Cottonwood Critters

Chickenasaurus Rex  a.k.a.  Mohawk Mo’     Golden Polish Rooster

                                        Grandpa (Easter 2008)

                                                  Ethan & Cadillac

                                    
                                               Adam & Jackson

Critters. We got ‘em. Not as many as we would like, but enough to warrant strange looks from folks that visit our farm and our website. We don’t look like the kind of people to have this feast o’ beasts around us. We have learned a lot about our critters and I would like to think that they have learned a lot from us. A mutual relationship of give and take. We give them food, they give us food. Not the cows of course, they just give us more cows as we maintain our herd of Texas Longhorns for sale to others for show. The chickens have the task of giving us food and our cup is certainly running over. Our flock consists of a single Golden Polish rooster (Mohawk Mo’), a Buff Rock rooster and Buff Rock hens, Arucanas, Silver-Wing Wyandottes, Single-comb Leghorns, and Black Australorps. The Araucana or “Easter Egg” hens lay eggs in hues of olive green to a very light blue. The rest of the eggs are a mixture of bright white, brown, speckled brown, and a kind of brownish/pink color. We average about 2 dozen eggs a day which is great as this is the first month (January 08) that they have been laying eggs.

        
       Converting a run-in shed for horses…………..
    
       …into a chicken coop (the “Holi-Lay Inn”)
       guests are eggstatic about the rooms……

The boys have formed a small egg selling business that has netted $18.00 in their first week of sales. Jake is the CEO with Adam and Ethan being co-Vice Presidents, all sharing in the profits from their work gathering, feeding and cleaning the eggs. With the cash building up in thier collective bank, they are definitely inspired to expand the chicken operations. We might build another coop in the pasture and add another dozen or so hens to the flock. It will be fun to take the boys through the business side of the process like ROI, capital costs and expansion.

  
                                  Takin’ Care O’ Bizness

 A fun factoid is that unwashed eggs (straight from the nest to the fridge) will last almost twice as long as a washed one. When an egg is laid, the hen produces a coating that protects the egg from spoilage. There are some people that are a bit disconcerted by the sight of chicky-doo and a feather or two stuck to the eggs when they open the carton upon purchase. Others appreciate the freshness and authenticity of a real farm fresh egg, especially knowing that there are absolutely no chemicals or pesticides used in their production.

Speaking of pesticides, we have no use for them at Cottonwood Farm. We haven’t had an exterminator visit our home since having our chickens free range around our house. There isn’t a bug brave enough to move when the “girls” (Nisha’s name for the flock) are out and about. They eat EVERYTHING that moves in our flowerbeds and in the yard. As they move around the yard, they do an equally good job fertilizing the grass and our lawn this past year was amazing. As far as taking care of any leftovers, they come running as fast as they can when they hear the back door open. It is one of the funniest sights in the world to see them scramble as most of the hens are way too fat to fly. I will have to post a video of that on our www.cottonwoodfarmlonghorns.com website. I will let you know when I do…it is good for a laugh or too.

              
                          Some of the “girls” hard at work….

Guard Animals

      Dobermans? German Shepherds? Pit Bulls?

No. None of the above. Our guard animals are miniature donkeys. Silverbelle and Earl are their names. We have had a total of five once, Georgie Girl, Luke, and Lucky were the others. Luke and Georgie Girl now live at Thunder Ranch and Lucky is with Larry and Annette of 2Kreeks Ranch. We also had two llamas, Comosay and Tony, but they had to be sold as well. It wasn’t that they weren’t all great guard animals, it is because we were in the middle of a drought and had to move them out to save the pasture for our Longhorns. Llamas and donkeys possess both upper and lower teeth as cows only have the bottom set. This poses a problem in times where the grass is not plentiful and conservation of existing pastures is key. The donkeys and llamas will chew the grass completely to the ground, leaving nothing for the cows to eat. In this situation, you will be left with fat donkeys and skinny cows.

Getting back to the guard animal thing. Mini-donks, like their full-sized brethren, have a natural distaste from sharing their turf with coyotes and dogs. None of which are tolerated and with a very powerful kick from the donkeys, the offenders are quickly dispatched. We have never lost any poultry of calf due to dogs or coyotes. Hawks and owls are a different story, as we lost entire flocks of chickens and guineas last year. Not much Silverbelle or Earl could do about that.

 Texas Longhorns

 
          Kevin with Cottonwood Farm’s Herd Sire “Blue Reflection”

Longhorns are awesome. We love ‘em! I would like to think that our herd loves us…they let us pet them and scratch them behind their horns and will even out of your hands. Although they are pets to us, they are here to produce offspring that we sell to other folks either adding to or starting their own herd. Blue Reflection is our herd sire and was purchased a few months ago from 2Kreeks Ranch. He just turned four years old and loves to be scratched on his neck although it is very intimidating to stand so close to him with that massive head in your hands. Our junior bull, Hammerin’ Hank is even more docile and would probably crawl up in your lap if you would let him.

  
                                               Hammerin’ Hank

 We just sold six of our Longhorns to the Young’s from Houston. They are starting a herd in Chappell Hill to take advantage of the agricultural exemption for property taxes. Longhorns are the best option for people who maintain weekend ranches as Longhorns thrive where other cattle would do poorly. I could go on and on about the benefits of Longhorns but have already done so on our website: www.cottonwoodfarmlonghornss.com.

Here are some pictures of our herd:

 

              Miss May               Isaiah 

         Joyful #7 (Steer)                             Kevin

 

   Joyful Jubilation          Zachary

                                Coach’s  Cotton

  

                           Lonestar’s Beauty

                   Blacktop Beauty

 No Farm Would Be Complete Without Farm Cats

                           Eight of them to be exact.

Maggie Mo came to live with us early last spring. In return for our kind offerings of food and an occasional scratch on the head, she gave us seven kittens that have since grown up and call Cottonwood home as well. We have tamed six out of the seven and all have been named according to either their color or personality. Tommy Boy, Gray Girl, Gray Foot, Velvatine, Stripes, Cadillac and the “One that cannot be tamed” keep our place free of any rodents that might have the misfortune of finding their path crossed with this horde of mousers.

Your lap will be full of cats if you ever sit down on either the front or back porch, especially the two biggest lugs, Tommy Boy and Grey Foot. Cadillac is the smallest girl of the bunch and is the sweetest of them all. We would surely have her as an inside cat if we didn’t already have Stella and Jackson. Our inside cats came to us in the way of a rescue for Stella and Jackson was a feral cat adoption.

     Jackson                               Stella

                         Jackson is a KOOK!

All in all, the farm serves as a learning library for the kids on a daily basis. I can’t think of a better place for them to grow up and learn the kinds of things that all boys should know. Feeding chickens, seeing day-old calves nurse from their mothers, gathering eggs, getting muddy, experiencing the life-cycles of nature, climbing haystacks, playing paintball, sliding on a redneck slip-n-slide should be on every boys list of things to do as a kid.