Rare Breed Cattle and Poultry

At the moment there are two Kerry Cattle at Russet House Farm. These cattle are exceptionally hardy, able to graze and benefit from pasture that is sub-standard. Their milk has a fat component that makes it easy to digest for those who have trouble with regular cow’s milk. They also make a very fine beef cow.

Kerry Cattle is originally from County Kerry in Ireland. As part of a program to increase the number of these cattle, the cows that you see on this farm are used primarily for breeding stock. For more information on this breed see Kerry Cattle

Poultry on the farm varies from a regular flock of laying hens to pastured poultry during the summer months. The pastured poultry graze in moveable pens on the pasture, thus assisting in maintaining pasture fertility.

The chickens free-range in the spring and the fall when the garden is able to benefit from their attention. In the summer they tend to damage the vegetables and are confined to the chicken coop where they are frequently given weeds to pick through. They live for the entire year in the straw-bale henhouse, where their body heat provides enough warmth to keep them comfortable even in the coldest weather.

 










Shadow longing to herd the chickens

Muscovy ducks live on the farm year round; their straw bale duck house extends out of the east side of the barn. In 2008 the two drakes and three hens produced 40 ducklings, all of them born in June.

The ducks are an important part of the farm ecosystem, consuming the flies that normally plague barnyards. One duck can eat as many as 300 flies a day. On occasion the ducks will eat the flies directly off the cows.

The ducklings produced each summer are raised for meat and eggs are collected throughout the summer for consumption. Muscovies are originally from South America and are technically neither duck nor goose, but their own bird.

 
 

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