If you happened past my in-law’s at 9pm last Friday and saw lots of lights and strange happenings in the pasture – no, we weren’t invaded by aliens – Dallas, NP and I were vaccinating the heifers.

Why at 9pm?

Because, NP and I both have off farm jobs and by the time the work day was done and all other essential items were crossed off the list, that was the time that we had left!
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Vaccinations are a key part (but not the only part) to preventing illness and we take it very seriously. We work with our veterinarian to determine which vaccines we need to give our critters (cows, horse, and dogs!) as well as when and how to give them.

​Being a vet for Brun Ko Farm is probably hard work due to my curious nature and need to know! I have to give Dr. Jodie a shout out for being so patient and thorough in answering my questions! 

A little known fact is that vaccines have withdrawal times just like antibiotics or other drugs. A withdrawal time is a minimum amount of time that must pass after a drug is given and before the animal goes to slaughter. One reason this probably doesn’t come up in discussion much is that vaccines are generally given early in life and at specific, scheduled time points – none of which are anywhere near slaughter age.  I will write more about withdrawal times in the future.

In addition to deciding which vaccines are best for our herd, we also have to make sure that we are giving them in an appropriate manner so that the vaccine has the best chance of doing its job and also to ensure that we aren’t compromising the quality of meat in the future.

Morris Veterinary Center PSC does a good job of further explaining how vaccines work and also the protocols that farmers follow to ensure that they are administering the vaccines properly. You find that info at http://www.morrisvetcenter.com/morrisvet/Livestock/Bovine-Vaccinations.asp

**Thank you Dallas for the pictures!!**

With that, thanks for reading and as always,
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Enjoy!
Brun Ko Farm

​We are finally seeing some green!  NP and I are trying our hand at starting seeds this year and it is oh so nice to be seeing green in March!

So, since this is our 1st go at starting our veggies indoors, we’re sure to learn a lot along the way!

**Warning**
Our system is NOT fancy. But, it does incorporate values that are important to us here at Brun Ko Farm like sustainability, efficiency, and frugality (frugality is a word-I looked it up!). 

​We are growing our seeds in a little green house in front of the only ‘old’ window left in the house. The house was built in 1902(ish) and we have slowly replaced all of the windows except one. Unfortunately, all of our new windows filter out many of the sun’s rays and plants don’t seem to grow very well in front of them! To help combat our shortage of unfiltered sunlight, we have enlisted the help of grow lights. Grow lights are lights that produce the specific wavelengths of light that plants need to grow. To prevent overly tall, gangly seedlings, we will need to keep the grow lights within 2-4 inches of the seedlings. More sophisticated systems have the grow lights hanging from chains and they can be adjusted up and down as the seedlings grow. Our system is rather crude and I am simply stacking boxes under the trays of seedlings to reach the proper placement! If it works well, we will devise a better system next year. :)

​ We planted the seeds in newspaper pots and homemade potting soil. Remember all that compost the cows graciously provide us with? Well, it came in handy for this project! I have the pots nestled in miscellaneous Rubbermaid containers, including some drawers from Rubbermaid dressers! The potting soil was a no-brainer since we had all of the components sitting around. We used compost, perlite, and peat moss this year. Next year, I want to substitute coconut coir for the peat moss as the coconut coir is a by-product of the coconut industry and as such is a renewable resource whereas the jury is out about peat moss.

Remember, that I said one of the things we value is efficiency? It could be argued that making newspaper pots is not efficient because it takes a lot of time. But really, it didn’t take that much time once I got a rhythm down. Also, we made them over the winter while tending the woodstove so it didn’t feel like wasted time. We were tending the stove (getting warm!) and creating a useful product and recycling all at the same time! Also, it will save time and stress on the plant when we can transplant them directly into the ground this Spring without disturbing the roots when we take them out of plastic trays. And then there’s the $$ it saves …. :)

Our first ‘lesson’ so far was dealing with white mold growing in the seedlings. To help keep the seeds damp for germination, I covered the containers with plastic wrap to help hold in moisture. Once the seedlings all poked through the soil, I removed the plastic wrap to find white mold growing in addition to the seedlings! Air circulation seems to be the answer to this problem though and the mold has fizzled out since I removed the plastic wrap cover.

Currently, we have broccoli, a variety of peppers and pansies poking through. I couldn’t resist starting some flowers while we were at it! :)
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And I bet ya thought this was going to be about green beer ;) Happy Saint Patty’s Day all!!

Enjoy!
Brun Ko Farm

___And this ‘pseudo-lactation’ is why the sucking behavior is a problem in the first place. Heifers that get sucked on, often suffer damage to their udder, which affects true lactation later in life. They can also develop mastitis (an infection of the udder) and I have even seen heifers die due to this behavior and the infections and problems that it can cause. This is one reason why I feel very strongly about raising our bottle calves in individual hutches. You can read my post about calf accomodations here.

Because of these rather doom and gloom side effects, we do anything and everything we can to stop the sucking behavior. These temporary orange plastic weaners are actually our first step. Let’s use 57 and 58 (two of our heifers) as an example.  Let’s say that 58 has been sucking on 57’s udder. The first time (and every time) that 58 tries to suck after we give her this orange weaner, 57 should feel uncomfortable because of the bumps and spikes and kick 58 away.  So basically, as long as 58 has this weaner in, she shouldn’t be able to suck on any of the others. The theory is that while these weaners won’t stay in forever, they will stay in long enough to break the habit.