FARM Escape (to another farm)! Romantic Day Date?

Okay guys, it's important your mom and I do this. We love each other, we can get some time together. Jonah's the boss. Rebecca and I are going on a day date. 3.5-hour drive to a milking cow grazing conference class, I guess. Workshop, I don't know. Hey, what are y'all complaining about?

You got plenty of Feed.

You might be a homesteader if you go on a date during the day. You might be a homesteader if your date is a grazing school conference.

Yeah, we're going to Reverence Farms. Uh, Hugh is the organic vet. He is the one who came out to help us with Nacho when Nacho was injured.

It's Nacho. Nacho Libre is his full name.

Is he a Catahdin?

Yes. No, he's a St. Croix.

So our goal is just to learn from people who have more experience with than us with grazing dairy animals. So much information is on grazing beef animals only, and so we're going to learn from other people who graze dairy animals. So that's my goal. And then my other goal is to be with my hubby, to be with my love for the day and get to have an experience together. Because it's so quiet and nice.

So far so good.

Yeah.

You know, when I was a child, I would hear my mom and dad whispering at night, talking. And then, you know, I was just a young guy when they got divorced, 14.

Yeah.

And I think before that though, there was a you know, maybe a year without talking. And I associated it with, oh my God, if you run out of things to say, you split up.

That's right.

Well, we haven't run out of things to say. We've been talking this whole time. What's a rest area like without kids, babe?

I'm resting.

It's actually restful.

It's not as intense. When you have kids, you're like, don't touch things.

And it's actually just a quick Yeah, what, 2 minutes, 3 minutes?

We came to this rest area when we had Henry and we went, we went and visited that family and we did that, um, Rooted number 4.

It's a, it's a 30-minute ordeal when you have kids. Yeah, I think we were here for at least 30 minutes. It's not restful. Let's just keep going. We've been talking about family, our kids, you know, you leave the kids, you talk about the kids, friends, world events. We covered it all, Rebecca. Yeah.

We're getting it all out. We're getting all the good info.

I guess we'll be strongly married for another— what, this is our 23 years married this month?

23 years this month.

So we still got a lot to talk about. So we're good.

We're gonna go— we're gonna get to like 70 at least, if not 75 years.

Hey, how you doing? Yeah, this is a carnivore's dream. All kinds of lamb from the land. Good and Pans too.

I know.

How about that? You're gonna eat the corn tortillas? It's just corn and lime.

Are you gonna eat them? You're probably not.

I'm staying low carb, babe. Keeping that blood sugar down. What is that, 3 different meats here?

Yeah.

So that's why I don't need to eat the tortilla, dar. Look at how good this is. Who knew lamb tacos was a thing?

Well, I didn't.

We're gonna try it.

I didn't. I just got some leg of lamb on the side.

The food is really good.

You like it?

This is one place place we can go on a date and eat. Tour portion.

So VitaFerm Heat, it's a, it's a very clean, very clean lick tub.

What's the red dots, Hugh?

Oh, they're, uh, they're lactating. They got a letter on them. It's like right front, and the right front is plugged, you know, left rear.

Yeah, what are we looking for, huh? What are we looking for?

Uh, just a poly wire to pull up and call the cows.

They going this way?

Uh, yeah, if they haven't gone way down into that toe area. We call this the boot. This actually looks like a boot.

How do those nursing rings work? Do they actually work?

Keep them off Mom, hit and miss. It really is hit and miss. Some, I think it really shows the smarts or not of an animal if they can get around it. And we've gone through so many gyrations with different rings. Some cows, they just need a little reminder. That's why there's some smooth ones in the noses in the adult cows. But hey, you know, people get their ears pierced, their noses pierced, right? Yeah, they work, I'd say, probably, I don't know, 75% of the time. And then the 25, uh, that don't work are real buggers.

That's the calf that's the bugger, or the mom.

Oh, here is a line. Oh, okay, okay. Reel it up and I'll call them down here. Oh, they're already coming. I don't even have to call.

So they see you, bud. Come on, girls. Come on, come on. Big patch of vetch here. Yes, you guys are big fans of that, and you got some flowers.

They're nice and sweet.

And you planted that? What's that? You planted that?

Yep, I like that stuff, except it can get almost smothering of even good plants, not just our blessed pest.

Why you keep them out of these woods?

Uh, they go in the woods, just not today.

All right, do they already have a back fence set up?

