Author Archives: ecologica1
Obsalim Takes the Cake
Every week we prepare a cake for our staff meeting. But this cake isn’t for morning tea – it’s a poo cake. This poo cake, together with a milk curd test and specific herd observations, forms the basis of our … Continue reading
Finding your vocation
Review and reflection is key to how we farm at Holy Goat. We review, reflect and then make well considered change. From the small (how best to sweep the dairy) to the large (implementing a new milking line, or installing … Continue reading
Nothing Scrappy about these Remnants (apart from the Phascogale nest)
remnant noun 1 they cleared up the remnants of the picnic: remains, remainder, leftovers, leavings, residue, rest; stub, butt, end, tail end; dregs, lees; technical residuum. 2 remnants of cloth: scrap, piece, bit, fragment, shred, offcut, oddment. We try to … Continue reading
A must read cheese … plus meet the makers
We’ll be at the upcoming launch of “Reinventing Farmhouse Cheese”, a book by British cheese stalwarts Bronwyn and Francis Percival which focusses on the lost (well, certainly not lost from a Holy Goat perspective!) art of farmhouse cheesemaking; once de … Continue reading
Obsalim training: motivated farmers + small on-farm change = big returns
Dr Bruno Giboudeau has just completed his Victorian workshops (the last one was at our farm) and he headed back to France yesterday, having brought the Obsalim techniques and learning to over 50 keen participants over the past fortnight. Though … Continue reading
Stop, Look and Listen. Ruminate.
Obsalim. If you follow our blog, and us, you will know we are big fans of this method of animal husbandry and its French instigator Dr Bruno Giboudeau. We have been fortunate to have Bruno visit the farm several times … Continue reading
Nothing backward about these producers
The only thing backward about the winners of the delicious. Produce Awards is the video that highlights their produce as it travels from the plate, back to the land, or sea, or dairy, or … You can take a look … Continue reading
Holy Goat Dynasty
We’ve just had another successful kidding. Kidding is always a stressful time, but this season was so much easier for us all, thanks to our repurposed shed and refined management systems. The new shed has a concrete floor – its … Continue reading
Up on the new line
It’s been 15 months since we upgraded our dairy and it’s made a big difference for everyone. We have gone from 12 goats up on the line and eight milking cups, to 12 cups with 24 goats up. More space for everyone and a better feeding system – more ergonomic … Continue reading
A four-eyed focus on Obsalim
We’ve written about Bruno Giboudeau’s, visit and our training and learning with Obsalim in an earlier post and page. Since July, our two interns Maider Haicaguerre, from France, and Eva Zanettini, from Italy, have been undertaking a focussed project using Obsalim … Continue reading