Seasonal Cheese Sale!!!

Guess what!?! We want to spread Christmas Cheer by making cheese available for everyone, no matter your budget! We now have a online sale at our website. Our half pounds have been slashed from $6.50 to $5.00 and our pounds have dropped from $13.00 to $10.00!  In addition to that if you buy 5 packages (no matter what size) or more you get FREE SHIPPING!!!  Yep you heard that right, no matter where you are if you get 5 packages or more your shipping is on us! 

As our cheese ages it matures and experiences some changes, just like the rest of us!  Cheddar continues to get sharper as it ages, and as of our last taste test our Artisan Farmhouse Cheddar has officially atained the title of medium to sharp, instead of mild.  The Tomato Basil and Garlic Herb hasn't changed as much so they still fit in the mild to medium category.  Our Swiss is no longer a Baby!  Although we haven't made a new label yet the Baby Swiss is much more like a full bodied swiss than a baby.  Our yummy mild Jersey Jack hasn't changed a bit!  It is still smooth and creamy, perfect for all your cooking needs!

Whatever your choice be sure to take advantage of this stellar sale!

Wordless Wednesday: Beads on a String...

Cow Tales: Miss Maid - The Birthday Girl!

Our featured cow is turning 7 years old today!  Miss Maid was born in Oregon on September 6, 2005, she joined our herd as a baby that November.  Miss Maid is one of our best milkers at 19,757 lbs of milk in one year, she also produces high milk fat (5%) and protein (3.1%).  Jersey's often have a 3% or better milk fat (whole milk from the store has a 3% milk fat content), but as you can see Miss Maid is well above that - which means her milk is excellent for cheese, butter and ice cream!

Miss Maid has a famous grandmother - Tennessee Hauge Maid-93 - she is famous for setting a high milk production record in her day and having a very high milk fat.  Additionally she was the only cow in a university trial that never got mastitis!  (This is good news for our herd because genetics contribute to the ability to resist diseases such as mastitis - as such Miss Maid and her progeny are improving the overall strength of our herd through their resistance to mastitis!  Also, since we cannot keep a cow in the herd after she has used antibiotics, we have been breeding for cows who have more natural resistance - Miss Maid has been a great help toward that end!)

Miss Maid is even friendly to the other cows.

Miss Maid has one daughter, Little Maid, one granddaughter, Piety, and two grandsons, Matthew and Monster, who have stayed in the herd so far.  They have all been wonderful contributions and we look forward to watching her continued influence in the herd.

Miss Maid is a friendly cow who enjoys being petted and often follows us around before and after milking.  We expect her to have a long and productive life ahead of her in the herd!

Grilling with Brickhouse: Garlic Herb Grilled Tomatoes

Yesterday we talked about how to make some yummy Grilled Tomato Basil Chicken for your main dish.  Today we are going to make a super simple side dish - Grilled Garlic Herb Tomatoes featuring Brickhouse Cheese!

Grilled Garlic Herb Tomatoes

Ingredients:

2 tomatoes (preferably heirlooms!)
1/8 lb Brickhouse Garlic Herb Cheddar, shredded
Salt and pepper to taste

Wash your lovely tomatoes and slice along the 'equator'.

Place cut side down on a hot grill until you get some nice grill marks. (About 10 minutes or so.)

While you are waiting shred the cheese...

Be sure to shred enough to snack on while you are at it!

Flip the tomatoes over and generously sprinkle the cheese on the cut sides.  Grill until desired consistency.  (I grilled them about 10 minutes longer - until the chicken was ready.)

Serve with Brickhouse Tomato Basil Grilled Chicken and some corn on the cob and you have a delicious summertime feast!

Grilling with Brickhouse: Brickhouse Tomato Basil Grilled Chicken

Summer just begs celebrating by grilling out, and here at Brickhouse we're spicing up our grilling with some cheese - not just any cheese of course!

For our main course we added a yummy surprise to the center of our grilled chicken - Tomato Basil Cheddar from Brickhouse Cheese!

