Lessons My Cows Have Taught Me

It's hard to place a dollar value on the Family Cow.  It is a decision which can truly enrich your life, your health, your productivity, and your dedication to the homestead.  It is a commitment not to be taken lightly.  For richer, and for poorer, in sickness and in health, in the rain, the snow, the mud, the immense quantity of cow dung.  Through the feed bills, the hay shortages, the incredible expense of wood shavings.  Whether you want to or not, you have to be there.

Now, it's not the 5 and 5 that people initially imagined.  Our cows are often an auction purchase.  This is risky business, for those of you who don't already know.  Cows at sale barns are there for a reason.  The owners have no accountability.  You get it "as-is", you get no history, and it's very difficult to identify character when they are crowded and scared in a strange place.

Penny had mastitis and was struggling with her weight when we first rescued her from the meat market.

Our timing was perfect.  For our first, we bought a phenomenal, purebred Holstein for half the usual rate. We had the opportunity to speak to the seller about temperament. The seller was actually honest and she is an amazing gal. Sweet, quiet, gentle.  Exactly the kind of 1500lbs animal you want to crawl under!

However it wasn't perfect.  When things began to thaw and get wet we realized she had a huge slice right through her foot.  It's been long, requiring attention every other day.  Restraining her, digging it out disinfecting it and keeping her pen IMMACULATE and DRY.  DRY, by the way, with a cow, in April is more expensive then feeding said cow.  Don't underestimate the expense of good bedding, nor it's importance.  Hay is about $4.50 a bale here because of last years drought.  She will eat a full bale, and $1.50 of grain each day.  That is $42 each week.  Now the bedding is about $6 for a very large bag, and we use probably 3 in one week, as well as one bag of lime ($15) which we spread to dry out wet spots.  So our total cost is about $75 a week.

Now bear in mind, we no longer buy milk, butter, cream, cheeses, sour cream, eggs or pork.  Eggs and Pork? Because we feed our chickens with the milk, and this time of year they get to forage as well!  The bi-product is healthy eggs, which hatch into healthy chicks.  If you pick a specific breed of heritage chicken, you could even make some profit and fill your freezer with extra roosters!

We also won't be buying beef.  You see, a dairy cow must be bred each year in order to produce milk.  This is called "freshening".  She will typically have one calf, or maybe two!  You may get a bull calf for the freezer, or a heifer for future milk or profit!  The reason we chose a Holstein is for the abundance of milk.  We recieve 8+ gallons a day, and on top of us, and the chickens, and her own calf, she raises many many more.  Bull calves can often be found free at auction barns or dairy farms, or at very little cost.   Occasionally the prices sky rocket, but not for long! Each calf can be raised in 8 weeks,  they start off with 1/4 gallon twice a day and we slowly increase this amount for 5-6 weeks.  At this point we will be feeding one full gallon a day, and when they begin to eat 1.5 or 2lbs of grain each day we begin decreasing the milk.  At about 8 weeks they are fully weaned and producing marketable grain fed veal.  We keep them to 300, 400 lbs and are able to get 1.20lbs at the auction house.  Edie to date, has weaned 10 calves and will be weaning 7 more within a month.  She will be able to raise 4 each month of her lactation (on average)

More on how we raise calves later.

So, at the end of the day my cow provides for our family, our chickens, our pigs, and supplies us with a marketable product which provides enough profit to cover her own expenses four times over.

You might picture me painstakingly hand milking at 5am in sub zero temperatures but it's far from the truth.  We are business owners, new parents, and farmers-in-training.  Sometimes we let the calves milk, most days we only milk what we need for another creature or our own fridge.  Additional calves are taught to drink from a bucket, and if I just don't have time it is actually beneficial for them to miss a meal occasionally.  It may be a lot of work, but the rewards are great.  If it is something you would enjoy, research the breeds you would like, talk it over with friends and relatives.  Make sure your partner (if you have one!) is supportive and get your kids excited to help!

I believe a good cow is powerful medicine for the good people who have a tough time getting started some days. My cow is my muse, she keeps me moving, and learning.  She makes the magical world of farming possible.  This is one farming family, that won't be without for a long, long time.

