#i would not reduce her to 'milk!!!!!!!UDDERS???!?????!???!'

[funky-dealer]

they shoulda just let me do the miltank fusions in that infinite fusion thing

#pokemon fans be normal challenge (instant fail #I WOULD TREAT HER RIGHT. I WOULD TREAT THE MOOMOO RIGHT #i would not reduce her to 'milk!!!!!!!UDDERS???!?????!???!' #sorry guys im going thru it again yk how it is

[lindsaywesker]

Good morning! I hope you slept well and feel rested? Currently sitting at my desk, in my study, attired only in my blue towelling robe, enjoying my first cuppa of the day. Welcome to Too Much Information Tuesday.

None of the Beatles were able to read music.

Actirasty is sexual arousal caused by sunshine.

An estimated 40% of your happiness is genetic.

The truth is never as painful as discovering a lie.

The record for most female orgasms in one hour is 134.

Marijuana can aid in slowing down the growth of cancer cells.

In 1800, the average age of an American was 16, today it is 38.

The Wikipedia page for 'Pedant' has been edited over 500 times.

The average American adult hasn’t made a new friend in five years.

In 2007, eight-year-old twin boys from Ohio invented wedgie-proof underpants.

The United States has been involved in some conflict for about 93% of its existence.

Just five minutes of movement every hour can reverse the harmful effects of inactivity.

Male coin spiders only have sex once. After mating, they chew off their own genitals.

People who spend money on experiences rather than material items tend to be happier.

Sex burns about 3-5 calories a minute. (One-Minute Man ain’t burning many calories!)

Sitting for more than three hours a day can reduce a person's life expectancy by two years.

South Korea shut down its entire space programme in 2014 when its only astronaut resigned.

Jay-Z is now the wealthiest musical artist in the world, with a net worth of about $2.5 billion.

If you are 16 or older, there's an 80% chance you've already met the person you are going to marry.

Drinking tea, particularly green tea, can help lower blood pressure. (Green tea is my first cuppa of the day!)

Out of the nearly 200 countries in the world, only 22 of them have never experienced a British invasion.

From 1700 to 1905, cows were tied to posts in St James's park and their milk sold 'straight from the udder'.

In 1952, the great smog of London was so bad that blind people led sighted people home from the train station.

The average woman absorbs up to five pounds of damaging chemicals a year thanks to beauty products.

According to its website, WD40 was once used by police to remove a naked burglar from an air-conditioning vent.

An attempt to make the world's biggest sandwich in Iran failed when the crowd ate it before it could be measured.

Even if they oppose it morally, roughly 40% of Americans surveyed would still help a loved one seeking an abortion.

The average man will spend 10 years of his life working, three years going to the toilet and four years waiting in line.

Erotomania is a psychological disorder where the sufferer has delusions that another person is in love with him or her.

In Japan, you can get QR codes imprinted on headstones. You simply scan the code, then watch a video about that person’s life.

When the first sewing factories opened, seamstresses complained of 'extreme genital excitement' caused by the sewing machines.

In the US, marijuana was initially made illegal by a man who testified the drug made white women want to hook up with black men.

Yellow teeth are stronger, the natural colour of our teeth is a light yellow colour. Whitening your teeth can permanently weaken them.

British politician Alan Johnson was mocked in 2005 when he had the role of Productivity, Engineering, and Industry Secretary (PEnIS).

In the 1670's, the Pope bought ‘St. Peter's beard’ from highwayman Dick Dudley and kissed it, not knowing it was actually a prostitute's pubic wig.

Although only 836 people live in the French village of Montolieu, it has one bookshop for every 56 residents as well several workshops and museums dedicated to the craft of making books.

The first occupational disease ever recorded in medical literature was 'chimney sweep's scrotum', testicular cancer caused by chronic irritation of the testicular skin by soot and chimney tars.

After movie studios declined, ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’ was instead financed by Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Genesis, Jethro Tull, and Elton John, all of whom saw it as “a good tax write-off."

Hawaiian pizza was invented in Canada by a man from Greece. He was inspired to put a South American ingredient on an Italian dish after eating Chinese food. It then went on to become the most popular kind of pizza in Australia.

The Japanese marathon runner Shizo Kanakuri fell asleep while taking a break during the 1912 Olympic marathon in Stockholm. In 1967, the Swedes invited him to return and finish the race. His final time was 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 5 hours, 32 minutes and 20.3 seconds.

Okay, that’s enough information for one day. Have a tremendous and tumultuous Tuesday! I love you all.

#mixcloud #mi soul #dj #music #new blog #lockdown #coronavirus #books #democracy #brexit #cronyism #election #tuesdaymotivation #radio

[drferox]

My mind often wanders to dairy cattle while I’m expressing milk, because honestly there’s not a lot else I can do while stuck on the pump except think about things.

The breast pump is not an unpleasant experience, if anything it’s really mildly ticklish, and certainly way less painful that breastfeeding directly has been at times. (I know calves will headbutt the cow’s udder, but human children face plant the tit with enthusiasm). It’s kind of nice to sit and pump for a while with snacks and a drink, which is more or less the equivalent that we do for dairy cattle. Main difference is I have Netflix now.

Such musings also made me realise that I didn’t really bond with my little Honey Bee till about 5-7 days after the birth. I certainly would have been sad if she was gone in those first few days, as I had been waiting for her for years, but the whole ‘I would murder for you’ attitude wasn’t really there until a week in. And that makes sense with what we know in dairy cattle, removing the calf asap reduces dam distress.

And speaking of stress in general, being stressed or upset reduces my expressed milk volume by about 20%, so I’ve got to watch that, but it also fits with what we know of happy cow = more milk.

I don’t really have a point to get to, other than it is an interesting experience from an academic point of view.

#lactation #breastfeeding #cattle #dairy

[ducktracy]

188. porky’s poppa (1938)

release date: january 15th, 1938

series: looney tunes

director: bob clampett

starring: mel blanc (porky, porky’s poppa, narrator), bob clampett (duck)

it’s safe to say that 1938 was porky’s best year. speaking in terms of solo cartoons, that is. his cartoons were genuinely funny, stimulating, and he looked great appearance wise. 1939 the porky burnout started, and he was slowly reduced to a smiling stock character whose adversaries and costars were much more alive than he was.

as daffy (and later bugs) rose to popularity, porky slipped into the sidekick role, paired primarily with the duck. with that said, the porky/daffy cartoons are some of the funniest around, and i firmly believe the best cartoons for the both of them are the ones where they’re paired together—with a few exceptions, of course.

however, let’s not get ahead of ourselves: a great year of pig stardom awaits. porky’s father, who made a few appearances during the joe dougherty era, makes his final return. in a story that has loose similarities to the premise of porky’s railroad, porky struggles to convince his father that their cow, bessie, is a much better fit for the farm than the newfangled mechanical cow his father has his eyes on.

the introduction is one of the funniest aspects of the cartoon itself. a hand erases the title credits, scrawled on a blackboard, and fills in “PORKY’S POPPA... HAS A FARM”, mirroring the underscore of “old macdonald” (with substitute lyrics) below it.

a layout of the farm cuts to our pint-sized hero, grinning at the camera as the vocals sing “...and on this farm he had a pig: porky pig, you know.” bobe cannon animates porky struggling to sing along with the lyrics, his “oh buh-beh-boy!”s lagging with the beat. the music halts just in time for porky to pump his fists in frustration, not stuttering once as he grumbles “oh, skip it!”

repeatedly cutting back to the layout of the farm in conjunction with the lyrics is practically a gag within itself. the song grows increasingly absurd, with a goose honking horns, a cow showing off her legs as the vocals sing “with a little calf here, with a little calf there...”, struggling to keep up with the rapid pace of the song. bob clampett lends his own voice to a random duck (no relation to daffy!), following a hand pointing at certain areas of the farm and quacking (”with a little quack here, with a little quack there...”) 

finally, the duck in his psuedo-donald duck voice instructs “EVERYBODY SING!”, complete with some fun and unique typography. the entire song falls to pieces--before, the cutting back to the farm’s layout added an incongruous feeling of calm to balance out the wacky antics of the animals and the song. now, everything happens at once. the duck zips across the screen in a quacking frenzy, the mother cow shows off her baby calves, thrusting them to the beat of the music, the goose is a one man band of assorted horns, etc. blissful chaos.

things slow down as we cut back to porky, who smugly whips out a phonograph behind his back. the record is just him saying “oh boy!”, playing correctly to the beat of the music. he’s got this song number figured out... or does he?

even technology can’t conceal his stutter. the record begins to skip, mimicking the sound of his stutter, and porky smashes the phonograph to pieces as he slams it against the ground. the wordless yet furious stare he gives the audience as the dying record croaks out a distorted “oooooooh..... boooooooooy....” is nothing short of priceless. though he didn’t say a word himself during this scene, his motives, thoughts, and emotions are clearly visible. you can FEEL his pride at his solution, as well of the subsequent fury of his solution blowing up in his face. a wonderful end to a hilarious song sequence. 

“but on his farm, he has a mortgage... woe, oh woe, oh woe!” the score turns in to a mournful, minor key dirge, with anthropomorphic mortgage papers posing proudly on the farm. some very clever posing and metaphorical play as we fade to porky’s dad, moping around on the farm, the mortgage aligning with his silhouette and becoming a physical weight on his back. more playing with typography as the narrator reads aloud the words on the screen:

this is a parody of the march of time, a radio program who would often announce the death of a notorious person by declaring “and so, today, as it must to all men, death came to [name], [age].” even without the context, the gag is rather amusing, bringing a different change of pace to the cartoon with the addition of a narrator and the typography. knowing the source of the gag makes it hit just the right spot.

porky’s dad mutters about ruination, how he has no milk and no money, etc. mel blanc does a fine job of mimicking joe dougherty, maintaining the stutter and the low voice--in the dougherty cartoons, porky’s father was just dougherty’s natural speaking voice, whereas porky was sped up considerably. you can hear both at once here for comparison. 

we pan over to the cause of one of these stresses: their cow, bessie, has been quarantined (how timely!) for “hoof ‘n mouth trouble”, a play on hand-foot-and-mouth disease. clampett opts to take things just a step further--we truck inside the stall to see bessie posing for the camera, grinning with her foot INSIDE her mouth, batting her eyelashes and all. the “bull bontana” (bull montana) poster  plastered inside of her stall is a clever touch. 

after seeing that bessie’s production chart has dipped overwhelmingly into the negatives--a roll of paper unfurling at porky’s father’s feet, indicating just how poor the farm is doing--he places an “out of order” sign on the stall door.

suddenly, porky’s father grows aggravated. “i need to send you to the hamburger factory!” cue a close-up of bessie tearfully picturing her fate--a pile of burgers and hotdogs make up her figure. clampett would reprise this gag (albeit in a much more cruel manner) in porky’s last stand 2 years later, where daffy eagerly envisions a steaming hot hamburger in place of an innocent little calf. 

this is the second cartoon to make an ACME reference, the first being buddy’s bug hunt back in 1935. porky’s father phones up ACME mail order company, asking for “one cow--airmail”. context clues are just as important to the gag than the reveal itself: porky, his father, and bessie all become alert to the sounds of an airplane making a cacophony overhead. suddenly, a package bursts through the barn ceiling, floating to the ground with a neatly tied parachute. the animation appears to be the work of john carey, from the tall, pill-shaped eyes to the slow, drawn out way that porky blinks.

norm mccabe takes over to animate the grand reveal. lots of wonderful little subtleties: porky and his father are timed slightly differently, giving them both a natural sense of interaction and movement. there’s a lovely little accent on porky’s father opening the package by pulling a string--he jerks his head up slightly as he plucks the string, allowing the audience to feel the physical impact and snap of the pluck. it’s subtle, but very well done. 

instead of a flesh and blood cow, a mechanical hunk of metal slowly unfurls to life as the package opens. as porky’s father reads the label (The New 1938 CREAMLINED COW), porky himself objects to the new addition. “aww, eh-the-there ain’t no such animal!”

indeed there is: porky’s father loads a pile of hay into a chute, pressing down on the cow’s paintbrush tail. the cow pumps along to a brassy score of “old macdonald”, churning out milk from its metal udders, the milk pouring straight into an assembly line of bottles below. bob clampett’s puns are plentiful in this cartoon (notice how there’s no writer’s credit--he often said that he would write some of his earliest cartoons himself. i assume he wrote this one as well? i wonder how much input chuck jones had in the story?), but delivered nonchalantly, so they can actually be enjoyed. the cow caps the milk bottles by putting literal newsboy caps on top of the bottles, the paintbrush tail painting “cream paint” to the outside of the bottles and forming the illusion of cream. interesting business practices!

bobe cannon animates a delightful scene with porky. fun animation and fun dialogue make for a great combo. some very fluid, light, and fun animation of porky giving his pep talk as he hops around, swinging his arms, nonchalantly pushing his hat out of his face after getting so excited. “c’mon, eh-beh-beh-beh-bessie! we won’t let that old eh-neh-nuh-new fangled eh-ceh-co--heifer beat us. you just eat your uh-wuh-wee-weh-whea--eh-ha-hay, and show that eh-teh-eeh-eh-tin-can cow who can make the most...”

porky lowers bessie’s foot from her mouth by climbing on it, preparing to shovel a forkful of hay into her mouth, however, she shoves her foot right back in it, much to porky’s annoyance. “aww, every time you open your muh-mee-muh-me-eh-mou--kisser, ya put your eh-feh-eh-foot in it! eh-bee-bessie, you gotta eat! you eh-deh-dee-eh-don’t wanna be eh-seh-seeah-seeah-smothered in onions, eh-do ya?” 

treg brown’s sound effects of doors creaking as her leg is lowered is the perfect touch to the gag. porky struggles to feed bessie, eventually getting stuck in her mouth himself as he attempts to hold both legs down to no avail. he frees himself, just in time to hatch an ingenious idea.

his plan works: porky places the entire pile of hay onto bessie’s legs, who swallows it up whole, her mouth comically huge as she attempts to swallow it. porky is overjoyed, clapping at her efforts before rushing off to give her some privacy.

instead of porky just milking her like a regular farmer, clampett pushes the entire scenario further. porky paces around in the manner of an expectant father, accompanied by a soft score of “lullaby on broadway”. the sound of a baby crying prompts porky to do a gorgeously animated head shake of surprise--bessie hands him a milk bottle, which porky carefully swaddles and places in a basket. 

the charade continues, with clampett lulling us into a false sense of security with an already absurd gag. cue a gag that would have been incredibly risque in 1938: at about the fifth bottle, porky reaches out and finds that bessie hands him a bottle labeled “CHOC. MALT”, accompanied by an underscore of “i wish i was in dixie”. porky and bessie both grow bashful, but porky’s nonchalant whistling is cut to a half as bessie delivers yet another bottle. “gosh--eh-ceh-ceh-quin-eh-qui-eh--quart-tuplets!”

porky rushes over to his farther to share the good news. however, dad is too preoccupied with the fancy mechanics of the cow to pay bessie any mind. he shows porky a barrage of dairy-related puns churned out by the creamlined cow:

cottage cheese (cheese in the shapes of houses--and an outhouse for good measure--don the conveyer belt), limburger cheese (cheese slices with clothes pins pinned to their “noses” to ward off the stench), and swiss cheese (a cuckoo bird pops out of the cow’s mechanical side and sprays the cheese wheels with bullets, which turn into yodeling mouths). interestingly, mel’s voice for porky’s father changes in this scene--it’s still him, but the nasally undertones are absent. i wonder if he did this on a different day?

nevertheless, the staging of the next gag is genius. the majority of the screen is black, save for a small window revealing porky holding onto bessie’s udders. “c’mon, eh-beh-bessie! hurry eh... hurry eh... step on it!” the window expands to reveal bessie pouring a bucket of milk into a line of funnels (rather than udders), which are then evenly distributed to the bottles. “’ats a guh-geh-gee-eh-girl!”

mechanical cow seems to be doing just fine, plopping cherries on top of elaborate ice cream sundaes and milk shakes. the only fault in the system is the cow’s own personal whiskey bottle rolling down the assembly line, which it confiscates promptly. 

porky, on the other hand, is making do. with an ice block on her head, bessie churns out ice cream cones to the best of her ability. as the cones grow smaller and smaller in size, porky orders her to eat more hay, which she happily does so.

now, it’s cow vs. cow. the mechanical cow opts to play some dirty tricks on bessie, pouring a jar of vanishing cream it produced onto the hay bessie is eating. and, thanks to the law of cartoon physics, the milk bottles she hands porky disappear by the minute. though the effect of the bottles disappearing may not seem like much today, for 1938 the ink and paint department did a wonderful job of demonstrating the illusion that the bottles suddenly disappeared.