Brickhouse Tomato Basil Grilled Chicken

Ingredients:

2 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 Cups Italian salad dressing
1/4 lb. Brickhouse Tomato Basil Cheese
2 skewers or toothpicks

Marinade chicken in the fridge for 3-6 hours.  Make a slit in the chicken that forms a pocket, tuck a generous chunk of Tomato Basil in to this pocket and secure closed with a skewer or toothpick.

Open the chicken, but don't cut all the way to make a pocket!

Fill the pocket with some Tomato Basil Cheddar!

'Sew' a skewer or toothpick into the chicken to hold in the cheese.

Place on the grill and cook until juices run clear (about 20 minutes, depending on the temperature f your grill).  

Serve with some fresh corn on the cob and Brickhouse Garlic and Herb Grilled Tomatoes and you have a summer feast fit for a king!

Wordless Wednesday

*Disclaimer:  We have had some concern about the fact that this doesn't look like a Jersey.  Several years ago we tried crossbreeding some of our cows that were having problems with mastitis in hopes of increasing their offspring's resistance.  We crossbred 4 of our Jerseys with New Zealand Ayrshires (another dairy breed).  We have sold all of the cows from those crosses, this is a steer we kept from one of those crosses.  It's hard to tell from his color, but he is 3/4 Jersey and 1/4 Ayrshire.  He is in with our young heifers (the ones in the background) so he has company until it is time to harvest him.  Good eye, readers! Good eye!

Afraid to crack that egg?

We've all done it.  You are digging in the fridge and find a mysterious carton of eggs.  How long has that been there?  Are they still good?  Do I dare crack one to find out?  Never fear!  Here's a sure fire way to tell how old those eggs are!  

With all of the chickens running around here we sometimes have a surplus of eggs and lose track of what order they were collected in! When that happens we pull out a bowl or glass of water and give the eggs a little bath.  If they float we know they are old and need tossed, if they sink we know they are nice and fresh!

Just like this...

 The brown egg just happens to be really old, so it floats like a cork.  The white egg is fresh so it sinks all the way to the bottom.

So what exactly is going on here?  Well egg shells aren't as solid as we tend to think.  They are actually porous to allow gas exchange in case there is a chick growing inside.  Over time the dense liquid inside the egg can evaporate and shrink, allowing more air to displace the space left behind.  Eventually the egg is so much lighter that it floats when placed in water!  Obviously this doesn't happen all at once so there is a gradient of where the egg stays once placed in the water.  The freshest eggs lay right on the bottom, the oldest float to the top, and those in between - well, they settle somewhere in between the top and bottom.

Surfing around on the web you will find lots of opinions about what to do with the "floaters".  Some say toss them, some say that as long as they were stored at an appropriate temperature you can use them for boiled eggs - here at the farm we like to play it safe and toss all the ones that float.  We also try to use only the freshest eggs in things we might consume raw (like cookie dough!).

So next time you encounter those 'mystery eggs' confront them confidently with a bowl of water and you will never be surprised by that awful sulfur smell again!



For liability reasons I must remind you that suggestions from Brickhouse Cheese are not to replace safe handling practices of your food.  Brickhouse Cheese takes no responsibility for illness that might occur from any of our suggestions or recipes.

Mighty Mouser: Miss Kitty

Mmmm that was a tasty snack, got some more?

Miss Kitty is the Momma cat around here. She is the physical mother to several if our young cats and figurative mother to some of the older!  She came to the farm three winters ago.  Like most of our cats we aren't sure where she came from and assume someone dropped her off.  She was in rough shape, as we worked to nurse her back to health it quickly became evident that she was "with kittens".  Unfortunately, she chose a poor place to have them and we lost one to the cold before we could get her and them in a warmer spot.  She has proved her worth since then and become a wonderful addition to our mousing team.

Showing off her pretty tortoise shell while being camera shy.

Miss Kitty is a unique color of cat called a calico - it means she has three colors, white, black and orange.  Calicoes aren't common, and due to the required genetic combination for this color they are almost always female.  Only about 1% of calicoes are male, and of those males 99.9% are sterile.

