The House Paddock - Chooks, House Cow, Dairy Goats

Chooks
House Cow
Dairy Goats

THE HOUSE PADDOCK'S MANAGEMENT

The House Paddock

Rotational Management

The statement “the best investment a farmer can make is buying a role of wire” holds pretty strong for us. Part of our sustainable/organic management practice is having many small paddocks instead of having just one or two larger paddocks.

Our pasture management involves rotating our animals through the system. The first live stock to go into “old growth pasture forest” (a paddock that has been rested and allowed to regenerate naturally) is the house cow. After she has grazed it down, she goes to the next paddock and the dairy goats come in, followed by the sheep. The pasture forest has been grazed from high to low. We have received maximum yield from the pasture, while gaining renewable production for different livestock species.

Mixed grazing

The grazing length of pastures and nutritional content is suitable at the time of introduction (rotation) for the livestock species. We have also found that the entire paddock area is grazed. When the sheep is moved out of the paddock, it is mineralised, bio-stimulated (compost teas) and allowed to rest and regenerate.

Any areas under shade trees are mulched with old used night bedding (barley straw) from the night housing. This covers any exposed area of soil and germinates the barley seed from the straw offering a ground cover under the trees. The straw offers mulch and feed for the pasture shade/protection trees. The length of rest, regeneration depends on the season. This system has 3 animals and 6 paddocks. Animals at times could be mixed grazed at the same time prior to rotating yet for parasitic control “best practice” is to follow through.


Using electric mesh netting we use our livestock to strip graze	Romney Sheep strip graze the orchard

AUSTRALORP AND BARNEVELDER CHOOKS

Pure breed, top genetic lines of traditional Australorp and Barnevelder chooks are kept at the Simply Natural Organic farm. These two breeds are ideal for every purpose I need them for. Being a chook fancier I have trialled other breeds. I have managed my chooks 100% organically using only natural health care for 16 years and I have had no problems whatsoever. The flock just continued to get stronger and maintains resistance to any infection, disease or parasites.

Chook system managment

My husbandry like with all our animals on the farm is based on complete availability of all the nutrients they require. So a balanced diet which focuses on building their immune system and fosters a strong constitution. My feeding diets deliver content, fit and sound animals.

My chooks, like all our animals, are fed a diverse diet consisting of certified organic grains, legumes and seeds. Fresh vegetables, fruits and herbs are picked from the gardens and orchards daily for feeding to all our animals in the house paddock system. This is one of the reasons why I have 3 large vegetable gardens in 3 different locations providing an abundant amount of food daily and all year. Our gardens not only feed us but all the livestock animals too!

Jades purebreed Australorp Chooks

The chooks, like all the animals, receive regular mineral supplementation and monthly medicinal herb treatments. We grow medicinal herbs and garlic throughout the orchards for this purpose. What ever supplementary feed (grains or legumes), that is obtained through bartering (work exchange), that I choose for the livestock, is always top quality and as fresh as possible, as this investment is seen as my fertilizer, by way of the animals manure, for composting and humus making, not to mention quality feed for quality health and performance.

We have 3 chook houses and systems. One chook house has a deep litter attachment plus a generous grassed free range area. This area is mowed to maintain the grass level and palatability, while the grass clippings are used in the deep litter area as nitrogen.

Medicinal herbs are grown throughout the orchards for the livestock

The other chook house has a mulch litter pen attachment (for shedding materials and making our orchard mulch), with large free range area, that adjoins one of the larger livestock paddocks. This means that the grass can be maintained by the sheep in the rotation. The 3rd chook house is the hatching and growing pullet’s house or can be part of the rotation.

I have during our freezing winters used it as my hot house. Only 2 Chook houses are used at the one time with the 3rd one restoring pastures and breaking any nutrient or parasite build up. The chooks are rotated from one location to the other every 3 months. In spring I use all 3, as I use 1 for hatching and growing my pullets.

I have a rooster in each flock with approximately 6 – 8 hens. I have 3 different family lines. We only consume about ½ a dozen eggs a week, yet we collect 4 (the minimum amount) to 12 (if 16 hens) eggs a day.

Attributes I looked for in choosing my chook breeds

good foragers
excellent work ethic
heavy strong birds with good size feet. Excellent diggers and shredders.
excellent layers
no tendency to going broody
easy to retain
able to take climate extremes(robust)
magnificent type roosters with a decent deep crow
the breed is docile with gentle personalities
popular sort after breed for breeding and selling offspring/fertile eggs.

CHOOKS PURPOSES IN THE SYSTEM

self providing
aid to sustainable gardening practices
provides eggs
neighbourhood surplus exchange
eggs and egg shells used to make humus and a Biodynamic preparation.
night housing harvesting provides carbon material and manure for deep litter system (every other harvesting can provide fine light weight mulch for covering seed bed and/or around young transplanted seedlings)
nesting boxes provide mulching material for gardens or carbon layers for composting and humus making
daily chooks are making compost in the deep litter areas attached to their housing
daily chooks are shredding materials, breaking them down and aging them for suitability for mulch
daily chooks are fed fresh herbs, veggies and fruits and they convert these into good healthy eggs, kilojoules, manure, urine and left overs are dug in to the deep litter
initially used for preparing the area (getting the area back to soil) for growing their own herbs
to eat fruit spoiled and infested by insect attack (consume larvae and adult pest).