Uh, this will be their last. Okay, I think their last. Okay, uh, there might be another fence there. They want to get in there.

They're hungry.

There we go.

There we go. Does that ever get old?

What, doing this?

Yeah.

No, I always like, uh, letting the cows in.

I really do. How many times you do this in a day?

Maybe twice for this group. Right after milking, and then at least once more, if not twice more. Depends where, uh, if there's another line down in there.

I do see another line. Somebody set that up. Yeah, see it about— oh, I do. 300, 400 feet.

Yep. The rumens will get filled up quickly. In about 5 minutes, you'll see a change. And like all ruminants, they want to eat quickly. Because in their brains, deep in— yeah, they're always afraid of the lion or the wolf, real or suspected. And so they eat very quickly as a herd, and they'll all lay down as a herd and chew cud. And that's why ruminants are that way. They can take in vegetation very quickly and then re-chew it, you know, to make it more digestible.

You have all light-colored Jerseys? For a reason? Oh, what, mostly with light colored?

No, no real reason. I personally like the, uh, the white— the light ones with the white patches, the island patches. I was a Holstein guy for years and years, so I like that patchiness. And apparently that's from the Guernsey influence in the breed way back. I don't know if you ever heard that, but the Isle of Guernsey and Isle of Jersey are near each other off the coast of France, and so there were intermarriages And then if a girl came from the Isle of Guernsey, apparently like part of the dowry would be a Guernsey cow. And those Guernsey cows are definitely like, you know, tan and white. And that's— so that's like, these are purebred Jerseys without a doubt, 100% purebred. But some, you know, somewhere really old stuff.

Okay, what do you got out here?

We got, uh, clover.

Vetch. No.

Yep, that's hairy vetch. It's funny because crown vetch is a plant too, but they don't use it much for grazing. We got Solanum carolinensis, horse nettle. You got a lot of it. Like as in Carolina. It likes it here. You got the ryegrass, of course, that's going. This is chicory. This would be, uh, looks like a native chicory to me by the narrow leaf down here.

Ryegrass is the real Seeds are really close, vertical.

Yep, they're maturing.

Yeah, they're really close to the stem.

Got the, uh, well, the crimson clover's already gone by. This clover is, uh, no, this is crimson clover. You can tell this was beautiful red, and now they won't eat this, of course, but they'll eat the crimson clover vegetation.

What do you think they're going for?

Red clover here.

What do you think they're going for first out here?

Well, let's go look. It's always kind of, you know.

Yeah, I don't know. This is the buffet. What are they— yep, what are they hitting up first? Oh, they're gonna get the hairy foot, but let's see if that's what you think.

Yeah, maybe clover. Let's see what she's—

what do you eat? Oh, she's, she's got some white clover. Good girl.

Yep, that's a, that's a butterfat And I think they're going for the white clover. I see it in all of them. That's what they want, I guess. Well, that's what they can have. Now, if that was a full field of white clover day after day after day without any other hay or anything like that, they'd be getting bloat.

Yeah, you can't do just white clover, right?

But like, you can't—

some bets.

Yeah, even when there's actually toxic plants, I mean, like, and horsetail is a toxic plant, but like toxic plants that they might eat they're not going to eat this because it's got thorns. I mean, I rarely— this is a horrible plant. See the thorns on the back there? Anyway, but if there's a toxic plant out here that they happen to get a bite or two of, with the diversity in here, they're not going to eat it straight up unless they're like starved. It was a field of whatever the toxic plant is. So I'm not worried if they eat something bad because it's balanced out for the most part. There are some plants that are like just completely toxic. Um, like mountain laurel, it's also called lamb's kill.

Yeah, I mean, that's just like, they're dead.

And, uh, yew bushes around, uh, houses, they eat them, they're dead in half an hour unless they get activated charcoal like immediately. So there's those kind of plants. But if it comes down to just some, yeah, mildly toxic ones like, uh, what is it, milkweed? Milkweed, right? That's supposedly toxic. They eat it, no problem.

They don't read the books.

No, right? And they, you know, if they ate a field of milkweed, maybe they get sick, you know.

Tour's over, we're heading back.

Uh, dairy bovine or OGS?

We get a treat.

Some of the bags have I-Well and some have Udder-Well. Do you want each of those? Yes, that would be great.

Okay, perfect.

Bovine formula. All right. And then you've got I-Well, you get one of these, and then you also have Dr. K's Udder-Well. Which is a really popular product.

