2x4’s attached using 5/16” carriage boltsThe issue we had is the way our pasture is configured (the part for chickens) we actually run our pens 2 weeks in one direction - move it over one pen width and then move it back in the opposite direction for 2 weeks - having the pens end up right next to where they started (which makes them a very short walk from pen to processing stations). The key is - our farm dictated a small change in approach because when going one direction, the chickens tended to have issues with their feet and the wheels of the moving dolly - which was inside the pen.
So to solve the issue we modified our pens a few years ago and never looked back. Now we never have an issue with a pen hopping off the dolly and mushing a chicken because of uneven ground and very rare are the squawks of protest when the pen “catches” a chicken in the move.
Basically we used some 5/16” carriage bolts to attach sections of 2x4’s to the corners of the pens. The carriage bolts were better than lag bolts because they go all the way though and can be made VERY tight with a washer and nut on the back. When I added these I didn’t think too much about them - just cut them to pen height (24”) and slapped them on. Where the pen is covered with sheet metal I just drilled through everything and called it a day. Nothing fancy - this is all about utility.
To add the axle that the removable wheels would ride, I started with a trip to the local Tractor Supply and their discount table. I purchased a pair of “never go flat” wheels for about $12 total. Then used the inside diameter of their axle holes (I think they are wheelbarrow wheels) to find the right bolts to make the pen’s axles (I think our axles are 1/2” - 8” long galvanized carriage bolts).
Looking down the side - you can see the “axles”This is not the cheapest solution with the galvanized 8” carriage bolts for the axle material. If I had to do this part over again I would very seriously consider using smooth steel rod and using a die to thread only the end that goes through the 2x4 support blocks. I have found the threads tend to “catch” the taller grass and weeds when you are trying to slide a wheel onto the axle. This makes some mornings (usually only when you are in a hurry or it’s crummy weather) take longer than you want. It’s a very VERY minor issue - but under full disclosure, I think that would be a better solution. (note: major drawback of this design… once outfitted with fixed axles, your pens will become angry at you and will frequently use their axles to lash out at your ankles from the tall grass when you are walking by. Don’t say I didn’t warn you)
It’s important to note that HERE is the most important decisions of the process - and it completely depends on your tire selection and is radius. (Do you remember geometry? Diameter is the distance across the entire wheel, circumference is the distance around the outside of the wheel, radius is the distance from the center of the wheel to the edges or 1/2 the diameter). So if you bought a 9” diameter wheel - your radius is 4.5”. Why does this matter? Because if the hole you drill in the 2x4 for your axle is MORE than 4.5” off the ground - your wheel will never make contact with the ground. If your hole is exactly 4.5” off the ground - your wheel will just touch the ground until you lift the far end of the pen to pivot the pen up for moving and then it will be off the ground. You want you hole to be “ABOUT” 2” off the ground for a 4.5” radius wheel…
Here’s why (without the math). In a perfect world if the hole is 2” off the ground - when you install your wheel you should get 2.5” of ground clearance. But since your axle is not AT the corner, rather a few inches inside, again, lifting the far end of the pen will make the pen pivot on the axle and lower the back part (outside the wheel) farther (like a sea-saw). So you will really only have 1.75” or so of clearance. And this is where the YOUR FARM part comes in. If your pasture is really bumpy you may want a larger diameter wheel OR put the hole lower to the ground. Just make sure you don’t shortchange yourself and have enough clearance… but don’t go crazy or else the chickens will escape every time you put the wheels on and move the pen…. that’s “too much ground clearance”. (one other note - the LARGER the diameter of the wheel - the easier the pen will roll and the less you will feel rocks and holes when moving the pen. I would have bought larger wheels but the 9” ones were the discount table special, so that’s what we got.)
A wheel installed
With all your axles installed it’s a simple matter of lifting that corner just enough (3-4”) and sliding the wheel onto the axle. Last year I started saving my back and used a piece of flat board and a piece of firewood to create a lever I could jam under the frame and step on to lift the corner to slide on the wheel. You put on one side and then the other, walk around to the front, grab your rope (strung from axle to axle in the front and made easy to pull on with a section of old garden hose over the rope), lift and walk the pen where you want to go. When you are done you just reverse the process to get the wheels off. It’s a simple system that takes almost no longer than the dolly approach but for us has saved countless chickens since switching and makes for a FAR more stable pen (because of the width of the wheels apart from each other) over rough patches.