with the rest of the hay now gone thanks to a hefty glob of vanishing cream, porky and bessie engage in a wild goose (cow?) chase to find more hay. the mechanical cow gobbles up every square inch of hay in sight--at one point, bessie heaves a dubious shrug to the audience. i love how they made her hooves look like hands, but still remain identifiable hooves. the scramble animation she does as she dashes out of frame (with porky clinging to her like a horse) is wonderfully done as well.

both porky and bessie and the creamlined cow exit the barn, chasing each other around the farm. the mechanical cow physically turns into a vacuum cleaner, threatening to suck up the last remaining pile of hay. in a gag that’s reminiscent of the harman-ising days (is it the inclusion of the outhouse?), the cow-turned-vacuum rushes into a shed filled to the brim with hay. the audience merely watches the shed itself shrink in size as the cow gobbles up all of the hay, the final result a puny little outhouse. 

at last, the enemies reach a face-off. the last pile of hay--or, as porky puts it in his punny little way, “eh-thee-the-thee-that’s the last straw.” in a relatively tashlin-esque maneuver, clampett makes some fast cuts to heighten the suspense of the action. cut between porky and bessie to the mechanical cow to the pile of straw (facetiously labeled “MILK WEED”). the cuts grow quicker and quicker, the music crescendo-ing... 

until BLAM! in a loose parallel to the finale of rover’s rival, everything explodes at once. nuts and bolts rain in the sky, as do neat little bundles of hay. however, clampett doesn’t allow the audience to rest just yet--with bessie nowhere in sight, the mechanical cow continues to charge forth, seeking refuge in a hay to release a humongous pile of milk bottles. so high, in fact, that the shed (and cow) are elevated several feet into the air. porky’s a goner.

porky’s father, who had been absent for the past few minutes, reappears to declare the tin-can cow a winner, much to porky’s visible dissatisfaction.

yet it’s not a clampett cartoon without a twist! bessie pokes her head out of the mechanical cow’s mouth, mooing the ever popular catchphrase from the ken murray show: “mmmmmmwooooooooooah, yeeeeaaaaaah!” porky gives a celebratory “oh, boy!” as we iris out--the goose and duck from earlier poke their heads into the scene just before the iris fully closes.

this is an early porky cartoon that’s just plain fun. bobe cannon’s animation of porky serves as one of the many highlights, from porky getting aggravated with his phonograph to his excited pep talk towards bessie. corny as the opening number is, it’s a lot of fun at the same time--the intensity in increasing chaos is a prevalent theme to clampett’s cartoons. just look at the climax/ending of baby bottleneck!

i don’t have many complaints towards this cartoon, if any at all. it’s not my favorite porky entry, sure, but it’s most certainly an enjoyable watch and one of his better cartoons of the ‘30s. the visual puns aren’t nearly as hamfisted as ben hardaway’s (as we’ll soon discover), making them more enjoyable than some of the jokes present in, say, daffy duck & egghead. regardless, there are a lot of unique gags, fun animation, and amusing dialogue to constitute a watch.

the cartoon is up on HBOmax, but you can also watch it here!

#lt #looney tunes #porky’s poppa #clampett #reviews #long post

[ieattaperecorders]

Something’s Different About You Lately - Chapter 2

The three archival assistants engage in some highly unprofessional office gossip, showing a lack of respect for the esteemed academic institution that employs them.

Read on Ao3

“He’s going to fire me, I just know it.”

Martin sat miserably at his desk - head down, hands at his temples, trying in vain to banish the tension headache forming behind his eyes. Tim leaned over him, casually tossing one of Martin’s little desk toys from hand to hand. It was a stress ball shaped like a Snorlax, and had done very little to reduce Martin’s stress of late.

“Don’t really think that adds up,” Tim said, “why start being friendly if he’s planning to fire you? And wouldn’t he have, y’know, done it by now?”

“Elias, then. He’s going to fire me and Jon knows about it, so he’s acting nice to soften the blow.” Martin pulled at his hair, dragging a few messy curls down over his face. “Or - - or else he’s just happy I’ll be gone soon. Either way.”

“Or, here’s a thought - -” Tim reached over and set the stress ball down on the desk, about an inch from Martin’s nose. “He’s just decided to be nice. Something nice is actually happening to Martin Blackwood but he can’t accept it, because he’s got worms in his brain.”

Martin glared tiredly up through his hands. “I did ask you to stop with the worm jokes, Tim.”

“Sorry, sorry.” Tim put his hands up. “But that’s a thought, right? He probably just feels bad that you, y’know. . . got attacked by a stalker and her army of flesh eating parasites?”

There was some sense in that, Martin had to admit. It hadn’t been long after his encounter with Prentiss that he’d begun to notice changes in the things Jon said and did. Some of them were nice enough - he snapped a lot less, for one thing. He didn’t grumble and complain over little things Martin did or forgot to do, at least not where Martin could hear it. But other things were just baffling. He seemed to ask after Martin a whole lot more. He’d make strange comments and look at Martin like he expected him to laugh. And more than once, Martin had turned around to catch Jon staring at him with an expression that he couldn’t make heads or tails of. It left him feeling scrutinized. As if it was just a matter of time before he slipped up somehow, made some mistake that would upend his life even more.

Oh yes, and then there was the incident two weeks ago when he’d nearly smashed Jon’s head in with a wrench, and he’d said it was fine and they shouldn’t worry about it. Martin almost had a heart attack with that one. And then, then Jon said to call him if he thought he heard something at night? What did that even mean? Was he concerned that his employee would be making frivolous 999 calls from the institute every time he heard the floor creak if he didn’t keep him from it?

If so, well . . . he probably wasn’t far from right, to be honest. Martin had been doing his best to keep it to himself, but he'd been pretty badly wound up lately. Especially at night, when everyone else was gone and it was just him and a thousand files filled with spooky stories to keep him company. And there was always that sensation of eyes on the back of his neck, no matter how many times he told himself that no one else was there.

To say nothing of the creepy noises. It was an old building, and everything creaked at night. The pipes were especially bad, the uncanny susurration of rushing water that through the walls at night. He tried to ignore it, even block it out with music. But as the long, empty nights wore on, it always crept back into his mind. His sleep-deprived brain making it sound like muffled, unintelligible voices. As if there was something just beyond the walls whispering or singing to him. It made him feel sick inside.

He really needed to get better sleep.

Still. If Jon just felt sorry for Martin after everything that had happened, it would at least explain why he was grumbling less and hovering more. Really, Martin should be enjoying the better treatment while it lasted, because he doubted it would stay for long. Jon probably wasn’t going to ever actually like him. But if Martin could gain some ground with his new boss out of pity, well. That was something, wasn’t it? Better than being hated. And despite everything, he still really needed this job.

Tim’s eyes suddenly widened. He gripped Martin’s arm and smiled brightly, looking over his shoulder to the door.

“Hiya boss,” he called, “how’s decoding Gertrude’s filing system going?”

Martin turned to see Jon enter, a rueful smile on his face.

“It’s a challenge,” he said. “I’m afraid it will be some time before we can expect any progress.”

“We really should come up with a name for it,” Tim replied. “Creepy Card Catalog? Dewey Decimal of the Damned? Oh! How about Old Lady Robinson’s Disaster-o-pedia?”

“‘Disaster’ is certainly appropriate.” Jon's tone was neutral, but he didn't hide his smile. He turned to Martin, setting a mug in front of him. “I ah, I’ve noticed you’re always making tea for the rest of us, Martin. I thought it might be nice if someone else brought you a cup.”

It was the mug that Tim had bought Martin as a gag gift shortly after they’d started working in the archive. The one with a black and white pattern that looked like a Jersey cow, with a pink three-dimension udder sticking out of the side. Martin looked at it, then back at Jon who was smiling expectantly.

“Oh. . . thanks?” Martin smiled back, a little awkwardly. “That’s nice of you.”

Jon’s smile widened. It widened a lot, actually. His whole practically face lit up and it was way too much, and it was weird. Maybe Jon didn’t hear people call him nice very often?

"Least I can do. Given, ah - -" Jon hesitated, as if trying to remember what he was supposed to be grateful for. "Well. Given how hard you've been working, I suppose."

“What, nothing for me?” Tim teased.

“Ah . . . I didn’t think to--” Jon frowned, an expression of mild distress on his face. “But I could? I’ll just be a moment.”

Jon turned back towards the break room, and it was clear that even Tim was startled by that reaction. He’d obviously been joking, setting Jon up for a retort or an excuse to complain. It’s what he'd have normally responded with.

“See?” Martin gestured to where Jon had been standing. “That’s weird, right? That’s not just being friendly, it’s . . . I don’t know what it is. It’s an entire personality change.”

“Hmm. Yeah.” Tim blinked at the doorway. “He’s definitely planning to kill you.”

“Don’t joke about that either.” Martin groaned, rubbing his brow. The stress headache had not left, and he doubted it was going to any time soon.

“It starts with tea.” Tim continued, feigning a solemn tone. “Then, bit by bit, he’ll begin slipping you teeny tiny amounts of poison. Once you’re too weak to fight back or run, bam. Briefcase full of snakes.” He shook his head. “The perfect crime.”

"Come on."

"Snakes can't talk, Martin. That means no witnesses."

Martin sighed and reached for the mug. Whatever was going on, he supposed he was at least getting tea that he didn’t have to make. As he took a sip, a familiar flavor bloomed on his tongue and he choked in surprise.

“Yikes.” Tim looked at him with concern. “Is his tea that bad?”

“No . . . no it’s - -” Martin set the mug down, coughing a little, and wiped his mouth. “There’s jam in it. Strawberry jam.”

“Seriously?” Tim wrinkled his nose. “Who puts jam in tea?”

“I do! Sometimes . . . .”

“And you have the nerve to call anybody else weird?”

“I like it! It’s sweet and - - and anyway that’s not the point.” Martin frowned. “How does he know that? I know I never mentioned it.”

“Eh. He remembers strange things sometimes.” Tim shrugged. “He’ll forget that you had to show him how to use the copier, but he’ll rattle off a thousand details about how it works. He’s probably got an encyclopedic knowledge of how everyone in the institute likes their tea.”

At that moment, Jon’s head appeared back in the doorway. “Tim. I forgot to ask. Do you take sugar or milk?”

“Oh, you know it’s both.” Tim grinned, pointing in Jon’s direction.

Jon nodded and ducked back out. Martin looked at Tim, who shrugged.

“Listen,” he said. “I’ve known Jon a lot longer than you. And one thing I can say about him is this - he’s a prick, but he’s not an asshole.”

“What does that even mean?” Martin sighed, picking up the mug again.

“It means . . . he’s just sort of like that,” Tim gestured vaguely towards the door. “He’s insensitive, and kind of snobby, and when he’s in a bad mood he makes it everyone else’s problem. But he’s not mean-spirited. Most of the time I don’t think he even realizes he’s doing it, honestly.”

“Realize it or not,” Martin muttered into his tea - - which damn it, was delicious and he was going to enjoy it regardless. “It’s not very nice being on the other end of it.”

“Oh, absolutely.” Tim smirked. “Like I said, he’s a total prick. But I don’t think he wants to be mean. And he doesn’t like thinking he’s hurt someone. You want to know my guess?”

“. . . Sure.”

“The whole worm thing made him take a look at how he’s been acting, especially with you,” Tim said. “And now he feels guilty. Covertly figuring out your awful, deviant tea preferences is probably his way of trying to make amends.”

“Mmm.”

Martin tapped Tim’s arm and looked at the door, which he’d been watching more closely ever since the first interruption. Jon appeared with a second cup of tea, this one in a mug that read “Over Sixty and Still Sexy!” in pink bubble letters.

“Here we are,” he handed it to Tim, looking pleased with himself.

“Thanks, chief.” Tim snapped his fingers. “Oh, hey! Almost forgot, I followed up on Statement 0162102. The woman in Sussex who saw a manifestation in her backyard? You know. The one with the uncanny, owl-like features?”

“Oh.” Jon raised an eyebrow. “What did you find?”

“Well. I looked up her address and as it turns out she lives half a mile from an owl sanctuary.”

“Ah.”

“Went to investigate like you said. Really nice old lady. He scones were a little dry, but she had all sorts of interesting knickknacks that she wanted to show me.”

“Sounds profoundly fascinating.”

“Anyway, I managed to tear myself away long enough to check out the yard. Shockingly enough, found some owl pellets there. So, stop me if you’ve heard this one, but--” he clicked his tongue loudly. “Think maybe she saw an owl?”

Jon smirked. “Another one for the discredited section.”

“That thing’s filling up fast.” Tim observed.

“Quite unsurprising, all thing considered.” Jon sighed, feigning disappointment, badly disguising how smug he was about it. Given his attitude towards the paranormal, Martin expected he believed that every statement should go straight into that pile. “Still. Progress is progress, and elimination is a form of progress on its own. I’ll let you know when I have something new for you.”

“Sure thing. Still waiting for my chance to unmask the creepy old mill owner trying to scare those meddling kids off his property.”

Jon laughed, sharp and loud, before catching himself and putting a hand over his mouth. There was something in his expression when he looked at Tim that Martin couldn’t quite place, and he found himself wondering if Jon had any interest in men. If so, it would make sense for him to be interested in Tim. Everyone was interested in Tim.

“Yes, well. I’d best be going,” he added hastily, nodding at Tim and then Martin. “Work to do. Good afternoon.”

Off he went again, ducking through the door and heading back towards his office. Tim turned to Martin once Jon was out of earshot.

“See?” he said, sipping his tea. “Deep down, the man’s a teddy bear.”

“Hmnn.” Martin fiddled with the handle on his mug. “Well. You and Sasha have known him for longer.”

“We were a duo of infamous murderers in a past life,” Tim said, “and now we’re being punished for it.”

“I suppose if you guys think this is normal for him - -”

He was interrupted by the loud thunk as Sasha appeared beside them, setting a box full of files down on the desk next to his. She looked at them both and smiled brightly.

“Oh, are we talking about how weird Jon’s been lately?” she asked. “Because he’s acting super weird, don’t let this guy over here tell you differently.”

“Right? Thank you!” Martin exhaled, relieved.

Tim gave Sasha an annoyed look. “Thanks, Sash.”

“Welcome, Tim!”

“It’s tough for me to say this," Tim leaned back, shaking his head, "but I’m honestly not sure that we can trust him anymore.” 

“Jon?” Sasha asked.

“No, Martin,” he made a show of putting a hand over his mouth, loudly whispering. “I found out he’s got this weird jam thing going on. Highly suspicious.”

“It’s not even that unusual!” Martin gesturing towards Tim. “See, he thinks Jon just feels guilty because I almost got murdered by worms.”

“Well, sure. I could believe that was it if he was just being less of a grouch. But there’s other things.” Sasha leaned in, lowering her voice. “I was talking to Cora today about some of the things in artifact storage? Jon overheard as he was walking by and he got . . . oddly upset. Went off on a whole rant about how there was nothing good down there and it would be better for everyone to keep their distance.”

“Well, I sort of get that.” Martin had been at the institute long enough to notice the high turnover rate in artifact storage. He’d heard stories. “That place is really creepy.”

“Sure. I don’t like going down there anyway.” Sasha shrugged. “But he was so intense about it. Like he’s trying to keep something shut up there . . . not sure what, though. Kind of thinking of taking a look around, just to see if anything came in recently.”

She reached over towards Tim and grabbed the mug out of his hand, taking a sip from it. He glared at her in mock annoyance.

“And you know when I hurt my shoulder just a few days ago?” she continued. “I asked if he’d let me record a statement about what happened, since some of it was a little bit odd --”

“What did happen anyway?” Tim asked, “you keep dodging me on the details.”

“Why stop now?” Sasha grinned, taking another sip of Tim’s tea. “At any rate, he wouldn’t let me just tell him about it. Handed me a form and said that I should write it down and he would read it afterwards. Was insistent about it, too, even though Elias says we should be committing as many statements to audio as possible.” Her eyes lit up. “Oh, and there’s something going on there. Have you noticed the way he looks at Elias now?”

Martin blinked. “Not really.”

“Hate.” Sasha said. “Not his usual - ‘ah, how dare you have the temerity to exist in my immediate area while I’m working’ thing. I mean real, proper hatred.”

She paused dramatically to let that sink in. Martin frowned. He wasn’t entirely sure what it meant if she was right, but he didn’t like the thought of it. Elias was an okay boss, as far as he could tell - not that he had much experience. But there’d always been this edge to him, something in his eyes that made Martin never want to be on his bad side.

“At first I thought it was an ego thing, you know?” Sasha continued. “That Jon had some new ideas about how things should be done around here, that Elias pushed back on them, and now they were having a pissing contest.”

