So, I talk about a guy called NP an awful lot. If ya’ll haven’t caught on he’s my husband and I think he’s pretty fantastic! NP worked in lean manufacturing for 6 years and he makes sure that we use our resources as efficiently as possible.  Soo, with no further ado, please enjoy NP’s first ever blog post on insulating stock tanks and how it saves energy and $$.

Insulating Stock Tanks

The moment you have all been waiting for.   A blog post from NP ;) And to top that, it’s a post about insulating stock tanks!  ​
For some brief background: our Rubbermaid stock tanks have in-tank heaters that mount in the drain hole of the stock tank.  While they do shut off when the water temperature gets to 50 degrees, in the dead of winter, it takes all day to warm up 125 gallons of water.  When you have 2 and sometimes 3 stock tanks, an electricity bill can get  pretty darn high.  Spoiler alert- I will be posting more about using my 6 years of LEAN manufacturing experience to talk about other farm wastes and how we combat them.  But let’s get through this first. 
What I used for material.

• 2x4 boards ripped down the center.
• 1 ½” Foam board.
• 2-3 cans of expanding foam.
• 7/16” chip board. 4 x 8 ft.
• Screws.

I did not include prices on materials, but estimated total cost was $80 for 2 tanks. It will vary depending on size and design of tank.
The first step was cutting down the boards and building a basic framework for the tank.  We’ll just call the frame boards 2x2.

The very first tank I did was constructed only out of foam board and glued together using expanding foam.  It worked great for Rusty (the horse), but the heifers sole purpose in life is to teach me to build things stronger and better.  I’m convinced they could lick and chew through an M3 Stuart tank given enough time.  They had reduced a nicely finished foam tank to tiny 1 inch pieces in a matter of 24 hours.  So, plywood should last through winter and with the savings on the electricity bill, I might be able to afford to make a tungsten plated cover next year.?.?  

With that said, the frame does not need to be built ford tough.  Most of the rigidity will come when the chip board is screwed in place.  The next step is cutting the foam pieces to fit the openings of the frame.  Don’t forget to cut a piece for the bottom.  

​The next step is to cut the chip board for the front and the sides.  I did not cut pieces for the back nor the bottom.  The foam board will be enough to insulate them.  

​Now would also be a good time to cut the floater. This piece is the key to the whole deal.  It needs to be cut big enough to cover as much area as possible and still give the critters a place to drink.  I have seen other styles where a solid lid is placed over the tank with a hole for livestock to stick their head in.  That might work for some folks’ well trained stock, but it would be a disaster here.  With a floating lid the whole piece drops with water level and does not create an air gap.  If your tank tapers down like these do, cut the floater so it will not touch the heater if the water level drops too low.  Nobody likes the smell of melting plastic.

Once all the pieces are cut, use the spray foam to put a bead of foam around the edge of the foam board.  I used a piece of cardboard to smoosh it down.  We are using it for 90% glue and 10% to fill in cracks, smooshing it won’t matter.  Next install the chip board covers.  I used a little more spray foam to glue these together also.  I’m not sure it helps a lot but it made me feel better.  Do the same for the floating lid.  You may have to weigh it down to keep the foam from expanding. Remember glue, not insulation.  

​I cut some pieces to fit in the corners and glued them in as well.  

​The final step is cutting a hole so you can access the heater.  Do that just like a jack-0-lantern.  Angle the cut and don’t make it perfect, cut a notch for the cord and bam, you have a money saving insulated stock tank.  

Base layer –this is critical. Leggings and a long sleeve t-shirt with wool socks make a great base layer. I prefer moisture wicking material but your stand long johns work great too. And be sure to tuck that shirt in! You don’t want the wind finding any cracks in your defense!

Layer #2 is mostly just a hoodie sweatshirt but could include an extra long sleeve t-shirt and sweat pants on REALLY cold days.

Layer #3 is where it gets SERIOUS. Insulated coveralls, insulated winter boots, and winter coat are all necessities if you are going to be outside in an Iowa winter for several hours at a time. Coveralls can be tricky, if you're like me you are going to want to make sure and get the kind that are insulated all the way up and not just to the waist!

Accessories! The best winter farmer accessories include a hat, a scarf and layered(!) gloves. See the hood comes in handy as an extra barrier to keep the wind from your ears! Just make sure to put your hood up before putting on your scarf. The scarf holds everything in place AND keeps your neck warm!

The middle picture shows me holding 2 different gloves. The black gloves are really thin and made of silk. They can turn almost any glove into a nice warm winter glove! They are pricey but take good care of them and they will last a long time and they provide versatility and warmth while wearing gloves that still allow you to use your fingers! Use of fingers is always a plus around here :)

On the right, I am modeling an optional layer that I don't like to pull out!  However, the cows don't really care if it's raining. They still want fed so I am grateful that this massive yellow raincoat keeps me dry!