Barnevelders work the deep litter system Barnevelders are well suited to colder climates

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HOUSE COW

Jersey House cow

The first availability of having enough land to have a house cow meant it was a high priority for us, even though we weren’t consuming any dairy products in our diet. We wanted to start to have home grown organic, fresh, raw dairy products. When I went to the local dairies seeking out information about dairy cows and suitability to the area etc, the dairy owner/manager asked – “How much milk are you and the family using at the moment?” I said none…He than asked, “How much do you think you would need?” I said I had no idea what so ever, yet my aims in the future were to be a self provider of all the dairy products I should want or need in the house hold and to include my own home grown milk in my baking products replacing rice milk. I saw the house cow as being a producer of my own food. Also it was extremely attractive to have available close at hand, in the house paddocks, quality, fresh cow manure for all the worm farms. The house cow was the first control of the pastures surrounding the orchards and vegetable gardens.

We did start out with a quiet, extremely patient purebred Jersey, purchased from a stud and working dairy. Sheeanti was a fantastic beginners house cow. Even though, before we got her, she had been part of a herd and milked by machine, yet had been well trained and cared for. Sheeanti had to be patient as Paul and I were really green, beginners and only learners of how to milk. Our first house cow really taught us so much. We bred from Sheeanti our own 100% organic purebred Jersey house cow – Shiva. Shiva has been successfully reared and maintained organically and in natural management practices. Shiva is now our house cow.

Jersey House cow Shiva

We chose the Jersey breed as we feel they offer a superior milk in health and quality. It is said the Jersey produces a golden milk. As the Jersey’s milk has a high butterfat content, it is perfect for home butter making. For beginners to milking, coming to the milking bale and seeing a waiting Jersey cow with an astonishing – huge, heavily laden udder…can be an exhausting shock, when it is just squirt by squirt. The Jersey is a high milk producer even though the breed is a smaller cow than other dairy breeds. Of course the milk production is dependent on where the cow is in her lactation and the quality of food she is consuming. The quality of our house paddock soil influences the quality of our milk, so we are constantly managing our soil- restoring and increasing the nutrient density and carbon, humus levels in the soil, there by growing diverse abundant pastures for grazing. Shiva’s milk is just divine. We use her milk for many things including –drinking raw and fresh, -cooking, -culturing/fermenting, -making garden sprays, - using as activators in the compost and humus making systems, -and feeding the dogs.

The face of a lovely Jersey cow just makes you melt. The breed is extremely affectionate. To me the house cow in the house paddock is an indication of a persons desire for being self providing and having wholesome fresh food. The wonderful friendship formed between house cow and that of the feeder/milker is a strong bond. One that not only includes thanks and love but understanding too.

HOUSE COW’S PURPOSES IN THE SYSTEM

self providing
aid to sustainable gardening/farming
raw fresh wholesome milk
milk for making dairy products
milk for activators in compost and humus making systems
milk for making garden sprays
sell her offspring as house cows or pets
manure for worm farms
manure for humus making systems
strip grazing areas
dairy flooring (shavings or sawdust material) harvested for mulch around fruit trees.
controlling rapid abundant growth in pastures in summer

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SAANEN DAIRY GOATS

Saanen Dairy goats

Paul wanted a milking goat from the first day we moved here. I said “NO’ not a goat. I’m not a goat person I don’t like goats. I said I wanted a dairy cow, a good mannered house cow. We both were well aware of the extreme benefits of fresh organic goat’s milk and goats milk personnel care products. Yet I said lets do the house cow thing. Let’s buy a Jersey. The fact of matter was the reputation of goats. It frightened me off them. Two and a half years later, Paul requested again having a dairy goat. His main reasons for wanting one was – fresh raw goats milk, - milking through an extended lactation not needing to be mated every year, - to eat the native tussock grasses in the pasture. We did lots of research- reading magazines, reading books on goats, downloading goat information from the internet. Well this just turned the both of us off goats- me even more. It was only a friend living locally who had a Saanen dairy goat who presented an introduction and her experiences of her relationship with her goat that prompted us to reconsider. Her experiences showed a different light to goat behaviour.

Relaxed Saanen Dairy goats

It wasn’t Paul but I that went and brought 2 Saanen milking does. I am pleased to say that I am so glad that we have included goats in our family and lifestyle. It is sad that the reputation of goats holds strongly and unfavourable to them. We have found that our goats do not fit the bad reputation that is supposedly expected of them. Our 2 Saanen milking does – Harmony and Crystal are respectful, polite, well mannered and a pleasure to work with. We purchased them from a top Saanen dairy stud which has an excellent reputation. Our does were a 4 year old and 2 year old milking at the time of purchase. The goats' personalities, manners and attributes would be a reflection from the studs genetics, upbringing and management. Also our preparation prior to receiving the goats and continued ‘good practice’ management has meant that the goats have been “good goats” and a pleasure to have in the system. It has meant that we have fallen in love with our ladies.