“Thank you for that horrible image.” Tim said.

“But aside from the recording, he’s not doing anything differently. There’s just this tension between them all of a sudden. Feels like something happened.” Sasha continued, taking another sip of tea. “Not that I have a clue what it is. Yet.”

“Okay Poirot.” Tim reached to grab the now mostly-empty mug back from her. “As long as you’re solving mysteries around here, how about you catch the villain that keeps stealing snacks from my desk? Sometimes in front of me, while I watch her do it?”

“Oooh. Dunno, Tim.” Sasha smiled. “Got to deal with one thing at a time, don’t I? Don’t want to overwork myself on an empty stomach.”

“Speaking of . . . I should probably get back to work.” Martin said, glancing at the pad of notes he’d been ignoring since Tim sat down and started chatting with him. “Got a lot to get through.”

Work had been piling up since he moved into the archive. He wasn’t getting the best sleep, and during the day he was distracted too often. Occasionally he’d spot what looked like one of Jane’s worms and have to drop everything to lift up boxes and move furniture, make certain there was nothing there. Not the best circumstances for productivity. Jon hadn’t commented on it yet, but he was sure to notice if he hadn’t already, and Martin didn’t want to spoil whatever tentative good will he’d gained too quickly.

“I can take some of it off your hands.” Tim said. “I’ve got nothing to do anyway.”

“Oh, uh --” Martin hesitated, looking at the small stack of folders beside him. “Are you sure? I mean, if you don’t mind. . . .”

“Sure. Archival assistants gotta stick together, right?” Tim smiled and gave Martin’s shoulder a gentle shove. Martin smiled back, something soft and grateful rising in him at the gesture.

“Well . . . take your pick, then- -” he held up the two folders containing statements he hadn’t started on yet. “We’ve got, let’s see . . . a guy who thinks his car is haunted because it’s been making funny noises and, uh . . . someone who claims her parrot is the reincarnation of her late husband.”

“Thrilling stuff.” Sasha muttered.

“I’ll take the parrot one.” Tim said, holding out a hand for the file. “I’m good with birds.”

Sasha shook her head and sighed. “Is it just me, or have all the cases we’ve been working on been really, really dull lately?”

“Hey, I’m developing a real appreciation for dull.” Martin held up a hand. “The last interesting case I looked into got me locked in my apartment for a week. I’m pretty happy to have something where the follow-up’s probably going to involve recommending a mechanic.”

“Hmm.” Sasha sighed, glancing with disinterest at the files she’d brought in. “Well, I’ll leave you to it. Got some follow-up of my own to do.”

Martin saw Sasha grab her coat off a chair and walk back out the door, leaving the files untouched. He turned his attention back to his own work.

#tma #the magnus archives #tma fanfic #looks like i'm still writing this #time travel au

[peacefulheartfarm]

Homestead Update and Health Update

It has been a while so how about a homestead update and health update. I republished a couple of podcasts. I hope you got a chance to listen for the first time or relisten if you were interested in the topic of cheese.

It’s going to be close, but I think I can get this podcast published today. Let’s hope all goes well and I am able to accomplish it. If it doesn’t, I am likely to abandon the effort for another week. My life is topsy-turvy and I only have so much time each day to take care of any given task. When things don’t go well, they get pushed to the next day. It’s my method of reducing stress. Let’s pause a moment.

I want to take a minute and say welcome to all the new listeners and welcome back to the veteran homestead-loving regulars who stop by the FarmCast for every episode. Thank you for hanging in there with me. I appreciate you all so much. Let’s have a homestead update and then a little info on the status of our health here at Peaceful Heart Farm

Our Virginia Homestead Life Updates

The cows are coming up first.

Cows

Last night at about 9:15 we got a call from the neighbors across the street. Two of our cows were in their yard. Who could they be? There were two groups of cows with two animals. I knew it was most likely the two that were scheduled for freezer camp this morning. Sure enough, those two guys were out there wreaking havoc in the neighbor’s yard and trying to get into the pasture with their cows.

It was a little harrowing to be trying to work with two very large boys in the dark. However, all of our cows are fairly docile. They were upset and confused of course. I believe that I’ve mentioned before that a cow does not like anything out of the ordinary. They want things to be the same all the time. Routine, routine, routine. So needless to say, everything about this situation was out of the ordinary.

Perrin is Secured

Nearby, just 20 or 30 feet down the driveway, was a gate to a paddock. Scott opened that gate and Perrin almost immediately went inside. Rocketman was a different story. He went back and forth in front of that gate at least three or four times, never venturing inside. Finally, he started down the driveway and Scott herded him that way and away from the neighbor’s cows. I followed with the car. Of course, once we got him down the driveway the next challenge was finding a way to get him into a pasture.

Scott chased him up and down one fence a couple of times. I opened up a couple of gates. One was a gate back to where he escaped. The other was into the field with our nursery girls. It was a little risky letting him in there, but we needed some way to get him into some fence somewhere. Once he was back inside our perimeter fence, there were many options as to how to move forward.

Rocketman is Secured

Rocketman eagerly went through the very wide-open gate into the pasture with the girls. The girls themselves were way out in the field. We needed to get him contained before he joined with them. That would be a disaster if we had to single him out from that crowd in the dark. Scott quickly contained the girls in paddock number one. Perrin was in paddock number two. And Rocketman was in the travel lane that joins with all paddocks.

The goal was to isolate both boys in the small holding area just inside the gate I opened for Rocketman. He had already walked most of the way down the travel lane toward the other paddocks. Scott met him coming the other way while herding Perrin down the travel lane toward the holding area. I was over in paddock number four which runs directly alongside the travel lane. I wanted to be close but not in the travel lane. That would have just confused everything and possibly herded them back out into the field in an attempt to get away from me.

Chasing Cows Around Paddock Four

Now for the next debacle. There are two gates at the bottom of a hollow. One opens into paddock four where I am and one opens or closes the travel lane where Scott and the boys are walking. I’m a little way up the hill in paddock four, just monitoring how they are moving. Everything looks Ok. Scott is coming down the travel lane headed toward the holding area. I just happened to mention that the gate into paddock four is open and they might come in there instead of continuing up the hill into the holding area. And you know what? That is exactly what they did. Now we are reduced to chasing them around paddock four, still trying to get them to go back through the gate and up to the small holding area.

All Ends Well

At some point I went down and closed the gate to the travel lane. No sense in letting them run back up that way. Now all we needed to do is get them to go through the other open gate out of paddock four and into the holding area. Somewhere along the way in this process, I noticed that part of the problem we were having is that they would go wherever the light was shining. Our headlamps and flashlights were actually confusing them. As Scott brought them back down the hill for the third or fourth time, I had just finished latching that travel lane gate. I shined my flashlight in the exact place I wanted them to go. It worked. Right through the gate they went. The travel lane gate was closed and now the gate into paddock four could be closed.

Whew what a trip. It lasted about 45 minutes. Shortly after 10 o’clock we were back inside and grateful for it.

The Girls

The girls continued to happily exist up in paddock number one until the next morning. After loading the boys into the trailer, he opened the paddock gate allowing the girls access to the pond for water and cooling baths.

Last week we had our vet and AI tech out checking to see who is and is not pregnant. There was good news and bad news. Three are pregnant and three are not. We are going to roll with that for the spring.

Buttercup

The vet gave us health information on the entire herd. Buttercup did not conceive. This is two years in a row. The vet talked to us about her weight. Too much fat is not a good thing, especially in an aging cow. I won’t go into the details, but her opinion was that, not only had she not conceived, but it was going to be harder and harder for her to conceive as she ages more. She will need to be replaced.

Cloud

Cloud was pregnant but miscarried. The vet was not too concerned about this. A late term spontaneous abortion would be a different story. But aborting early in the process is not so uncommon. We decided against trying to start over with any of our girls. Cloud is also marked to be replaced. Not because of her miscarriage, but because she kicks so much that we cannot milk her. Due to her strong angus genetics, she is also not really ideal as a milk cow. She simply does not produce as much milk as the others. Not by a long shot.

Claire

Claire appears to be pregnant but the vet could not 100% confirm it. She did mark her as pregnant but noted that she could not move the uterus to a position where she could know for sure. However, the fact that she could not move it was a good indication that Claire is pregnant. We shall see. Claire is also marked for replacement as she is getting on in years and is prone to mastitis. Her udder is in bad shape. She produces enough milk for her calf and not much more.

Luna

Now on to one we will keep for a little while, though we may offer her up to anyone looking for a family cow. Luna is pregnant. She is a heifer which means this will be her first calf. We do not expect her to produce lots and lots and lots of milk. Her mom is Cloud and Luna exhibits a lot of the angus coloring traits. We don’t really know how much milk she will produce, but it is likely that it will be substandard for what we are looking for in a milk cow. However, it may be perfect for someone looking for a little milk for their family and a good beef calf every year. We shall see. At this point, her fate is still up in the air.

Violet

Just a brief note on Violet. She did not make it into the rotation for artificial insemination. And we did not expose her to the bull. She is not pregnant and will remain open for the coming spring birthing season. In June next year, she will make it back into the breeding rotation. Violet has really good Normande breeding genetics. She has the BB kappa casein genetic trait that we want for cheesemaking. I asked about her weight and the vet said that even though her belly is really big and round, she is not overweight near her ovaries and therefore does not have Buttercup’s issue with weight. She’s a keeper for now.

The Jerseys, Butter and Rosie

Now on to the Jersey girls. Butter is a champ. She is pregnant and looking good. No issues there. Rosie, on the other hand, is not pregnant. The vet had already warned me that this was the most likely issue with a heifer having a calf when she was so very young. Getting pregnant again might take a little time.

Scott and I were just discussing this morning that we might want to have one cow that gives birth in the fall so we have some milk year-round. Right now, we dry them up in November and have no fresh milk products until March or April the following year. Rosie might be an ideal candidate for a fall delivery. We shall see. There are still a couple of months ahead of us before we would need to make that decision.

Special Cheeses

Any cow that gave birth in the fall would be completely out of the rotation for making cheese. Do we really want to give up that milk? It’s still under consideration. It would be nice to have a very small amount of milk to make cream cheese and yogurt throughout the winter. And perhaps a bit of camembert, reblochon or other cheese that we might make in smaller quantities for personal use.

Calf Sharing

If we decide to do that, we would do what is known as calf sharing. That means the calf stays with mom. Anytime we want to have milk, we simply separate them overnight and milk in the morning. For any of you thinking about having your own milk cow, this offers tremendous freedom. Normally, cows get milked twice a day. But if you are calf sharing, the calf takes care of the milk during the day. Overnight mom makes lots of milk and we get to keep that part. The calf rejoins mom and gets all of the luscious milk throughout the day. As I mentioned earlier, even Luna would produce enough milk to make this work. And if the day comes when you don’t want to milk at all on any given day, just leave calf and mom together for the entire day and night. It’s a win-win situation. The calf really appreciates the extra juice and the homesteader gets a break from milking every single day, seven days a week.

Well, that was a lot of cow updates. On to the sheep. I won’t be as long-winded here I promise.

Sheep and Mack

Mack is doing a good job of protecting the few sheep that we have left in the flock. We had one ewe that had an abscess on her chest. The vet drained it and gave us instructions on how to care for it. She is nearly healed already. Lambert, the ram had deeper issues. We don’t really know the cause but he had some pretty severe hoof issues. The vet seemed to think it was perhaps related to running around trying to get away from predators that precipitated this issue. His feet were really sore. She tried trimming his hooves but there wasn’t really much there. We treated all of the sheep for hoof scald and hoof rot. This is a problem that we are aware of but have never encountered. It usually happens when their hooves are not in top shape and they are exposed to a lot of water. And it appears, that lots of stress on the hooves can caused problems.

Worms Again?

In addition to the hoof problem, Lambert also had an enormous worm load. He had lost lots and lots of weight. He is still actually quite weak. The worms suck the blood out via the stomach. The animal becomes very anemic. It does take some time to heal. Hopefully, Lambert will turn the corner soon and regain his weight and strength. He was pretty far gone and his health is still up in the air.

The remaining two seems to be in relatively good shape. We wormed all of them just to be sure. Lambert’s worm overload was also likely precipitated by the enormous amount of stress they all endured during the predator attacks. Stress can weaken their systems enough to give the worms the window of opportunity they need to begin to multiplying uncontrollably.

It has been a good long time since we had any issues with worms and we may have been a little lax. Going forward we will be keeping a closer eye on these guys. Hopefully, they will all stay relaxed and continue to live peacefully on the homestead.

We are also still looking to add a few more ewes to the flock soon. Rebuilding will take some time and we want to get started on that process. Two more dogs are lined up to help us out as we rebuild from the disastrous spring and summer. More on that later.

Personal Health Update

Before closing today I’ll give a brief health update for both Scott and myself. Scott is doing very well with treatment. He is two and a half weeks into seven weeks of radiation treatment. No chemo, thank the Lord. He drives an hour each way to receive the treatment, Monday through Friday. I will be accompanying him in the coming days.

He is managing the treatment very well. A sore throat makes it more and more difficult to eat. There are lots of treatments to help with that as well. Taking daily naps is a way of life for him. Sometimes for a couple of hours, but yesterday for only a half hour. We are still fairly early on in the treatment so we will see how he progresses.

Treatment Side Effects

At this point in the treatment, the worst side effects start to manifest. I already mentioned the difficulty in getting food down due to the pain in his throat. Add to this that his taste will change. Doctors have let him know that everything will begin to taste horrible. Their experience has shown that the taste issue will continue for a month or two or even more past the time when the treatments are complete. As you can imagine, this adds insult to injury. He already has trouble swallowing. How much worse will it be when he has to force himself to even put anything into his mouth?

Scott is a trooper. He is a stoic individual. I fully expect he will plow through this just like he does any other issue that presents itself to his world. I am here to support him in any way that I can.

My Health

My state of health is stable. That is the best way I can describe it. The time prior to the treatment starting was more stressful. I can say that at this point. Who knows what the future will hold? I could be off-the-scale stressed next week. The uncertainty of what the future would hold, one appointment after another in preparation for treatment and my own insecurity about whether I was mentally and emotionally up to the task of caring for Scott was wreaking havoc on my normal schedule and making me a little cray-cray. Now that we are settled into a routine, I am handling it much better. I feel much more relaxed and confident in my ability to respond to Scott’s needs as they arise.

We are blessed to have all of you praying for us. Thank you so much. Please continue to pray for us and we will pray for you.

Final Thoughts

That’s it for today’s podcast. I know the cow updates were long and perhaps too detailed. I didn’t even get to the quail. Well, too late now. I need to get this podcast published and then on to the evening chores. It’s time to wake Scott up from his nap so he can start on his evening routine. The regularity of routine is a life saver when your life is topsy-turvy.

Again, thank you so much for your prayers.

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Thank you so much for stopping by the homestead and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace.

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Check out this episode!

[juniperpublishers-jdvs]

Welfare Implications for Dairy Cattle of Modern Technological Advances: (I) Robotic Milking- Juniper Publishers

Abstract

Automatic milking systems, otherwise, known as robotic milking, have been used in dairy farms more and more over the past two decades. The system gives the cattle the opportunity to decide when they are milked which should be beneficial to their welfare, but potentially separated the farmer from his or her animals, which could be detrimental. Here we look at health and welfare implications of robotic milking, seek to review research undertaken in this area and look to future advances in automatic milking of dairy cattle.

Go to

Introduction

The introduction of automatic milking systems (AMS) in the late 1990s revolutionised dairy practice where it was employed. The AMS is comprised of a milking machine, a laser sensor of teat position, a robotic arm to automatically apply and remove the cup to and from the teat and a gate system for controlling cow traffic and is commonly termed robotic milking Figure 1. The idea of the system is that it allows the cow to decide, within certain limitation discussed later, when to be milked with advantages for the farmer in giving increased milk yields and to the cow in increasing her autonomy, an important factor in optimising cattle welfare. Potential downsides of reducing the interaction between cowman and his or her animals are alleviated by including sensors for mastitis in the form of automatic sensors for blood in milk or increased cell count and for lameness in the form both of automatic assessment of time between milking and use of pedometers for directly assessing cow movement (Figure 2).

In this review we will discuss the benefits, or otherwise, of robotic milking to dairy cow welfare and ask how use of such systems impact the relationship between farmer and animals, and what indirect effects this has on cattle welfare. It must be said that robotic milking was first introduced in the context of the standard dairy parlour but the automated application of cups to the teats just did not work in the standard parlour where animals are milked in groups twice daily. The robotic systems were then placed in the areas where the cows were accommodated with the idea that each cow would enter the robotic system when it needed to be milked. It turned out that the ‘need’ to be milked was not enough to entice cows into the milking systems and so food was given at the time of milking. Perhaps the automated milking system was not quite as focussed on cow welfare as had first been thought. We will discuss the degree to which the cow is in control of her life while using an AMS later, given the importance of individual cow autonomy to cow welfare. First though we need briefly to outline the welfare issues in conventional dairy systems before comparing different AMS systems and then looking at the research published to date on stress levels in conventional dairy farms and those using AMS.

