Unser Hofblog – Alltag auf dem Bauernhof in Dänemark

10/10/26

This fall, there are more bare patches than usual on our pasture. Some of them are covered with algae. Apparently, the surface of these patches has hardened to the point that no seeds can germinate there. These patches may form on old molehills or in areas where the grass cover isn’t dense enough. Rain falling directly onto the ground can „break up“ small soil aggregates, allowing the fine particles to penetrate the soil pores. Furthermore, algae and other microorganisms find favorable growing conditions on exposed soil surfaces when the animals graze the grass down low and fertilize the area with their droppings. In addition, there has been plenty of sunshine this year, which has dried out and hardened these areas covered only by a crust.

In other areas, the grass has died, but the ground is still covered. In September, I pulled up the grass in a few spots (it came out very easily) and found the larvae of the garden foliage beetle near the roots.

In May, the beetles had swarmed over our pasture and were also found in large numbers in the animals’ water troughs. At that time, I had already tried to identify the beetle using the internet and concluded it was the garden foliage beetle. Given the large number of beetles, I had already feared damage to the grass. Now, in October, the larvae appear to have migrated to deeper layers of soil. Fortunately, the damaged areas aren’t as extensive as the sheer number of beetles would have suggested.

We are currently considering the best way to fill in the gaps in the pasture. In the spring, we could break up the crusts with a weed harrow and level the molehills at the same time. This would certainly also break up the dead grass cover, providing better conditions for the seeds to germinate.

Liming the soil could help reduce algae growth relative to that of grasses, since algae have a competitive advantage over grasses in an acidic environment. We had already begun liming because our soil sample (just one sample) showed a pH of 4.6. This value is significantly below the recommended levels. Liming is also intended to improve the soil’s crumb structure, and grasses can absorb nutrients more effectively at a higher pH level.

With regard to the beetles, it is recommended to avoid overgrazing the areas, especially in May and June. When the grass grows taller, the female beetles have a harder time laying their eggs.

In general, we try to promote soil life by adding organic matter. This should improve soil structure over the long term, make the soil looser, and provide better growing conditions for our pasture plants.

For this reason, we began producing what is known as Johnson-Su compost last year, which is particularly rich in microorganisms. We had actually planned to spread a filtrate made from this compost over the entire pasture this year. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to do so.

So two weeks ago, I decided on the spot to use a wheelbarrow and shovel to spread the contents of our first Johnson-Su compost bin, focusing mainly on the bare spots in the pasture.

29/9/26

The flowers in the tree circles—which I wrote about sowing in my post from May 13—have taken root well. However, it’s difficult to determine which method was most successful. For one thing, there was a gap of over a month between sowing in the first and the last tree circle. As a result, most of the flowers in the first two tree circles had already finished blooming. Furthermore, it became apparent that the presence of certain plants (particularly noticeable with tansy, but also with the field thistle) suppressed the establishment of other flowers. Overall, the flower mix certainly increased biodiversity, but it wasn’t really representative of the types of flowers that are meant to enrich a pasture. Especially now as fall approaches, the cosmos have taken over—these are ornamental plants in our region and originate from the New World. They’re still lovely to look at, though.

Most of the flowers can be seen in the smallest tree circle I worked on right at the end of May. Here, the soil was dug up to a depth of two spades along the edge before the flower mix was sown. In the center, I also raked the tilled area to remove a large portion of the existing vegetation.

In one tree circle, I had dug up one section to a depth of two and another to a depth of one spade. Even though a direct comparison is possible here, there’s hardly any difference to be seen. In the section dug up to a depth of one spade, there’s a bit more grass and sorrel.

one spade deep on the left—two spades deep on the right

It seems that in the areas where I simply turned over the sod, thistles and other „weeds“ tend to grow a bit more frequently right among the planted flowers. Next year, I’ll be able to observe in which area the annual flowers are best able to self-seed and whether they can hold their own, at least to some extent, against the „weeds“ typical of that location.

