InstantForum.NET v4.1.2Hobby Farms Forumshttp://board.hobbyfarms.com/forums@bowtieinc.comThu, 11 Mar 2010 23:33:43 GMT20http://board.hobbyfarms.com/Topic12055-11-1.aspxI would look at turnips and maybe beets. We do them in Texas as winter grazing along with clover and rye. </P><P>I can understand the agent's recommendations. It will be extremely difficult to make a cow calf operation profitable on only 16 acres. If you are trying to make money, then a high value crop would be a much better choice. Feeding a high value crop to cattle is really counter productive. I can't see Cracker cattle bringing much on the general cattle market. See my post in the Livestock section on beautiful Belted Galloway bred heifers, cows, and bull selling at auction for a few dollars more than week old Angus and Charolais calves.</P><P>If you are trying to be totally self sufficient and not looking for outside profits, I can see your point and it can probably be done with a couple cows and a few sheep for personal use. Sun, 11 Oct 2009 20:13:08 GMTPaul Ewinghttp://board.hobbyfarms.com/Topic12055-11-1.aspxConsider growing mangelwurzel (fodder beet). In your area it would be a winter crop.<br>If the livestock will eat it, winter squash would be a good bet. Highest yields per acre of any common veggie and they store so well.<br><br>Re: gardenway seeder. Do you have trouble with some seed (peas) getting jammed under the seed plate? Use a vegetable spray (Pam) to lube the plate. Goes from being a major pain to "oh, that was easy".Sat, 10 Oct 2009 03:10:03 GMTWichmanhttp://board.hobbyfarms.com/Topic12055-11-1.aspxGreetings from North Florida.<br><br>We have a small farm (twenty acres) in North Florida. The farm is a sand hill with excellent drainage. We are in our own little microclimate within Zone 8B. All of Columbia County, and the eastern part of Suwanee County, as well a little of the west side of Union and Bradford Counties make up our microclimate. We have the last frost dates in Florida, which makes for interesting farming. Some crops/plants/trees that grow east or west of us will not grow here. <br><br>We raise Florida Cracker Cattle and Florida Cracker Sheep. Both breeds date back to the 1500's when Florida belonged to Spain. We also raise Cotton Patch Geese (these date from at least the 1800's), Tomaru (Japanese Black Longcrowers), and Saipan Junglefowl. All of these are critically endangered breeds that we are attempting to save from extinction. <br><br>We are raising Muscovy Ducks this year in hopes that they will make good setting hens for goose eggs next spring. In an effort to start a flock of dark brown egg layers, we bid on several egg offers on EggBid and Ebay, but for the most part the quality/ honesty was lacking. <br><br>We have never seen a honeybee on the farm, so the wasps, bumblebees, moths, and butterflies that fill the garden are apparently pollinating the plants for us. <br><br>We are raising everything with no chemicals, herbicides, pesticides, or non-organic fertilizers. This is in itself quite a challenge. The garden area is about 195’ x 175’. Our garden has done well for the last two years, producing literally hundreds of cantaloupes, cucumbers, and watermelons. Seven bushels of acorn squash, many, many bushels of beans, cucumbers, and yellow squash. <br><br>It’s hard to farm when you don’t know what you are doing! The county extension agents never seem to understand what I am trying to do. They have suggested that I turn my 16 acre pasture into a market garden …, they didn’t have any suggestions as to where I would raise my cattle and sheep! They mean well, but have been of no help.<br><br>It would be nice if there was a Farming 101 course somewhere for us country farmers who were raised off the farm!<br><br>I guess I am a bit unorthodox by today’s standards. I want to raise vegetable crops to feed my livestock. This was done in the 1600’s-1800’s, so I see no reason it won’t work now. The county agents couldn’t understand my feeding the cattle, sheep, and geese hundreds of pounds of vegetables instead of raising them to sell at farmer’s markets, etc. They can’t seem to understand that by feeding the vegetable to the livestock, I have done away with buying most of the livestock feed that I had bought in the past. <br><br>I have a small farm, with just my wife and I doing the farming. We have a 40hp tractor with a rototiller attachment to work the garden area. I have an Earthway seeder that I bought last year, and it has helped get the garden in a lot faster than I had done in years past. <br><br>We are both in our 60’s, and living on a limited income. Like the old saying, “being poor ain’t a sin, but it is decidedly inconvenient.”<br><br><br>Right now I am researching crops that I could grow for the livestock this coming spring. There is no information on the Internet that is helpful. I can find information on growing forages for the livestock, but no one seems to be raising turnips, mangels, carrots, etc., like people did a hundred years ago. <br><br>I did have an interesting experience this past spring: due to events beyond my control, I did not get half of the garden fertilized. This half of the garden was pastureland that had not been fertilized in more than ten years. Well, the pumpkins and watermelons ended up “single serving sized”, but they were still delicious. <br><br>The garden is now fertilized, and I have put in my first fall/winter garden. In looking for winter crops that I could grow for my wife and I, and for the livestock, I’ve ended up with about half the garden still unplanted. I am looking into some sort of cover crop to plant in that area. <br><br>Everything is so expensive for small farmers now. Even so, I feel blessed to be living is this America, and doubly blessed to be happily married to some who shares my beliefs and goals out here on the farm. <br><br>If anyone has suggestions for vegetables to raise for the livestock, or has had experience raising food for their critters, I would love to hear from them. <br>Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:35:41 GMTold_cowhunter