD Ava, well, you have something special. This doe basically takes a Kickadee Hill saanen and puts Lamancha ears on it. Money from the sale of Claire's goats goes directly into her college fund. She would like $300 for this kid.

Kids Sire: Nestor Acres Idol's Conner; he is a purebred Lamancha
Sire: CH Mint*Leaf American Idol, littermate to Mint*Leaf American Beauty
2008 2nd place Sr. Kid at Nationals
SS: Altrece Cosmopolitan
SSS: Willow Run Bugatti Spartan
SSD: CH Altrece Wish Granted
SD: CH The Preference Flyer 2008 & 2010 National Show Reserve GCH,
2008 Best Udder & 2010 Reserve Best Udder
SDS: Singing-Hills Preference
SDD: Singing-Hills TT Brenna

Dam: CH Pine-Springs Scouts Cora LA 8-04 91(EEEE)
DS: Pine Springs SS Scouts Redman
DSS: +*B Redwood-Hills Nomad Scout
DSD: CH South-Fork DV Satin
DD: Pine-Springs Corona LA 89(VEEV)
DDS: ++*B SG Haute Caprine Pulsar
DDD: GCH Pine Springs McCorinne LA 91(EEEE)

Kids Dam: Kickadee Hill KHJD Ava, American Saanen
Sire: *B Kickadee Hill WRS James Dean
SS: CH Willow Run Stormfront Stuck Up 3-05 88(VVE)
SSS: Windsor Manor DD Stormfront
SSD: SGCH Windsor Manor WMDM Stormy 4-00 90(VVEE)
SD: GCH Kicakdee Hill WMV Jorgette 6*M 2-03 89(VEEE)
SDS: +B Windsor Manor AA Victor 7-03 91(EEE) 2004 Premier Sire
SDD: SGCH Kicakdee Hill Jeena 5*M 2-03 87(+VEE)

Dam: Kickadee Hill KHG Abigail
Sire: *B Kickadee Hill WMV Gabriel 1-04 92(EEE)
SS: +B Windsor-Manor AA Victor 7-03 91(EEE) 2004 Premier Sire
SD: GCH Kickadee-Hill Morning Glory 6*M 5-04 90(VVEE)
Dam: SGCH Willow Run Dreammaker Arlene 2*M 5-04 92(EEEE)
DS: SG ++*B Windsor Manor WMT Dream Maker 3-03 90(VEE)
DD: Willow Run Visionquest Anneka *M

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

FOR SALE: Heamour KJ Jillian



For Sale: Heamour KJ Jillian. American Saanen, registration pending. She is by our Jr. Herdsire King-Farm CSOC Breeze Jordan http://www.adgagenetics.org/GoatDetail.aspx?RegNumber=S001540229 out of Kickadee Hill KHA Johanna http://www.adgagenetics.org/GoatDetail.aspx?RegNumber=S001486207. This is Johanna's second lactation. This doe should mature over 200# and takes after her grandmother SGCH Kickadee Hill Janey *5M http://www.kickadeehill.com/janey.htm. I am keeping her sister for now. Should do well in show ring. I took picture when she was 5-days old and it is hard for me to get a kid to stand for a photo without making them stretch out like a Saddlebred or hunch their back. She is lovely and should milk well. $400.

FOR SALE: Heamour KJ Amelia Bedelia


For Sale: Heamour KJ Amelia Bedelia E1544165. born 1/18/2011. Sire is one of our Jr. Herdsires King-Farm CSOC Breeze Jordan AS1540229. Mother is an alpine I bought last year from Karen Fisher. Swamp-Hill Astilbe AA1540232. This is one I should keep, but I am trying to keep only 5-replacements and will be doing so from older does I bought this last year. Excellent width in rump, wonderful shoulders, well balanced and has excellent substance. Her mother has a will to milk and her father is doubled up on Prime Rate (milk). $300.

For Sale: Annabelle


FOR SALE: Sweet doe, born 5/14/2010. Mother is a lovely saanen doe that our daughter owns. Father is an Arapawa buck that is now at Nettle Meadows. She is cream colored. We disbudded her. I planned to milk her, but with 20-does kidding and many older members that I really should keep daughters from, project goats like Annabelle have to be sold. She is not registerable, but I will give you a complete pedigree for your records. She should be moderate sized with lovely components. $200.

First money and pick up takes precedence in all sales. We try to be as honest as possible about all matters of health and breeding. You are welcome to view flock and records. Sire and Dam are CAE and Johnne's negative.

Friday, January 07, 2011

Definitions II - Allergy vs Lactose Intolerance

This is something that I learned more about as I started to make cheese. It is easy to misunderstand the difference, because most Dr.'s have problems understanding food allergies and sensitivities. There are different body systems that react when you are allergic vs. lactose intolerant. Often there are overlapping symptoms.