Thistles, stinging nettles, and mugwort are spreading among the planted crops

When sowing the seeds, in some of the tilled areas I lightly raked the seeds into the soil and then scattered a few more on top, while in others I simply scattered the seeds and covered them with a little soil. I can't tell the difference between the two methods.

13/8/26

We were very busy over the summer. I lost my mother, who had been with us for five more weeks before that. That is why this blog has been neglected. And not just this one. The weeds are growing, the monitoring has been suspended, and we are just starting to reconsider what is important and what has priority.

Im Juni, als ich mal wieder in Deutschland war, ist unsere gesamte Herde ausgebrochen und hat sich über die Weinstöcke und viele andere Pflanzen von unserem Nachbarn her gemacht. Daher haben wir höhere Zäune gekauft und mittlerweile rings um den zusammenhängenden Teil unserer Weidefläche als Sicherheitszaun zusätzlich zu den bisher genutzten Elektrozäunen aufgebaut. Nun hat die Müllabfuhr festgestellt, dass sie an einigen Zäunen mit den großen ausgeklappten Spiegeln nur schlecht vorbeikommt. Wir dachten eigentlich, das drei Meter ausreichen würden. Das Umsetzen der Zäune hat also heute Priorität, denn morgen werden die Mülltonnen geleert.

There is quite a bit to do on such a small self-sufficient farm. In this difficult time of the last few months, I have come to question whether we will be able to keep the farm going. I think it is important to think about what is essential for one. Otherwise, one can easily become overwhelmed. We also have to limit the number of animals. So far, all healthy female sheep and goats have been able to survive. However, this year the pasture area does not provide as much food, perhaps also due to the drought. The herd is often moving away from the enclosure earlier than in previous years. If we want the herd to get through the winter healthy, we have to slaughter many of the animals. That is also part of holistic management. The sooner one starts slaughtering, the more remains for the rest. But which females are allowed to stay and which have to go? What criteria are important for breeding? Right now, I can hardly keep the lambs apart, let alone say anything about their character. At least, everyone we couldn’t easily identify with their mothers has now been given a colorful collar with a number attached. I hope we’ll get a better overview once we separate the boys from the girls. We’ll do that no later than the beginning of September.

13/5/26

We want to increase biodiversity on our pasture. Johnny regularly sows grass and herb seeds with our Faunamaster seed drill. Since the turf is already quite dense, the young seedlings often cannot compete with the established plants. Above all, white and red clover have nevertheless established themselves well on our large pasture by now. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to find most of the herbs from our seed mix again on the pasture.

That is why we sowed flower seeds in our tree rings in the pasture this year. Our goal is for the flowers growing there to seed themselves onto the adjacent meadow.

First, I turned the sod over to do this.

I dug up part of the beds two spade depths deep, and the other part only one spade deep. Below that, I loosened the soil with a broadfork. This way, I can observe how well the seeds establish themselves and how quickly the new plants are crowded out by the neighboring grasses.

Before sowing, I soaked the seeds in a molasses (or honey/sugar) water mixture (1:9) along with some purchased mycorrhizal fungi. Then I mixed the mass with some dry soil so the seeds could be distributed better. In some areas, I raked the seeds in lightly. In others, I scattered the seeds and covered them with a little soil. In some circles, I just scattered them without covering them. In the final circles, I also raked in some of our Johnson-Su compost, which we opened for the first time, before sowing.

Now I can observe which method worked best.

Inside the tree rings, Johnny opened up the turf with the tiller, and then I raked away the loose grass with the rake. There I simply scattered the rest of the flower seeds and hope that some of them will germinate and take root as well.

4/5/26

Almost a month has gone by already. A lot has happened on the farm and in my personal life...

Fortunately, Mikro finally started drinking from the mother after all. At first, only when we held the mother down to milk her. For about two weeks now, he has been drinking all by himself. However, he is still a very trusting lamb and is not afraid of us. The other lambs run away when we approach them. Meanwhile, we have 19 lambs and 8 goat kids that play happily together.

One of our youngest lambs is still having trouble keeping up with the others. Its front legs buckle backward at the fetlock joint, causing the hooves to point upward.