There really are lots of ways to do this but since we had already built the Salatin style pasture pens, this was the easiest and most cost effective (and timely) retrofit we could come up with to solve out challenges with our terrain.
]]>Enter Michigan’s recent decision by their DNR (Department of Natural Resources) to classify heritage breed pigs as “feral hogs” based solely on how they look. Um, yeah, how they LOOK. I’m not going to rehash the story about the senseless slaughter of the pigs at farms in Michigan, Google can help you there, what I am concerned is that the average citizen isn’t enraged by this. That people have not taken action against this. That the governing bodies, put there BY the People FOR the People have not admited their mistake and stepped back from the decision with a level head and perhaps let logic prevail. IF I was a conspiracy theorist I might say that big agriculture is behind this and in collusion with the government(s) that comprise the United States (State and Federal). I might suggest that this is part of a larger plot designed to ultimately control the food system in a central manner and remove it from the hands of the people. I might even, if I was really going out on a limb, pull together other seeming unrelated things (i.e. recent FDA recomendaion on antibiotics, legislation on raw milk, animal tagging and tracking systems) and suggest that the sum of the parts is, well, you might be able to figure that one out.
In the last CoopCast a listener posted the question - “but what do I do - I vote with my wallet and don’t see the change” (paraphrased - here’s the comment). In the land of apathy, most people don’t act until there is a threat to them. Long gone are the days of helping thy neighbor just because it’s neighborly (and, in all fairness, because you might get sued if you “help wrongly”). There is one true constant available to all of us to effect change… and that is money. And I don’t mean you need to be rich to change things (but boy does that help). No, the people that have been put in office to govern have broken the system. Yet - We the People continue to keep them there, term after term after term. Here’s a local example that I’m sure resonates with the balance of the country - Louise Slaughter. I’m sure she’s a nice woman and I’m not discussing her politics - what I’m pointing out is she won her first election in 1975 and is running again this Fall, it’s 2012. That’s almost 40 years in the system, governing us…
When people cry “the system is broke” - they are the same people who flip the lever (or dangle a chad) in a voting booth and extend a LIFETIME of ruling by another 4 or 6 year term. Was the system broke when these lifetimers started and it’s been broke the whole time they are there - then fire them and give someone else a chance. Or, perhaps it wasn’t broke and now it is. I guess the point is - if you have lifetime politicians, regardless of the state of the political system when they started 20,30, 40 or more years ago - is the system better today? If not - then vote out the incumbents, REGARDLESS of political party. PERIOD.
The Constitution of the United States was drafted to release us from the tyrannies of the British Monarch - the rule by the elite. When George Washington was offered to be made the King of America he flatly refused because this new country had blood spilled to give rise to democratic republic. We the People were to rule, not by mob, but by elected representative. And our words and wishes were to be reflected IN the actions of those governing us. Instead, all too often it seems the will of those who govern is being imposed upon us.
What’s happening in Michigan is an atrocity whether you like pigs or not. We have coyote problem here in Upstate NY. Maybe the DEC should dictate to us that any dog that has a certain set of physical characteristics that make it “look” like a coyote in any remote way should be illegal. The towns have the license information so they know where to find the illegal Fidos. Is it too far fetched to think of a conservation officer pounding on your door demanding you surrender you “coyote like dog” to them for slaughter? No? Tell that to the farmers in Michigan who just lost all their “feral like pigs”.
It seems to me, somewhere, someone might just think that defining a problem by HOW IT LOOKS is a really bad way to do things. Heritage hogs raised on a farm are kept behind a fence. Wild hogs roam the countryside. Is this decision by the Michigan DNR really saying these two very different types of hogs are “separate but equal” - based on looks alone?
]]>Then March hit and the already moderate temps headed up. As in way up. Yesterday out weather-station recorded mid 80’s and today’s forecast is 90! In March! Those are the high temps in July and August.
While I’m not complaining (I hate the cold) I am a little concerned as EVERYTHING around here has their buds popping. The raspberries are coming up, the trees and the lilacs are coming out, garlic is up and growing, even the grapes are starting to show leaves…
Again - I like warm weather and springtime… but the wine makers of the region have chewed off their fingernails with these temps. Grapes are very delicate and now that they are out - a frost could be devastating for the season… and seeing as how our last frost free day is Memorial Day - the wine makers have a bit to fret about, I’d say. We are OK though because the grape and raspberry plants we bought last fall on closeout lived in their pots in the greenhouse all winter… I’d like to say it was planned but it was because I was too busy to give them a permanent soil based home.
