Livestock Buyer’s Questionnaire

Thinking about buying livestock but also wondering if you have everything all set? Don’t be like others and bring home livestock before you are ready!

Recently updated the Livestock Buyer’s Questionnaire, you can check it out on our Farm Practices page: Read Page

It is our hope that the questions in the form will help you to prepare and plan for “everything” that can go wrong before you bring home your new farm additions.

2022 Commercial Kids- preview of upcoming attractions…

Showing the last of the kids we had for sale- these kids are all sold. In 2022 we will have kids from registered Savanna bucks, promising 50% offspring that can be registered.

12 doelings, 9 market bucklings and 2 really, really nice bucklings that are good enough to be herdsires. Weaned, dewormed, ready to roll.

2021 Commercial Savannah-cross kids
Nannies enjoying a kid-free pasture

Farmhouse Blondies

Too good to last long- sweet, nutty, buttery, and the pan is half-gone already????

Print

Farmhouse Blondies

Adapted from King Arthur Flour, these Blondies have a great acidic bite- just like chess pie or buttermilk pie!
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 27 minutes

Ingredients

  • 4 oz butter, melted
  • 12 oz brown sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tbsp Irish whiskey
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 6 oz whole wheat flour, or combination ww and oat flours
  • 5.5 oz chopped English walnuts
  • 2 oz craisins, to be sprinked on top of batter in pan

Instructions

  • prepare 9×11 pan, preheat oven to 350F
  • In mixer, add melted butter to eggs and sugar- Beat well.
  • Add remaining ingredients, one by one. As soon as nutsare stirred in, pour into prepared pan
  • Sprinkle craisins across top of batter and bake for 26-28 minutes. They should be sticky but not wet-wet…
  • Let cool completely before cutting.

Elderflower Cordial with Honey

Elderflower Cordial

"Homemade St. Germaine!"
Prep Time30 days
Active Time30 minutes
Yield: 3 qt.

Equipment

  • gallon jar with lid

Materials

  • enough to fill jar 2/3 Elderflower umbels, large stems removed
  • 1 cup honey
  • 2 whole lemons, sliced
  • 1 whole lime, sliced
  • 2 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
  • 1 gallon cheap vodka, enough to fill jar

Instructions

  • Loosely pack elderflower umbels into 1 gallon jar, breaking off and discarding large stems.
  • Add lemons, lime and ginger
  • Gently heat up 2 cups of vodka and add the honey- stirring till well mixed but not hot. Let cool.
  • Pour honey vodka into jar, top off with remaining vodka.
  • Seal with lid and store in cool, dark place for 14-30 days.
  • Pour through fine mesh strainer and rebottle.
  • Enjoy!

Vanished!

Alllll those recipes posted before are lost in the internet ether… In the move from one web-hosting platform to another, the farm’s website theme had to be changed, and in so doing, the recipe maker “widget” was left behind.

Those recipes cannot be accessed and no, there was no “backup copy made” before all this went on.

Hang in there! Still lots of yummy things to make, bake, share, and eat.

A2 Milk- Is it worth it? (We don’t think so and this is why…)

To A2 milk or not to A2 milk? That is the question…

A2 testing is owned by a company in New Zealand that patented the test and offshoot branding- at first it claimed non-A2 milk (A1 in fact) was responsible for a host of medical issues (type 1 diabetes, autism, heart disease) which were >never proven< in followup research, so the A2 Corporation dialed back its messaging to say “A2 milk is easier to digest and tolerated better by lactose intolerant individuals.”

Well, so is lactose-free milk.

A2 used a study with 41 individuals, and another with 45 individuals to prove the merits of A2 milk and lessening of gastrointestional complaints. Two studies with less than 100 people (Chinese participants who are typically lactose intolerant) are pushing the A2 hype. What would be most helpful is a blind study comparing only A2 milk versus lactose-free milk using a population of varied ethnicity with a participant pool of over 200+. Now that would be a study worth reviewing!

If a buyer believes that drinking A2 only milk is what makes them feel better, go for it. Being in the medical field I am all for the placebo effect. I do worry that good Dexter genetics are being tossed aside to single out A2A2 when a corporation (A2 Corp), is the one to profit- not the Irish Dexter breed.

Our Irish Dexters are A2A2, A2N, and unknown. We are not going to breed specifically for A2A2 as this would be like throwing the baby out with the bathwater, in fact, we will stop testing future calves for beta casein as we have given the A2 Corporation enough money and I do not support their conclusions. Two studies with less than 100 people are transforming a traditional breed of cattle as more and more Dexter breeders are aiming for A2A2 only herd.  Just something to think about…  Below is a link to an interesting article:

http://theconversation.com/science-or-snake-oil-is-a2-milk-better-for-you-than-regular-cows-milk-62486