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Welfare Problems in Conventional Dairy Systems

The three key areas of animal welfare, as proposed by Fraser involve first biological functioning, the physiological state of the animal, natural living, how close the animal is in captivity to its free-living state, and its affective state, how it is feeling [1]. The breeding of dairy cattle for increased milk yield brings several welfare problems from a physiological and disease perspective [2] quite apart from behavioural and affective issues or removing calves from their dams at an early stage and then managing them in a manner that precludes them fulfilling their normal behaviours [3]. The energy and nutrient requirements engendered by the vastly increased milk production in modern dairy cattle places significant burdens on the cow and leads to the problems of diminished reproductive performance, decreased levels of udder health with increased incidence of mastitis [4,5], increased prevalence of lameness both associated with increased standing and musculoskeletal health issues [6] as well as compromise in the animal’s ability to eat enough to maintain a nutritional balance when so much energy, protein and calcium are being lost in the litres of milk produced each day.

The cow is, as we would say ‘milking off her back’ with insufficient resources being put back into her own health. This is the reason why the average number of lactations for a modern dairy cow is now as low as 3 with a recent study showing that the annual herd cull rate for US dairy farms was 36% and the longevity of dairy cows was approximately 60 months [7]. Can automatic milking allow the cow a better affective existence by giving her more control of her own milk production by allowing her to decide when to be milked? Or does robotic milking increase problems by distancing the cattle from the farmer?

Go to

Robotic Milk and Cattle Health

Having noted the short lifespan of most cattle in today’s relatively intensive dairy industry doe an AMS have an impact on this figure? A recent paper on 23 Holstein breed dairy farms in Gallicia, Spain [8] monitored for five years showed that milk yield increased in the move to AMS emergency culling for conditions such as abomasal displacement, postpartum ketoacidosis or accidents reduced while culling for poor production, infertility or lameness increased. It may be that increased culling for low production comes because the AMS allows a better analysis of the cow’s performance and so a weaning out, as it were, of sub-optimally performing animals. This would not have an impact on individual animal welfare.

Increased culling because of mastitis in AMS systems may be associated with poorer udder health in the farms using AMS. Most previous studies have noted a decrease in udder health on using robotic milking [9]. Ineffective udder cleaning, generally dirtier udders and inadequate detection of mastitis may be responsible for these defects and previous studies have shown suboptimal udder cleaning in robotic systems [10]. Assessment of bulk milk somatic cell counts and bacterial counts in thirteen farms which moved from conventional milking to an AMS system detected a significantly increased cell count and bacterial contamination in the first year after the transfer but by three years after the introduction of AMS, when farmers had become accumsomed to managing the new equipment, both bulk milk cell count and bacterial count were lower than in the conventional milking system [10]. Figure 1 illustrates the unclean state into which cattle can descend, illustrating the importance of good udder cleaning, not necessarily reached when an automated system is responsible for udder health. On the other hand, in AMS systems sensors can monitor milk quality, cell counts and bacterial contamination. By rapid detection of affected cattle, those individual animals can more promptly be treated and removed from the dairy system until healthy again.

The daily routine of a dairy cow in an AMS dairy is quite different from that in a conventional system. The cow has a relatively low motivation to be milked and so is attracted to the milking robot by provision of concentrates [11]. Lameness may reduce the frequency of cows visiting the milking system with deleterious effects on both their welfare and on the farm’s economy. In a study of eight farms 14% of cattle were lame and in 12% of these animals lameness was severe [12]. The fact that these cows are living in an environment where their feet are continually in a muddy environment may be significant in such a finding. The fact that the animals are not being examined on a twice daily basis by the stockman in the dairy setting may exacerbate this. The opportunity of automatic assessment of leg health using load sensors, however, gives the prospect of early detection of sole ulcers, infected claws and other foot defects could greatly benefit dairy cattle if widely used [13,14].

A finding of higher culling rates because of infertility in dairy cattle [8] may be associated with the fact that although farmers using a robotic system may have more time to evaluate their herd and the cows’ behaviour, they are not actually in the proximity of the cattle as was the case twice daily in the parlour, detecting the changes that indicate oestrous [15]. More important effects on reproduction may occur because with increased milk yield in an automatic system a deeper negative energy balance has a deleterious effect on fertility.

Go to

Affective Changes in Cattle Moving to Robotic Systems

As we noted above the hope is that an automatic milking system would give the cows control over their frequency and timing of milking with advantages to their welfare. But how do cattle cope with a move from a conventional system to AMS? In a study of seventeen healthy cows transitioning to a robotic system heart rate and faecal cortisol was unchanged and the introduction of AMS milking was less stressful than tethering. Within two to four visits the cattle entered the robotic milking system voluntarily and in the words of the researchers ‘the adaptation to the AMS system was unexpectedly fast’ [16]. Initially in the unfamiliar environment oxytocin release and milk let-down was reduced but this soon normalised. A study of stress responses on cattle milking in a conventional and AMS system detected lower maximak plasma adrenaline and noradrenaline concentrations during milking in the AMS animals. No differences were found in the number of steps. Stimulation of the teats gave similar mean oxytocin concentrations but in the AMS-cows this increase in oxytocin levels was more prolonged after milking. AMS animals tended to have higher plasma cortisol concentrations than traditionally milked cows, but the median feacal concentrations of dioxo androstane, a cortisol metabolite were comparable [17].

If we can say that stress levels are comparable between the two systems, does robotic milking, in the words of one article ‘recapture the bovine life’ [18]? The authors of this paper undertook in depth interviews with farmers and observed them in their dairy farms before using Foucault’s concepts of relationships to assess the way a move to robotic milking influences behaviour and lifestyles of both animals and farmers. As they say ‘the rhetoric of choice and freedom suggested by manufacturers of robotic milking systems needs some interrogation [18]. They suggest that ‘the complex layouts of fences and gates which ‘guide’, ‘force’ or ‘discipline’ cows’ movements and intervene with their daily movements’ significantly constrain the cows’ behaviour and that actually ‘the simplistic representations of a bovine subjectivity ‘freed’ by robotic milking, and more complex processes of bovine subjectification which take effect as part of establishing robotic milking on farms’ need to be taken into consideration [18].

These authors consider, after their observations, that ‘instead of focussing on exceptional ‘good’ cows, [farmers] are directed by the robot to concentrate on exceptional ‘bad’ ones. ‘Far from simply granting animals their freedom’ they consider ‘cows are re-enclosed by a set of power relations and corporeal and behavioural interventions associated with this particular technology’ [18]. Clearly that paper is one set of authors’ views indeed those of social scientists rather than biolgists or agriculturalists, so the lack of finding of stress-related physiological changes in cattle milked in an AMS system may be more relevant to an assessment of their welfare in robotic milking systems, but nonetheless it is worth taking on board their opinions with regard to how automatic milking systems impact on cattle health and welfare.

To know more about  journal of veterinary science impact factor: https://juniperpublishers.com/jdvs/index.php

To know more about Open Access Publishers: Juniper Publishers

#Juniper Publishers #Juniper Publishers Group #Animal Husbandry #Dairy

[josephkitchen0]

Deep Freeze! How to Keep Goats Warm in Cold Weather

How cold is too cold for a goat? Temperature can be the least of challenges when determining how to keep goats warm in cold weather.

I’ve lived in cold climates for most of my life, but in 2017, my first season kidding in weather 20 below zero, I learned: don’t cry until you get inside. Otherwise, tears freeze to your face. Chapping adds to the insult and heals slowly. I also learned that goats don’t cry. They didn’t seem to care about winter challenges.

We raise Kiko goats in North Central Idaho. For us it is rare to have an extreme winter, but not uncommon to have a month below zero. I am not nearly as hardy as my goats in cold climates.

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Princess on the milk stand in Delta, Alaska -20F. Photo Credit: Denise Wilhelm

Denise Wilhelm and her husband moved from New Mexico to Delta, Alaska, with extremes of -45F to -68F. She and her herd see a hard freeze every month of the year and winters can last from September until May. “Milking goats outside when it is 20 below, my hands start to freeze after the second goat. You can’t wear gloves and milk. You know that little space between the doe’s thigh and the udder? That’s the warmest spot … put your hand there … makes them jump a little, but keeps you going. The upside? You don’t have to worry about chilling the milk.”

Herdsmen raising goats in cold climates are a rare breed. Pipes freeze, batteries and barn cameras only operate at certain temperatures, snow drifts and ice forms on paths between hourly barn checks, and power can be sporadic. But we persevere to prevent freezing goats.

Tina Starr Judd operates Summer Starr Farm in Wasilla, Alaska where temperatures generally hover around -10 to 0F in the winter. It is considered the “banana belt” of Alaska.  She has a streamlined operation with an insulated barn. Her herd of dairy Nubians do so well that Tina finds goat-keeping simple. However, after 49 years there, she still says, “I hate the cold. I whine when it is cold.”

How do we do it? Layers, beginning with short-sleeved shirts in case we need bare arms for birthing procedures. Then waterproof ski pants, wool socks, insulated neoprene boots with additional insoles, hats, and thin gloves because thick gloves offer no dexterity.

Preseason Secrets of How to Keep Goats Warm in Cold Weather:

Acclimation

In order to thrive in cold climates, an animal must acclimate. Goats with a thick undercoat, called cashmere, are suited to cold. Herdsmen have learned that many warm climate breeds can be bred to grow cashmere. For a goat to grow an undercoat, it must be allowed to experience changing temperatures. Shivering is expected while an animal acclimates.

A goat with a well-developed undercoat can stand outside while it is snowing and not be cold. A layer of snow accumulating on a goat’s back is a good sign! Heat is trapped under the hair without melting the snow. Goats also lift hair at the follicle to trap air and stay warm. Cold-climate herdsmen manage the development of the cashmere and decide if artificial coats are needed. Coats compress hair and can be counterproductive to the goat’s natural response to cold temperatures.

Denise and Tina find that selecting not just for dairy traits, but winter cashmere, has helped with Nubians — a breed not known for cold tolerance. Neither use artificial coats as a general practice, but Denise will coat a new animal for a few days as it acclimates, or if it is ill. Winter kids are coated for the first 24 hours. The goal is to remove the coat as soon as possible. “Our first year, we coated everyone, but learned it was more for us than them.”

In extreme cold, concentrates may be required for bred and lactating does.  Photo credit: Karen Kopf

Nutrition

It takes the right nutritional combination to grow a winter coat and maintain heat in cold weather. High fiber, in the form of hay for goats, provides a constant source of rumination to generate heat. But a constant supply of hay may be insufficient. With pregnant does, developing kids can limit rumen capacity, making it challenging for her to consume enough feed to compensate for the kids and the cold. Does must be monitored for symptoms of ketosis, a life-threatening metabolic condition resulting from an inability to consume enough calories. Freshening can further exacerbate the doe’s condition, requiring additional calories. Tina cautions that, if a freshening doe is shivering, she should not be milked. “She will crash, and hypothermia will result.” She suggests coating does and stabilizing them nutritionally before making further demands on their bodies.

In 2017, we opted to dry off several does and bottle feed their kids with replacer, allowing the does to recover their condition rather than putting them at further risk from the demands of lactation. Neither the does, nor us, were prepared for an unseasonable cold.

Providing enough calories to grow, stave off metabolic illness, prevent obesity from reduced movement, and still generate enough hunger to encourage fiber intake is no small task. Denise offers concentrates to small kids and does in milk to maintain/gain weight. If not bred or milking, they go without.

Water is essential to rumination. Without water, goats will not eat. Sometimes it is so cold that the only option is hand-carrying buckets — which is how Denise waters 30 goats through the seemingly endless winter.

Goats can show deficiencies in fat-soluble vitamins after three months on a hay-only diet. In parts of Alaska, the sun barely gets above the horizon, so at best there are four to five hours of twilight. For Denise, this manifests as skin issues and, in extreme cases, can result in skeletal deformities. A protocol of A&D injections becomes part of herd management. For areas deficient in selenium, vitamin E is also required so selenium can be absorbed.

At Kopf Canyon Ranch, we also use igloos for goats that cannot compete with the herd for shed space. An advantage is that they do not collapse under snow load.

Habitation

Acclimated goats with good nutrition require little habitation or shelter. The only conditions to mitigate are wind and wetness. Wind can reduce temperatures significantly, calculated as windchill. It also evaporates moisture in the air, leading to dehydration. Wetness compacts the insulating loft of the goat’s hair, leaving them vulnerable to cold. While goats must have protection from adverse weather, their shelter cannot be airtight or significantly warmer than the conditions outside. There must be at least two doors so animals do not become trapped and crush or suffocate one another.

Goats need bedding that allows them to stay warm and dry. Denise gives her goats free access to the barn, one big room with a corner pen for isolation if needed, which usually stays above 0 degrees F. Denise uses the deep litter method, a favorite in extreme climates, as it creates reliable heat at the base layer through decomposition. Most continue to add bedding throughout the winter to keep the top dry but, because Denise’s winter is so long, she strips six to eight inches off her deep litter floors each week, being careful not to disturb the base layer. When the barn temperature rises above 40F, it is considered too warm and ammonia levels rise from the deep litter. It is critically important to check for ammonia at ground level, because it can cause respiratory distress. Products exist to neutralize ammonia. Barn ventilation is also a key component when using this method.

Tina’s insulated barn has a vapor barrier and is not heated, with the exception of a kidding stall when needed. She uses wood shavings and straw, on stall mats over a gravel base, which are cleaned weekly. The cost of bedding in winter is astronomical, but deep litter would produce more ammonia than her barn can release. She has box stalls for newborns with insulated ceilings, floors, and sidewalls. A radiant heater can be adjusted to control temperatures.

Heat lamps are rarely used because of fire hazard and if power goes out, the temperature will drop rapidly without giving the animals time to acclimate.

But heat lamps usually aren’t necessary. Liza Reeves de Ramos lives in Fairbanks, Alaska. “The coldest temp we’ve seen with our goats was -40F. We brought the chickens into the garage, but the goats were perfectly happy where they were. They didn’t want to come in. Once, when it was super cold, we put a heat lamp in the barn and locked them in. They hated it. They knocked a hole in the wall so they could get out.”

 -23F – Are You Kidding?

Yes, actually, we are. Many shows require a winter born kid, so while the conditions are less than desirable, herdsmen must make accommodations for the market.

Winter-born kids assessing the outdoor conditions at Kopf Canyon Ranch.  Photo Credit: Karen Kopf

In very cold climates, many breeders will hand-breed does so they have exact kidding dates and can be present for delivery to protect the kid from freezing at birth. Regular barn checks during the kidding season are the norm. While many does can manage a single birth, assistance is required for multiples.

Some breeders (myself included) are adamant about not kidding in winter. Others breed for early winter kids, so the does are not nutritionally impacted by the cold, and the kids have a chance to acclimate before deep winter arrives. Tina prefers to kid in winter, because it is too nice in the summer, and she can’t go fishing when she is bottle-feeding.

Successful herdsmanship in the coldest climates is possible — acclimation, nutrition, and habitation — preparing and selecting ahead of the season is our secret of how to keep goats warm in cold weather.

  Karen and Larry the Wonder Goat.

Karen and her husband Dale raise Kiko goats on Kopf Canyon Ranch, home of Larry the Wonder Goat, in North Central Idaho. They love goating anywhere together, and helping others goat in cold climates.

Deep Freeze! How to Keep Goats Warm in Cold Weather was originally posted by All About Chickens

[organiclifestylemagazine]

Should You Be on the Ketogenic Diet? The Pros and Cons of Limiting Carbs

There is a ton of hype surrounding the ketogenic diet. Some researchers swear that it is the best diet for most people to be on, while others can provide us with plenty of evidence that it is just another fad diet.

To some degree, both sides of the spectrum are right. There isn’t one perfect diet for everyone or every condition, regardless of how many people “believe” in it. The ketogenic diet is no exception to this rule.

However, there is also plenty of solid research backing up its benefits. In fact, it has been found to be better than many diets at helping people with:

Epilepsy

Type 2 Diabetes

Type 1 Diabetes

High Blood Pressure

Alzheimer’s disease

Parkinson’s disease

Chronic Inflammation

Obesity

Heart Disease

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Fatty Liver Disease

Cancer

Migraines

Even if you are not at risk from any of these conditions, restricting your carbohydrate consumption may be helpful for you too. Some of the benefits that most people experience are:

Better brain function

A decrease in inflammation

An increase in energy

Improved body composition

As you can see, the ketogenic diet has a wide array of benefits, but is it any better than other diets?