Chick Days at Janok Place!

Oh it was a long long winter.  No time for blogging, or fixing furniture, or brushing my hair.  But now it's Spring, and while it is much colder then last year I am so thankful it is finally here!

The word of the day?  Chicks!!!

A couple weeks ago, we had "Battle of the Hens"

You see, we have this small black mutt-like Bantam hen.  She tried hatching in October.  I told her it was a bad idea, but she was relentless and we gave in. she actually came very close to hatching them, but a predator intervened.  This spring she sat somer ameraucana eggs, I do love my green eggs!  All was well, and then...

We had our White Chantecler intervene.  She stole those eggs!  She hatched out about half, I think some were lost due to cooling during their day long argument.  We gave her a few extras that we've hatched out and her and her babies are quite happy.

As for our little black Bantam?  We gave her some new eggs!  ... And then the rats came.  Today, her prayers were answered!  I hatched out 7 happy, healthy chicks in the good old 'bator' and she is too happy!

We also got out meat chick order in today.  Last year we raised up the commercial broilers to 8 weeks.  It was too long. There's just no way DH and I can consume 8lbs of chicken.  The chickens were simply sad, they were too heavy to live comfortably.  They ate and ate frantically.  They were consuming a full bag of feed each day.  They were dirty and featherless no matter how hard we tried. This year we will try "Cornish game hens" which are simply young commercial meat birds.  At this age they will still have spirit, mobility and reasonable appetites.  We are also going to try out tablescrap and fresh raw milk from Edie this year as well as naturally raised grains from neighboring farm.  They are too cute that first day, and I hope to see them live happy, healthful lives without the tired struggle I saw the others endure.

We will be talking chickens this week, stay tuned!  Pictures coming soon :)

now we have a cow

A milking cow is essential on a hobby farm. The whole milk obtained from said cow can feed not only humans, but the chickens and turkeys too. The birds can simply have a bowl of milk or you can add it to their crumble. If you put a cheese cloth over a bucket of milk it will make curds and whey in about 4 days. The curds are a great feed substitute for the birds and the added calcium to their diet will increase their egg laying capacity by up to 25%. The whey can be given to pigs or fed to just about anything as it is just protein.

Thursday was the dairy auction in Greely where you can go and bid on milking cows from different local area farmers. Yesterday was a big day at the auction as a complete herd of 20 Holstein cattle were up for auction on top of the cow or two that the smaller farms bring in.

We already have a heifer and a steer who are both about 6 months old. The heifer can be bred only after she is a year old and should expect to be "fresh" by the time she is two. Being fresh means that the cow just calved and is now producing milk or lactating. A springer is a cow who has had her first calf, so essentially two years old. These cows are not used to being handled yet for milking and are often skiddish and feisty.

The cow we bought yesterday is three years old, she is gentle and simply put "a good cow" according to the man who brought her in. 

She'd make a good house cow. A really good cow that one.

Her name is Donnandale Toystory Ringolo, part of the fab four.
Ringo eh; reminds me of this:



This ~60 year old man approached us and said that his dad told him to find us and show us his cows. His dad was about 90, and was sitting in the front seat first row at the auction.

Now, Alex and I both have great respect for old man advice. Old man advice is key for success and their wisdom regarding farming should be listened to like scripture. We could tell the man didn't really want to part with his cows and he was probably downsizing due to the cost of hay this winter.

He had brought in three cows, two were expecting any day now and the other was three days fresh. We opted to bid on the fresh one as we really had no interest dealing with birthing a cow tomorrow  in order to maybe save $50.

We also picked up two calves yesterday, one of which was free. We bid on a Jersey heifer and won her and then picked up a Holstein bull for meat. 

You see, you need to produce a calf in order for your cow to keep producing milk. When you calf a bull, it is essentially useless to the dairy farmer. They do not want to feed this animal and produce 1250 pounds of beef in a year and a half or so. If the farmer wanted beef, there are meatier breeds of cow out there to raise up. So, these Holstein bull calves are sent to the meat auction and if they are not bid on, they go in a free pen until the day is done and then the leftovers get killed and disposed of.

