Debbie Apple

Hi Gary,
thanks so much for your post. You are just a hop, skip and a jump from the farm. We are right off the William Natcher parkway. If you go down 31 towards Bowling Green you will get on the parkway going west and get off at exit 7. Take a left and then turn right at the light. That's Blue Level Rd. You have to watch for the road to jog right (not far after you see the end state maint. sign).

Our address is 5635 Blue Level Rd and our website is www.rivercottagefarm.net. We have a blog at www.hearthtoharvest.com.

Are you farming now?

Looking forward to meeting you.

I have a small farm (25 acres) near the TN/KY line in Rockfield, KY. Right now we have dairy and beef cows, sheep, broilers, layers, goats, and bees. We have a shop on the farm and also sell our products at two farmers markets. We have the makings of a great farm but we need help to bring all the pieces together. If things continue in the way they have gone over the past few years we hope to expand to the 100 acres behind the farm but we want to see this piece of land closer to where it should be before we embark on expansion. If this sounds interesting to you, let me know and we can see if something can work out for the upcoming season. We have plenty of room to expand our meats, dairy products, wool products lines and would love to see if someone could make money by utilizing untapped resources.

I have two wonderful kids (15 and 21) who work on the farm and we are very intent on maintaining our peaceful home - lots of love and fun and no TV.

Let me know if this sounds interesting.

We have been 100% grass fed for almost 20 years, We transitioned many dairy cows (and sheep) from grain at the beginning of our farming adventures. Here is what we found it takes to do so with good results... Take the advise already given and take at least 10 days to reduce the feed, transitioning to REALLY top quality forage. Keep minerals and GOOD quality salt in front of them at all time. Please remember that it takes a minimum of one year to get a cow back into proper digestion after being fed grain. They will look bad for quite some time but use the condition of the coat as a guide rather than the body condition. Whether we transitioned cows or sheep we found this to be true. Also, depending on the breed, you can take them down to once a day milking to keep from pushing them too hard the first year. Our worst case took three years. She was giving 72lb of milk a milking and went down to 12 without grain. She gave us a healthy amount of milk for 10 years and gave us a beautiful calf every year until she died at 18 years of age.
I hope this helps.