When I sold yogurt, I ended up running into people that also had issues with certain probiotics that were in the yogurt and wanted to know how long it cultured for (more lactic acid = less lactose). It was through a lot of those people that I started to gain a better understanding of these differences. For those with allergies, man this is a matter of life or death. It is important that you go beyond this blog and really learn more before you believe every marketing slant that people have for their products.

Lactose intolerance happens because the body is lacking an enzyme called lactase. This enzyme takes the milk sugar, lactose, and breaks it down into usable bits in the body. When you are lactose intolerant, you make gas. So, you feel bloated, burp, feel nauseous, may get diarrhea. It is more an uncomfortable relationship to milk.

For those that are lactose intolerant, they may be able to consume aged cheeses, yogurt, and lactic cheeses. To make lactic cheese and yogurt, cheese makers are using bacteria that love lactose to help with the coagulation process. They convert this lactose into lactic acid (and other flavor making by-products). There are not a lot of lactose molecules left in the process of making these products.

In longer aged cheeses, like cheddar(real ones, not industrial garbage), the bacteria are still working on the lactose in the cave (aging).

Make note of the age of the particular kind of cheese and sample only a small amount until you find your tolerance level.

An allergy to milk can be life threatening. In this case, your body has developed antibodies to some protein component of that milk. There are a lot of proteins associated milk. Breeds of animals and species of animals have different proteins and amounts of proteins in their milk. While it is highly unlikely that you can isolate the protein components that you have issues with, it may help you select another animal that you can tolerate.

As with intolerance, you can get abdominal issues, but generally, you see eczema or a skin reaction as well. More severe allergic reactions involve the respiratory system. This may start simple, like seasonal allergies, but can become life threatening to some people. The kicker with this is that sometimes symptoms start the next day, so it is hard to associate it with the drink of milk you had the day before.

For some people, they may not be able to consume cows milk, but they can consume goat or sheep milk. If you are having respiratory issues with cows milk, I would not even try goat or sheep milk unless the EpiPen and a Dr. are right there with you for 24-hours.

Some myths...
*If you are allergic to milk, being raw will not make it more tolerable.
*You will tolerate goat milk if you are allergic to cows milk, not lactose intolerant.
*Homogenization does things to milk, but it has nothing to do with lactose.
*Goat milk is not naturally homogenized, the fat just stays suspended longer. This, too has nothing to do with lactose and your ability to consume it if you are lactose intolerant.
*You may also be allergic to what the animal ate! If you are committed to drinking milk, work with Dr. on this, don't go it alone. Allergies are not something to play with. You can die.

I tried to make this simple. I hope this helps.

I also wanted to say, that there were times that I advised people interested in buying our products that it was ok that they cannot eat dairy. I was not going to hold it against them and they did not have to please to by buying my products.

Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Definitions I - Heritage as it relates to Cattle

I am starting a series on definitions of products to help the consumer understand what this flurry of words means when they go to their coop or farmers market. I hope that by helping you come up with an understanding about what this means in the marketplace, you can ask informed questions of the vendors to see if they are producing and selling what it is that you are, in fact, looking for.

I will start with the definition of Heritage as it relates to Cattle and their products. ALBC just launched this definition at the Annual Meeting in November, 2010 in Hamilton, NY. Marjorie Bender did an excellent job of moderating this discussion and the results are a very nice definition. http://albc-usa.org/heritagecattle/definition.html .

In a nutshell:

Heritage Cattle Products must come from:

* Heritage Cattle only.
* Herds with ongoing breed selection practices for longevity, fertility, and productivity.
* Herds that follow sustainable management practices that provide for animal well-being

~ diets that are all plant-based, and primarily forage-based.
~ raised primarily in open, pasture or range, environments. This specifically excludes total confinement operations.
~ free from routine prophylactic antibiotics.
~ free from administered synthetic or natural growth promoters or growth hormones.
~ humanely slaughtered.

A. Definition of Heritage Beef Products:
Beef animals and their products marketed as Heritage Beef must:

* Be produced from the mating of registered, purebred parent stock.
~ This allows for the sale as Heritage of those offspring that are produced by mating registered animals of two different Heritage breeds.
* Include the name of the breed of that animal on the label, or the two Heritage breeds used in crossbred production.

B. Definition of Heritage Milk or Heritage Milk Products:
Milk marketed as Heritage Milk must:

* Be exclusively from animals that have been produced from the mating of registered, purebred parent stock.
~ This allows for the sale as Heritage of milk from those offspring that are produced by mating registered animals of two different Heritage breeds.
* Include the name(s) of the breed(s) of the animals on product label.

Products made with Heritage Milk:

* Must be made exclusively with Heritage Milk to use Heritage in the product name.
* As an ingredient may use “Made with Heritage Milk” on the label but cannot use Heritage in the product title, and the label must state the percentage of milk from each Heritage breed.
* Must include the name(s) of the breed(s) of the animals on product label.

