Turkey House

The turkeys are growing really fast.  I love my remodeled hoop house.  It is longer and lighter making it easier for me to move by myself.

I had originaly constructed the frame out of wooded 2 x 4's but it was really heavy.  My husband reconstructed it with a nice new aluminum frame.  This baby will last forever. I situate it so that the turkeys get the early morning sun and then the tarp gives them shade in the afternoon.

You can make one of these really easy.  This one is made from two combination cattle panels and one hog panel in the center. The panels are attatched to a frame and then covered with chicken wire to keep the youngsters in.  Any larger and it would take more than one person to move it. The above photo is when I first put all 15 turkeys in it in June.

This is the access door made from some scrap aluminum we had at the shop.  The hose goes to the automatic water which is a huge time and back saver.

I now have 5 adult turkeys in it.  I move it to new grass every couple of days.  No need for cleaning or shavings here.  The turkey like to eat the grass and bugs too. Usually I raise 50 meat birds in the spring using the hoop house and then transfer the turkeys to it after the chickens are processed.  This year I skipped the meat birds because my freezer is still full of them from last year.  

Morning Surprise

So this summer has been really busy and I haven't found time to blog.  This am I decided to make time. Here is a good one....This am I went to do chores.  I fed the bucks & the pony & the new goats.  Then I milked my two alpines and fed that pen. I went to feed the dry does their hay, went in the stall, opened up the hay bag to put the hay in , glanced to my right and saw a "goat" lying next to the creep feeder pen and thought "why aren't you bombarding me for the hay this am?" and THEN I looked closer and the "goat" was not a "goat"!   IT WAS A FREAKIN COYOTE!!!!!!!!  I was close enough to pat it! I dropped the hay and ran franticly screaming.  My husband had already left for work so I had to call my FIL and hystericly told him to come quick with his gun.  Then I went through the kids pen jumped the fence & locked him in the stall so he couldn't get away.  I looked over every does neck and hind end and not one of them has a bite mark on them.  So did one of my does beat the bejesus out of him?  Is that why he was cowering in there?  I don't know but I'm still pretty shook up!  Too bad I didn't take pictures but I was a little out of my mind! Anywho, my FIL came & shot him and disposed of him, bye bye coyote.....You messed with the wrong farmer chic!

Chevre

I made some chevre for one of my husband's customers. He mentioned to his customer that I happened to make goat cheese and his customer is having a big birthday bash this weekend so I gave him some to enjoy.  It is so simple to make and delicious too, not to mention it uses up at least a gallon of my abundant milk supply.

Chevre Recipe:
Warm 4-5 qts of milk to 80°F
add 1/8 tsp starter (I like Flora Danica) let sit for 2 minutes before stirring
put 3 drops liquid rennet in 1/3 cup cold water
add 2 tbsp of the diluted rennet mixture to milk

Let set for 12-18 hours until curd forms. 

                               

Scoop curds into a colander lined with cheesecloth.

Hang to drain overnight.

This is what it looks like when you remove from cheesecloth.  This is when you add some salt to taste and whatever seasonings you desire.  This batch I made garlic & dill. Yum.  That's all there is to it!

Plain chevre can be substituted for cream cheese and seasoned chevre goes well with crackers.  Plain chevre freezes well, just add seasonings after you thaw it. Fresh chevre lasts for two weeks in the fridge.

You can reuse your cheesecloth.  Wash it & then boil it for 5 minutes. I use the muslin type cheesecloth.

Turkeys

Our turkeys came yesterday.  My husband called me at 7am to let me know that the post office in Hartford, VT had called to rudley let him know that "our chickens are in & that we MUST come get them." Sorry to put you our Mr. Post Man. Don't you value job security? He was rude when I picked them up too. That's another subject! I packed up a heat lamp & some turkey starter crumbles before I left the house. They hatched out on 6/21/11 and shipped via priority mail through the post office in this box.