We tried unsuccessfully to find a nearby veterinarian (our former vet is no longer in practice). The nearest clinic that also treats livestock is an hour's drive away. Our research into various reasons for the malformation revealed that the lamb may have a selenium deficiency, shortened tendons, or was cramped in the mother's womb. In fact, there was also a twin in there, which was unfortunately stillborn.
Since only selenium was available as a dietary supplement from the pharmacy on short notice, we got it and crushed half a tablet of it (50 µg selenium) with a mortar and gave it in a bottle with some powdered milk. In addition, we applied comfrey ointment to both front legs up to below the carpal joint, wrapped a compress and a bandage around each, and secured them on the outside with tape.

It looks like the little lamb isn't stumbling as much now. In any case, it's hopping along cheerfully.

10/4/26

Actually, we wanted to write something nice about our 5th anniversary, but then things turned out differently.
When we arrived at the pasture on Easter Saturday, we found a stillborn lamb and another lamb that was barely showing any signs of life. We had just opened the gate to the new pasture, and the animals had rushed toward the fresh grass when we discovered the two of them.

The ewe had also left the live lamb behind. Apparently, she had already given up on it. The animal was so weak that it could barely move its head. We held it right in front of the mother's nose and she recognized it. Afterward, we set up a small mother-infant pen with hurdles. The mother followed the little one, which we carried inside.

Even though the mother made every effort to lick the lamb clean and motivate it to drink, the lamb was far too weak. We tried to create some warmth using straw and also tried to rub the lamb dry with straw. Suddenly, the birth process started again. Unfortunately, the third of the triplets was also stillborn. Since the living lamb was unable to stand, we pumped milk from the ewe and tried to feed the lamb with a bottle.

But even the suction was too much for the little one. It already felt chilled. So we took it inside and warmed it up with a hair dryer while we continued to rub it dry with old towels. Luckily, we’d been given a feeding tube by a former sheep farmer.

With this we introduced the breast milk or colostrum through the esophagus. From then on things were looking up. The lamb could hold its head better, the suckling reflex set in, and the body temperature felt like it had risen. The mother accepted it right back when we brought it back. In the evening it even got on its feet.

Unfortunately, the mother was in very poor health for the next few days. She barely ate and had severe diarrhea. Unfortunately, the lamb isn’t able to nurse directly from its mother. Every day, we express two small bottles of milk from the mother and feed the little one. Even today, six days later, it’s still much weaker than most other lambs are after just one day. The mother’s milk production seems to be slowly decreasing. We’ll probably have to start supplementing with formula soon.

30/3/26

Lambing season has begun. The first lambs were born four days ago, followed by some goats two days ago, and another lamb yesterday. It’s good to know that both the breeding ram and the breeding billy were fertile. The first lambs were born just 145 days after we let the ram join the ewes—that was quick. We’re expecting about 30 more births. At first, there’s always great joy when a live newborn is spotted. Then the worry sets in—will it drink properly from its mother so it gets its dose of colostrum?.

Since we've had problems in the past with both intervening too late and too early, it's difficult to decide when we need to provide support.

The newcomers had all already left the womb when we spotted them. The lambs were already on their feet. With the first two from our sheep Nelli, it quickly looked as though they were drinking. You can tell this, among other things, by the jerky movements at the udder and the wagging tail. Sometimes, however, the tail also wags when the infants are not „docked.“ If the lambs' bellies feel well-filled, and at the latest when orange-colored feces appear, these are also good signs.

The mother sheep has taken very good care of the two of them, encouraging them to drink and keeping others from the flock away. By now, the two of them are running so fast across the pasture that we can no longer catch them.

The two kids from our goat Splitti apparently had been born just shortly before our arrival, at least the placenta was lying right next to them. The smaller of the two seemed very weak, so we were a bit worried.

Mother goat Splitti was quickly back on her feet and even outside the fence, so it wasn't entirely easy to observe how well she was taking care of her kids.

