Selecting quality wheat seed

While there is most definitely reason for concern over next year’s seed quality, availability, and price, there is no reason to panic. As long as we take time to look at potential seed quality and use some judicious precautions (listed below) we should be able to ensure that our seed is worth keeping and planting.

There are several questions a person should ask before keeping or purchasing seed this year, including:

• Does the seed look healthy? Plump seeds with good color are ideal. Large, plump seeds contain more energy and thus result in better plant stands and early season forage growth, than smaller shriveled seed. In addition, larger seeds are more forgiving on deeper planting depths and provide better seedling vigor. Keep in mind when comparing seed size that some varieties just naturally produce a larger seed than others. Always compare seed size of the same variety.

• What is the test weight (bushel weight)? Test weight is a good initial indicator of seed quality, but is not an absolute. If the bushel weight is below 58 pounds, this warrants further investigation into seed quality. If you are purchasing certified seed, the seed tags should state the test weight. Also, be aware that small shriveled seeds can sometimes have a high test weight due to being more densely packed into a given volume (pounds per bushel). So, test weight should always be considered along with seed size. Below is an example of the importance of test weight on germination, emergence, and yield.

Does the seed have good germination? Unfortunately, a germination test should not be conducted immediately following harvest because winter wheat has a natural seed dormancy mechanism that prevents the seed from germinating for about 4 weeks after harvest (some varieties even longer). 

What To Feed Your Chickens

What chickens eat and what chickens should eat are not always the same thing. Chickens are omnivores. That means they’ll snarf down just about anything, or at least try to! I’ve seen a hen catch and slurp down a snake like spaghetti. I’ve seen a chicken snatch a toad by it’s leg and all of the other hens go in a raucous chase after it, only, at the end to discover that a toad is not good eating. Chickens also eat less exciting foods, like vegetables, fruits, flowers and grass. They eat grains and seeds. They scratch the ground and find bugs and specks of things that we can’t see.So, the question isn’t really what chickens eat, but what the right diet is for them.

In the 19th century most chickens were barnyard scavengers. They hatched out under their mamas and were taught to look for grain in the horse stalls, and for bugs and greens in the garden. The farm wife tossed stale bread and kitchen scraps to the hens. Chickens destined for the table were fattened on sour milk. Sometimes, in the winter, they’d be given a handful of grain. The hens back then laid only a few eggs a week. This haphazard diet was enough sustenance for them. But, flocks became larger and more confined. Chickens were bred to lay more and more eggs. Instead of 90 eggs a year, a hen now might lay over 300. With the increase in egg production came an increase in the nutritional requirements of the flock.

Commercial laying hen pellets (or crumbles which are the same thing but smaller) are designed for today’s productive hens. Creating a daily egg is depleting. The pellets have the right proportion of protein, minerals and energy for the chickens. These pellets should make up the bulk of your flock’s diet. Your chickens should have access to the pellets all day long. They should go to bed with full crops (the crop is the pouch in their throat where the food is first stored after it is swallowed.) It takes over 25 hours to create one egg. During the night, as the hen is sleeping, she is still building that egg. She gets the materials for making that egg from digesting food. If her digestive tract is empty she can’t make the egg. So, let your hen eat what she wants from sunup to sundown.

How to Raise a Baby Horse

Raising a baby horse can be difficult and overwhelming if you aren't familiar with horses. Raising a baby horse is a big job! If you've decided to keep your baby horse to train and ride one day, it's important to work with your baby horse as you raise them from a young age. The most important thing to remember is that manners learned when you are raising foal will carry into maturity, and bad habits that are cute for a baby horse can be deadly when that baby becomes a 1100 pound adult horse.

Suckling Age:
One of the best things you can do to help responsibly raise your baby horse is to work with them regularly. Commit to work with your baby horse 3-6 times a week- the more the better, although short, positive session work best. Get the baby horse used to being brushed and touched all over their body. Teach them to pick up their hooves for you when you ask. Get your baby horse used to having a foal-sized halter put on.

Leading and Tying:
It is much easier to teach a small baby horse to lead and tie than it is to teach a large animal. Teaching a baby horse to lead will require the assistance of a helper. A baby horse will naturally want to follow where his mother goes- therefore, a few times a week, have a handler lead your mare around as you lead the foal behind the mother. Do not let the foal rush ahead or lag behind, gently encourage and reprimand, and praise for walking by your side. If done regularly, you will save you and your horse from the dangerous experience of halter breaking an adult horse.

As you raise him, teach your baby horse to tie - after he begins to understand leading. For the first time, tie in a stall or small corral, with mother nearby. Feed your leadrope around a sturdy pole, hold the end, and leave some slack in the line, allow the horse to realize he is tied. Your foal will likely pull back, do not release the rope unless the foal becomes tangled. The baby horse must learn struggling will not release him. When he stops pulling on the line, praise him and turn him loose. This skill is much easier to teach a baby horse than an adult horse.

Weaning:
Somewhere between four and six months your baby horse will need to be weaned from its mother to allow the mother time to recover from nursing. Weaning can be traumatic but try separating mother and foal a few hours a day, in safe pens or stalls so they can still see each other. Gradually extending the time and distance apart is the safest way to wean a foal. If your baby horse can have another foal as a companion or even an older gelding, he or she will do much better.

