Indholdsfortegnelse for November - December 2025 i Hobby Farms

Farms in northern climates must be prepared to deal with the realities of seasonal snow and cold, with all the efforts that come with it. To succeed easily, you just need knowledge and the right tools. One winter challenge is ice — particularly when it forms to create slippery walkways or ice dams on roofs. Ice buildup can cause all kinds of unnecessary and often preventable winter problems. Chemical ice-melts are often a knee-jerk solution, but they may not be the best choice for farms, since these products are often unsafe for animals. So what does work? Let’s explore. ICE ON THE GROUND Ice buildup on the ground is often an issue around your farm property toward late winter. It’s easy for deep snow to pack down as people and…

You can find many reasons to put your vegetable garden to sleep for the winter. Remember that a natural ecosystem will necessarily have preparation to go into the long cold winters that we experience throughout most of North America. There are many important ways that we can maximize ecosystem services when putting our garden to rest. These can be broken down into various strategies and can also paired with other typical market garden and landscape management techniques. Let’s explore some of the top choices for preparing your garden for winter. COVER CROPPING Cover cropping is your ally going into the winter because it protects the soil surface not only in the fall when you may have heavy rains, but also throughout the winter. Cover crops can keep soil life buffered…

Fuel efficiency improvement for farm vehicles like tractors, trucks, ATVs, and UTVs, is a smart move on many levels. You’ll get more work accomplished with each tank of fuel. You’ll purchase fuel less often. You’ll decrease the emissions required for each job. Saving time, dollars, and emissions is a pretty good deal. But how do you improve farm vehicle fuel efficiency? It’s easier than you think. Here are 10 ways to improve farm vehicle fuel efficiency. 1. KEEP AIR FILTERS CLEAN A dirty air filter reduces fuel efficiency, causing the engine to consume more fuel than it would otherwise. Regularly cleaning and/or replacing air filters (check the vehicle’s manual for guidance) is an important regular maintenance task. 2. REPLACE SPARK PLUGS Unlike some engine parts, the spark plugs in a…

Mini lop rabbits are small, but not the smallest of the lop breeds. The American mini lop is actually considered a mid-weight rabbit, at around 6 pounds. This can cause some confusion since there is a British-recognized miniature lop — which is much smaller — and the name is sometimes also shortened to mini-lop as well. Here, however, we will specifically be talking about the American breed. AN UNFINISHED HISTORY The history of the mini lop, as it is documented in the United States, begins with Bob Herschbach. He discovered the breed at a German show in 1972 where it was called “Klein Widder” and weighed about 8 pounds. Herschbach bred his own Klein Widder’s in the U.S. the same year and presented them to the American Rabbit Breeders Association…

Layers require 14 hours of light per day to produce eggs. This naturally occurs each spring, as the days begin to lengthen and a hen’s reproductive system responds to the increase in light. As daylight wanes in early fall, egg production also diminishes, nature’s tidy way of preventing chicks from hatching — and perishing — during the harshest time of the year. This off season also allows hens to recuperate from months of almost daily egg laying, which depletes the protein and calcium levels in their bodies. To alter a layer’s natural production cycle, artificial light must be introduced. TIMING IS EVERYTHING The simplest way to extend a laying flock’s production season is by installing lights in the coop. While this seems straightforward, there are many factors to take into…

Sky-high machinery and fuel costs and the lack of affordable hayingcrew labor is driving up the cost of putting up hay. At the same time, hay shortages have become a way of life. When you harvest quality hay, it’s dollarwise to preserve it so it lasts. PUTTING UP HAY Hay is a generic term for grass or legume plants that have been cut, dried and stored for use as animal feed, particularly for grazing species, such as cattle, equines, llamas, alpacas, goats and sheep. Because feed changes upset some animals’ digestive systems, it’s advisable to put up enough of the same type of hay to last a season. To preserve its nutritional value, put up no more than you’ll feed within a year of harvest. Keep these things in mind…

Keeping fences and gates in good repair is an important part of maintaining a farm, whether large or small. Good fences help keep livestock safely housed: A sagging fence or gate, broken wires, and downed or loose poles may tempt animals to make a break for it — out on a busy road or into hostile territory — possibly injuring or killing themselves in the process. Here are a few simple and inexpensive tips to help make fence and gate repair easier. 1. TIGHTENING WIRE WITH A HAMMER When mending a wire fence — such as tightening sagging wires or splicing broken wires back together — a fence stretcher is nice, but a simple carpenter’s hammer will also do the job. To repair a fence with broken wire, you may…

Learning how to make your own homemade fermented hot sauces will open the door to endless flavor opportunities for your culinary creations. Experimenting with a variety of peppers, fruits, herbs and seasonings will allow you to transform the flavors to make infinite hot sauce blends. As with homemade fermented sauer-kraut, I’ll say that I’ve never made a batch of hot sauce that I didn’t like; some are better than others, but all are delicious. The most basic hot sauce that I make is jalapeño garlic hot sauce. I’ve broken down my step-by-step process for making fermented hot sauce for you to use as a guide to create your own blends. You can follow my general outline and tweak my recipe to incorporate peppers that match your heat tolerance; if you…

For as long as there have been farms, there have undoubtedly been farm dogs, if only for the simple reason that dogs simply must be involved in everything. Thus, if there was a farm and a dog, there was a farm dog. The key, then, has always been to somehow convince the farm dog to take on the work we want it to handle, then provide it with the resources and training it needs to excel at the task. Is this easier said than done? Sometimes. But when humans and farm dogs can reach that magical moment of understanding each other — a moment that gloriously still occurs — a partnership is born that is priceless and precious. In theory, any dog can be a farm dog, but certain breeds…

KEEP ’EM COMING Upload the very best digital images of your smallfarm livestock to HobbyFarms.com/say_cheese or email them directly to hobbyfarms@hobbyfarms.com, with “Say Cheese!” in the subject line. Include your name and address in the body of the email. We hope to see your photos in an upcoming issue and on our Instagram account (@hobbyfarmsmag)!…

The Rex rabbit was first shown in Paris in 1924 and was brought to the United States in the same year. Known as the King of Rabbits, the Rex remains the most used rabbit for pelts, due to its plush coat. The breed was developed in 1919 from a mutation found in a litter of wild rabbits. The mutation had no prominent guard hair, giving the rabbit a softer, denser coat. Like most rabbit breeds, the rex is a docile animal. According to PetMD.com, the average lifespan of a rex is 6 to 8 years, giving it a shorter lifespan than the average 7 to 10-year lifespan of most domestic rabbits. BREED STANDARD According to the American Rabbit Breeders Association, the Rex rabbit should have a broad head set close…

Q: I’m just getting started in raising rabbits. What nutritional advice can you offer? A: Rabbits are herbivores, so they consume only plant material, especially fibrous plants. They should never be fed meat scraps or byproducts. Rabbits are cecal digesters and can’t vomit or chew cud like ruminants. Because they like and consume high fiber or cellulosic plant material, such as hay, the cecum might not break it down fully for complete digestion. The partially digested material is often passed out of the large colon in the form of small soft pellets called cecotropes, or “midnight dew,” which the rabbit can consume and pass through the digestive tract with more digestibility, along with higher nutrient absorption via this second go-round. While farmers might be disturbed when they see their rabbits…