Terms like “heirloom,” “antique,” old-fashioned,” and “old timey” imply heritage and are understood to be synonymous with the definition provided here

Monday, November 29, 2010

Mission and Goals II

We have had our first volley of conversation about what it is that we want to achieve or do in the next 10-years. Going back to those goals. Revisiting the mission statement.
Dave:
*I want to milk 15 cows
*I want to sell my veal calves at a sustainable price
*I want to retire from full-time farming in 10-years
*Should we buy this one hay piece that we use and is for sale?
*I need help with forage harvesting
*I do not want to work myself into the grave..
Shannon:
*I want to hire someone to do afternoon chores
*I want to hire someone to do affinage
*I want to make enough cheese to provide all of us a sustainable income
*I am not the retirement plan for Dave
*I want to make dulce de leche and dulce de cajeta as well as cheese
*I want to invest in someone that is willing to learn, but has a benefit to my business rather than just offer workshops and do consulting...

This is a start. This is where we are in the process of bringing our goals back and rethinking our mission.

So far it is agreed that we may need to hire 1 1/2 people. The processing business MUST expand if we are going to pay for all of this. It looks like consulting and workshops are going to be replaced with intern/business partner type arrangement. Dave may want to replace pasture veal with milking in 10-years.

We want to talk to Claire too. She is 8-years old and her decisions will make an impact on what we do after this 10-years are up (succession planning). Right now, she needs to focus on being Claire. The question is, she loves to be in the barn milking her goats every night. This is 7-days a week. Is this too much for her? Does she just want to go to 2-milkings a week and try something else like swimming?

After we get this sorted, then we go on to enterprise budget for 1 1/2 people and what it is that we want from an employee. How much is a sustainable wage? Is there someone local (with housing), or do we have to import someone looking for housing as well as salary...

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Cross Roads

My mom continually asked me "What do you plan to do with your life?". That was often coupled with "What are you studying this semester?". Now it is just "What are you up to?" Every fall and into winter I ask myself what I plan to do next year.

I just completed the first of two workshops for ALBC on dairy farming using heritage breeds. This was a beta version. I think that it went well. The thing that hit me the most was a comment Dennis Moore with NY Dept of Ag & Markets said. There are 34 new dairy processing operations in NY that started this year!

The knee jerk reaction for someone in the industry is to say that they will not be here in 2-5 years. Arrogant, confident response. In my market area I often wonder how many the region CAN hold onto considering the scrapping I've done with others to help build a local food system.

My cheeses and dairy products are good enough to stand on their own and I can always sell them outside of this area. The thing is that, going back to the workshop, I talked about mission statements and goals and revisiting them to see where you are.

The mission statement was "To make cheeses that taste great. To provide a stable milk price for the dairy. To provide an on farm income for me." I do the first sentence. I make a consistent cheese. It is a nice table cheese. People consistently purchase it year after year.

The second statement was thrown out the window this year. It is not that I did not pay Dave for the milk. It is not that I underpaid him for his milk. I did not buy it. I used milk from goats. I always wanted to milk goats. Kept trying to purchase it. When Claire said she wanted to show something... I bought enough goats to make a batch of cheese! So what of those cows? He is organic now and we are on winter program. This means we are paid $28/hwt. Can I afford to or do I need to buy his milk?

The third statement. Ah, that third one. My cheese business was going great guns until we had this crisis of place and decided to move closer to family. We decided not to move a cave of cheese (because where do you find a handy and empty cave to borrow) and I sold out of cheese. I stated up in March this year and had to basically sit on cheese until 6-weeks ago! I did more consulting work this year.

I helped Stolzfus Dairy learn how to make cheddar curd. I wrote this workbook for ALBC on how to do dairy processing using heritage breeds. I worked on the conference. I did some other putter things related to dairy. I also started R&D on confectionery products.

Confectionery products. They taste lovely. They are easy, yet time consuming. They helped me with ego issues related to not having cheese for all of those people who rang looking for cheeses that had to hang around. It is a handy way to use late lactation goat milk.

So now I am at this point where I need to tell Peter, yes, I am committed to that Fire Cooker for caramel and goat fudge. I need to just ramp up cheese making (including going back to using our cows milk). I need to decide whether or not I need to help more people get into this business...

I have a week to make decisions. It is thrown into my court. Dave wants me to focus on cheese only. No consulting. No workshops. No caramel. Just cheese. I like all of the above and know I need to hire someone to do affinage and someone to milk goats in the evening. I feel like I CAN do all of those things, yet I am so exhausted from trying to do all of them for a year now. Really tired and I have an injured foot that probably needs either surgery of steroid injections because I felt I could do everything.

So, rewrite mission statement or go back to it? I feel like I cannot make this decision so exhausted, but I have a week to do it.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Claire Poem

I found this in Claire's writing book. Date 10/28/10.

Pick pumpkin in the field.
Use a knife to carve a pumpkin.
My pumpkin is scary.
Pumpkin pie is good.
Keep the seeds for next year.
I can carve pumpkin.
Now it is time for Halloween.