Historical Colonial Farm, part 1 - Animals

Today we took a field trip to an Historical Colonial Farm located about an hour away. The farm is also a living museum with actor/employees dressed to the part and performing chores just as they would have in Colonial America around 1770. It was a very chilly day, so we were able to understand the need for small rooms in order to take full advantage of the heat from the fireplace. For some unknown reason, Isabella had slipped into the truck without her jacket, and like all mothers, I chose to give her my polar fleece liner rather than see her shiver out of her skin. I only tell you this to explain why it appears her coat does not fit her!

When we arrived and made our way through the front entrance, we immediately found ourselves in another time period. The fences were stacked split rails with varying heights of 4-6 feet depending on which animals they were keeping in our out of certain pastures. It gave a very natural feeling to the farm as opposed to a more commercialized and sterile feeling of corporate farms today. It can be noticed though the colonists were focused on trying to work with nature and not against it as they had been taught from the Native Americans. There was a force to not waste anything, including land for single purpose breeds of animals. Heritage Breeds as they are referred to today, are typically dual purpose but the most important distinction is their ability to breed naturally. Did you know the butterball turkey you eat at Thanksgiving was artificially inseminated then brooded in an incubator? The commercialized breeds of today are single purpose. You either get chicken who make lots of eggs or ones that create lots of meat. A dual purpose chickens like Dominiques, Orpingtons, Delawares or Rhode Island Reds are good for both meat and eggs. While they do not produce the higher egg count or higher body weight of commercial breeds, they provide enough of both to make them useful. Plus, the chances of a dual purpose breed actually sitting (brooding) on her eggs and hatching them is far greater than the commercial breed which were selectively bred to not sit on their eggs. Why do this? Chickens will stop laying eggs while hatching out a clutch. To a commercial egg factory, a loss of egg production for 28-35 days when a nice machine can do the job is not in their best interest.

This same concept is applied to most of the animals from Colonial time to the breeds of today. Our first encounter was the Milking Devons. Most of us know there are meat cows, Angus, and dairy cows, Holstein. The Milking Devon was also a dual purpose animal. It produced enough meat to make it worthy of raising and was able to be milked for 10 months out of the year. Granted it does not produce the 8-10 gallons a day of milk of a Holstein or the 15-1700 lbs of meat of an Angus, but how many of us really need that much? The Milking Devons are now listed as critical for extinction. You can find many Devons, the milking quality had been bred out of them. I asked one of the employees how much one of the Milking Devons sold for, he said it use to be you could get them pretty cheap, but since they are so few in numbers now, the four in the particular field we were looking at were in quarantine to be sold for $4500. That price covered two heifers and two male calves. The money was being applied to the purchase of a breeding pair of oxen from the time period at a price of $5000.

Our next encounter with the animals was the Spanish Black Turkeys or just Black Turkeys. These birds originated from America, were brought back to Spain. In Spain they were bred to other native turkeys and the new breed, Spanish Black, was brought over with the colonists.

At first, we were a little leery of these free ranging, pasture birds. This particular tom was all over the farm watching over his girls. When we first arrived, he was not too sure about us. He kept fluffing up and gobbling for us to stand back. He calmed down later and hardly made notice of our presence. I have to say, they are much prettier than the Large Broad Breasted Whites bred to be so big they can not walk properly. I did have a nice discussion with the caretaker about the birds and expressed to him my desire to have Bourbon Reds if we get turkeys. He told me he was partial to Reds also because of their temperament, beautiful color, and quality of meat. Both Bourbon Reds and Spanish Blacks are lists as either critical or watch on the national breed registry. In case you were wondering why Bourbon Reds, they are native to my home state!

Soon we came to a very high fence, about six feet high. I peered through the fence gaps to see what was on the other side.

Sheep and rams in a pasture. The high fence kept the coyotes out and the sheep in. They also had a mule on site to help protect the sheep, he was in the barn at the time of this picture. When we were inside the main barn, Isabella could not resist!

Interestingly, when were were driving to the farm, I asked her if there was any big gift she might want for Christmas since Anton is requesting a telescope or bike.

Without hesitation she said, "Yes Mommy! I would like a horse!"

To which I said, "Honey, not that big!"

She responded, "OK, how about a large pony?
"Boo! Something smaller please." was my reply.

She eventually settled on a stable for her toy ponies.