A New Homebrew - Raw Goat's Milk Kefir

I have an exciting new kitchen witchery experiment going! As of the day before Thanksgiving, there has been a nook on the shelf of our hutch in the kitchen dedicated to this:Noooo - it's not a candle... it's kefir! Kefir is a fermented milk drink, similar to yogurt with origins in Eastern Europe. The traditional "starter" is a living colony/symbiotic culture of yeasts and lactic bacteria that resembles cauliflower or little opaque beads clumped together. These "beads" are commonly referred to as grains, and they will actually grow in number daily as they consume and ferment more and more lactose while fermenting milk into a super-powered probiotic drink.

Before this experiment, I had never consumed traditional kefir. I had tried the kind you can buy in the grocery store and made my own with freeze dried cultures... These are just approximations of the real thing,

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The Benefit of Broomsedge

Broomsedge is listed as a "Noxious Weed" on the USDA website. It's a sign of low fertility and it's one of the most invasive weeds around. We have a ton of it on our farm. Several tons, actually. On our first visit to the farm last October we didn't even know what Broomsedge was. Looking out onto the fields we saw the image below:

Broomsedge in full glory

I don't know what this pasture looks like to the average untrained eye, but to my untrained eye it looked great. "Tall grass, something a goat would probably eat, fantastic." That was my initial reaction, I loved it. 

Over the next few months I discovered that the reddish/orage hue of our 4 ft tall fields were the result of broomsedge: A noxious and invasive weed that is a sign of low fertility. Not so great afterall.

Whether you've recognized it or not, Broomsedge makes appearances in our photos all the time. In fact, here's the last three photos I posted on Facebook, all highlighting the Broomsedge:

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Grazing in the Winter - Speed Up or Slow Down Rotations?


Willow grazing on a sunny November morning This is our first winter on the farm and the shift in seasons has posed a lot of new hurdles, including the grazing situation.

Over the past few weeks the pastures have slowly transitioned from bright, green grass to a brown, stemmy, seedy mess. The cows tend to seek out the green stuff, buried below the dead grass. The goats seek out cold-hardy “weeds”, such as rose, privet, cedar, and other small bushes/saplings. Both the cows and the goats are eating through their paddocks about two or three times as fast as in the summer. There's less available forage in each particular paddock and the animals need to eat more since they're burning more calories staying warm in the cold weather.

The rapid pasture consumption brings up the dilemma of rotating them through the pastures faster or slower. There's not as much good forage in the same amount of area, so you would think that rotating the animals more quickly would be the best idea. Generally, however, I would say that slowing down the rotation would be the best idea, if possible. You push the animals to get more out of each paddock and you also give the other paddocks a longer rest period. In the winter (and other slow growth periods) you want to increase the rest periods to encourage better regrowth and reduce pressure on the forage base. That's not a hard and fast rule, everyone has their own unique circumstances.

For instance, we have a small goat herd this year and lots of pasture that hasn’t been grazed in a long time, so I’ve been increasing the rate of rotation and waiting to feed hay. So far the goats are doing very well and we haven’t fed any hay on pasture. Depending on the weather I think we might be able to go close to the whole winter without bringing the goats hay. Another reason to rotate dairy goats more quickly is because you can't push them as hard as meat animals (i.e. beef cows or meat goats). The meat animals can be pushed to "do a job" on the pasture. The dairy animals have higher nutritional requirements (particularly during lactation), so keeping them on fresh pasture is almost always the optimal solution. That means I am moving the goats at least every other day (sometimes every day), whereas in the spring/summer I might go 5-7 days.
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