We spent quite a while in the pasture until we were relatively sure that the two of them had had something to drink.

In the evening, we put the little goats on a bed of straw in the small shed so they wouldn't get too cold.

We had not seen the lamb that was born yesterday morning by our sheep Rudolfine drink until the afternoon.
However, it appeared quite mobile, so we only intervened towards evening.

Actually, the little ones are supposed to drink colostrum within the first six hours. We set up a small enclosure into which we lured the ewe with the help of the lamb. Then we checked with clean hands to see if milk was coming out of the udder. Since the lamb is quite large relative to the mother, it might not have been so easy to find the teat. We sat the mother on her rump and guided the lamb's snout directly to the udder and squirted milk on it. After that, we had the impression that it drank a little bit on its own. It is not certain whether the intervention was necessary. But since we have already lost a weakened lamb, we do not want to wait too long.

This morning all five seemed active. Now we can relax a bit until the next births, as long as the newborns don't suddenly change their behavior and become lethargic.

24/3/26

Over the weekend, we picked up compost from the recycling center and spread it on the beds for the heavy feeders (zucchini, pumpkin, white cabbage) as well as in the greenhouse. Over the last five years, we have picked up several trailer loads of municipal compost. In the long run, we mainly want to use our own home-produced compost, but so far we don't have that much of it, and sometimes the quality isn't so good for the kitchen garden because it contains a lot of weed seeds.

Right now, we have four different ways of composting ourselves.
Our kitchen waste and small parts of the garden waste, which does not contain many seeds, go into a composter that we inherited from our predecessors. We don't pay much attention to correct filling here because we usually don't use this material directly, but rather as a starter for the next stage.

The majority of our garden waste ends up in self-made pallet bins. Since we don't water these and the bins are open at the top, it takes quite a long time for the coarse material to break down. After that, however, the compost is nice and loose. We mainly use this compost around our planted fruit trees in the fruit garden to improve the soil a bit and suppress the growth of grasses, etc., under the layer of compost.

I use leaf compost for mixing my seed-starting soil. I rake up the leaves in autumn and pile them into one of the compost bins. They stay in there for at least a year. After that, the collapsed mass is moved into a small wire bin so that the large bin is free again. The material stays in the wire bin for another year before it is sifted. In the post from February 26, 2026, I describe how the potting soil is mixed.

Last year in May, we started a new method of composting based on the so-called „Johnson-Su“ compost, though slightly simplified. Here, air is supplied through tubes, and the material is sprinkled with water daily. This is intended to promote a large number of beneficial microorganisms over a period of at least one year.

The Johnson-Su goes with garden waste, old straw and hay, as well as kitchen compost and compost from our pallet boxes that has not yet completely decomposed. Actually, almost any organic material can go in there.

18/3/26

Slowly spring is coming. Two days ago, the sheep and goats completely left the gravel pit and came to a patch of land where a few fresh, green grasses were growing. After being moved, the animals were completely calm there and appeared to graze very contentedly.

By now the tender grasses have been eaten up. Apparently the animals have acquired a taste for it. Today the sheep and goat broke out of their enclosure and feasted in the large field on what was actually supposed to be available for later.

16/3/26

The decision of whether the animals should be moved to a new paddock is not always easy to make. On the one hand, we must keep in mind that the plants have enough time to recover, which is why we must not move the animals too quickly or we must significantly reduce the size of the fenced areas. Especially when plant growth picks up again, they are sensitive to frequent grazing.

In the gravel pit, it didn't look like the growth phase had really started again yet. Therefore, we would have liked to leave the animals there a little longer. Small remnants of grass were still present on the large pasture area.

On the other hand, the animals had grazed down almost everything across a large portion of the area, and in places there was plenty of dung on the ground. The animals avoid these areas. Since our hay storage is already severely depleted, we did not want to supplement with whole bales of hay, but only a minimum so that some roughage is definitely available during feeding.

Furthermore, the goats in particular had already damaged a large portion of the trees, and the chances of survival for these trees were decreasing with each passing day. Therefore, we decided to move the animals to the next section.