Dad has always preferred calicoes for farm cats for multiple reasons.  The first two are kind of interconnected, calicoes are very good mothers and they are very good mousers.  Whether they are good mousers because they are good mothers or vice versa could become a protracted circular argument, but that doesn't make either fact less true.  The other reason Dad likes them is he thinks they're very pretty :)

Miss Kitty has lived up to the general calico reputation, she is a great mouser and mother - she even tries to mother cats that aren't her kittens! 

While being rather camera shy Miss Kitty is a very affectionate cat.  She is one of the first to wrap around your leg on the way to the parlor.

She would much rather give lovings than photos.

Add these traits to her beautiful fur features and it's no wonder that she made it to the rank of "Mighty Mouser"! 

Chick Update!

Remember these little guys?  

Well they aren’t so little anymore!  

These young’uns have long since graduated to a chicken house of their own and have started grazing outside with the rest of our flock!  

While they aren’t ready to lay eggs yet they will be soon.  

Exploring outside the coop!

For right now their job is to keep growing so that they are ready to contribute when the time comes!

Mighty Mousers: Rosie

No, not Mighty Mouse (though we might have a few of those around too!), Mighty Mousers are our beautiful and essential cats!  All of our animals here at Brickhouse have and job, and our cats aren’t excluded from that.  Cats serve an important role in keeping our feed supply safe and clean for the cows by keeping it rodent free!

When mice or rats get into our grain supply they can introduce all kinds of nasties that spoil the grain, including molds and their droppings (ewg…).  In addition they carry a disease called Leptospirosis.  If a cow gets infected with this disease (“Lepto” to many farmers) it causes her to miscarry her calf.  Even if the cow recovers, she will continue to shed the virus and poses a potential danger to the rest of the herd.  Because of this if one of the cows is discovered with this disease they often have to leave the herd.  While we vaccinate against this disease, just like the flu there are many strains and we cannot protect against all of them.  Thus preventing possible vectors (such as rats and mice) is an important part of keeping our heard healthy.

That’s where our Mighty Mousers spring into action!  In these segments we are going to give you access to our awesome line-up of felines – Starting with Rosie!

There is a strict hierarchy in our little pride of kitties and Rosie decided she wanted to be everyone’s adopted mother!  She has been seen seeking out other cats to share her catches, and even cleaning them up as if they were her kittens!

Her loving attitude isn’t restricted to other cats!  Rosie is most notably the friendliest cat on the farm.  Whenever she sees you coming to the barn she always greets you with a friendly mew and a rub on the leg, inviting you to scratch her ears.  She is the most common companion throughout chores and while we know she is a proficient mouser she definitely won’t turn her nose up at some spilt milk!

Stay tuned to meet the rest of our furry super heros!

Feathered Friends - Purple Martins

We have lots of birds around the Brickhouse, but some of them are particularly helpful to us.  The top three are Purple Martins, Brown Headed Cow Birds, and Barn Martins.  These birds all perform unique and important roles around the farm.

Of these, Mom’s favorite is the Purple Martin.

Purple Martins are one of the biggest of the swallows, measuring in at roughly 20 cm long beak to tail.  You can recognize them by their slightly forked tail and beautiful acrobatics in the air.  Adult males are solid black with a glossy steel blue sheen, females are dark on their tops with some of the same sheen and light on their bellies. 

Purple Martins are migratory birds (moving between North and South America each year) that like to return to the same nesting place year after year; this habit is called “site fidelity”.  As long as nothing disrupts their breeding/hatching success (such as predators) a pair of purple martins will return to that same site their entire life.

Getting ready to hunt some more after a short visit to the nest!

Purple Martins also possess a quality known as “site tenacity”, this means they can and will fight for their nesting sites.  This is a good thing because they have heavy competition for nesting sites from starlings and sparrows.  While we try to discourage these competitors, without help from the Martins themselves we would never see a successful hatching of Martins.  Part of this competition comes from the fact that all three birds are called “cavity-nesters” and prefer manmade housing of similar size.  While the sparrows are genuinely looking for a home, many times the starlings are looking for surrogate parents for their young and will kick out Martin’s eggs, laying their own in place of them and then leave so the Martins will raise their young.   Since these competitors are not protected or endangered, almost every spring the boys can be seen protecting the Martin houses while the birds are establishing their new nests for the year.