Now this Holstein will produce roughly 30 litres of milk a day. That's a lot of milk for us you see, so by getting two calves we can use some of that milk to feed to the babies and raise them up big, for free.

This is a smart thing to do for the hobby farmer, and also delicious.

We got the Jersey because in two years, she will produce a much creamier milk than the Holstein. With a higher fat content, more of the milk can be used for making cheese and other more creamy dairy products. Delicious.

One other detail about milking cows is that they have to be milked dry twice a day, or else bad things happen. They can develop mastitis which is a curdling of the milk while still in the utter. This is obviously a bad thing and then you really need to work hard on clearing that condition up with medication and the milk has to be wasted while the cow is on the antibiotics.

This cow is used to being milked at 5am and 5pm; so 4:30 this morning was special.

As the man said, she is gentle and hand milked really well.

I find the raw milk is a bit more salty that I am used to with store bought milk. Yes we plan on drinking unpasteurized milk and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that if the cow is in good health. I wouldn't be drinking anything that came from a sickly cow and as far as we have heard, you will know when the cow becomes ill.

We give our livestock plenty of room and clean their stalls daily so they are not living in "dairy barn" conditions. Normally, cows like this are in a stall slightly bigger than they are and they have a bucket of grain strapped in front of them and a contraption attached to their cow parts. To remain competitive and supply the masses, this is a necessary evil.

The dairy barn we picked up our barn cats at was foul like this; the air burned my eyes it was so foul. Cows this size pee and poo like massive loads and they just stand there all day. Their stalls are seriously cleaned once or twice a year and according to the dairy farmer association, this is just fine.

Ontario dairy farms are NOT inspected to ensure that their accommodation for livestock meets a certain standard.

The pasteurization process effectively kills any salmonella or E coli that would be present if a sick cow was milked even if that tainted milk was mixed in with many other healthy cows milk. Since recent advancements in the ultra-pasteurizing process, the Ontario dairy farmer association feels that it is ok to treat the milk once it has been transported at the processing plant instead of ensuring that dairy farmers keep tidy barns which would have them keeping less cows and making less money.

Ultra-pasteurizing is when a vat of milk, like I dunno, 500 gallons is super heated to a boil in 2 seconds, then chilled to 4 degree Celsius. MMMmmmmm, microwaves are tasty.

Further reading about how milk is processed has told us that powdered milk is often added to dairy products so that they taste like milk, not to mention all the bleaching for that perfect whiteness. Delicious.

Now we are not hating on the dairy we buy in stores, we just wanted to know what happens to it. To be honest, after our research, we are just fine with whole milk.

It's like me and eggnog. I really shouldn't have read the ingredients on the carton, but I drink it anyways.

Greetings, from Janok Place

Frugal living, First time Farming, DIYing, housewifery nonsense and other things!

So, here we are. This is us, and it's very nice to meet you. A little about us, before we get started. We are the Janok's, and we reside at a little forgotten farm in South-Eastern Ontario. This is our place in the world, so we decided to call it just what it was. The current human population is three:


Say "Hi!" Boo!

but sometimes it's hard to keep tabs on the furred, feathered and scaled citizens. That's how it is here, and why we are here. At six months pregnant (you heard me...) we decided to flip our 1962 split level home in the city, and trade "up" for an oh-so-quaint little "hobby" farm in the sticks. Why you might ask? The dogs pulled an ultimatum. Our backyard was having a mental breakdown, the taxes were killing us and the traffic was driving us batty. News articles on our food repulsed us, and everything was too hectic. We couldn't fathom raising a child there, and we wanted something fundamentally better for our family.

We rescue old furniture in distress, DIY even when we don't know how, know Christmas dinner on a first name basis, and we never say never. I have an obsessive active interest in preserving foods, and a lifelong passion for animals. Kevin's antics can be further investigated (here) at Enter The Crawlspace, circa "the old house". Bear with us, the growth phase is always a little bumpy!

Alex ("Mrs. Janok"), at Janok Place