Rabbits on Pasture or in a Hoop House?


Rabbit photos courtesy of Stone & Thistle Farm and Allsun Farm

While we were down in Tennessee last weekend we popped by a few local food retailers to say hi and chat about Little Seed's plans and the potential for future business relationships. We were consistently asked if we could supply rabbits. Rabbits are something we're interested in, but it's a subject on which we've gone back and forth. For one, our vision for Little Seed involves all of the animals spending time outside, eating natural forages that they harvest themselves. In the case of rabbits we have plans for a portable unit with an open floor that would allow the doe and its kits to munch on the grass and plants below. In front of our house we have a long tract of land with fertile soil where we could easily plant a variety of crops for the rabbits to munch on and we could move their hutches up and down the land similar to what you'd see in a chicken tractor operation. It sounds great, but there's a few problems when it comes to rabbits.

 

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Companion Planting - Cultivate Some Leafy Love

It seems that in almost every farmer's book or blog there's a good page or two devoted to waxing romantic about getting cosy with their favorite seed catalogs during the downtime of the winter months. Late this fall, I eagerly awaited the arrival of the three that I had signed up for, ready to join the club and experience this supposedly blissful experience first hand. Sadly, after weeks of waiting it appeared that they would not be coming (maybe because our current address is a P.O. box?). Luckily the three companies that we had wanted to buy from also have online catalogs. For the past few nights we've been getting cozy...with the laptop. Although slightly less romantic, it does the trick! We started with bush beans for drying and within moments I was hooked. Transported from our tiny bedroom in Brooklyn to our farm in early summer, we imagined our first full blown garden as we planned what it would hopefully bear.  I have a feeling that in our excitement we may have gone a teensy bit overboard. We tried to stay on the conservative side but also let ourselves play a bit with variety (as in: we eat lots of carrots so we went with an early season variety as well as the fun rainbow variety I couldn't resist for later in the season). 

While snuggled in bed oogling golden beets I realized that I needed to get a move on, step up the studying, and learn how to actually grow these beauties! I've done pole beans and greens in a little yard we had at one apartment several years ago, but that's about the extent of my experience. I've got a lot of learning to do and although most of it is going to happen with my hands in the dirt this spring, I'm trying to get as much in as I can now. 

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Berlusconi, The Territorial Livestock Guardian Dog


Berlusconi the LGD at Work

With the prospect of literally spending thousands of dollars on animals in the next few months we’ve been researching the different options for protecting the livestock. The first line of defense will be permanent perimeter fencing. It helps keep predators out and our animals in, although it’s not foolproof. We’re using some fencing leftover from the prior owners and also putting up some new fence as needed. Predators will find a way to circumvent the fencing, no doubt. In order to deter them further we plan to have Livestock Guardian Dogs, or LGDs. Very simply, these are big dogs (normally white ones) that live outdoors with the animals and do what their name says, guard. The ability is genetic, although a certain amount of training and level of maturation is necessary for them to succeed. More to come on that later, but for now I wanted to share a story I was reminded of while researching our various dog options.

If you’ve read some prior posts you may have seen that we went on a transhumance with about 300 sheep on our honeymoon last summer. Walking with sheep through the remote mountains of Abruzzo requires protection for the flock. Bears are the primary culprits. Our shepherds used LGDs for flock protection. Our particular flock was guarded by a younger pup that was just learning the ropes (click for photo). At the end of the hike we met up with another flock of about 700 sheep on the top of a faraway mountain. They had the real deal older guard dogs.

One such dog was Berlusconi.

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