A Male and Female keeping watch over their nests.

The biggest reason we love martins and work hard to attract and protect them is their diet.  Purple Martins are obligate areal insectivores – which is a fancy way of saying they only eat flying insects and they only eat then while flying themselves.  Martins are also generalists (aren’t we all?  I know I love food in general!) which means as long as it flies it is on the menu.  As such they eat a huge variety of insects, including but not limited to: beetles, FLIES, midges, mayflies, bees, wasps, moths, MOSQUITOS, damselflies, grasshoppers, butterflies and leaf hoppers.   We especially love the inclusion of flies and mosquitoes in their diet, and they eat a lot, especially since they can feed their babies up to 60 times per day! 

Martins love to practice their eating aerobatics while we mow the pastures.  They swoop around in front of and behind the tractor as it scares up bugs of all kinds.

Eating is not the only thing these birds do on the fly.  They also drink and bathe while flying!  It is so neat to watch them soaring over the pond and then suddenly dipping lower to skim the water with their beak, leaving a pretty V in their wake.

We so appreciate these marvelous birds, and even go so far as to add them to our list of feathered friends!

Drought Reaches Brickhouse...

Drought is something many of us don't think about in our day to day routines, something from Bible stories or suffered by people living on other continents.  This summer, however, we have been reminded that drought can reach right into the heart of our very own neighborhoods.  The 2012 drought is the largest of the last 50 years and in the top ten for droughts of this century, it is even starting to rival the dust bowl (source from The Weather Channel's site).  And that was just at the end of June, not counting the continued lack of rain into July.  What does this mean?  Well, for most folks it just means ugly yards and hotter temperatures, for farmers it threatens their livelihoods.


The consequences at Brickhouse are twofold, both immediate and delayed.  The immediate consequence is decreased quantity/quality of our pastures.  Remember those lush green pastures Grandpa was mowing in our previous post?  They have turned brown and crispy just like the lawns in your neighborhood.  We have to be very careful how we graze the pastures now.  Too much grazing will permanently damage the stand of forage since the cows will overgraze the few green things left in the pasture.  This also means the cows aren't getting what they need from the pasture as they usually do.  So we are needing to pull from those stores of hay we put up for winter to supplement their diets now.

Just two months ago...

Same pasture right now...

That's where the delayed consequences come in.  We are already feeding hay to keep the cows healthy - hay that was intended for winter months when there wasn't enough pasture to graze on.  Not only are we depleting those stores very early, we also are not going to have opportunity to make much extra hay to compensate since the hay fields are stunted and brown right now too.  Normally we can expect four cuttings of hay in a season.  We were able to put up two from most of our fields before the drought set in - we have already missed the window for the third and now may not be able to make the fourth (normally we stop cutting the hay fields during early fall to give the plants time to store up carbs for the winter).


In addition to the anticipated roughage (hay) shortage, this drought and accompanying high temps hit corn growers at a crucial time.  Corn pollinates during a period called "tasseling" where it releases its pollen which fertilizes the corn seeds.  Without fertilization the corn plant cannot make corn.  Period.  No second chances.  Pollen is very sensitive to temperature and humidity.  If it is too dry the pollen will dehydrate and be unsuccessful.  If it is too hot (above approximately 88*F for an extended period of time) the pollen will die and, of course, be unsuccessful.  We had exactly those conditions for two long weeks during which most of the corn in our area was "tasseling".  Much of the nation suffered similar conditions.  This means that we will not have enough corn to supply our needs as we usually do, and that it will be unusually expensive to buy corn because of a nationwide shortage.


So what's a dairy farmer to do?  Co-ops around the country are brainstorming and communicating with their growers to figure out that exact question as we speak.  While we don't have a complete plan yet, one of the things we know will happen here at Brickhouse is making more silage and less grain corn.  When making grain corn we only harvest the ears of corn and leave the stalk behind.  This give us the most concentrated energy and is simplest to store for future use.  Silage however uses the whole stalk.  While its not as nutritionally dense as grain, it does provide more roughage and will help offset the shortage of hay we are experiencing. 