After the baby horse you've raised is a weanling the fun of ground work can begin! Again, keep sessions with your still-baby horse short- but do it regularly or you'll be faced with an unruly, unmanageable adult! If your baby horse is a male, 6 months to 1 year is an ideal time to geld and save yourself the attitude and hormones of a stallion around. As you raise your foal from 6 months to 2 years you should work with your baby horse regularly. Take the baby horse for walks in all sorts of environments, teach your baby horse to load in a trailer, to take bathes and be sprayed by the hose, to stand for the farrier to trim and shoe their hooves (you can practice this by having them lift their feet as you mess with their feet and gently tap their hooves with a small hammer) to walk over tarps and not be afraid of plastic bags. Teach your weanling and yearling to yield to pressure all over their body- for instance, when you touch their side, to sidestep away. As a yearling, begin teaching your baby horse to wear a surcingle and allow it to be cinched up. And acclimate the horse to having ropes tossed over, under, and around their body without shying.

What are the benefits of raising rabbits !

Raising rabbits are much cheaper, more efficient, and more productive than raising chickens.

1) A doe can produce up to 1000% her body weight in food per year.
2) Rabbits can be raised in confinement, whereas chickens need much more space.
3) Chicken reproduction is "light sensitive", whereas rabbit reproduction is opportunity sensitive.
4) It is much easier to raise food for rabbits than it is food for chickens.
5) Since rabbits are raised in confinement, it drastically reduces the threat to your herd from predators.
6) You can skin and butcher 5 rabbits to every chicken given the same amount of time.
7) Rabbit fur can be a separate barter item.

Rabbit meat tastes good too, some people say that it taste much like poultry.  Rabbit meat is mild and savory, never gamy. It is extremely lean, making it perfect for cholesterol-reducing diets. Cooking with liquids keeps rabbit dishes moist and tender. If you're not minding your fat intake, you may want to choose recipes that use oil to maintain juiciness. You can look for rabbit recipes in wild game cookbooks, but most of these just rehash the familiar methods of stewing, frying and baking.

Besides providing you with meat, rabbits produce dung, which makes a good fertilizer. Rabbit skins and fur have many uses.  A rabbit can be a source of instant cash in an emergency. 

How to Build a Hay Feeder for Your Goats

If you're new to raising goats, you may not know that goats are terrible hay wasters. Having a hay feeder can help both to reduce that waste and to attain your goal of living a green lifestyle. The simple hay feeder outlined here will feed about 10 goats.

You need at least one commercial box feeder for every four goats. Often, one or two goats drive others away from a feeding area, so you may want to make hay available in at least two locations in each goat area. That way everyone gets to eat.

The simple feeder shown here is easy to make, easy to use, and holds enough hay to feed 8 to 15 goats (depending on their size) for several days. You probably want to use it for only 10 goats or so, however, because they may start fighting when eating in such close proximity.

The only problem with this hay feeder is that the goats sometimes tip it over when it's empty, and every so often three goats (kids, usually) stick their head through the same panel and get stuck when they try to pull back at the same time. You can attach the feeder to a wall or post to prevent goats from tipping it over, but doing so limits the number of goats that can feed from it because they don't have access to the part of the feeder that's against the wall.

You can make a 38-inch-diameter circular hay feeder from a cattle panel. If you want a larger one, use a longer section of cattle panel. Remember that the goats have to get their heads to the hay in the middle, so don't make it too wide.

You need only a few tools and materials for this hay feeder:

A 16-foot section of cattle panel

Bolt cutters

A metal file or a grinder

Heavy wire, fasteners, or zip ties

Follow these steps to put together your hay feeder:

Using your bolt cutters, cut a 10-foot length from the cattle panel.

Make sure to cut at the end of a section so that no metal ends protrude.

File or grind any sharp parts.

With another person helping, roll up the section of panel until the two edges meet.

Secure the ends together with zip ties, strong wire, or metal fasteners.

Place the feeder in the desired area, fill it with hay, and watch your goats go for it!

Biggest And Smallest Horses

Poe, a 10-foot-tall, 3,000lb Canadian Clydesdale, is said to be the world’s largest horse. Here are some other huge, and not so huge, animals from around the world.

Lucy, a four-year-old Shetland pony, was just 19.5 inches tall when measured in November 2008.

Owner Sandra Ponder said: "I wasn't expecting Lucy to be so small. She was about 15 inches when I got her at three months - that's a normal size for a Shetland foal.

"She's not your average Shetland pony - I've never seen anything like her before."

Rare Half-Goat, Half-Sheep Born In Ireland, And It's Adorable

Paddy Murphy, a farmer and pub owner in Kildare, Ireland, found that he had a half-goat, half-sheep on his hands two weeks ago, when his ewe gave birth.

“It had all the hallmarks of a goat. I knew a goat had gotten in among a few of the hoggets, I didn’t know what would turn out," he told the outlet. "They were all normal lambs apart from this fella. He looks like a goat, trapped in a lamb’s body, a Geep I think it’s called! He even has horns like a goat and he is very quick on his feet. He’s perfectly healthy and thriving away."

Murphy said he's never seen anything like it before. A spokeswoman for the Ulster Farmers Union (UFU) said the live birth of a geep is a rare occasion, as most die during pregnancy or are stillborn, according to the BBC. The UFU does not know of any others currently in Northern Ireland.