​This year, we started out the day thinking it was going to be a rather brown Christmas. But, much to our surprise, as we walked out of the barn after morning chores, it was snowing! Now, I’ll be honest, I’m NOT a fan of winter. Or snow.  However, the normal freezing temperatures of winter are important for breaking disease cycles, scarifying seeds of native species that will grow next year, and keeping our fruit trees dormant so that they don’t try to bud out in the middle of winter! Also, the mud has been horrendous. So, this Christmas Eve I was pretty happy to see the snow falling!

The snow also meant that I got to spend some extra time with NP. He had been planning on splitting firewood all day but instead we spent some time catching up on reading. However, once the snow stopped in the afternoon it was time to double down and make up for the lazy morning! NP headed out and fired up Ollie to move snow and I got busy making salads and pies to share with family on Christmas Day! We are so thankful to have Ollie this winter. NP tells me the ‘ol tractor makes moving snow a breeze as compared to his 4 wheeler and snow shovel days! In fact, he even had time to move the last newly insulated stock tank down to the barn and switch it out. Here’s to hoping the heifers can’t destroy this one as easily as they did last year’s!!

We knew we had extra work to do in the barn that night so we decided to have supper early. We made broccoli cheese soup and it was so nice to be able to pull homegrown broccoli out of the freezer to make it with. Just a little taste of summer!
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Chore time! The reason we had extra work to do was that pens needed cleaned out and fresh bedding put in! With all of the rain and the mud we haven’t been able to access the compost pile so we haven’t been able to clean out the barn regularly like we usually do. That meant we had far too much manure piled up in the barn and we needed to get rid of it. The colder weather meant that the ground, while still not frozen, was at least solid enough to get to the manure pile. So it was time to CLEAN!

​​The cows were so pleased to have a clean pen and fresh bedding that they wasted no time making a nest and bedding down! I wish I had a picture of 54 all nestled in but by that time of night my phone had died.

Once chores were done it was time to stoke the fire and head to bed! It had been a long evening but it was nice to know that the critters were happy and that tomorrow would be a little easier day!

And with that, Merry Christmas from NP and I and all the critters at Brun Ko Farm!

​As many of you know, we have some big plans for our little acreage! Our little heifer herd is quickly maturing and our dream is to open a creamery and on farm store here at the home place this summer. We have been doing LOADS of research and planning over the past several months and we are soo excited to be this close to putting those plans into motion!  But right now we need your help! We need to have a better grasp on interest and demand. The thing is, we can build the coolest, most functional, efficient, awesome creamery in the world but if nobody is interested in the products we offer, we will never succeed!  To help us understand market demand, we put together a little survey. You can find it on our website –  it’s right next to our blog page! Or, you can just push the button below! The survey really is little – just like us!

 Now, don’t get me wrong, most of those regulations are a really good thing. Because of them, we (the U.S.)  have the safest milk supply in the entire world! However, to meet all of those regulations and requirements, we have to put up a building specifically designed for the processing of milk, which is quite an investment! So, we want to make sure that we do it right and that we have a reasonably good understanding of market demand!

The thing that gets NP and I MOST excited about all of this is that once the building is built, not only will we be able to sell our product but we will be able to share the process with YOU, our consumer! We will have windows between the store and the processing room specifically so you can see us bottling milk and making yogurt! AND, because the processing will be happening on the same farm as the animals are housed on, you will be able to see the whole cycle from grass to cow to finished product right here in one place!

In addition to milk and yogurt we also look forward to offering vegetables and baked goods this summer. And over the next 1-2 years adding beef, pork, chicken and eggs to our offerings! We know that one stop shopping is the ideal situation these days and while we may not be able to offer all that a traditional grocery store can, we want to give you as many reasons to stop in and see us as possible!

So, there you have it. In a nutshell that’s the starting point for our next 50 years worth of dreams! If after reading this, you feel compelled to take our survey, you can get to it using the following button.

​Thank you for all of your support thus far and into the future! We really can’t do it without YOU!

Enjoy!
Brun Ko Farm

 Every morning (and night) at 6:30, NP and I don coveralls and sweatshirts and winter boots and we brave the cold and the dark and …… ok, we’re really kind of wusses about it, but we do it anyway. Every morning at 6:30, we head down to the barn for morning chores. Once you make the initial leap out the back door, AND if you're bundled up properly, it’s really not that bad. And we get to experience the sunrise every morning. Sometimes we forget to stop and enjoy it, but it is always there!

Yesterday morning was such a particularly beautiful morning that I thought I’d share it with y’all. Now, I don’t like snow but with the warmth of the sun, the beauty of the lightly falling snow would have been hard to beat yesterday.