Another option being considered on a national level is temporarily shutting down ethanol plants (the ones that use corn to make fuel).  This would reduce demand for corn and make it more available for farmers who need it for feed.


While its going to make for a rough year, here at Brickhouse we are hunkering down and doing all we can to prepare for the added challenges coming our way.  


How has the drought affected your neighborhood and what steps are you taking to counter the damage?

Lessons From the Ant, Preparing Baleage for Winter

Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones.
    Learn from their ways and become wise! Though they have no prince
    or governor or ruler to make them work,
 they labor hard all summer,
    gathering food for the winter.

Proverbs 6:6-8

Ants are creatures of little strength,
    yet they store up their food in the summer...

Proverbs 30:25

In order to survive and be successful we need to be wise in how we manage our time and resources.  We need to look to the future and be prepared to care for ourselves and those under our care, including our animals.  We seek wisdom from many places; those more experienced around us, scripture and nature itself to name a few.  All of these sources tell us that though it may be hard to think about winter’s cold during a balmy summer day, we must not only think about it, but also prepare for it.  Thus much of the work during summer is preparation for winter’s bite.

It is no small feat to get enough hay, grain, silage and baleage stored to feed roughly 200 plus cattle (including dry cows and heifers) from late October to early April when there isn’t enough grass in pasture to sustain them.  It takes all of us working in concert, the weather cooperating, and equipment working at peak standard to get it all done.  Each feed type has its own unique process to get it cow and storage ready.  Today we will look at baleage (remember baleage from our last Farmerese lesson?).

Once the hay is tall enough and we have a forecast of enough sunshine to get the jobs done (hopefully three days to a week), tractors start up and head to the field.  It takes all generations working together to get this job done efficiently.  Roger’s Dad, Benny (first generation), comes in to help Roger (second generation) and the boys cut and rake the hay, Roger usually operates the baler, Andrew (third generation) is often on the rake or helping to move hay bales and Daniel (also third generation) operates the wrapper.  When he is available to help Rob (Lisa’s dad) comes and fills in where needed.

Long windrows of hay waiting to be baled!

It is a bit of a mad rush to get the 70 acres of hay that are good enough quality for baleage cut, raked, baled, moved to the wrapper and wrapped at just the right stage.  Baleage is a little trickier than dry hay (which true to its name, completely dries out before baling) because it needs to retain just the right amount of moisture to ferment (somewhere between 55 and 65%).  If the hay is too dry, the microorganisms won’t grow quickly enough and the hay just rots, if it is too wet the microorganism population explodes but then quickly runs out of food, also causing spoilage. 

Fresh big bale from the baler!

Once baled we wrap our big bales in white plastic using a special machine that gets the plastic very tight so air cannot get in (which can also ruin the baleage).  It’s really neat to watch this machine at work. 

Our "in-line" wrapper.

See this piece of equipment in action on our Facebook page!

The cows absolutely love this; we love for them to have it too.  Because of the added moisture the cows can consume more of this without needing to take a break to drink like with dry hay.  The more food they can eat the more milk they can make (within reason of course)!  It’s so funny to see them crowd around a freshly opened bale in the winter, sometimes steaming in the cold air due to the lingering heat from the fermentation process.  After a few summer months fermenting in the heat this baleage will be just what the cows are craving on those cold winter mornings.

At the end of a long day's work I think we’ve completed work even an ant would be proud of.

Snaking rows of completed baleage.

Farmerese: The Cow Diet

In case you missed our first ‘Farmerese’ post, ‘Farmerese is a dialect used by farmers to describe situations (animals, equipment, procedures, etc.) specific to the farm.  These posts are elaborations on the original list from ‘Our Ohio’ to help decode farmer phrases that may sound like a different language!

While it may seem like a cow’s diet is straight forward enough (cows eat grass, right?), dairy cows actually have a very diverse diet and nutritional needs that require a lot of input from the farmer.  For the peak growing season our cows only get a little supplemental feed (grain in the parlor and hay to munch on while they wait to be milked).  During fall and winter months however these supplements are much more important.  

