Farm News 04-17-05

Sunday morning, after chores, 63°
The air is rich with Lilac and Koreanspice Viburnum

Fresh Asparagus

In a Tom Robbins novel, I think, the hero is eating fresh asparagus at a party when a young woman approaches the buffet and also picks up a spear to nibble on. He uses the great pickup line, “In twenty minutes we will have something in common; our urine will smell like rotten eggs.”

Asparagus is a great plant. Paula cuts asparagus spears from when they first appear in early April until the end of May. Then she lets them grow to replenish the roots. Asparagus is a perennial, that is, it doesn't die in the fall. The crown, the part, along with the roots, that lives through the winter, is a foot or so under the surface of the soil.

After she quits cutting the spears the plants rapidly form a dense green hedge across the north end of the garden. Chipping Sparrows will often nest in it. In the fall the female plants bear bright red berries that the birds will eat over the winter. The birds will shelter in the dead plants all winter. In early spring Paula cuts the dead stalks and soon we again have fresh asparagus.

Nyn's Bunnies Leave the Nest

Friday morning two of Nyn's ten bunnies were out of the nest box, snuggling up to their mother. Their eyes aren't fully open yet but they are ready to explore the world. This is the age when they fit perfectly into a shirt pocket.

Saturday morning eight of them were out of the nest. They're growing out of the fat little sausage stage to take the rounded shape of bunnies. Their heads still look too big for their bodies, though.

Dinosaurs in Sodom

For two years we had a pair of gay Red-winged Blackbirds visiting our bird feeder. These guys always showed up together and left together. Only one of them displayed and he was the first to go to the feeder. I never saw them engage in mating behavior, but you seldom see Red-wings do that; the females are shy and tend to stay hidden in brush.

This set me to wondering about variant sexual behaviors in birds. Yes, it occurs. There are several studies of lesbian gulls; there are two male buzzards in an Israeli zoo who build a nest every year and, after being given an egg, raise

Farm News 04-10-05

Farm News
Sunday morning, after chores, 54°, a beautiful Spring morning


Tinkerbell Lays Eggs

After a year of growing, Tinkerbell has categorically established her sex by starting to lay eggs. Some people can turn a goose upside down, look at its backside, and pronounce what sex it is. I can turn a goose upside down, look at its backside, and determine that geese can carry a grudge for a long time.

So, after a year of wondering, I now know that Tinkerbell is female. I have strongly suspected that she was female based on my method of sexing poultry. I leave them right side up and look at their faces. Then a say a dirty word. If they blush, they're probably female. Using this method I achieve about 40% accuracy, which is far better than the 25% or less accuracy when looking at the back sides.

One would think that 50% accuracy could be achieved by simply flipping a coin. Unfortunately, the laws of science interfere. The Astrophysical Ducks discussed this subject at length. They explained that, “The curvature of space causes things and events to be constantly going round the bend, so to speak. This leads to a universe in which the bizarre is constantly overwhelming the banal, making sex determination a science without sanity.” You can count on ducks to say things like that.

Nyn Has Ten

Nyn had eleven bunnies this time, ten of whom survived to three days. I should have tossed out two of the surviving bunnies, they are both tiny, but, you know . . .. So, if the runts continue to find their way to nurse often enough, Nyn will raise ten bunnies.

Nyn is a big gal, probably with lots of Checkered Giant ancestry. She could probably raise a calf if she could get it to lie down to nurse. She's slow and easygoing, generally, but if you pick her up and she doesn't like it she can kick pretty hard. This is her second litter, so she still has several productive years ahead.

When I started with rabbits I decided on Mini-Lops because of their docility. Ayte and Nyn, though, both big Checkered Giant types, produce such nice big babies. Do I choose rabbits for personality or production? I'm starting to think production, now. Most rabbits are pleasant enough whether their parents were selected for personality or production.

A bag of rabbit feed, 50 lb., costs $8.00 in Perry, currently, and the price is stable. I bought a bag on 4/1/05 but didn't start using it until 4/4/05. I'll start reporting rabbit feed consumption here and let's check it out. Currently, there are three production age Checkered Giant does: Nyn, Ayte, and Svenn. I haven't bred Svenn yet and she is simply a freeloader. Fluff, the buck, is a Mini-Lop. Rosie, who is not a very good mother, is also a Mini-Lop. Rosie has lost two litters and not an economically viable occupant of the rabbitry.

A 'Mini-Lop', by the way, is a small sort of rabbit with floppy ears that hang down. Floppy-eared rabbits are generally very docile and easy to handle. If I 'retire' Rosie then Fluff will be the only Mini-Lop there. He has a pleasant disposition but he sires small, slow-growing bunnies.