The Calorie Conundrum

Many researchers argue that ketosis (burning ketones for fuel) and carbohydrate restriction only play a minor role in the benefits of the ketogenic diet. Their argument is that people tend to eat fewer calories on the ketogenic diet, and this is the main reason for its benefits. The two most important selling points of the ketogenic diet, ketosis and carbohydrate restriction, may just be a red herring.

It is true that people on the ketogenic diet tend to eat less because of how satiating eating a high-fat moderate-protein diet like the ketogenic is for us. It is also true that less calorie consumption leads to improved health and weight loss. These two statements are backed up by plenty of research, but there is something that many researchers don’t consider.

The ketogenic diet elicits many mechanisms in the body and cells that are nonexistent in other diets. These unique mechanisms explain the benefits of the ketogenic diet that eating fewer calories cannot.

Related: Detox Cheap and Easy Without Fasting – Recipes Included

What Restricting Carbohydrates Does to The Body

Frist, let’s see what happens inside of the cells in our body during the ketogenic diet:

Ketones are produced, which burn more efficiently than sugar.

Burning ketones creates much less reactive oxygen species than sugar, which decreases inflammation.

Carbohydrate restriction triggers autophagy (cellular cleaning) and anti-inflammatory processes.

Mitochondrial function and production are enhanced, making our cell’s more efficient at using ketones and fat for fuel.

And here’s what happens in the body on a larger scale:

Insulin levels decrease because dietary carbohydrate isn’t stimulating its release.

Stored fat is burned because the body needs to use alternative fuel sources.

Inflammation is reduced because inflammatory fat levels decrease and less reactive oxygen species are formed.

The combination of the cellular and bodily effects of the ketogenic diet provides us with a basis for why they may be more useful than other diets in the treatment of many of the conditions we mentioned earlier.

Who Would Benefit Most From The Ketogenic Diet?

There is convincing evidence supporting that the ketogenic diet can reduce the severity of epilepsy, type 2 diabetes, type 1 diabetes (especially if dairy is eliminated), Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, obesity, heart disease, polycystic ovary syndrome, fatty liver disease, migraines, and certain types of cancer. However, it is important to keep in mind that plant-based whole food diets are also useful in helping people with most of these issues as well.

The primary issues that the ketogenic diet may help with more than a plant-based diet are probably neurological conditions like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and epilepsy. This is due to how efficient ketones are as a source of fuel for the brain. Some studies also indicate that ketogenic diet may be best for people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes and for people with certain types of cancer that cannot survive without sugar.

Who Shouldn’t Be On a Ketogenic Diet?

Although the ketogenic diet can help with a plethora of conditions, it can also deteriorate the health of others. For example, people with thyroid or adrenal issues and many women will struggle with carbohydrate restriction. This is because carbohydrates help regulate thyroid function, adrenal function, and fertility.

If you are already having issues with one or all of these things, then the limiting carbohydrates may make your health worse. This why it is important to have your lipid, blood sugar, and hormone levels checked before and during a profound dietary change like the ketogenic diet. Everything you do is an experiment on yourself. Just because someone else swears by a certain diet doesn’t mean it will work for you too.

The Takeaway — Should YOU be on the Ketogenic Diet?

Who would benefit the most from going keto? People who have:

Epilepsy

Parkinson’s disease

Alzheimer’s disease

Type 1 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes

Certain types of cancer that cannot survive without sugar

Who shouldn’t restrict carbohydrate intake?

People with adrenal issues

People with thyroid issues

Some women

So, what do you make of this information?

In general, eating more whole foods and less processed foods is what will give you the most bang for your buck. The simplest way to do this is by giving yourself an unbreakable rule like “eat less than 35 grams of carbs per day” (ketogenic diet) or “eliminate added sugar and limit animal product consumption” (plant-based diet). Both of these rules will help you consume more whole foods and less processed foods, which results in fewer calories consumed, less inflammation, less disease, and better health.

Choose whatever rule you think you can stick too and adjust your diet from there based on how your body reacts. It’s that simple. Well, at least it is that simple if you only care about your own health.

Recommended: The Way We Used To Eat – The Real Paleo Diet

The Long-Term Effects of The Ketogenic Diet vs. a Plant-Based Diet

If you have some form of diabetes, a neurological issue, a carb-reliant form of cancer or want to lose weight rapidly, the ketogenic diet may be the best diet for you — at least for the short term (less than six months). Although many research studies have found that the ketogenic diet has no adverse long-term effects and is perfectly safe (for most of the people that were studied), we must consider the impact that this diet has on the environment as well.

Animal products like meat, eggs, and dairy make up the bulk of calories on the ketogenic diets. These animal products are commonly sourced from controlled animal feeding operations that pollute the environment, destroy our soil, torture the animals, and produce nutritionally inferior food. With each purchase of mass-produced, unnaturally-raised animal products, we cast a vote for animal abuse, depleted soil that can’t grow crops, and climate change.

This is why it is best to stick to the rule of “eat whole plant foods and eliminate processed foods” rather than “limit carbohydrates.” If, however, you want to experiment with ketones or the ketogenic diet to see how it affects your health, keep reading below.

The Healthiest Way to Approach the Ketogenic Diet for You and The Environment

There are a couple of ways to get the benefits of the ketogenic diet while improving the environment.

Here’s a brief list of some options:

Source your animal products from environmentally conscious farms and businesses. If you are going to eat animal products, source them from U.S. Wellness Meats, White Oak Pastures, Polyface Farms, Vital Choice, and Udder Milk to get the healthiest animal products for you, the environment, and the animals.

Source all of your produce from local, biodynamic farms. This cuts down on transportation costs and supports local farmers that work with the environment rather than against it.

Supplement your diet with ketone boosting supplements. Ketone salts and MCT oil will put your body into ketosis quickly and provide you will most of the benefits of the ketogenic diet. (I personally prefer MCT oil because it is easy to add to salads, sauces, and smoothies, and doesn’t give me any weird side effects like ketone salts do.)

Include intermittent fasting in your daily schedule. By skipping one or two meals a day or fasting for the whole day, you can activate many of the health-promoting mechanisms that are commonly experienced by ketogenic dieters.

Do a strict environmentally-friendly ketogenic diet for 6 to 12 weeks. Think of the ketogenic diet as a short-term strategy to help improve specific health conditions. After about 6 to 12 weeks, your body will be keto-adapted and you’ll be ready to slowly increase your carbohydrate consumption by eating more whole plant foods.

Try a vegan or vegetarian ketogenic diet for 6 to 12 weeks. Eat plenty of low carb vegetables, coconut oil, olive oil, avocado, and nuts. Pasture-raised eggs are also an environmentally friendly option (if you are an ovo-vegetarian).

By following one or all of these strategies, you will experience the benefits of ketosis for yourself. The easiest way to do so is by combining intermittent fasting with MCT oil supplementation.

On the other hand, If you want to experience all of the effects of being keto-adapted, then it’s best to do a strict ketogenic diet for 6 to 12 weeks. This is enough time to see if the ketogenic diet works for you.

Whether or not you decide to try these suggestions, it is important to keep one thing in mind — there is no magical diet that works for everyone. Nutrition is so complicated that gurus, researchers, and health professionals will argue about it for centuries to come.

There is, however, one healthy eating rule that most people can agree on:

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” – Michael Pollan

Recommended Reading:

Start Eating Like That and Start Eating Like This – Your Guide to Homeostasis Through Diet

How to Make the Healthiest Smoothies – 4 Recipes

How to Detoxify and Heal the Lymphatic System

Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones

Sources:

A Comprehensive Beginner’s Guide to the Ketogenic Diet — Ruled.me

The neuroprotective properties of calorie restriction, the ketogenic diet, and ketone bodies — Science Direct

The Ketogenic Diet as a Treatment Paradigm for Diverse Neurological Disorders — NCBI

Short term improvement of migraine headaches during ketogenic diet: a prospective observational study in a dietician clinical setting — NCBI

KETONES INHIBIT MITOCHONDRIAL PRODUCTION OF REACTIVE OXYGEN SPECIES PRODUCTION FOLLOWING GLUTAMATE EXCITOTOXICITY BY INCREASING NADH OXIDATION — NCBI

Effects of beta-hydroxybutyrate on cognition in memory-impaired adults. — NCBI

The therapeutic implications of ketone bodies: the effects of ketone bodies in pathological conditions: ketosis, ketogenic diet, redox states, insulin resistance, and mitochondrial metabolism. — NCBI

A Ketogenic Diet Favorably Affects Serum Biomarkers for Cardiovascular Disease in Normal-Weight Men — The Journal of Nutrition

The Best Low Carb Vegetables for Keto — Ruled.me

Short term improvement of migraine headaches during ketogenic diet: a prospective observational study in a dietician clinical setting — NCBI

Long-term effects of a ketogenic diet in obese patients — NCBI

Raised blood pressure — WHO

Effect of orlistat-induced weight loss on blood pressure and heart rate in obese patients with hypertension. — NCBI

Neuroprotective and disease-modifying effects of the ketogenic diet — NCBI

Type 1 diabetes mellitus successfully managed with the paleolithic ketogenic diet — Edorium Journals

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) — Deep Dyve

Beyond weight loss: a review of the therapeutic uses of very-low-carbohydrate (ketogenic) diets. — NCBI

The effects of a low-carbohydrate, ketogenic diet on the polycystic ovary syndrome: A pilot study— BioMed Central

The effects of low carbohydrate diets on liver function tests in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials — NCBI

The Effect of a Low-Carbohydrate, Ketogenic Diet on Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: A Pilot Study — Springer Link

A meta-analysis of randomized trials for the treatment of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. — NCBI

Effects of low-carbohydrate vs low-fat diets on weight loss and cardiovascular risk factors: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. — NCBI

Do Very Low-Carb Diets Mess Up Some Women’s Hormones? — Authority Nutrition

Effects of a ketogenic diet during pregnancy on embryonic growth in the mouse — NCBI

Dietary Reference Intakes: Macronutrients — National Academies

Maternal consumption of a high-meat, low-carbohydrate diet in late pregnancy: relation to adult cortisol concentrations in the offspring — NCBI

Dietary Intervention for Overweight and Obese Adults: Comparison of Low-Carbohydrate and Low-Fat Diets. A Meta-Analysis — PLOS

Low-carb diet: Can it help you lose weight? — Mayo Clinic

Is a Low-Carb Diet Ruining Your Health? — Chris Kresser

The Dangers of Fat Metabolism and PUFA: WhyYou Don’t Want to be a Fat Burner — Journal of Evolution and Health

Insulin’s impact on renal sodium transport and blood pressure in health, obesity, and diabetes — American Journal of Physiology

Metabolic characteristics of keto-adapted ultra-endurance runners — Metabolism

Long-term effects of a ketogenic diet in obese patients — NCBI

Long term effects of ketogenic diet in obese subjects with high cholesterol level. — NCBI

The Effects of a Ketogenic Diet on Exercise Metabolism and Physical Performance in Off-Road Cyclists — NCBI

The Ketogenic Diet: An Effective Medical Therapy With Side Effects — Sage Journals

The Physiology of Stress: Cortisol and the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis — Dartmouth

The Ketogenic Diet Is Well Tolerated and Can Be Effective in Patients with Argininosuccinate Lyase Deficiency and Refractory Epilepsy — NCBI

Effects of Dietary Composition on Energy Expenditure During Weight-Loss Maintenance — JAMA

The metabolic effects of low-carbohydrate diets and incorporation into a biochemistry course — Wiley Online Library

Beyond weight loss: a review of the therapeutic uses of very-low-carbohydrate (ketogenic) diets — Nature

Long-term effects of a very-low-carbohydrate weight-loss diet and an isocaloric low-fat diet on bone health in obese adults — Nutrition

Weight and Metabolic Outcomes After 2 Years on a Low-Carbohydrate Versus Low-Fat Diet: A Randomized Trial — Annals of Internal Medicine

Mechanisms of Ketogenic Diet Action — NCBI

Mechanism of Action and Physiologic Effects of Thyroid Hormones — Colorado State University

Functional hypothalamic amenorrhea and its influence on women’s health — NCBI

The effects of a low-carbohydrate, ketogenic diet on the polycystic ovary syndrome: A pilot study — NCBI

Effect of a low-carbohydrate diet on appetite, blood glucose levels, and insulin resistance in obese patients with type 2 diabetes. — NCBI

Understanding a High-Fat Ketogenic Diet—and is it Right for You? — goop

Should You Be on the Ketogenic Diet? The Pros and Cons of Limiting Carbs was originally published on Organic Lifestyle Magazine

#ketogenic diet #ketones #low carb #plant-based

[farmingmythsdebunked]

‘Dairy is scary’ the article said, well I found the fact this article managed to be published in a national newspaper scary. In fact I was nearly speechless, after writing my first blog post, I was informed the Guardian had written their own take on the Daily Mail’s article, which made the former look like a bedtime story.

So I want to start from the top, paragraph by paragraph and explain what is true and what is not.

Firstly, whilst widely used, artificial insemination is not the only way cows are made pregnant, ‘Traditional’ methods are still used (!) i.e a bull, on most farms. Insemination is used for many reasons to improve your animals by accessing the best semen; cow health and lameness are widely selected for along with other production traits. The majority of bulls have semen taken from them using this method, not 'mechanical extraction':

1. Cow in heat turns up to ‘tease’ the bull

2. Bull doing what bulls do, jumps her  

3. When he draws out his penis, an assistant places the penis into basically a posh collecting flask, now the bull does the deed and if you ask me, is probably pretty happy about it.

Now, I have been on an AI course, so I will tell you exactly what happens when you AI a cow. Cows are put in a cattle crush or AI stall to protect both them and me from injury. A crush locks the cows head so it is standing in a stall so I can access the rear, whilst an AI stall leaves her free, with a small chain parallel to her knees to prevent her from kicking me or reversing.   Logically I am not going to ‘brutally impregnate her’ because why would I want to damage her internally, I want her to produce a calf. If blood (from damaged tissue) was actually present during the insemination, the procedure would have a very low success rate because white blood cells see semen as ‘foreign’ and would destroy it, which isn’t exactly conducive to pregnancy. Also I might add, neither is stress, but funnily enough conception rate from AI can nearly equal natural service. So the insemination itself: 1.  I have my AI ‘gun’ already prepped (this is about 30 cm in length and about as thin as a drinking straw (so definitely smaller than a bulls penis (!) so it is not going to hurt her!)   2. You insert your hand into the cow’s rectum (no I don’t imagine this is pleasant)  so you can find the cervix. 3. Now your other hand is free to insert the gun (which has been down your back, keeping nice and warm- to keep the semen warm, not because I’m odd) through the cervix and press down releasing the semen just on the other side.   4. A good technician will have this done in under 10 mins, that’s including prep. A calf is indeed removed, generally as soon as possible, sometimes when it has sucked and sometimes the mother is milked for the calf to be fed with a bottle. Dairy cows are sometimes distressed by this, but as a whole, these cows are bred to milk and not bred for maternal ability and are much less aggrieved than say a beef cow would be. Therefore, most cows are extremely accepting, in particular those who have previously calved/when the calf is quickly removed before bonding occurs. Calves quickly bond with other calves and the human that feeds them, and I might add, with no calf bawling back to her, anyone who knows anything about livestock knows that these cows do not ‘scream for days’ for their calves. The removal of a calf from its mother is required so that that milk can be consumed by humans. I am not ethically trying to persuade you in either way, what you choose to do is your business. It is important to note that because these cows have been bred to produce enormous quantities of milk, if a cow was to suckle a calf, there is no way the calf could consume all of it, which could potentially lead to problems, chiefly mastitis (painful inflammation of the udder). Not to mention the pain of a large, heavy udder full of milk. This is why cows enjoy being milked, it relieves them of that ‘full’ feeling. Cows which are robotically milked actively go to the robot to express.   Now to the calf, this is also another reason AI is used- so that ‘sexed semen’ i.e mainly consisting of female sperm cells can be used to give a much larger number of heifers, reducing the numbers of bull calves. I know of very very few calves that get ‘shot and tossed in the bin’. Why? Because, why would we? Bull calves are a valuable source of revenue to dairy farms, strong calves are sold to rearing farms/are reared on surplus milk and eventually fattened. You would only need to go to any livestock market in the country and see evidence of these animals sold in store and fat rings. ‘Delaying their death for veal’ is ridiculous, they are livestock, reared to extremely high welfare standards and whether you like it or not are reared for food, the ethics of which I do not plan on debating. Now onto cow housing, cows are housed for around 6 months a year because we have this thing called winter, where the grass stops growing, it is cold and unpleasant. Would you like to live outside all winter? ‘Zero grazing’ systems are niche, and whilst I don’t want to get into the ins and outs of it, they are generally state of the art, incredibly high welfare systems, because they invest so much money into cow comfort. But again, it is up to you on the ethics of whether cows should summer outside or not. Right, we will get this straight: IN THE UK, MILK FROM COWS TREATED WITH ANTIBIOTICS IS DISCARDED AND NOT FIT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION.  The hormone BST can be given to cows to boost production, but it is BANNED in EU. These chemicals are NOT in our food chain. Therefore, why would a farmer give his cows antibiotics and hormones to produce more milk, if that milk could only end up in the bin? Farmers are tested extremely regularly for this, and would lose their milk payments and ultimately their contracts if their milk was testing positive. Some hormones are present in the milk because the milk comes from a cow who is either pregnant or cycling. These are in very small amounts and as they are bovine hormones, they are not believed to have a great effect on us.  Secondly a farmer cannot force a cow to ‘carry’ milk, could you ‘force’ your wife to produce more breast milk? Don’t be silly. So these cows have been bred to produce large quantities, but there’s nothing ‘forced’ about it, that is the genetics of that cow.   The average lifespan of a dairy cow is around 5-6 years. Longevity is something many dairy farmers are working extremely hard to improve on. It is lower in certain breeds than others, and with the explosion in cross bred genetics I think this number can only rise. I won’t lie, for the last 30+ years production has been king, in my opinion this has been detrimental to some animals (i.e the extreme) but give them credit, dairy farmers have adapted and are moving towards a more balanced, sustainable and economical animal. A heifer born today, will be around two years old when she has her first calf, so this is a slow process and cannot be quickly changed.   The fact the cows at the end of their production go to slaughter is accepted fact. Really you shouldn’t be consuming animal products if you’re not aware and appreciative of this. We also have laws protecting animals in transport i.e how much room they can have, and their handling at slaughter. Most cows in the UK would be pre-stunned, and so would not be conscious at bleeding.   I call this a defence of the dairy industry, but really it is not. The industry speaks for itself, go to any farm and they will actively be disproving these lies every single day. There are much easier ways to make a living than getting up at 4am, but they do it because they love their animals and are proud of the product they produce.