Mineral/ Salt Blocks – Cows get most of their nutritional needs from their feed, but just like us there are some things they don’t get enough of.  Instead of giving the cows multi-vitamins, we leave out salt and mineral blocks for the to lick on.  Cows are very good at ‘self-diagnosing’, if they need a particular nutrient, they usually crave it and seek it out.  Salt and mineral blocks contain the nutrients cows most often need extra of or that they don’t usually get from their feed (often micronutrients like zinc).  We have these in every pasture and the girls take advantage of them as needed.  

Seaweed – Dried seaweed is actually very high in mineral content and we supply this to our cows as an alternative to the mineral blocks.  It is loose and resembles dried herbs.  The cows find it particularly tasty in the summer!

Dry hay – Dry hay is very important to our cows diet during the fall and winter months when grass is dwindling or non-existent.  We mow fields that have specific mixes of grass and legumes which we know make high quality hay.  Once mowed this hay air dries, is raked into windrows and then baled (usually into large round bales).  Our girls eat this in the winter as a replacement for grass.

Baleage – Very similar to silage expect using hay bales!  We cut and rake the hay as usual, but we don’t let it dry out all the way like we would for dry hay.  The remaining moisture allows the hay to ferment.  Once baled into big bales we wrap the bales in plastic, sealing in the moisture and sealing out the air.  After a month or so this is ready for cow consumption.  The only difference between baleage and haylage is that baleage is made from hay that has been baled while haylage is loose hay.  The cows love this stuff!

Silage – Silage is fermented corn.  Unlike shell corn (which just uses the grain of corn taken off the cob), silage uses the whole stalk, leaves, cob and all.  All of this is coarsely ground and then fermented in tall, round buildings called silos.  This process helps to break down the fibrous content of the corn stalks so they are easily digested by the cow, it also adds more roughage to her diet than just plain corn would.  The cows love the high moisture content, especially during the hot summer months. 

Shell corn – Field corn is allowed to dry on the stalk.  We then take a machine called a combine through the field that strips the corn cobs off the stalk.  Once off the stalk the corn is shelled, which means the dry kernels are separated from the cob.

Ground feed – This is simply grain (from any source but most often corn) ground into a coarse powder similar to the texture of whole wheat flour or corn meal.  If using corn it can be left on the cob or shelled before grinding.  Sometimes corn and soybeans are combined during the grinding process.  Our girls get individual portions of ground feed while in the milking parlor.

TMR – TMR stands for Total Mixed Ration.  While we don’t have the equipment for this here at Brickhouse, many dairies use this to mix grain with hay or silage so the cows get all their feed in one place.  This helps when you are feeding lots of cows at one time in long bunks.  If you put out the plain grain some cows would get more than their share.  It helps slow the cows down as they eat and ensures they get enough roughage to balance the concentrated nutrients in the corn.

Beans - Typically farmers are referring to soybeans when they talk about beans.  Beans add protein and energy to feed rations, soybean hulls are a great source of fiber!

Watch out for the next post about the making of baleage!

Wordless Wednesday

Buzzy Work...

Bees love it here at the farm!  Because many of the forages cows like are the same things bees like we have no shortage of pollinators around here!

White clover is a natural favorite of our striped friends, but they can be found on alfalfa, hairy vetch, red clover and a myriad of other seasonal, blooming forages.  

Since we have moved to organic pasture based practices we have seen a sharp increase in pollinators that are particularly sensitive to pesticides, bees included.  Many people think this increase in population is solely due to the lack of pesticides sprayed on the crops, but just as damaging are the pesticides applied to the cattle.  When we were conventional, we used a pour-on pesticide (meaning it was poured on the cow’s back and absorbed through her skin, much like Advantage for pets) to keep lice, ticks, flies and other pests off the cows.  While the pesticide didn’t seem to bother her much, she would be shedding them wherever she defecated, on and off the barn lot.  This, in effect meant that all of our pastures and fields were having low doses of pesticide applied to them daily via the cows.

In the organic system we use alternative methods to control these pests, including (but not limited to) dung beetles to carry away nesting places for fly larvae, predator wasps who lay their eggs in fly larvae and essential oil sprays on the cows.  While it took time for the ground to recover and for these natural methods to take effect, we now have efficient pest control without sacrificing our ‘bee’autiful pollinators!