We are gonna get some peas in this week and maybe even direct seed a few other springtime goodies earlier and keep our fingers crossed. I mean, we might as well take advantage of the nice weather, right :)
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Seed starting under the lights
I spent some time in the basement (where we start a lot of our seeds this time of year) getting the first 4 flats of seeds started this weekend. If you have been listening to our farming podcast (called the Coopcast) you will know this year I have been working with soil blocks instead of the traditional plastic 6 packs and standard potting soil and so far really like the results (the lettuce seedlings in the foregrond in the photo are “greener” than in the past and I attribute that to the higher nutrient content in the soil blocks).
At any rate, one thing people often struggle with, even if you have a lot of seed starting experience, is when to actually START the seeds for your climate. The good news is there’s a few different resources on the web to help you along with these questions.
First off (And especially this year since the map was redrawn) you should check the USDA’s planting zone chart (here). This and then a quick Google search will help you determine when your regions last frost date is. Knowing that date is key in ultimately determining when to start those seeds.
After a little research into your last frost date now you are ready to calcuate when to start those seeds. Well, a couple of years ago Johnny Seeds put out a pretty decent tool to calculate you starting date. Likely if you are growing a small garden for yourself, this tool is all you need (here). However, if you are trying to also plan a consistent harvest over the course of the season, you likely need a tool that’s got a little more math and flexibility at looking at the results.
That’s where we took the JSS tool and improved upon it. All you need to run this spreadseet is Excel and you last frost date. The spreadsheet will calculate the rest of the dates that tell you what and when you should start things. now, certainly there are different varieties of say “tomatoes” that take different times to reach maturity, but this tool sorta takes the average time to tell you when to start the seeds and when to expect the harvest.
Honestly, no tool out there is perfect and there are a bunch of others you can choose from as well. Really the only advice we can offer is make sure whatever tool you choose it’s easy and accessible while in the garden. With this spreadsheet we just print a copy and keep it with us all season… complex computer programs don’t all do that.
(Older post with this information as well here.)
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The plastic trap in a mouse runwayThis time of year controlling mice and the occasional mole or vole in the greenhouse is kinda like chess to me. I’m not very good at chess mind you… I’m too much of a rush in and get ‘er done kind of guy for chess.
In the greenhouse I have tried various rodent control measures. The best one is our Border Terrier Watson… but he’s not overly appreciative of the plants we are trying to grow in there - so he’s more the apocalyptic approach to rodent management - no rodents, no veggies left eitherer.
Because of his interest (and the chickens as well) in chowing on rodents, poison isn’t a favorite for me either… although it usually does work pretty well the high humidity in the greenhouse makes it a challenge as it clump, glumps and smears all over.
So, a couple of years ago I learned about the concept of putting a simple old mousetrap in the runway you see in the picture (that worn path top to bottom) and let the mouse (critterer) that’s cruising along that path step on the trap. It’s a great process - fast and effective… but in the greenhouse with that high humidity I found the standard wooden traps were warping, molding and falling apart in a very short time frame. That’s why I was so happy to discoverer these plastic versions of the mouse trap (see - you CAN build a better mouse trap!) They work about the same as the old wooden ones but are easierer to load without smashing your finger tips and they don’t rot. They just work.
Just cock the trap, set on a mouse runway and empty the bounty the next day. Hey mice - check mate.
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It’s in response to a great question about managing feed waste.
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Where the air hose brings air to the blower
Winter is one of those times around the farm where you discover those things you thought you did… but didn’t. In the case of the greenhouse everything has been humming along just fine since last spring when we completed the construction… the only thing I think we didn’t do was drill one small hole in the end to provide a fresh air supply to the inflator.
Our hoophouse / hightunnel / greenhouse hybrid is just that - a hybrid. We designed the structure and bent the hoops ourself and don’t heat the structure… but we also had to make things more robust than just a standard hoop house because of the stormy winds we get. So, we opted to use a greenhouse inflator.
The inflator / blower
The inflator is a small fan that is supposed to draw air from outside the structure and inflate the space between 2 layers of plastic (like a ziplock bag). The plastic is then taunt and the wind can’t grab and rip it off. The added benefit of this kind of structure is the fact that the layer of air acts as a really good insulator helping to keep the passive solar heat the structure gains during the day from just disappearing so quickly at night. The results have been great - when it’s 10F outside in the morning the inside of the hoop is still just above freezing.
