Author Archives: grasspunk

We moved our Mirandaise heifers away from the pens out to some good grass. They’d had several days to adjust to getting green stuff in their diet, we’ll see how they cope with longer grass.     Jean has the full story.   In other links: Salatin’s Tall Grass Mob Stocking was an interesting read.ContinueContinue reading “Cow move and links”

This coming Friday should see the arrival of 15 more young heifers and four older cows. The heifers will form the core of our breeding herd and the cows will provide calm leadership while the heifers grow. One is also a hand milker, so maybe we’ll give that a go. Salers (pronounced Sal-Airs) are greatContinueContinue reading “More cows coming soon”

There are a lot old-style cowsheds still around, where they attach the cows. More modern ones have evacuators that take out the manure in trenches in the floor, but you can sometimes find farms with a little old shed where they used to shovel by hand. These aren’t in use – nobody wants to spendContinueContinue reading “There are still a few old-school village cowsheds left”

We now have five Mirandaise heifers (genisses) on the farm. They’ve been here a week and are settling in well. Jean, Lucy and I have been spending time with them, feeding them, talking to them and giving the occasional treat of triticale flour. Elfie is Lucy’s favorite. She is always the most desperate to eat.ContinueContinue reading “Elfie, the Mirandaise heifer”

We’re buying some cows. The plan is that this week a handful of Mirandaise will arrive. Mirandaise are an old breed that used to be called Gasconne Auréolée. It gets confusing here, since we run into politics. I’ve spoken to several elders about this and though they don’t all agree, it goes something like this:ContinueContinue reading “Mirandaise Cows and Slow Food”

  Jean took these shots at Otto’s birthday party a week ago. [Girls love straw, too.]

Adding to my collection of 4wd yellow vehicles with under a hundred horsepower, here is my Renault 90-34 TX from some time in the late 80s/early 90s with a lot of hours and a good loader. It is clean and seems to run well.     It has three leaks to fix at some pointContinueContinue reading “And now a tractor – a Renault 90-34 TX”

It might only have 80 hp but it weighs a portly four and a half tons. It’s a Case 580K Construction King backhoe.  

Up in the Tarn-et-Garonne was an interesting farm for sale. It had eighty hectares, but another forty or fifty in ‘fermage’, meaning they were rented long term. Renting farms is a tricky business for the landowner, do it wrong and the renter has the rights to rent forever. This farm bordered a big army baseContinueContinue reading “A beef farm in the Tarn-et-Garonne”

I had an hour to spare before picking up up the kids at the end of the drive, so I took the opportunity to wander around the south-east corner of the farm. The ponds are looking good.   I was curious if there was any forage left on the ground. In a few places there’sContinueContinue reading “Finding springs and lakes”