Health Hero Farm

This winter, with all the dry (electrically insulating) snow we have had in Vermont, our attempts to wean 9-month-old calves were thwarted by those who were willing to take a weak hit from the single-strand polywire, in order to continue their habit. We ran a second, grounded polywire just below the hot wire to gain the respect we deserved for our 10kV reading. We did this by wrapping the second polywire around each pigtail, on the conductive metal part, pulling it tight and attaching a little binder clip to keep it from slipping down. Only once did we need to tie a broken ground wire. (Lesson learned) Peace has been restored on the farm

Enjoy dinner baked in NOFA-VT’s wood-fired pizza oven. And walk off the calories on a farm tour. NOFA pizza social

You are invited!

What a crazy spring. First the rain, then the tall green grass, then the seed heads announcing “you have to hay NOW”! We seized a 2-day window of sunshine and began to mow. The baler broke down, and the sun set (with beautiful color) on windrows of hay. The next day, the baler was fixed in the field, and the show went on. But everything else worked, so here are photos and videos of some of the equipment we used.

Wahoo! This grant helps us build an animal welfare station for cattle comfort in the field. It has a scratching station, free-choice mineral feeder and an oiler for fly control with organic treatments. This is going to make for some great youtube footage. But meanwhile, here are the youngsters trying to figure out what it’s good for.