Apple Prairie Farm Blog

Apple Prairie Farm

Irish Dexter cattle in field

Hi to you.....

Hi to you...

Welcome to the blog of Apple Prairie Farm. I want to show you around our farm, maybe inspire you to try to raise a few animals or even put some seeds in a raised bed in order to have some homegrown goodness! The food we grow on our farm is flavorful and as good as it gets! When our family sits down to enjoy a meal that we raised on our farm, we look at each other and know that we have to keep doing what we are doing. Can't find this much flavor in the grocery store!

How To Milk A Cow

How To Milk A Cow

Back in 2012, we considered adding some cows to our little homestead. We really thought we wanted mini jerseys. I wanted milk, Farm Guy wanted meat. After doing some research and really considering what we wanted, we decided to go with the wonderful little breed called Irish Dexter's. This wonderful bovine sounded too good to be true! They are the perfect little homestead cow! We are so happy to be the owners of this small breed of cattle. We heard that Irish Dexter's are cal

Training milk cows

Training milk cows

This might be one very boring post to anybody who doesn't have a milk cow, or to someone who has no desire to ever milk a cow. If you fit into these two catagories, feel free to not read this post! But if you are trying to learn everything you can about how to milk a cow, then maybe this will interest you. Maybe it will encourage you to just keep going if you are in the middle of trying to train your cow to be a good milker. I am in the process of training a three year old Ir

Homemade soft cheese

Homemade soft cheese

I have made only one type of cheese. Why only one, you ask? The reason is that this recipe is so easy! I would love to learn how to branch out and try making some hard cheeses, but that would mean I would have to wait for the cheese to age! Which means, I will be that much older when I get to eat it. I don't know if I can wait that long! This homemade cheese reminds me of the way that you can crumble goat cheese on a salad or over a hot skillet of garden goodness! Isn't life

Why I like Irish Dexter cows

Why I like Irish Dexter cows

We bought our first milk cow in 2013 and have been thrilled to own such an amazing breed of cattle known as Irish Dexter's. We had known that we wanted a few cows for a while and when our lives didn't seem quite so busy with raising little kids, we started researching what breed to get. I got a book called the Family Cow Handbook, and that had pictures of different breeds of cattle that worked for milk cows. The picture I came across was a picture of red Irish Dexter's. Chuck

How to go on vacation with a milk cow

How to go on vacation with a milk cow

When I was contemplating getting a milk cow I wasn't sure how we could still go on vacations or even a simple weekend get away. You hear how dairy farmers can never get away from milking, I certainly did not want to have to stay home all the time. What is a wannabe dairy maid supposed to do? I learned about an amazing trick called calf sharing. Super easy. With this technique you only milk once a day. When you want to milk the next morning; go separate your milk cow from the

Anna the milk cow

Anna the milk cow

I want to introduce you to Anna the milk cow. She was the first Dexter cow we bought. She came to the farm when she was 4 years old. We still have her and we hope to have her for many years to come! She had already been milked when we got her, but had had a year off from having a calf and being milked. The family that owned her, had a medical crises due to a car accident and had barely been holding it together. We had to travel 4 hours to get her. We borrowed a small cattle t

Ruby the cow

Ruby the cow

This is Ruby. She was born on July 16th, 2013. Her registration number for the American Dexter Cattle Association is #032027 in case you are checking out the pedigree of our Irish Dexter herd. She was our second breeding stock purchase. We were so excited to get her as a calf. She came from a Ranch in South Dakota. We have been happy with how friendly she is and she will let you pet her. She is used to having a halter on her and has been hand milked for a couple seasons. She