July 12 - Dreamfarm News

Pick-Up Date: Thursday, July 12, 2012

Sites: Baldwin, Baldwin-EOW, Crestwood, Farm, Hampshire, Just Coffee, Mason, Mt. Horeb, Orchard Ridge, Research Park, Seminole, Shorewood, West Lawn

Cheese of the Week: Fresh Cheese - Peppercorn

Important Notes: With last week off, we just want to make sure all you B Week folks know it's your turn to get cheese this week! Also, if you happen to have any empty glass cheese jars and lids hanging around your house, please scoop them up and bring 'em to your drop site for reuse. Bonus points if you peel the Dreamfarm sticker off the lid too. Thank you!

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First things first! We just want to make sure that you all know this week is a B Week, and the above sites will be receiving cheese this week.

Well, in case you were on vacation all last week, you noticed that it was quite warm in Wisconsin. It would be fair to say the temperature was downright hot, and dry too. Of course, the unusually warm temperatures were exhausting for everyone, but the heat creates certain issues just for farmers. First off, with the lack of rain and moisture, things are getting pretty brown. This includes our pastures, the main food source for the goats and sheep during the summer months. They are nibbling everything green in sight, and I think they are hoping for rain too! Not to worry, they all get supplementary alfalfa and hay during these lean pasture times, so no one is going hungry. The goats really don't like to heat too much, and their milk production goes down during these hot spells. Less milk means less cheese, another reason to be glad things have cooled off a bit. The chickens aren't too comfortable in the heat either, and they protest by laying fewer eggs. To keep cool they cozy into their cool little dust baths and just pant. (Exactly like a dog, but just without the tongue sticking out). We can even feel the heat in the cheeserie, as all this warm dry air caused some of last week's cheeses to finish much drier than usual. We're all just glad to see the mercury drop a bit this week, although we look up at each cloud passing overhead in hopes it might drop a bit of rain on us.

The ducks. Just chattin' around the water cooler.

Have you met the Dreamfarm ducks yet? Now's your chance! This cute little brace of ducks (yup, a brace is the technical term for a group of ducks) is the newest addition at Dreamfarm. The baby ducks were ordered from Sand Hill Preservation Center early this spring and should start laying eggs in about a month or two. A mix of breeds were ordered, and we're sure to have Khaki Campbells, but we can't get ID on the other breed of duck. They are adorable, and stinky, ducklings were brooded in the same house as the baby chicks, and then moved out to pasture in their own, special duck house when temperatures were warm enough. The duck house was moved frequently to a fresh patch of grass, and recently the ducks got their own fenced run. The best part about the fence is that the holes are big enough for the ducks to walk through, so there are now ducks wandering around near the barn. So far the rebel chickens and escaped ducks get along, hopefully there will not be a Cross Plains version of West Side Pasture. The ducks were very, very shy when they arrived, but seem to be getting braver by the day. Scroll to the bottom of the page for a short duck video.

The ducks when they were a bit younger

In other farm news, as we mentioned in the last newsletter, we're keeping a lot of the kids (baby goats) from this spring and raising them out for meat. Because the main pasture is getting a bit thin, it was time to move some of young boys to the wooded pasture where the two bucks and six steer hang out. This is the pasture that was fenced last year, has delicious forage and browsing for goats, and could use more help getting cleared out. So there we were last Friday, in the heat, shaking a bucket of feed grain and trying to lure as many of the 17 young boys as possible to come with us toward the new pasture. In case you didn't know, goats don't seem to listen very well, and didn't seem motivated to answer our request. The grain helped a little, but I think they also have a short attention span. We had about seven takers who crossed through the first gate with us, and then had to be herded and picked up and carried through the second fence to their new, lusher home. At first they were hesitant, but it was no time at all until they were chomping on multiflora rose and ready to explore their new home. This afternoon we'll try to lure the remaining young goats down there too, so if you need a good laugh you can just imagine us hollering at goats, encouraging them to come with us and chasing them if need be!

Steer, goats and Diana in the lush wooded pasture!

Hope you enjoy your cheese this week, along with the cooler temperatures! And, as promised, if you want a little more duck action, below is a short video for you to enjoy.