​We usually divide up the chores like such. One of us feeds and milks the cow and the other makes sure  the horse and heifers get their grain and hay, fills water tanks, and runs bottles out to the bottle calves.  Then we work together to make sure the bottle calves also have a smattering of grain and water and do whatever cleaning is necessary right then. Not too much extra gets done on weekday mornings because we usually both have to scurry off to work after chores!

Towards the end of the geese video, you can see a couple of the calves finishing up their bottles. After they finish the milk, they have the option of eating fresh creep feed out of the bucket strategically located beneath the bottle holder in each hutch. This guy went straight for it which is the goal!

58 and Rusty teamed up and figured out how to eat hay straight out of the hay loft ... the ultimate self feeder! Naughty critters! So, in the pictures below, NP is rigging up some boards in hopes that 'side boards' on the loft will keep them from breaking into the winter stores again!

The last check mark on the list is always to ensure that everybody is happily munching away at their hay! And now, it's off to work we go!

Enjoy,
​Brun Ko Farm

​Farming is a dirty job. In fact, several different types/aspects of farming have been featured on Mike Rowe’s Dirtiest Jobs T.V. show. Today I am going to share with you ONE of the ‘dirty’ aspects of farming. 

MANURE! And what we do with it:
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Horses and cows eat a lot. And all of that food seems to come out the other end in the form of manure (aka: poo – lots and lots of poo!). So as a result, we have to have a plan as to what to do with all that manure. If we let it build up in the building, our little building would quickly become full! Plus the animals would have a pretty poor quality of life. So, what do we do with it all?? Here at Brun Ko Farm, we haul the manure and soiled bedding out and compost it! 

​Composting is the process of breaking down manure and other organic substances into a nutrient rich product, often called humus, that makes great fertilizer! According to the NDSU Extension Service, and confirmed by my own personal observation, composting reduces the volume and density of manure of 50-65%! Now that has huge benefits of it’s own! Not only do we end up with a nutrient dense product that is great for the soil, we also decrease the amount of hauling and the land space necessary to spread it on!

Also, when done properly, compost should kill most weed seeds and fly eggs and have little to no offensive smell associated with it.

With all of these benefits, composting was an easy decision for us.  But how do we do it? There are many different methods of making compost and it can be as technical or as simple as you want, but there are 4 important components to every method: Carbon & Nitrogen (aka: manure and vegetation), Oxygen, and water.
​
So the simplest version of composting would be to just make a pile of garden scraps and/or manure and let it sit until it decomposes. Which it will eventually do but it will take a long time and could get pretty smelly. So because we want to expedite the process and eliminate odors as much as possible we take a few extra steps. Here is our process:
First we have to get the manure from the barn to the pile. For us this means using a pitchfork and wheel barrow. This also helps build muscles ;)  Luckily, the pile isn’t too far from the barn!

We try to get a good mix of ‘browns’ (carbon rich materials) and ‘greens’ (nitrogen rich materials) in our piles. The recommendation is to have a Carbon to Nitrogen ratio of 30:1. Luckily, we usually have a pretty good mix of horse manure, cow manure, and straw or cornstalk bedding, so this typically isn’t a problem for us. This paper from the North Dakota State University Extension Service provides a chart of carbon to nitrogen ratios of common composting materials and an explanation of how to use the Pearson Square to figure out the ratio of your mix.

Once we have a good pile, we have to turn it periodically to keep oxygen in the pile. The bacteria that actually do the grunt work of breaking down the manure into humus are aerobic (oxygen loving) in nature. If a pile just sits and oxygen isn’t regularly introduced then the bacteria can’t do their work. We introduce oxygen by using the old Oliver to turn the pile regularly. 

Turning the pile once every 10 to 14 days is ideal. As the bacteria ‘work’ the temperature of the pile increases and can reach greater than 120 degrees Fahrenheit. This is what kills weed seeds and fly eggs. If conditions are ideal and the pile is turned regularly then the compost should be ready after being turned 3-5 times.
​
Once our first pile got large enough, we stopped adding to it and started a second pile. This allows the first pile to finish composting 

The third important factor is moisture. A compost pile should have about 50% moisture.  This is an area that we don’t currently monitor but aim to in the future.
​
Well, that’s the basics of composting and how we do it. We like compost so much around here that we actually have a compost pile near the garden too.  

This one is more easily accessible for disposing of food scraps and garden waste. We have found with this pile that it got a slow start because we add little bits to it at a time instead of having a large amount to get it started with. Also, we tend to have more ‘green’ material (nitrogen) in it than ‘brown’ material (carbon). So from time to time we add a scoop of soil or partially composted material from the manure compost piles to help even things out and give it a boost.

If you want to try composting at home, you can find some links below to help you get started.

http://eartheasy.com/grow_compost.html

http://www.redwormcomposting.com/getting-started/
 
That’s all for now folks!
​
Enjoy!
Brun Ko Farm

​Those are dirty words in my house. However, there comes a time when you have to face facts and prepare for the inevitable. 