The two top production rabbit breeds are New Zealands and Californians. New Zealand rabbits are red in color and Californians are white with gray ears.

Birthing and Sexing Ungulates

A fellow turkey fancier obtained a pregnant llama who then presented her with a baby llama. She asked, “Anybody know how to tell if he is a she or she is a he?” That is a perfectly reasonable question from someone who is not familiar with ungulates (hoofed animals).

If you are with the mother when the baby is born, make certain the baby's nostrils are clear and then let the mother clean the baby. While the mother is doing this she'll have a long string of afterbirth stuff hanging out of her. As she licks the baby she is picking up a bunch of hormones that trigger off some of the maternal behaviors. The same goes for the afterbirth, she needs to be allowed to eat that stuff. Once the baby is cleaned off some, paint the end of the umbilical cord with a bit of iodine to prevent umbilical infections.

Sit down on a low stool and place the baby across your lap, legs dangling, umbilicus between your legs. Lift up it's tail and look under the tail. You will see the anus. If the baby is female there will be a clearly defined vulva (a vulva is 'v' shaped with a vertical slit opening) beneath the anus. If there is no vulva, then you have a male. You will know this is true if at this point the baby starts peeing on your leg.

Ungulate females have a genito-urinary tract ending at a vulva. The genito-urinary tract is both the birth canal and urinary canal.

Look the baby over carefully, check its hooves for development, unfold its ears, and begin teaching it that you won't hurt it. If the baby is to be adopted out or the mother is somewhat tentative about her new baby, squeeze out a few drops of milk from the mother onto the baby's face. The mother will smell her milk on the baby and decide it is hers.

Actually, what the mother produces for the first few days is not milk but colostrum, sticky yellowish stuff that contains a lot of startup hormones and immunity builders. I generally milk out a bit of colostrum from a new mother and freeze it in an ice cube tray. One cube of frozen goat colostrum, thawed and warm, is good starter fluid for almost any orphaned baby mammal.

Depending on the animal, babies can sometimes go several days before eating. If they seem healthy, don't worry. A lot of little ones need a few days of rest before starting out in the world. Others jump right up and take off. Some goats will start trying to hop before they are a day old.

Try to spend a few minutes touching and talking to the baby every day. Now is the time to socialize them to liking humans. Whenever possible, have other people join you when you visit the baby. Animals tend to be hyper-specific: they will learn to like you but be afraid of all other humans unless you introduce them to strangers early on. An animal that hasn't had lots of experience with both adults and children often won't recognize children as being people.

One of my favorite experiences was with a baby giraffe, born a few hour earlier. I watched it stand up for the first time. It was a little over seven feet tall and weighed about 200 pounds. Quite a baby.

Staying Out of the Nursing Home One More Year

Check out the new Windows Media Center PC:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediacenter/default.mspx

You can operate it from screen menus with a remote. And, the screen can, and should be, of course, big and wide; not a little PC monitor but a big home entertainment center screen. The PC can receive broadcast radio, XM sat radio, broadcast TV, cable, VCR, and DVD and can route all of those media feeds through a wireless network of speakers and display panels.

Imagine that Millie is seventy-seven, living alone on Social Security in a two room apartment, unable to walk. Sitting in a corner of her apartment is her “Cadillac”, a Media Center PC. She has a big flat panel display in the living room and a smaller one in the bedroom. Speakers are located in both rooms, as are microphones and video cameras, all connected to the computer. She carries her remote controller along with her cordless phone on a cord hanging around her neck.

Every morning at 7:00 am, her selected wakeup time, her home support system lights up the screens, her choice of music comes on, her favorite morning TV show appears in a window, and her wakeup menu appears in a larger window. The wakeup menu is a big window on the screen that, in Millie's case, says, “Good Morning Millie. How are you? [Fine, So-So, Terrible].” Millie clicks to indicate she's fine, the music fades, and her TV show window expands to fill the screen.

At 8:00 am, the computer interrupts the commercials with a menu to take her through her morning pills routine. ' . . .. Do you have 2 red pills, 1 white capsule, and 2 pink capsules and a glass of water?' “Okay” 'Take the pills, drink the water, and click okay.' “Okay” 'Have you had breakfast?' ”No.” 'Do you want to [1] Skip Breakfast [2] Go to the dining room [3] Eat in my room . . .'.

At 8:30, during the commercials, the computer calls Doris down the hall, just like it does every morning, and tells Millie to pick up her cordless phone, that Doris is on the line. At 9:30, 10:00, 10:30, and 11:00 the computer reminds Millie that it is Wednesday, the day for lunch with the Quilting Club, and that the bus will be here to pick her up at 11:30. It also reminds her to do her wheelchair push-ups, an exercise that helps reduce pressure sores.