So, back to the point here… when we built the greenhouse I never put the inflator air source outside like I should have. It worked fine (the structure isn’t exactly air tight) but it was pulling in very humid greenhouse air. I don’t know if that would ultimately matter but I do know the installation instructions said to pull in fresh outside air to inflate the layers of plastic. And who am I to not follow instructions?!
Where the fresh air comes in for the inflator
So with a 1 1/4” hole saw bit I poked a hole in the T-111 siding and mounted the inflator air source out there. Who knows if it will ever matter… but I guess NOW I can say “the greenhouse is done”!
Well, at least until I find something else that didn’t get finished.
]]>Here’s the math:
We took out a GE Capital 0% for 12 month bridge loan to cover the $8K we know we are getting back in the form of the tax credit - no cost of the money and for 4 months we just have to make on time payments of $201… not a big deal. Taxes get field, credit gets applied, we pay off the GE bridge loan. Done there in another 2-3 months. Gotta love free money! (that means no cost to borrowing).
That left $17K to deal with. That’s where the low, low rate NYSERDA loan came in - 10 year term… payments ended up at $177 / month. We are paying extra principal on each payment (so total payment is $225). There’s a reason for that I’m getting to…
When we put all the numbers together in terms of propane costs - we knew we were paying about $225 / month for propane over the course of the each year - with propane at $2.29/gallon - and the math worked out that the geothermal unit, at that price, gets paid off in under 7 years with payments at that amount. (the recent propane fill was an insane $2.94 / gallon making us way ahead of the ROI curve of 7 years)
Bottom line - we pay $225 a month for 7 years - which is the SAME as locking in the $2.29/gal propane price - which is unrealistic - and after 7 years it’s only the cost of the electricity.
So far - the unit seems to add all of $50 / month to our electric bills.
I share all the numbers so people who are looking into this can see (at least in 2011) it’s a doable endeavor in terms of “normal people finance”.
Here’s the summary of payments:
We had $3000 “in the bank” for our annual propane pre-buy… So here’s how it gets used to kick off this project:
First 4 months of the bridge loan = $201/month (then tax return pays this off with Fed credit)
7 years - each month $225 / month (pays off unit + install in 7 years at a propane rate = 2.29/gallon)
Unit operating costs (about $50-$70/month).
So for 4 months we are paying about $500 / month to cover all the loans and the electric bill on the geothermal… and that comes out of that $3000 we had for our propane pre-buy. Then, after the taxes come back and we pay off the bridge loan, payments drop to $225 a month for the loan and $50-60 a month (worst case) to operate the unit. After 7 years, we are paying only $50-60 a month for heating and cooling because the loan is paid off… and maybe another $200 a year for any extra propane we use for cooking, etc.
The life expectancy of a geothermal unit is in the neighborhood of about 25 years. Also, it used to be very expensive to have maintenance on these units but in our area there are about 4 different HVAC companies that can service them, so honestly, the upkeep cost is about the same as the old furnace.
Think this might be for you… Well, attached to this post is a handy dandy spreadsheet (Excel format) that you can plug YOUR numbers into and see what the math looks like.
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Planning is always important… until you miss something, then, it’s pointless. When we set up the winter pasture for the pigs this fall we made sure we put large a couple of large round bales of hay between their hut and the west winds we get. We also put the feeder and the waterer where they would have minimal drifting to contend with. The water bucket is also close enough to the barn that we can run a heavy gauge extension cord out to it for the heater to keep the water from freezing. Really, it’s been a good layout. Until we got our first real snows and strong winds.
Then, the snow that comes tumbling up the field blew against a pair of big round bales at the west end of the greenhouse (and around the greenhouse). The result was a bunch of that air dropping the snow before it accelerated around the structure. It dropped it on a section of our electric fence.
The issue here is really two fold. First, snow drifts are packed densely and therefore they pull on the twine. It’s not an ideal scenario by any stretch. The second issue is when the fence is covered the pigs don’t see a barrier. The result is likely pigs that think they can walk up the drift instead wallowing THROUGH the drift and hitting a hot wire. Since they can’t “see” what’s getting them it’s anybodies guess if they would run forward or backward. Another less than desirable scenario.
The work was easy with a plastic shove… just dig it out and the pigs respected it. The only thing I’m left thinking is… if a 2’ drift can from from 4” of wind blown snow… what’s this gonna be like when we have out first REAL snowstorm this winter?
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