It's amazing.

And then Goat and Sheep Grower.

MVP right here. Let's tell them we got the MVP right here. You know what that means?

No.

Most valuable purchaser. He's wrote Four Seasons Organic Cow Care. No, he wrote, uh, this one, the Treating Dairy Cows Naturally, and then that one with the M's, and He's wrote The Barn Guide to Treating Cows Naturally. Is this his natural remedies?

Yeah, these are his for cows and sheep.

Mhm. What are you looking at?

So this is Udder Well, and we had— didn't we have some issues with, um, honey?

That one by— we're out of lamb roast and aren't going to have any for a while. This will do.

Oh, I thought that was—

what'd you end up getting?

I just got 2 things. I got a Livewell, which is like a liver support.

Yeah.

And, um, Udderwell for udder support.

All right. All right, you got me some blueberries. Good blueberries.

Did you just pick these? Yeah. Awesome, thank you.

Thank you. Bye-bye. See you in the vlog. Always learning. I learned we need to mix in our wood ashes with, with our compost when we spread it. I learned that we can just put dry unfinished wood chips straight up on the pasture for carbon, particularly when it's dry. And then how about spreading C90, which is a salt, on the pasture? I never knew about that.

I knew about that, but it always scared me. I was too afraid the salt would kill the grass, but apparently it doesn't. Also lime.

Although she was saying though, that's being mechanically dependent.

Yeah.

And really, I think what she was leading to and what Joel would teach us is just compost.

Yeah.

All right, you ready to head home?

I'm ready to head home.

We're gonna stop and get the kids a little treat just to thank them for holding down the homestead and watching Henry. Holdings, chocolate chocolate chips. So I got a trick. Yeah, we're gonna tell the kids we got them a surprise, and it's gonna be that lamp. We're gonna pull out the lamb leg first. Yes, they will be excited. They'll be excited that we have them a surprise, and then we'll pull up that lamb leg. I mean, you or I might get really excited about that, but— oh, it's always good to leave because it's always so sweet to come home. Oh my Lord, they've all come out to meet us. Oh, what a sweet stage we're in. I know, we can leave, but they're so excited for us to come back. Hey! Hey, you squirt! Where's your shirt?

It's wet.

Where's your shirt?

Did you get wet?

Yes.

Where's my hug?

No.

Hey, get in. Hey, we got a surprise. Come here.

Ooh, what is it?

Well, you got to get us all hugged. Oh, hey, big guy! Ran the farm, ran the house. Hey, Winnie, you even came see us. Hey, you made us dinner. Yeah, and we come home to a fresh dinner. Just Everybody wait right there. Ta-da! A roast.

What's that? A leg of lamb!

Yeah, you excited? We are out of lamb. We won't have lamb till November. You're excited?

We brought you guys some. Look at Hendrick's face.

This is premium meat.

Uh-oh, did he get bit?

Oh, he's like, I don't know about this. Okay, that's not it. Okay, we're just gonna tell them it's a watermelon. I think they'll be— I don't know if they'll be excited for the watermelon.

Watermelon! Woo!

Where you going? Where you going? You excited? Watermelon!

Woo!

Oh my gosh! How about this? Now Josiah's getting excited! Wow, I thought it was weird. I got 2 of them. That's great. Now you're excited. That's because you guys held down the fort and did so good. Fish. Yeah. And?

And rice.

Rice is what I'm most excited about. Where'd you get the broccoli, girl?

From the freezer that we picked just a couple days ago.

Yeah, homegrown broccoli. Beth, give the world a review of this broccoli. Even I'll eat this broccoli.

Flavorful.

Probably has nutrients in it.

It tastes delicious.

And don't they spray produce, even organic, with Clorox in the grocery store?

So it's like that, that little water spray that's coming out at the grocery store has like, um, Clorox in it, I believe.

Oh my gosh, that is good broccoli.

It tastes so good. It's fresh, it's only like 2 days old.

How was it when we were home? You guys are all intact?

When we were gone.

Nobody's bleeding?

Jonah, how'd everybody do? Okay. How'd all the livestock do? Good.

The livestock was fine except for the sea monsters. They were completely out of grain because we didn't have any yesterday, so I did give them like 3 buckets.

Oh, I bet they were happy to have that. Good job solving problems. Good for those kids, isn't it, Becky? And we had a date.

We did, we had a date.

That's what counts. Happy day.