Get the idea? Creating these sort of user interfaces, where the computer puts menus and reminders on the screen and reads them aloud is not rocket science by any means. There is no programming involved, it is all done by filling forms. The real difficulty is in deciding what sort of help Millie needs and how to get there through click menus. And if you think Millie might resent this as intrusion, you haven't thought much about life in a nursing home.

A great many seniors end up in long term care facilities because their families are afraid that they won't remember to take their pills. And, the families are usually right, but if Millie has a nice computer that interrupts her favorite TV program during commercial breaks to remind her to take her pills, then Millie might be able to stay at home one more year.

Today, Millie's home support system will cost $3-7,000. In sixteen months, the price range will probably be $2,500-12,000. If you add the installation costs then an average system will probably be about $5,000 in 2006-9. Millie's system will have ongoing costs for system support services and maintenance and a broadband Internet connection.

Using the internet, Millie's system can connect her to a full care facility for emergency services and possibly add even more months for her living at home. It can also connect her to her on line bridge group for bingo game or to a web cam connected to her granddaughter's computer. Millie can leave a video message for her granddaughter and then ask her computer to help her select and email cards for the family birthdays this month.

It can play videos of her great-grandchildren fifty times a day if she wishes; Millie's computer can store hundred of hours of video. Her computer, TV, and radio are all incorporated in one intelligent center with a remote control operated interface. Millie can control her system completely from her wheelchair.

How do you put this together? How can Millie have a system like that installed and maintained? In the IDFA model, home support service technicians, independent local licensees who operate regular service routes, provide everything from battery replacement service for every device in the home to installing home support software like Millie uses.

IDFA is interested in supporting the development of modular, plug-in system components for home support systems like Millie's and for hosting centers that provide on-line support for seniors. We would like to be involved in designing training programs for service technicians who will be installing, supporting, and maintaining Millie's system. IDFA believes that a network of self employed service and support technicians can be developed with on line training and certification, and that those technicians can become a critical component in reducing long term supportive care costs.

For the next fifty years senior services will be a major area of growth. Developing and supporting the software, the desktop scenarios, for home support software can and should be an open source project. Anything we can do to reduce the costs of senior care will be a service to our nation and should be able to attract the kind of funding necessary to create and support the software.

To contribute stories or complain send an email to FarmNews@GeezerNet.com . The editor reserves the right to steal ideas submitted, rewrite submissions, and sign false names to them whenever it strikes his fancy to do so.

Farm News 04-03-05

Farm News
Sunday morning, after chores, 54°, daffodils and hyacinths

No Baby Bunnies
Losing Rosie's litter left the farm with a hole in the continuum of bunny production. Ayte's bunnies are weaned and much too large to take visiting, but there are not yet any baby bunnies growing to take the place of Ayte's litter. I still have Svenn, but don't want to breed her because I would like to keep the number of mother rabbits down to three.
On the top deck in the rabbitry are three cages ideal in size for big mother rabbits. The lower deck has four of the cages in the same length, about ten feet. The lower deck cages are adequate for Fluff, the buck, and any weanlings needing rearing. By using just two of the cages for weanlings, I could convert the last cage to use for rats, mice, both, or something else such as hamsters.
I like rats. They're interesting animals. Actually, all animals are interesting, but rats have been domesticated for so long that they are better tuned to attracting the interest and care of a human. Now, I'm not talking about wild rats, I'm talking about domesticated, tame, nice rats, usually white, but sometimes with neat color patterns. Once, I saw, at the same animal sale, rats and pigeons with the same patterning. Both were primarily white with ruffs of brown that stood out instead of lying flat.
When an undergraduate, with even less intelligence than that usually implies for males, I had a pet rat named Butch. Butch was a fine fellow with a pleasant disposition, even though he was a refugee I liberated from a university psychology lab where the ideas of B. F. Skinner ruled. Freed from the rigors of learning to run a maze for maize, he took to stealing cigarettes, which tells you something both about cigarettes and rats.
Butch would find his way to a smoker's shoulder and settle down as if here were going to behave himself. Then, when the moment was right, he would lean down to the smoker's shirt pocket, seize a cigarette from the pack, and run away. Once clear, he would bite the cigarette at several places along its length, making it unusable, drop it, and, using a circuitous route, return to the smoker's shoulder, apparently hoping his theft would be forgotten.
Rats are in the lead for the rodent of choice. Hamsters don't do much, nor do Gerbils. Mice are nice and make good owl and snake food, so I would consider them. Beavers are way too big and so are groundhogs. Does anyone have any suggestions?