[ducktracy]

138. porky the rain-maker (1936)

release date: august 1st, 1936

series: looney tunes

director: tex avery

starring: joe dougherty (porky, porky’s father), tedd pierce (narrator), earle hodgins (salesman)

the first cartoon to have a narrator! tex in particular would play around with narrators, whether it be in his travelogues or to serve as important plot devices like in the village smithy. this is also the first cartoon where porky is considerably slimmed down—he’d fluctuate weight, especially contrasted with tashlin’s large interpretation for him, but especially with the addition of ub iwerks and eventually bob clampett in 1937, porky shifted onto a diet, tashlin the last one to slim him down after porky’s double trouble. here, porky and his farmer father are in the midst of a treacherous drought. porky spends their remaining money on a selection of pills rumored to bring on any weather event at will. however, trouble strikes when the farm animals accidentally eat the miracle pills instead.

tedd pierce fills us in as we open to a long, beautiful pan of a farm. an overlay of visible heatwaves paired with his commentary indicates that we’re in the midst of a severe drought. “valuable crops scorched by blistering heatwave! shortage of feed threatens farmers with ruin—their only hope is rain!” zoom in on an apple tree that wilts in an instant. “uh-oh, looks like there’ll be no shade—“ a chorus of hilariously dissonant voices join in, singing the classic “—under the old apple tree.” all of the crops suffer from the heat: apples shrivel up in seconds, corn stalks are stripped of their contents... we even hone in on some more predictable yet slightly rewarding puns, such as water boiling inside watermelons or eggplants cracking open and frying eggs on the ground.

porky and his father observe the drought solemnly, porky’s father (dougherty once more, only speaking in his natural voice, stutter and all) lamenting “worry, worry, worry.” a clamor from various farm animals calls over their attention, and they approach the barn to see what all the fuss is about.

as the narrator implied, there’s been a lack of feed thanks to the drought. no crops to sell, no money to make, no feed to buy. the animals are none too pleased, forming their own union and going on strike. haughty hens strut along, one carrying a sign reading “NO FEED — NO EGGS!”, the hen behind her matching with a simple “DITTO!”. a disgruntled horse is next, “NO FEED NO WORK” plastered on his side. a cow marches along with her nose in the air, her udders protected by a barrel that reads “CLOSED SHOP”—a very amusing gag that works both ways. of course, closed shop implies that she isn’t giving out any milk, but it’s also a labor union term. essentially, only those in the union can work at the shop/place of business. and, of course, only the cow can give the milk. how can you have milk if you don’t have any udders to milk? if you didn’t know tex liked gags, you do now.

despairingly, porky’s father reaches into his pocket and pulls out a sock, complete with a clasp at the top. he opens it, stuttering “here, my son. take our last dollar—“ he fishes in the sock for a dollar coin, “—and buy them animals some feed.” porky accepts the coin and heads on into town.

just as he’s about to stroll into the general store for some feed, a sharp voice catches his ear. in the middle of town proudly stands a merchant on his stage, selling a product to the congregation around him. the sign behind him tellingly reads DR. QUACK’S FAMOUS RAIN PILLS — $1.00. sure enough, dr. quack is ranting and raving: “now friends, i’m here today to advertise my famous rain pills!” earle hodgins does a wonderful job of the salesman, his lines full of energy and greedy passion. he lures his audience in, asking if they’re fed up with their dying crops thanks to this treacherous drought. he holds up his box of pills, assuring that they can bring instant rain. “each and every one of these capsules is guaranteed to make it rain where and when you want it!”

the cost? as the sign behind him advertises: a dollar. clever execution and timing as little porky pops his head up in the front row of the crowd at mere mention of the cost. to make the deal even sweeter, anyone who purchases a rain pill gets a free box of assorted pills with all the weather events you can think of. rain! snow! ice! lightning! thunder! tornadoes! earthquakes! fog! wind! you name it, it’s there in that measly little box! porky is absolutely enraptured, hoisting himself up to lean on the platform so he doesn’t miss a single beat. wonderful comedic timing as the salesman seamlessly pauses his long-winded rant just to shoo porky away, nudging him with his cane and instructing “don’t lean on the platform, son, you bother me.”

porky obeys, still taking in every word as the salesman blabbers “i’m going to pass out... these umbrellas!” (more fantastic timing and a great gag), distributing umbrellas to the crowd to showcase a demonstration. once everyone is armed with their umbrellas, dr. quack stuffs a rain pill in a little tube and spits it into the air. the pill is propelled into the air and explodes.

sure enough, the clouds grow heavy and dark, real rain showering upon every citizen in the square. porky is just beside himself as he sticks his hand out to feel the raindrops—“oh boy! real rain!” dr. quack eyes his audience, asking “now who’s gonna be first to buy one of these rain pills?” zero hesitation or remorse as porky fishes in his pocket and thrusts his father’s last earnings into the greedy hands of dr. quack, who hands him the fated pandora’s box. porky heads back to the farm, ready to knock the socks off his father.

porky’s father paces along, still muttering “worry, worry, worry” all the way. his face brightens up as he sees his loyal little boy marching towards him with the feed he so diligently went to the store to buy. feed in the shape of a box. with pills inside the box. rightfully so, porky’s father is furious. “PILLS!? i told ya to get FEED, not PILLS!” porky, unable to decipher why his father is so angry, ducks as his father tosses the useless box away.

the contents of the box scatter all across the farm. one of the picketing hens stumbles upon a spare pill, a lightning pill. mistaking it as feed, the hen happily gobbles down her food and grins contentedly at the audience. however, her delight is quickly put to a stop as volts of incomprehensible electricity jolt through her body and electrocute her. she flops to the ground, winded, and attempts to run for her life, squawking along the way. it’s too late—she turns into a literal lightning bolt as she tries to outrun from herself. the entire gag, from the contented grin to initial jolting reaction to turning into a lightning bolt in the midst of a frenzy would be reused in porky’s duck hunt, with daffy and an electric eel substituting the chicken and her lightning pill.

elsewhere, the picketing horse stumbles upon a fog pill and wastes no time ingesting it, too. a cloud of fog grows around his stomach, and in no time his surroundings are shrouded in mist. a horsefly (literally a horse with fly wings, which would serve as a minor plot point in a similar tex porky cartoon milk and money) comments into a microphone “altitude 10,000 feet. no visibility. ceiling: 0.” the gag is amusing, but slightly incomprehensible and lacks a smooth transition. enough to get the gist, though. meanwhile, a curious goose gobbles down both a thunder and wind pill, its body shuddering and shaking around as it regurgitates artificial wind from its body, blowing around aimlessly.

porky and his father observe in steely silence, his father glowering and sulking. helpful is porky, who finally pipes up with “there’s a pill there that’ll make real rain, pa.” porky’s father freezes. he whips his head around: “well why didn’t ya say so? where is it?” he crawls through the wooden fence and gets down on all fours, searching on his hands and knees for the fated miracle pill.

spotting a cyclone pill, porky reaches out to grab it. unfortunately for him, a chicken swoops in and swallows it before he can retrieve it. porky’s predictably peeved, glowering at the chicken, but his anger turns into awe as the chicken is whisked away into her own personal tornado. things finally settle down, and all that’s left is a nude chicken with a single tail feather. she glares at her feather, but it too turns into a mini cyclone and flies away. hilariously deadpan, she turns to the camera and gasps “well, imagine that.” not at all unlike an oswald short tex worked on in 1933, the zoo, a bear’s fur reduced to shreds thanks to a swarm of hungry moths. instead of screaming or overreacting, the bear also mildly states “well, imagine that.”

never mind the cyclone pill—porky spots another pill scattered on the ground, an earthquake pill. he reaches for it, and yet again another hungry chicken swallows the pill. this time an earthquake erupts in her body. amusing incongruity as the hen stalks away with her beak held high in the air, interrupted by frantic bursts of spasms and shakes. she clings to a tree for support, the entire landscape around her shaking. when the earthquake has finally paused, she ogles at the camera in disbelief.

porky and his father continue to search for the remaining pills, crawling on their hands and knees. porky finds something in the distance and trots over to it. sure enough, the fated rain pill is right in his reach! surely nothing can go wrong now, right?

wrong! the goose who had swallowed the thunder and wind pills is still aimlessly blowing around the farm uncontrollably. it knocks right into porky, tossing both of them to the ground. nevertheless, the goose is unscathed, seldom hesitating as it gobbles up the rain pill. porky ever so calmly and politely wrings the goose’s neck, calling it a varmint. he opens the goose’s beak and peers inside. no sign of the pill. frustrated, porky grabs the head of the goose and slams it on the ground, the goose settling back to normal as its head bounces back up. sweet, mild mannered porky!

his animal abuse may bring about some good after all. the goose, now shaken up, regurgitates the rain pill, sending it flying into the air. with a familiar snap, the pill explodes. could it be? yes! it could! the clouds darken and dump buckets of real, genuine, miraculous rain. all of the farm animals (and porky’s dad) crowd together, all sticking out their extremities just to feel the rain, reveling in it and soaking up every single last drop. apple trees grow back to size, corn stalks are nice and hearty again, all of the crops spouting 5x the amount of goods than what they used to. a gag that would be reused in many cartoons (especially and situationally in swooner crooner), a hen eagerly runs inside of her coop and lays an astounding mound of eggs, poking her head out of the coop and sighing in relief.

the joyous celebration continues, and everyone breathes a collective sigh of relief. good times are here at last! nary a problem in sight, only one little caveat. just one teensy little issue that needs taking care of... the animals still have the pills inside them. the celebration is cut short as all the animals jolt, jitter, shudder, fly, you name it. even porky and his father feel the effects. the false sense of security is pulled off strongly and coyly. everyone poses defiantly at the camera, a happy cartoon close sting... and then silence except for an array of sound effects as the pills take their course. tex plays around with the iris out as the goose blows itself out of the iris and into the black void, where rain is still pouring down. the goose frantically pounds against the black wall, squawking frantically. the iris opens one last time as porky yanks the goose inside for good.

a very amusing and creative cartoon for sure. milk and money would follow a similar route—porky needs to help his father earn money for the farm, and hilarity ensues (and there’s also a horsefly involved.) i like that one a bit more, as i feel it’s a stronger cartoon. this one came off more as a showcase of gags than anything, not having too much plot, but it was still definitely there. some gags were certainly funnier than others, but this still remains as a relatively funny short. the ending is particularly amusing, with the coy “all’s well that ends well” poses of the gang and the orchestral swell, interrupted by the natural elements inside each animal. the first appearance of porky’s father, too, who would make a handful of appearances, even during the mel blanc era with porky’s poppa in 1938. not tex’s best cartoon, but certainly watchable and amusing. worth a potential watch!

link!

#lt #porky the rain-maker #reviews #long post #avery

[peacefulheartfarm]

Flavored Cheese

Have you considered flavored cheese in your home cheesemaking operation? Likely most of you are not making your own cheese. You’ll want to seek out some flavored cheeses from your local markets for a real treat. There are so many possibilities here that I couldn’t possibly cover them all in this short podcast. Today, I’ll give you just a brief overview of what you might consider in tasting and in creating with your cheeses.

Welcome new listeners and welcome back to the veteran homestead-loving regulars who stop by the FarmCast for every episode. I appreciate you all so much. I’m going to start off with what’s going on at the homestead and then I’ll get right into talking about some tasty flavored cheese.  

Our Virginia Homestead Life Updates

I want to start off with talking about our herd share program. We are opening up our raw milk cheese herd shares to more people. One full share will provide you and your family with about two pounds of our hand-made, aged, raw milk cheese per month. A half share will provide about one pound of cheese per month. We have four varieties from which to choose.

Our Peaceful Heart Gold is a danish Havarti-style cheese. It is a washed curd cheese that is soft, buttery and the sweetest cheese we make. Moving from the mildest to the sharpest, the next in line is our Ararat Legend. This is also a washed rind cheese made in the Dutch gouda tradition. It is a firmer cheese than the Gold with nearly as much butter flavor. This cheese ages well and the flavor deepens with each passing month. The next two kind of tie for sharpest, depending on how long they have aged. We have a wonderful aged cheddar and an alpine-style cheese we call Pinnacle. The flavor complexities of these two cheeses are amazing as neither is even ready to taste until 9 months or more of aging. Well, we do offer the milder cheddar at three and six months, but you will definitely want to wait for the good stuff.

Details and costs can be found on our website at Peaceful Heart Farm dot com. Product pickup is available at the Wytheville Farmer’s market, the Independence Farmer’s market and from our homestead. Support us or some other local farm. Keep good food alive. Give us a call and we can get you set up.

Cows

We are on calf watch with Rosie. This event is happening far ahead of our expectations. Her udder is developing and filling with milk. It may be only a matter of days. You never really know, any more than you know for humans, when the exact date will be for the event. She is looking good and Scott and I are feeling pretty good about Rosie and her calf. We are still cautious and watching her very closely, but again, she looks really good right now. Buttercup is doing a good job of keeping Rosie company. She is our only cow that is not going to have a calf this year.

After Rosie, next up for giving birth is Cloud followed closely by Claire. Butter and Violet are much further down the line, due in May and June respectively. And as I said, Buttercup is not having a calf this year. If all goes well, we will end up with five calves this year. Praying for some heifers.

Goats and Sheep

The sheep are doing well. Their expected delivery date is the 27th of March, so about a month more for them. We are likely to have six to eight lambs this year.

The goats have been reduced to five. Yes, finally I got moving on reducing our goat population. We are moving more rapidly toward changing over to meat goats. If you are new, we currently have cashmere goats. I had this grandiose idea that I was going to have time to gather their cashmere, have it made into yarn, and knit up some wonderful cashmere items. It took a few years for me to realize that I was not going to have time to include yet another enterprise into our business model. By that time, we had well over twenty goats.

Now these wonderful animals are great at keeping the pastures cleared of brush, briars and small pine trees. So, we definitely want to keep a few of them around. However, it makes much more sense for our homestead to have meat goats. That way they can keep the pastures pristine and also provide more nourishment for our family. Later this fall we will process the final five goats. At that point we will be in the market for a small herd of meat goats. Right now, I am focused on Kiko goats but would probably consider Spanish goats.

Quail

A few days ago, Scott and I went over the costs of raising these great birds. It’s pretty expensive according to my year-end profit and loss statement. My first, knee-jerk reaction was to just stop raising quail. However, after waiting a couple of days, I decided to break down the actual cost and how much we are benefiting from the eggs and meat.