Garden
​
The garden is winding down and we have begun moving the plants that are done producing from the garden plot to the compost pile. The most notable items missing from this picture are the zucchini and summer squash plants and our roma tomatoes. The rest will soon follow suit. We do this to help prevent unwelcome bugs and diseases from setting in and taking hold in the garden plot. At the same time we are also looking ahead to next year. This year we mulched our garden as a means of weed control and moisture retention and we have loved it! We intend to expand the garden next summer and have read that if you mulch untilled ground in the Fall, it will be ready to go in the Spring without needing to till so we are trying it. We'll try almost anything once! So we have doubled our garden plots by mulching more ground. We will let you know in the Spring how it turns out!

We will also be adding mulch to some of our less hardy perennials to help them get through the winter.

​

The Homestead

Last summer, we installed a new chimney and wood burning stove to help heat this good 'ol farmhouse and decrease the propane bill. It worked like a charm and was probably one of the best decisions we'll ever make! However, the stove we used last winter was hazardous at best due to age and wear. Because we liked the extra boost from the wood heat so much last year we decided to invest in a little safer (new) wood stove for this winter. We picked it up Friday with the assistance of a forklift and then carried all 360 pounds of it down the basement stairs this morning! If that wasn't enough heavy lifting, we then had to carry the old stove back out! And by 'we', I mean my husband, my dad, and my father-in-law did the heavy lifting!! I just opened doors and carried the few odds and ends that could be removed to lighten up the main part of the stove. Thank goodness for the help of our parents! NP and I certainly couldn't have accomplished this by ourselves

After we got the stoves switched out,  NP once again braved his fear of heights and climbed up on the roof with the chimney sweep to clean the chimney so it would be ready to go when we build our first fire! This is important to do as built up ash and soot can easily cause a house fire.

The other thing about wood stoves is that you need firewood ...

We had the best of intentions all summer of gathering our firewood early but other tasks always seemed to take priority. As a result, we now have a large job ahead of us and, now that colder weather is clearly here and the new stove is installed, we are out of time and excuses! We bought a load of logs from a local tree trimming service and this week we will get started cutting, splitting, and stacking. Piper, our cattle dog, is loads of 'help' with these types of projects ;)

Animals

And last in this discussion but definitely not 'least'! The animals generally take care of 'winterizing' themselves as the days get shorter and their hair gets longer. However, there are things we can do to help them out too. Right now is prime time for cows. Their thermal comfort zone is 45 degrees F to 60 degrees F so they are loving these cooler days! However, as the temperature dips below freezing we will up their feed and adjust accordingly. They also have  the barn and a windbreak for shelter when they need it. Other things we will have to do in the next few weeks is move the calf hutches to a more sheltered location and insulate the stock tanks to help prevent the water from freezing. NP has plans to not only insulate the tanks like we did last year but also to utilize the solar power of the sun to help warm the tanks. But that will be a separate blog post so keep your eye out for that in the next couple of weeks!!
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*Fun Fact: Most other breeds of cows struggle with heat stress and handle winter just fine. Jersey cows on the other hand actually handle the heat better than they do the cold

That's all for now! I better go help NP with the firewood since I'm always the first one to start shivering when it gets cold!!

​Enjoy! Brun Ko Farm

Who are we here at Brun Ko Farm? In short, we are just a couple of people who love our animals and our land and are trying to make a go of it by transparently producing local food for our community using the resources we have available to us.

So what do we have? We have a little acreage, a Jersey milk cow, a handful of Jersey heifers and lots of ambition, love and sometimes just plain bullheadedness.

So what are we going to do with the above listed 'treasures'? Well, this year we have set off on our journey by participating in Produce in the Park, one of Atlantic's local farmers markets. We got a late start on our garden so we began by taking all sorts of baked goodies including chocolate dipped brownie bites, hand pies, and danish pastries. As the season progressed, we were excited to add fresh veggies such as tomatoes, peppers, green beans, and carrots to our offerings at Produce in the Park!

Next year we plan to expand our garden and sell produce from our home as well as at Produce in the Park. Also, in the works- we are planning a small milking parlor and on farm creamery where we plan to milk our small herd of Jersey cows and turn the milk into delicious, nutritious yogurt for sale, along with our veggies and baked goods, at both Produce in the Park and from our homestead!

SO, who are we?
We are just a young couple setting out on a long and probably arduous journey of providing locally, transparently produced food for our community!

And why do we want to blog about it?? 
Because being 'transparent' about how we produce your food, means we have an obligation to share with you what we produce, how we produce it and why we do it the way we do. You can also learn more about us by checking out the rest of our website www.brunkofarm.weebly.com and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/brunkofarm

So thanks for joining us on this journey. And as always ... Enjoy!

Brun Ko Farm
Nathan & Emily Paulsen