Lakenvelder Farmette Introduction

Posted on 2006-Jul-16 at 07:41

The Lakenvelder Farmette is located in the Flint Hill area of Kansas in an area where the rolling grassland prairie begins to end. These hills of rocky terrain favored grazing over farming therefore preserving some of the native prairie land.

It all started because I wanted to get back into having poultry again and give my dogs room to run. Finding decent property was not an easy task. Most of the property outside of the city is usually auctioned off and they usually auction off the grazing land and farmland leaving the homestead on a just a few acres. I call them farmettes-too large to mow and too small to plow.

Finally, a foursquare home on 7 ¼ acres was found that had one large livestock/hay barn still in relative decent condition but the foursquare it was what realtors like to fondly call as “fix them uppers”. The other drawback was it was 4 gravel miles from any pavement.  This means no more shiny clean autos. Unfortunately, other than another pole barn and a grain barn most of the other outbuildings were in dismal condition or their use was days gone by because they mostly were wooden grain barns which were build before the time combines became the farming equipment of choice. The house is still a project in action but it is getting better each year.

I started out with the normal production breeds of chickens to have a few eggs and sell the extra. I also had the typical hobby farmer mix with a few of this and that. But, to my dismay, I discovered that because of the global use of highly productive breeds of farm animals there has been a loss at a rapid rate of the genetic diversity in most species of farm animals. Most of the continual breeding of the original farm breeds has come to rely on hobby farmers,  and some conservative farms to breed all the breeds and varieties.

 I then remembered how I was surprised and dismayed I was with my last visit to the Netherlands. There were so many fewer Lakenvelder cattle (Dutch Belted Cattle) compared to my last visit there. I saw herds of them before while this time I saw only a few Lakenvelders mixed with Holstein.  Lakenvelders can produce about 55-60 pounds of milk a day compared to the Holstein that can produce 65-70 pounds so Holstein are now the preferred breed for milk production.

At the present time I do not have enough land to provide for a herd of Lakenvelder cattle or any other large farm animals without purchasing tons of hay so I am presently focusing on poultry. I have a mix of birds but will be focusing on preserving three breeds (Lakenvelders, Barnvelders and Welsummers) and then, if possible, expanding later.

I currently have a small flock of Lakenvelders and Welsummers. I had to start over after a raccoon(s) got into my coop where I had young birds and it killed most of them in the fall 2005. The Lakenvelders and Welsummers I purchased this spring (2006) are almost old enough to produce eggs so I am hoping to hatch some next year. I am working on purchasing more Barnvelders to start over with them too. In the future I would like to have at least 25 of each.

 I still have a few of this and that and always will. This is so I can have my display on view by my porch and so I can try to get children interested in poultry. Hopefully, in the future I can create a display to bring to events. For the future of poultry we need to get youth interested, educated and involved in rare and heirloom farm animals.

American Livestock Breeds Conservancy's

Untitled Comment

Posted by southofthegnatline on 2006-Jul-17 at 08:20 - Link

we have had Lakenvelder hens - lost one to heat and another to a Labradore...... :(

They were not easy to raise from chicks - seemed to be easily stressed and nervous. We hope to try the breed again with our next order of chicks - they are beautiful and the breed needs help remaining established.

Enjoyed your photos!

Blessings for a great week,
Harriette Jacobs