Back in 2006, Scott raised just short of 150 chickens in the Joel Salatin-type chicken tractors. He calculated that it cost a little over $1 per pound to raise those chickens. Our cost to raise quail is somewhere between $5.50 and $6.50 per pound of bird. However, there are also the eggs to consider. Scott and I sat down and tried to come up with a better comparison. If we had to buy eggs, what would be our cost? Subtract that from the total costs, based on four quail eggs per one chicken egg, and the rest of the cost divided by the approximate weight of the birds raised for meat. The bottom line is that we decided to give the quail one more season to prove their worth. I also decided to feed them a little bit less. They did seem to be putting on quite a bit of unnecessary fat so this seemed the first place to cut a little cost. We shall see what happens this year. I’m going to keep better records.

I’m still anticipating when we will be able to build our chicken facilities. It won’t be this year. The quail get a well-deserved reprieve.  

Garden

I just received a couple of rolls of woven fabric ground cloth. Yes, we are about to get started on the garden. The biggest change this year will be the strawberry bed. I’ve order 500 bare-root strawberry plants. Yes, you heard that right. I ordered 500 plants. We are pretty much starting from scratch with our strawberries. I’m excited about this new opportunity.

I’m also going to start some plants for sale at the farmer’s market. If you are in my neighborhood, I should have some herbs, tomatoes and perhaps some green pepper starts ready for your garden. I’m not going to grow very many tomatoes or peppers this year but I really love growing plants. Growing for you guys seemed to be the best way to fulfil that desire to grow stuff. And I chose to grow some culinary herbs, because they are sometimes harder to find. I’ll keep you posted on which herbs I was successful in sprouting.

Flavored Cheese

Today want to talk a little bit about flavored cheese. If you’re making your own cheese at home, this could be a great adventure for you. On the other hand, if you’re just a real cheese head and love to try new cheeses, you might take a look at some of the cheeses available that have had either spices and seeds added or maybe they have herbs added, and some have been created using ale wine and/or spirits. You may even be able to find a cheese wrapped in leaves. These are just a few of the methods used to add various flavors to cheese. In this short podcast, I’ll be briefly touching on those flavorings that I just mentioned. There are others, but I’ll stick with these for today.

Seeds and Spices

The first flavoring I want to mention is seeds and spices. Your first thought when considering what seeds and spices to add should be the quality. You don’t want to use three-year-old dried herbs from your cabinet. Next, think of what you like. Now temper that with the thought that sometimes there’s a good reason that you haven’t seen that kind of cheese made. However, don’t let that thought stop you from experimenting. Sometimes it could be as simple as it not being economical to produce such a cheese on a commercial basis. If you’re making it in your own kitchen, the costs are much less of a factor. If you’re concerned at all, simply start with a combination that you’ve seen or tasted.

There are two things that you want to consider when preparing your experiment. Getting the right distribution and the size of the seed. I’ve seen lots of cheeses use whole peppercorns. Those are pretty big seeds so you would use less. On the other hand, if you have a small seed such as Caraway, you don’t want to put so many in there that you ruin the texture of the cheese. For a cheese maybe 2 gallons of milk, you are likely going to choose one to 3 teaspoons of your chosen seed or spice.

When you’re preparing your seeds and spices for addition to the cheese curd, you might consider boiling them for 5 to 10 minutes. There are couple reasons you might want to try that. If you suspect any kind of contamination or you want to soften a seed so that the flavors are more readily incorporated into the cheese.

Adding your seeds or spices can happen in a couple of different ways. Almost universally, the whey needs to have been drained. You don’t want to lose your spice with the whey. One of the easiest methods is to simply stir your seeds and/or spices into the drained cards. Another fun way would be to layer it in the mold. Put little curd in, add your spices, put more curd, add spices again and so on. You want to be careful with that method. There is always a chance that you will bunch your spices up too closely together and over spice one area while another would be under served. You may even have trouble getting the cheese to get together properly. The trade-off is the visual effect of layers.

Here are some of the most popular seeds and spices used in this method flavoring your cheese. I’ve already mentioned caraway seed and peppercorns. Other seeds might be mustard, fennel, fenugreek, or cumin. Some useful spices include cloves and red pepper flakes. Generally, you want to stay away from using herbs for aged varieties of flavored cheese. They will be prone to breakdown and change the color of your cheese. That’s not a good look. Herbs are most often used either mixed into a soft cheese or spread.  Or lots of times you’ll see them used as a coating on the outside of a fresh, soft cheese.

Ale, Wine, and Spirits

This is a great way to create a flavored cheese. And ale or beer can be incorporated directly into the cheese curd in the same way that the seeds and spices were added. Wine and spirits on the other hand, work better on the outside. This is most commonly done in washed rind cheeses. I briefly mentioned wrapping a cheese in leaves. Using alcohol to macerate the leaves, that is to soak them for a period of time, prior to wrapping the cheese is a favored practice.

Adding beer or ale, similar to adding seeds, happens after the whey has been drained. When making cheddar, it can be added after the cheddaring process has been completed and the curds have been milled. Otherwise, simply stir into the curds after they have been drained. You don’t need much. I also think it would be hard to use too much. Whether you pour the whole bottle into the curds made from your 2 gallons of milk, or you use only a half cup for your cheese and save the rest for yourself, that’s up to you. I’ll use a whole bottle for 15 or 20 gallons of milk. But again, I don’t think you can use too much.

There are several things to consider when deciding to use wine or spirits on your washed rind cheese. Because you’re adding wetness to the outside of your cheese, you can be prepared for softening. Sometimes, for a softer cheese, you might let your cheese dry for 2 to 3 days. Then begin the wash. Or, for a harder, drier cheese such as an alpine style, you can begin the wash right away. Something else to consider would be experimenting with the frequency of washing and the humidity in your aging room. The hardness of the rind and the texture of the cheese will also influence what your final results are going to be with the washing. Obviously, the softer rind is going to absorb more of the flavors.

Wrapping Your Cheese with Leaves

Many flavored cheeses utilize some type of leaf wrapping. Sometimes the leaves are dry, but more often they have been macerated in a strong alcohol, such as brandy or bourbon. This is a wide-open field. Choose your favorite spirit, and parent with your favorite leaf. Some leaves to consider are chestnut, maple, or grape.

Not all leaf-wrapped cheeses use spirits. Nettle, sycamore, or walnut are good choices here. Like with the herbs, you don’t want them to break down and become mush.

I hope you enjoy your experiments whether in making the cheese or trying out a new cheese from your local market.

Final Thoughts

I hope you’ll give some thought to becoming part of our herd share program. We’d love to be of service to you. Come on out to the homestead and see where it all happens. Say hello to Claire and the rest of the girls. Pet the donkeys. Be sure to wear rugged shoes and/or boots. Animals are messy creatures and if it has rained, omg, the mud.

I hope I’ve titillated your senses a little and you’re on your way to trying some new flavored cheese. Whether you’re making it from scratch or buying from your local market, your enjoyment is sure to be mooua, superb.  

If you enjoyed this podcast, please hop over to Apple Podcasts or whatever podcasting service you use, SUBSCRIBE and give me a 5-star rating and review. If you like this content and want to help out the show, the absolute best way you can do that is to share it with any friends or family who might be interested in this type of content. Let them know about the Peaceful Heart Farmcast.

Thank you so much for stopping by the homestead and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace.

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Check out this episode!

[peacefulheartfarm]

Traditional Healing Wisdom

Traditional Healing Wisdom has been with us since the beginning of time. Exploring where we are with that today is my main topic for this edition of the Peaceful Heart FarmCast.

I want to take a minute and say welcome to all the new listeners and welcome back to all of the veteran homestead-loving regulars who stop by the FarmCast every week. I appreciate you all so much. I’m so excited to share with you what’s going on at the farm this week.

Today’s Show

Homestead Life Updates

Traditional Healing Wisdom

Stinging Nettles Infusion

Homestead Life Updates

Wytheville Farmer’s Market

Life is moving along at a rapid pace here at the homestead. The Wytheville Farmer’s Market is having the last winter market this Saturday. We will be there from 10 – 12 noon. The following week the market opens up for the summer season. We will be there each and every week from 8 am to 12 noon.

I have decided to let go of a lot of the celery starts I planted a couple of months ago. Celery is hard to get started but pretty easy once you get it going. Stop by and pick up a plant or two. Celery grown in your own garden is nothing like what you would buy in the store. 110 days and you will have wonderful celery.  Fresh celery is so different from store bought.  It has an intense flavor and smell that is almost peppery.  I planted Utah Tall. It is the standard for green celery.

Dairy Cows

Yesterday Claire’s udder was so big and tight it looked like it was about to burst. We thought, “surely tomorrow it will happen.” And . . . It did. She had trouble last year and I wasvery anxious at this point for her to deliver without issue. Shortly after I got to the Farmer’s Market to set up, I got a call from Scott. Claire had her calf without issue. Yet another bull calf. Two more to go. Will we get a heifer? That’s a girl calf for those who are not farm animal savvy.

Katahdin Sheep

We are still waiting on one ewe to have her lambs. Oh, and the triplets are a unique situation. A couple of days ago I noticed one of the triplets was hunched over. He was also much less bulky than the other two. I’m sure he got colostrum in the first day or he wouldn’t have made it as long as this. It is absolutely required for any young ruminant animal to survive more than a few days. But his mom was definitely not standing still for him at this point, or perhaps the others were pushing him out.

Lambert

That brings me to the interesting situation. We started giving him a bottle to supplement his nutrition. However, we left him to run with his mom and siblings. She doesn’t let him nurse but she let him hang out. He is very fast and keeps up with her very well. He stays closer to her than the other two. We were hoping to get him to come running to us so we didn’t have to chase him down to give him his bottle. Our sheep are not wild, but they are not tame to our touch either. We can get to about 10 feet from them before they all run off. We have a Shepard’s hook to catch him up. We get close to them and then I get a little closer and kind of force them to a point where they will run past Scott. He reaches out and snags the little guy as he runs by. Once we have him, he eagerly drinks that bottle. He knows where his food is coming from. 

This morning we had to alter that plan a little. He is just not thriving. He is still very small compared to all the other lambs. We decided to keep him close and feed him more often. Scott caught him up again and put him in a dog cage that we have for just this situation. Lambert has straw bedding and is keeping Scott company while he lays blocks for the creamery.

The Garden

The strawberries are now all planted in the garden. We bought straw to use as mulch. Bad purchase. It was full of seeds. We have all kinds of wheat grass growing in the strawberry bed and also in the potatoes where I piled it high to cover the potatoes. Using straw mulch on potatoes is normally a great idea. Using straw instead of dirt is much lighter cover where the potatoes will form. There is less resistance for those potatoes so they can grow really big. That is if we can keep the wheat grass pulled out.

As far as the Herd share status, we are working with the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Organization to get our contracts in order. They are a great group of people that help small farmers all over the country with legal issues. As soon as the contract is ready, I will let you know so you can purchase your part of the herd and get going on having your own milk products available for weekly pickup. I’m experimenting with yogurt and I must say it is the best yogurt I have ever had. And I eat a lot of yogurt.

Another plug for the Farmer’s Market. I will have samples for tasting each week. These cows truly are unique and your yogurt, butter and cheese will reflect that.

Traditional Healing Wisdom

Today I want to talk a little bit about traditional healing wisdom from days gone past. Much of the issues with health care up until the later part of the 20th century revolved around access to care. I know it seems like people died from all sorts of things that we can treat easily today, and there is truth in that. But I want to point out that much of the problem in the past was how spread out people were and how little access most people had to anyone who had any knowledge at all about medicine. It was all herbal medicine back in the day and a lot of it worked pretty well. But again, if you weren’t at least an herbalist, your chances of getting medical care in a timely manner were greatly diminished.

I want to take a moment here and point you in the direction of a resource that I have used for many years. Herb Mentor and Learning Herbs.com. I started with them shortly after they started their mission to see an herbalist in every community. There is so much valuable information on their website, I couldn’t begin to fully describe it here. There are courses from the vary basics all the way to advanced courses for full-time herbal medicine practitioners. 

The Village Herbalist

Village or community herbalists are the mainstay of herbalism, the nurturers and protectors of good health. Their ideal to have someone educated and experienced in the use of herbs for general health and minor illness and injury is a very noble one. The role of the herbalist complements the work of other holistic care providers and even modern medical providers. A community herbalist can be invaluable in educating people about good health practices and in helping them recover from common family ailments. They are first in line to give people answers about how plants can assist in their basic care.

When I was growing up, I was fortunate to have a mother who was not afraid of practicing some home care medicine. While she wasn’t a village herbalist, she was educated in what to do for cuts, bruises, colds, diarrhea and so on. She even knew exactly what to do when, at 12-years-old, I burned by left hand very badly. I spent 2 weeks in the hospital healing from that. But her quick thinking, calmness is the face of disaster, early action with cold water and ice, and a methodical but hair-raising drive to the local clinic were invaluable to my healing process. The hospital treatment was an age-old one. Silver nitrate. It forms a crust on the burned surface where skin used to be. Leaking fluids due to no skin to hold it in runs neck-and-neck with infection as the leading cause of complications and death in extensive burns.

Traditional village herbalists can and do provide education and healing techniques to their local communities. I want to stress the importance of education. Again, because I had a wonderfully educated mother when it came to basic first aid, I benefited and also learned much of the basic medical knowledge that I believe every woman in the world should have. Teaching basic first-aid for everyday use and using herbs for specific therapeutic purpose has long been the province of the village herbalist. However, many people today either never had it or have lost this traditional link with basic survival skills developed over millennia.

Return to Our Roots

The desire for a return to this basic understanding—moving away from conveyor belt apparatus that is our modern healthcare service—to a simpler and more natural lifestyle grows ever stronger as human experience becomes more complex and the further removed from our connection with the Earth. Western culture pushes incessantly for more modern access to medical care, but how much of those costs would be reduced if we were simply educated in what to do for a fever, a cough, diarrhea. More will always be balanced by less somewhere else. Today’s “less” is less knowledge of how to take care of ourselves and our families during the simplest of illnesses. And don’t let me forget to mention that a HUGE part of that education is knowing when you need that specialized medical care that can only be obtained from someone with far more education. Context matters. Looking at our medicine—how we care for ourselves—reveals the need for greater knowledge and more personal responsibility for the health of ourselves and our families.

A functional health care system, first and foremost, takes place nearby. Caring begins with people who know us. This is where you or someone you know can be that village herbalist. Certainly, conventional medical care serves a good purpose in apt situations. We definitely want that 7 to 9 minutes with a doctor should the need arise. Yet somewhere between our body’s innate ability to heal itself with a little knowledgeable support and conventional medicine’s high-dollar attempt at a cure lie many situations that can be bridged by common sense and a compassionate connection to the community we serve.

Alternative Medicine

Is it truly “alternative” or is it simply a return to the basics of what has worked throughout our time here on earth?

More than 83 million Americans reported using what is termed “alternative medicine” in 1998, according to a nationwide survey published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The therapies most commonly used were chiropractic, herbs, massage, and relaxation techniques. Yet the numbers are not the telling consideration here. People are turning to healing modalities that work effectively, cost less, and do the desired good with fewer side effects than mainstream medicine. The term alternative medicine is revealing, for it completely overlooks the fact that from the perspective of someone born in the 1800’s it might seem as though the medical profession threw out the baby with the bath water as each modern technique became the new miracle, the connection to the simpler forms of health eroded. History shapes all cultural destiny, and medicine is no exception. Shall we examine the thousands of years of herbal knowledge garnered from plant-based experience that preceded the allopathic doctoring to which many now turn to in times of illness or injury?

Doctors have been quoted as saying that a good three quarters of the people coming to see them have come to the wrong place. Patients often come at the first sign of discomfort or irregularity, expecting a quick fix for obvious symptoms. Over-the-counter medications possess all the glitter that advertising can muster, yet a pill prescribed by a doctor carries a heavier stick. Naturally people want assurance, and to understand the current predicament of their bodies. We are fearful, inconvenienced, and downright whiny. We place our responsibilities at the feet of professionals and pay for expensive services rather than take it upon ourselves to learn a little bit about the human body and how to work in harmony with it.

To Doctor or Not to Doctor

It has been estimated that 70 to 80% of the people who go to doctors have nothing wrong with them that couldn’t be cleared up by a vacation, a pay raise, or relief from everyday emotional stress. This is the education and support that a local herbalists could easily provide. Education and coaching. Only 10% of patients visiting their doctor for that 9 minutes—that required half a day off from work—require drugs or surgery to get well, and approximately 10% have diseases for which there is no known cure. Most illnesses run a benign course if left to what the Hippocratic physicians called the healing power of nature. The natural healing mechanisms of the body build in an 80% recovery rate from all illnesses regardless of medical intervention. . . . But the mothers and other caretakers would need to know how to treat at home and when it is beyond their knowledge. It’s a scary thing, I know. It’s so much easier to just go to the doctor and be done with it.