15 Bronze Breasted Turkeys, the minimum order through Welp Hatchery, occupied one half of this box. My children were estatic. "Mommy, do we get to play with them today at work?" I set up the heat lamp and plugged it in and wouldn't you know it, the bulb blew! A 200 watt light bulb came to the rescue and warmed them up quickly. My two legged kids played with them all day, making sure they had clean water and food and were doing ok. I packed them up after a long work day and headed home. Once home I set up a temporary brooder for them for the next week.

Next week I'll transfer them to the garden shed until they are big enough to go in the turkey hoop house where they will be moved daily to fresh new grass. Last year I raised Bronze breasted, a couple of White Hollands, and a one Bourbon Red. Seeing as I don't want to let them breed naturally I opted to just go with the Bronze this year.  Last year the bronze was 31 lbs dressed. The Hollands were 7 & 9 lbs and the Bourbon Red tom was 17 lbs. The Hollands and the Bourbon Red. could fly and the Bronze could not so it will be easier to keep them in this year.  I will probably sell all but 4.  This is what I have done for the past three years and it has worked out well.

My two year old gently holding one of her new turkeys.

"I wan dat un."

  

Summer Pasture

I feel so far behind.  The weather has not cooperated very well this year. Rain, rain & more rain.  We were all done with first cut haying last year at this time.  This year we are not even half done.  I haven't got my garden 100% planted yet either. I did give all the goats their summer haircuts and I did get summer fencing put up.  I moved my bucks out behind our house.  We let our back lawn grow up so they could have a place to graze. They like the fresh green grass & I like saving hay. Not to mention it cuts down on lugging hay. I don't feed my bucks grain in the summer, they don't need it.

Here they are happily grazing.

Monty munching away.

Here are Vigilante & Aonghas happy to have some green grass.

I used the electric netting fence from Premier1.  It is portable & easy to set up, take down or move to a new location. I like the shorter fence but this year it was on back order so I purchased the 42" which I do not like as well because it sags more. For what it is I will deal with it. I now have 5 sections of fence that are 164' long, enough to make three separate grazing pastures.

Yogurt

I love yogurt.  I like to have it for breakfast with some crunchy granola or cajeta drizzled on top. Yogurt is really easy to make.  Begin by mixing 2 Tbsp sugar, 1 Tbsp instant vanilla pudding & 1 qt milk in a saucepan. Warm the mixture to 185°F, do not let boil. Once the temp reaches 185°F remove from heat and place container in a sink filled with cold water. Let the temperature fall to 112°F and add 1/8 tsp yogurt starter culture or add a couple Tbsp of your favorite yogurt for starter, make sure it has live cultures listed on the label.  Let dry culture rehydrate for 2 minutes and gently stir in.  Place in yogurt maker or something to maintain temp at 112°F for 4 hours.  Put in fridge and the mixture will thicken. If you like tart tasting yogurt keep at 112°F for more than 4 hours.

 There are many ways to make yogurt.  Some have no sugar, some use powdered milk and some use vanilla extract for flavoring, others use gelatin or pectin to thicken it.  Homemade yogurt will not be as thick as store bought yogurt.  I have found that by cooking it to 185°F my yogurt is thick and that by using the instant vanilla pudding it tastes like vanilla & perhaps it helps with the thickness too.  Experiment until you get the consistency & flavor that you like.

Cajeta & Goat Cheese Brownies

What to do with all the chevre & cajeta in my fridge?  I scouted the Internet again for new ideas on using up my yummy goods. I came across the Fat Toad Farm website & their recipe for brownies. The recipe can be found here: http://www.fattoadfarm.com/2009/fat-toaders-brownie-recipe.

Not only would this use up some chevre and cajeta but it would use up some eggs too- perfect!

I mixed up and cooked for 60 minutes per directions.  Boy did they look yummy!

And the taste test confirms that yes indeed they are yummy!