The Radio, The Rooster, and The Dog
I was sitting in the hayloft of the barn, listening to an interview on NPR. The person being interviewed had written a book on bird calls, and they were playing clips of the bird calls. They played some Chickadee calls that were mostly above my hearing range and then spent quite a while playing the calls of a Wood Thrush.
Claudius, the Bantam Golden Sebright rooster, and Drusilla West Wall, Drusilla2, and Drusilla3, his three hens, were quietly roosting above the barn door where they could easily poop on my head if I stopped under them. Trusty, the hyperactive puppy, was in the hayloft chewing on something.
Then, from the radio, came the call of a Barred Owl. A fraction of a second after the call of the Barred Owl began, Claudius was on his feet, alert, and making the chicken alert call, a sort of rising trill. Trusty jumped up, looked at Claudius, then ran to in front of the radio and stopped, listening intently, I assumed, and later modified to 'looking intently'.
My impression was that Trusty had just learned to associate the call of a Barred Owl with a threat to the bantams. Smart dog. I usually consider smart animals to be a nuisance, but Trusty might change my mind. His predecessor was dumber than a barn door but excellent company. Trusty is so active that he isn't always the best of company, but he sure is a lot smarter than the barn door.
Trusty's tendency to 'guard' consists of a lot more complex stuff than a simple 'instinct'. One part of it, which I learned from Temple Grandin's Animals in Translation is that many mammals enjoy pursuing the solutions to problems. Finding the solution is not the pleasure generating activity, searching for the solution is. Trusty's world of problems seems to include a great deal of matching up visual examination with scents and sounds he detects.

Thanksgiving Goes Broody
Thanksgiving, the Blue Slate hen turkey, built a nice nest, laid ten eggs, and went broody. She has been on the nest for a week, now, and seems very determined. We'll see. She has eight eggs left, I had collected numbers 2 and 3 and brought them in to eat.
Most barnyard birds lay a lot of eggs before going broody and some, like the commercial layers, lay almost year round without ever going broody, relying on hatcheries for reproduction. Khaki Campbell ducks will lay all summer if you leave one or two eggs in the nest. If the count builds up to a dozen or more eggs in the nest the duck goes broody.
Just because a bird starts setting on eggs doesn't mean that babies will hatch. Stuff we tend to pass off simply as 'instinctual behavior' is often more subtle than we suspect. In the end, the hatch rate (percent of eggs that hatch) for an incubator is seldom any better than the hatch rate of a mother bird setting on ten eggs. Incubators offer the advantage of being able to hatch hundreds of eggs at a time.
Long time readers might remember the Astrophysical Ducks. The AD's were eight Khaki Campbell ducks who had taken an interest in astrophysics. One of those ducks was a female to always carefully hid her nest under brush piles or thorny shrubs. She would lay about twenty eggs and then go broody. About two weeks later she would reappear, say something about her contract including sabbaticals, and then engage in typical duck leisure and play. Two or three days later she would go back to her nest and settle down on her now chilled and unhatchable eggs. I've always said that females have no place in astrophysics.

Time Changes
A person would think that the religious right would take on the government over this weird habit of changing the time twice a year. What's wrong with using God's time all year? If God had intended for the sun to be somewhere other than overhead at noon he would have put it there.
We should at least be able to hire someone who can operate all these things to come to our house to change all the various clocks in microwaves, coffeemakers, VCR's, wristwatches, and so on, and deduct the cost from our state taxes.

Farm News Changes Format
Some people, like my daughter and her husband and his father, have strange attachments to a certain fruit brand of computer. Their wonderful graphics machines crash under the impact of descriptions of chicken poop encoded in html. Therefore, Farm News will be plain text for a while.
Farm News is mailed by a program called e-Newsletter Manager. It is a free product of a company called e-Undertown, an Italian firm, I think. E-Undertown's main business is creating software for managing the maze of public services routed around underneath cities. Underground utilities are a nuisance on this place. I've cut the telephone line twice and a waterline once. I appreciate the use of e-Newsletter Manager and thought I'd mention it.
There are 97 subscribers to Farm News, currently. I don't have a hit counter on the blog, but I doubt if it gets much action. At the current rate of growth, I will, if I live to my goal of 115 years, become a lesser known newsletter author by the time I die. Good.

Saturday Morning Bunnies
Nyn produced bunnies sometime Friday night. Later this week I'll check them out and count them. There are live bunnies in there, though, because I could see the fur move.

E-mail Subscribers: Subscriptions are free until 2036, when they will increase to $5 per year. To subscribe, unsubscribe, contribute stories, complain or send a gift subscription, send an email to FarmNews@GeezerNet.com . The editor reserves the right to steal ideas submitted, rewrite submissions, and sign false names to them whenever it strikes his fancy to do so.