Uploads from AlyssssylA, tagged freerange

Kookoolan Farm Calf

nobody@flickr.com (AlyssssylA) — Fri, 15 May 2009 15:36:43 -0700

AlyssssylA posted a photo:

Last week I visited Kookoolan Farm in Yamhill, OR. They produce raw milk from their three Jersey cows as well as free range eggs and meat chickens. They have partnered with other local farmers to slaughter and market a full range of grassfed, humanely raised meat. They pretty much rock.

One thing I found really interesting was Chrissie's comments on her Jerseys being, em, "agressive mothers" :) As a dog person this makes perfect sense. When we breed a strain of animals to do one thing we get a fair amount of "logical conclusion" behavior. For example, labradors have been bred to retrieve and many labs have weird mouthy/eating/carrying things around behavior. Jack russel terriers were bred to chase rats so we see obsessive chasing and visual stimulation behaviors.

Well, apparently when we breed cows to do nothing but be pregnant or nursing we get some "logical conclusions" behaviors around mothering. Chrissie says one of her cows gave birth and the other two were mothering the one calf so aggressively that she had to buy two more calves from other local farmers. This is one of her teddy bear calves. He is 5 days old and he sucked on my thumb. Soooo cute!!

Kookoolan Farms Raw Milk

nobody@flickr.com (AlyssssylA) — Tue, 19 May 2009 11:30:53 -0700

AlyssssylA posted a photo:

Kookoolan Farms is a small integrated farm in Yamhill, OR that specializes in raw Jersey dairy and free range chickens for meat and eggs.

This is their milking parlor right after a milking session. The cows get a little grain with their milking session including some whole wheat which the cows don't digest but encourages the cickens to scratch through the manure.

They test each batch of milk for Somatic Cell Count before it is bottled and sold. The Somatic Cell Count tests for white blood cells which indicate an immune response on the part of the cow. Chrissie, the farmer at Kookoolan, notes that her milk regularly tests in the low 100s count per million. In Washington and California where raw milk is licesensed by the state milk must test under 10,000 to be sold. I recently found an article addressing commercial dairy farmers attempts to keep somatic cell counts under 100,000.

Maybe the Pus-In-Milk Guy (er, PETA activist) who set up his table at our college campus wasn't really all that wrong....

chrissie

nobody@flickr.com (AlyssssylA) — Fri, 15 May 2009 15:41:48 -0700

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Kookoolan Hen House

nobody@flickr.com (AlyssssylA) — Fri, 15 May 2009 15:42:03 -0700

AlyssssylA posted a photo:

One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn't belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?

Find the Not Hen in the Hen House!

lookingatchicks

nobody@flickr.com (AlyssssylA) — Fri, 15 May 2009 15:42:26 -0700

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chicks

nobody@flickr.com (AlyssssylA) — Fri, 15 May 2009 15:41:40 -0700

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calve2

nobody@flickr.com (AlyssssylA) — Fri, 15 May 2009 15:37:00 -0700

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Kookoolan Farm Haul!

nobody@flickr.com (AlyssssylA) — Fri, 15 May 2009 15:36:36 -0700

AlyssssylA posted a photo:

I took my veterinary science class to visit Kookoolan Farm in Yamhill today. Chrissie, the farmer, gave us a great tour and we got to meet their milking cows, some calves, hens and chicks and see their new orchard and garden. What a beautiful farm!

What I am most impressed with is how little "farming" experience either Chrissie or her husband had before they bought their farm 4 years ago. She says she had never even had a pet before they ordered 100 day old chicks. They didn't even have the barn built yet!

I'm also completely impressed with how successful they've been at forging relationships with their neighbors. They raise beef cattle with one neighbor, lambs with another and pheasants with a third. The partner farms provide land and labor while Kookoolan Farms provides slaughtering facilities and upscale marketing to locavores and foodies - like me :)

Chicken

nobody@flickr.com (AlyssssylA) — Fri, 15 May 2009 15:37:13 -0700

AlyssssylA posted a photo:

A free range, egg hen at Kookoolan Farm. She came right up to our group... "Got something for me?"

Hen at Kookoolan Farms

nobody@flickr.com (AlyssssylA) — Fri, 15 May 2009 15:37:32 -0700

AlyssssylA posted a photo:

This hen lives at Kookoolan Farms, a diversified, grass based farm in Yamhill, OR. One of her compatriots, or more like a number of her compatriots, provided the liver for my chicken liver pate. Check out the rest of the story, including why liver is just so darn good for you here:
realfoodmyway.blogspot.com/2009/05/you-can-please-some-of...

Calf

nobody@flickr.com (AlyssssylA) — Fri, 15 May 2009 15:36:49 -0700

AlyssssylA posted a photo:

A 3 week old calf at Kookoolan Farm in Yamhill, OR.

He wasn't terribly excited to be mobed by a group of middle schoolers or get his picture taken.

chicken3

nobody@flickr.com (AlyssssylA) — Fri, 15 May 2009 15:37:18 -0700

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chicken2

nobody@flickr.com (AlyssssylA) — Fri, 15 May 2009 15:37:24 -0700

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chicken

nobody@flickr.com (AlyssssylA) — Fri, 15 May 2009 15:37:08 -0700

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