Goats and Sheep: How are they similar, and how are they different?

Yesterday, Cub Scouts came to visit to learn about goats and sheep.

I asked everyone to sit on the rocks in silence with their arms folded and just watch the animals.

All the goats came over to see the children.  Where were the sheep?  Everyone concluded that goats are more curious than sheep!

We shook a pail of feed and the sheep appeared.

All the goats were very eager to get a taste! 

Physical Differences:

Goats   Buck, Doe                                   Sheep   Ram, Ewe

Tail up                                                     Tail down 

May have a beard                                    No beard

Hair not as wooly                                   Very wooly 

Most have horns that are narrow             If horns are present, they are curled

How are they similar:

Both are ruminants, mammals with 4 part stomachs, have divided hooves and don't like getting their feet wet. 

Behavioral Differences: 

Goats are browsers, they eat leaves, twigs, vines.        Sheep are grazers, they eat grass and clover.

*will seek shelter when raining                                     *will stay out in the rain

*will rear up and come down to butt heads                   *will back up and charge to butt heads

Goats are more independent.                                       Sheep have a stronger flocking instinct.

Goats are NOT sensitive to copper.                             Sheep are sensitive to copper. 

Fiber differences:

Fiber Goats, called Pygoras, can be sheared twice a year. 

After the animals are sheared, their fiber was sent to a mill to be processed.  The brown wool roving is from Cody( sheep) and the white is from the 2 pygoras, Munchkin and Sundae. One sheep made twice as much roving as two goats. 

To see the differences in the fibers, our scouts tested fiber samples, first by just gently pulling them apart with hand carders and then felting them with handmade soap and hot water. 

We also tried samples of Jacob sheep.

Scouts used soap and hot water and found out that the wool felted better than the pygora fiber.
The pygora fiber felt softer and was not oily.  The sheep wool felt rougher and was oily.

They also enjoyed using the drum carder.

Just for fun, we made felted beads from dyed wool roving.

Starting Seeds

What does a seed need to germinate?

Using a plastic cup and wet paper towels, we can germinate seeds in just a few days.

We can find out if the root or leaves come out of the seed first.

Sunflower, bean, pea, pumpkin, marigold are all seeds that are easy to recognize.

Origami Newspaper pots are fun to make.
Add a seed starting mix, seeds and water. These can be planted directly in the garden, newspaper and all.

A paper towel roll cut into 3rds with newspaper stuffed in the bottom makes a quick and simple container for germinating seeds.   It can be planted directly in the garden.

Egg shells are also great for growing seeds. These can be planted directly in the garden and the egg shells add a boost of calcium.







The medium used for starting seeds should be sterile.  You can buy seed starting medium at the garden store or you can make your own by putting  a thin layer of soil (loam) on a metal tray in the oven at 180 degrees for 1/2 hour. Seeds can also be started in a moist layer of clean sand, vermiculite, or peat moss on top of garden soil.  Experiment!

Photo: Direct seeding of sunflowers in a raised bed.

Follow the directions on the seed packet for planting.  In general, seeds should be covered with a layer of medium twice the thickness of the seed.  

Some seeds do need light to germinate such as petunias and snapdragons, so they should not be   covered.

Direct seeding is used for plants that do not transplant well.  That would include most cool weather vegetables like lettuce, kale and endive. This photo is of cool weather vegetables that were directly seeded in a raised bed.

Sunflower, Pea
Pumpkin, Bean

If the seeds were mixed up, would you be able to identify them?

Note: Some seeds have a pointy end. Should you plant the seed with the pointy end up or down?
What could we do to find out?


Closely examine a handful of pumpkin seeds.  Are some seeds bigger or thicker than others?
Do the bigger seeds have a better chance of germinating?

Parts of the seed

Composting

Today a group of girl scouts visited the farm to learn about composting.


Our compost bins are made from wood pallets fastened with plastic ties.

We talked about the organic matter that can be put in a compost pile.

There needs to be a combination of GREEN and BROWN organic material.

BROWN is the carbon
examples: dry leaves, shredded newspaper, woodchips. straw.      The GREEN is the nitrogen  examples: grass clippings, vegetable kitchen waste, manure.                                                                                

MOISTURE is needed.  Too little moisture -slows decomposition.  Too much kills aerobic (with oxygen) bacteria.

AIR is also needed. So turning the pile helps with speeding up decompositon.

A layer of GARDEN SOIL can be added to the green and brown layer to make sure that soil bacteria and fungi are present to help with the decomposition into compost.

Decomposition happens fastest at a temperature between 120-160 degrees F.  At this temperature weed seeds and plant diseases are killed.  Bacteria and fungi will produce heat as they go about their life processes.

How long should you wait before you can add your compost to the garden?

With proper conditons of air, moisture, and materials, green organic material should decompose within 2 months.

PLEASE remember grass clipping need to be pesticide free.  Please DO NOT use pesticides!

THE EXPERIMENT

I wrote up a lab sheet for the girls to fill in and use as a guide.

We looked at a variety of organic materials: here are spruce cones and shredded paper. 

Everyone chose a different organic material for the middle layer of their decompostion column.

Finished Decomposition Column.  We will make observations and recycle the water once a week.

Horse manure is very high in nitrogen and can burn plants if used fresh.  I like to wait a year for manure to decompose before using it in the garden.  Here, a manure pile is already growing grass.

This is a well cover I have left as an example of ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION
Algae- moss- stonecrop. Nature recycling for the next organism!

Dye Project

How do we make natural dyes?
We can use plants, animals and minerals



Photo:
Spinach leaves
Red Onion skins
Hematite -mineral (Iron(III)Oxide
Red Cabbage
Marigold

Marigolds and Red Cabbage simmering
in crockpots

3 different Koolaids ( Not natural dye), but is an example of a dye substance that contains its own mordant, citric acid.

Pot on the right is red onion skins.






Red Cabbage juice in test tubes















Many household products can be used as mordants ( a substance that helps "fix" the dye to the fiber)

The household products can also produce color changes in the red cabbage.

Red Cabbage juice can be used as an Acid-Base indicator.

Red onion skins with tin chloride and cream of tartar as the mordant.

Kool-aid results

Turmeric- a spice from India, is an example of dye substance that does not need a mordant.   The spice is from the root of the plant.
















Spinach with its bright green leaves, you think it would make a better dye, but because chorophyll b is more soluble than chlorophyll a, a yellow color is produced. Chorophyll b is yellow.







 

                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                           

 Wool, handspun and hand-dyed hanging to dry.

More May Blooms

lilac


















Quince                                              

Bugleweed

May Wildflowers at Blue Button Farm

Pulmonaria












Lamium

Bleeding Hearts

Red Trillium
















Jack-in-the-Pulpit

Heartleaf Brunnera (flowers look like Forget-me-not)

Viola
















Garlic Mustard - invasive and must be pulled

May apple