We are thankful for good doctors. Medical intervention proves itself whenever the surgeon repairs bones or remove stones, the internist uses antibiotics or insulin appropriately, or the pediatrician spots a problem and nips it in the bud before it can cause greater damage. Yet many situations call for more personal involvement and homegrown understanding.

Interfering in the natural processes of the body can cause trouble. Iatrogenic (treatment-caused) harm is every doctor’s worst nightmare. The listed side effects of pharmaceutical drugs often gives us pause to consider the additional health risks incurred to obtain a predicted benefit. Working humbly within these limitations makes physicians good at what they do. I do want to point out however, that doctors are as human as the rest of us. They are not infallible. They do not know your child the way that you know your child. Educate yourself or find a local herbalist to help you understand. It will be well worth it.

Responsibility for Ourselves, Our Families, Our Communities

Taking care of yourself and your family for the majority of everyday health needs is both plausible and sensible. Empowerment begins with knowledge. Herbalists can help people use plant remedies respectfully and intelligently. Going to medical school is not essential to be able to help people feel better. We have deeded the legal practice of medicine to an elite group on the basis of one type of training.

Interest in an herbal approach to health is growing rapidly. However, this high regard for natural living is often accompanied by an allopathic perception of illness we’ve been raised to view as routine. We now take this herb for that condition. Modern medicine insists upon a physical explanation for each cause and effect. Symptoms are treated accordingly. Yet the whole of the matter often goes unresolved. Holistic plant medicine goes well beyond this kind of narrowminded, simplistic thinking. Each individual has a different Constitution. Different therapeutic strategies for seemingly similar conditions must take into account the biological, emotional, mental, and spiritual aspects of each individual. A good herbalist not only helps people become medically self-sufficient but also shares the journey into the big picture of who we are. There is no one-size-fits-all in good health care.

Traditional Healing Wisdom

Using plants as medicine predates written history. Anthropologists believe that people learned how to use plants for healing by trial and error and by watching birds and animals. Many wild animals possess an instinct to seek out plants that are good to eat and filled with vital nutrition, while avoiding those that might be poisonous.

Plant by plant, humans have added to a collective knowledge that is been handed down through the ages by word-of-mouth and later in written documents. Regardless of a given cultural understanding of plants, where blood flowed, Yarrow stanched it. When influenza raised its head, garlic was universally applied. Plantain for bee stings is another treatment that spanned continents. Such plant remedies showed their effectiveness time and time again.

Western Herbalism

Here in North America, the aboriginal people had a multitude of uses for the plants of this continent. The Lakota, Cheyenne, Arapahoe, and other tribes on the planes were the first to discover and use Echinacea for its immune-stimulating ability. You saw the Eastern Woodland tribes boil wild mint and inhale the steam to help relieve congested lungs and sinuses. The Apache, Hopi, and Navajo rubbed powdered cayenne on arthritic joints to help block pain and reduce swelling. The Chippewa and other Great Lakes tribes boiled willow bark and drank the tea to reduce fevers and headaches. Modern science has identified many of the plant components that validate the use of each of these treatments exactly as they were prescribed.

As the European population of the US grew, many learned the Indian ways of using the local herbs. These treatments were passed along to eager settlers and pharmaceutical entrepreneurs needing knowledge of native botanical medicine. European herbal lore and Native American plant wisdom joined together. They united many traditions under one banner and Western herbalism was born.

Modern Medicine

Today much of the world population continues to use herbs as their primary source of medicine. The world health organization (WHO) estimates that 80% of the world’s people rely on herbs for their health. An unbroken chain of herbal knowledge has continued to be passed down in many, many cultures around the world. Take for instance, the long-standing teachings of Chinese and Ayurvedic health practitioners. Unfortunately, for many of us in the Western world this chain has been broken. We have fooled ourselves into believing that synthetic medicine made in a lab by people wearing white coats has more worth than the humble dandelion in our backyards.

We still need the perception and conscious intelligence of our ancestors to be embodied anew in every generation by women and men who are called to be healers. They include the country doctor who is well-versed in spending time with patients; the village herbalist who uses plant medicines for treating an array of disease; a midwife who assists with home births in the home. We don’t have to go back very far in time to find such these healers who diligently cared for their communities to the best of their ability.

For many of us it was our mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers that taught us the basics but we dropped the ball. We dropped the ball for the quick trip to the doctor’s office instead of the continuing education that is readily available in our modern society. The internet offers any amount of education in the body and its systems. Books galore on your kindle can provide the basics that a mother needs to know about how to treat a fever and when to abandon home remedies and get to the ER immediately. What better way to pass the time during pregnancy than educating yourself in the care of your children? Too often I see that women have been convinced that attention to a career is so much more important. I just can’t see it. Caring for my family seems a much better choice. 

Women: Traditional Keepers of the Hearth

Traditionally women are the keepers of the hearth. The responsibilities of cooking, tending the herb garden, drying the herbs, making medicines, and brewing the brews traditionally have been met by their loving hands. Women tended to the birth of babies and care of the sick in the homes of their families and friends. The unique ones heeded a call to serve the wider communities. Are you one of those? Is it brewing inside of you and you haven’t responded to the call? I urge you to reconsider.

People will always need good medicine. Accordingly, a process of trial and error has been going on for thousands of years, always directed at the same goal of making us well. Therapies that worked were passed down to subsequent generations; those that did not were forgotten. Plant remedies that survived this test of time, and especially those shared by different cultures from around the world, have tremendous validity. Coming to understand how these remedies work—the job of objective science—will never alter the fact that they do work. Let’s bring back these traditions. Why don’t we get away from the cold, impersonal medical office and return to the native community support provided by your village herbalist.

Nettles Infusion

This is an energizing infusion. It works on the adrenals to build energy and stamina. Conversely, with strengthened adrenal function you can expect to rest better and to experience less anxiety. Four to five quarts of nettle infusion weekly can yield results in 3 to 6 weeks. That’s right. Three to six weeks. True health is not a pill that you take. You didn’t run yourself down in one day. It takes time to return your body to balance. But return it will.

Nourishing infusions ensure that your body stays in tip-top shape. Once you’ve achieved a balance, a quart a week should be sufficient. Using nourishing infusions becomes part of your daily lifestyle.

As far as I know there are no contraindications to stinging nettle infusion. However, you may experience side effects such as thicker hair, softer skin, stronger veins, an uptick in your enjoyment of life.

What You Need

1 oz of dried nettle herb

1-quart boiling water

Salt (optional)

What To Do

Place the herbs in a glass quart jar. Fill the jar with boiling water.

Steep for at least four hours; More is fine. Overnight is fine.

Strain herb from the water with a cheesecloth. (You can use an old white T-shirt as well.) Add salt if desired.

Compost the herbs and drink the infusion. Refrigerating and then drinking cold is great but finish it within a day or two lest it ferment.

Final Thoughts

No matter how stressed fast life goes for Scott and myself, we just keep putting one foot in front of the other. Our life together here on the homestead is everything we could have ever dreamed of and more. We are blessed each spring with the gift of life in your animal offspring and the plants in the orchard and gardens. I invite you all to go to our website and sign up on our mailing list. We’ll let you know when our farm tours kick off. We’d love to meet you in person and hear your stories, your hopes and your dreams.

In the meantime, you can come to the farm and shop our grass-fed meats on Tuesday mornings from 10 am to 12 noon and on Saturday afternoons from 3 to 5 pm.

I hope you incorporate nourishing infusions into your daily routine. You might consider replacing your infusion of coffee with an infusion of nettles. Well, that may be too far for some of you, but at least give it some consideration.

I have not spoken before about my herbal formulas. As I continue to grow the website, I will be adding listings and information about the herbs I use. You can join our mailing list at www.peacefulheartfarm.com to stay up to date. Currently, there are 3 formulas that I use regularly. Echinacea and goldenseal, a formula I call Sleepwell, and a heart tonic I call Heart Health. I’d love to talk with you about what they contain, when I use them and why.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please hop over to iTunes and give me a 5-star rating and review. Also, please share it with any friends or family who might be interested in this type of content.

As always, I’m here to help you “taste the traditional touch.”

Thank you so much for stopping by the homestead and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace.

Recipe Link

Stinging Nettles Infusion

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Deep Freeze! How to Keep Goats Warm in Cold Weather

How cold is too cold for a goat? Temperature can be the least of challenges when determining how to keep goats warm in cold weather.

I’ve lived in cold climates for most of my life, but in 2017, my first season kidding in weather 20 below zero, I learned: don’t cry until you get inside. Otherwise, tears freeze to your face. Chapping adds to the insult and heals slowly. I also learned that goats don’t cry. They didn’t seem to care about winter challenges.

We raise Kiko goats in North Central Idaho. For us it is rare to have an extreme winter, but not uncommon to have a month below zero. I am not nearly as hardy as my goats in cold climates.

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Princess on the milk stand in Delta, Alaska -20F. Photo Credit: Denise Wilhelm

Denise Wilhelm and her husband moved from New Mexico to Delta, Alaska, with extremes of -45F to -68F. She and her herd see a hard freeze every month of the year and winters can last from September until May. “Milking goats outside when it is 20 below, my hands start to freeze after the second goat. You can’t wear gloves and milk. You know that little space between the doe’s thigh and the udder? That’s the warmest spot … put your hand there … makes them jump a little, but keeps you going. The upside? You don’t have to worry about chilling the milk.”

Herdsmen raising goats in cold climates are a rare breed. Pipes freeze, batteries and barn cameras only operate at certain temperatures, snow drifts and ice forms on paths between hourly barn checks, and power can be sporadic. But we persevere to prevent freezing goats.

Tina Starr Judd operates Summer Starr Farm in Wasilla, Alaska where temperatures generally hover around -10 to 0F in the winter. It is considered the “banana belt” of Alaska.  She has a streamlined operation with an insulated barn. Her herd of dairy Nubians do so well that Tina finds goat-keeping simple. However, after 49 years there, she still says, “I hate the cold. I whine when it is cold.”

How do we do it? Layers, beginning with short-sleeved shirts in case we need bare arms for birthing procedures. Then waterproof ski pants, wool socks, insulated neoprene boots with additional insoles, hats, and thin gloves because thick gloves offer no dexterity.

Preseason Secrets of How to Keep Goats Warm in Cold Weather:

Acclimation

In order to thrive in cold climates, an animal must acclimate. Goats with a thick undercoat, called cashmere, are suited to cold. Herdsmen have learned that many warm climate breeds can be bred to grow cashmere. For a goat to grow an undercoat, it must be allowed to experience changing temperatures. Shivering is expected while an animal acclimates.

A goat with a well-developed undercoat can stand outside while it is snowing and not be cold. A layer of snow accumulating on a goat’s back is a good sign! Heat is trapped under the hair without melting the snow. Goats also lift hair at the follicle to trap air and stay warm. Cold-climate herdsmen manage the development of the cashmere and decide if artificial coats are needed. Coats compress hair and can be counterproductive to the goat’s natural response to cold temperatures.

Denise and Tina find that selecting not just for dairy traits, but winter cashmere, has helped with Nubians — a breed not known for cold tolerance. Neither use artificial coats as a general practice, but Denise will coat a new animal for a few days as it acclimates, or if it is ill. Winter kids are coated for the first 24 hours. The goal is to remove the coat as soon as possible. “Our first year, we coated everyone, but learned it was more for us than them.”

In extreme cold, concentrates may be required for bred and lactating does.  Photo credit: Karen Kopf

Nutrition

It takes the right nutritional combination to grow a winter coat and maintain heat in cold weather. High fiber, in the form of hay for goats, provides a constant source of rumination to generate heat. But a constant supply of hay may be insufficient. With pregnant does, developing kids can limit rumen capacity, making it challenging for her to consume enough feed to compensate for the kids and the cold. Does must be monitored for symptoms of ketosis, a life-threatening metabolic condition resulting from an inability to consume enough calories. Freshening can further exacerbate the doe’s condition, requiring additional calories. Tina cautions that, if a freshening doe is shivering, she should not be milked. “She will crash, and hypothermia will result.” She suggests coating does and stabilizing them nutritionally before making further demands on their bodies.

In 2017, we opted to dry off several does and bottle feed their kids with replacer, allowing the does to recover their condition rather than putting them at further risk from the demands of lactation. Neither the does, nor us, were prepared for an unseasonable cold.

Providing enough calories to grow, stave off metabolic illness, prevent obesity from reduced movement, and still generate enough hunger to encourage fiber intake is no small task. Denise offers concentrates to small kids and does in milk to maintain/gain weight. If not bred or milking, they go without.

Water is essential to rumination. Without water, goats will not eat. Sometimes it is so cold that the only option is hand-carrying buckets — which is how Denise waters 30 goats through the seemingly endless winter.

Goats can show deficiencies in fat-soluble vitamins after three months on a hay-only diet. In parts of Alaska, the sun barely gets above the horizon, so at best there are four to five hours of twilight. For Denise, this manifests as skin issues and, in extreme cases, can result in skeletal deformities. A protocol of A&D injections becomes part of herd management. For areas deficient in selenium, vitamin E is also required so selenium can be absorbed.

At Kopf Canyon Ranch, we also use igloos for goats that cannot compete with the herd for shed space. An advantage is that they do not collapse under snow load.

Habitation

Acclimated goats with good nutrition require little habitation or shelter. The only conditions to mitigate are wind and wetness. Wind can reduce temperatures significantly, calculated as windchill. It also evaporates moisture in the air, leading to dehydration. Wetness compacts the insulating loft of the goat’s hair, leaving them vulnerable to cold. While goats must have protection from adverse weather, their shelter cannot be airtight or significantly warmer than the conditions outside. There must be at least two doors so animals do not become trapped and crush or suffocate one another.

Goats need bedding that allows them to stay warm and dry. Denise gives her goats free access to the barn, one big room with a corner pen for isolation if needed, which usually stays above 0 degrees F. Denise uses the deep litter method, a favorite in extreme climates, as it creates reliable heat at the base layer through decomposition. Most continue to add bedding throughout the winter to keep the top dry but, because Denise’s winter is so long, she strips six to eight inches off her deep litter floors each week, being careful not to disturb the base layer. When the barn temperature rises above 40F, it is considered too warm and ammonia levels rise from the deep litter. It is critically important to check for ammonia at ground level, because it can cause respiratory distress. Products exist to neutralize ammonia. Barn ventilation is also a key component when using this method.

Tina’s insulated barn has a vapor barrier and is not heated, with the exception of a kidding stall when needed. She uses wood shavings and straw, on stall mats over a gravel base, which are cleaned weekly. The cost of bedding in winter is astronomical, but deep litter would produce more ammonia than her barn can release. She has box stalls for newborns with insulated ceilings, floors, and sidewalls. A radiant heater can be adjusted to control temperatures.

Heat lamps are rarely used because of fire hazard and if power goes out, the temperature will drop rapidly without giving the animals time to acclimate.

But heat lamps usually aren’t necessary. Liza Reeves de Ramos lives in Fairbanks, Alaska. “The coldest temp we’ve seen with our goats was -40F. We brought the chickens into the garage, but the goats were perfectly happy where they were. They didn’t want to come in. Once, when it was super cold, we put a heat lamp in the barn and locked them in. They hated it. They knocked a hole in the wall so they could get out.”

 -23F – Are You Kidding?

Yes, actually, we are. Many shows require a winter born kid, so while the conditions are less than desirable, herdsmen must make accommodations for the market.

Winter-born kids assessing the outdoor conditions at Kopf Canyon Ranch.  Photo Credit: Karen Kopf

In very cold climates, many breeders will hand-breed does so they have exact kidding dates and can be present for delivery to protect the kid from freezing at birth. Regular barn checks during the kidding season are the norm. While many does can manage a single birth, assistance is required for multiples.

Some breeders (myself included) are adamant about not kidding in winter. Others breed for early winter kids, so the does are not nutritionally impacted by the cold, and the kids have a chance to acclimate before deep winter arrives. Tina prefers to kid in winter, because it is too nice in the summer, and she can’t go fishing when she is bottle-feeding.

Successful herdsmanship in the coldest climates is possible — acclimation, nutrition, and habitation — preparing and selecting ahead of the season is our secret of how to keep goats warm in cold weather.

  Karen and Larry the Wonder Goat.

Karen and her husband Dale raise Kiko goats on Kopf Canyon Ranch, home of Larry the Wonder Goat, in North Central Idaho. They love goating anywhere together, and helping others goat in cold climates.

Deep Freeze! How to Keep Goats Warm in Cold Weather was originally posted by All About Chickens