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Home / Family Milk Cow

Category: Family Milk Cow

Posted on March 21, 2023March 21, 2023 by Sarah Milcetic

It’s time to wean this bull

We had two calves born in late 2021, and our original plan was to have them nurse for at least 6 months, while sharing the milk with us. We let the calves have all the milk over the winter, so…

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Category: Family Milk Cow
Tags: calf sharing, drying off, fence line weaning, udder management, weaning
Posted on December 19, 2022April 26, 2023 by Sarah Milcetic — Leave a comment

What one supplement do all livestock need?

There’s one supplement we give to every animal on our farm – cows, sheep, poultry, pig and even our guardian dogs! We give it because of how much it provides in bioavailable minerals, which effect their ability to stay well…

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Categories: Family Milk Cow, Livestock Guardian Dog, Poultry, Sheep
Tags: natural rearing, supplements
Posted on September 14, 2022April 10, 2023 by Sarah Milcetic — Leave a comment

Non-industrial cheese and milk ferments

This year we have been getting double the milk that we got last year (Mulberry’s second lactation). I started experimenting with fermenting – clabber, yogurt, sour cream, cultured butter… and I wanted to learn to make hard cheeses to preserve…

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Category: Family Milk Cow

About Our Family

Hi, we are Sarah & Peter Milcetic of Better with Thyme Farm! On our farm we focus on working with Creation and the wisdom of God’s design. Stewarding our land and animals for God's glory gives us hope and freedom for the present and eternity.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. -John 15:4

Monthly News

Updated at the beginning of each month with farm updates, seasonal tips and more. Read the monthly news here.

New! The Hub

Introducing the Holistic Homesteaders Hub! Our mission is to create a network of breeders, buyers and service providers who are dedicated to stewarding our animals for their optimal wellbeing, rearing our animals as close to nature as possible and incorporating natural remedies only as needed.

Please join us inside the Hub!

We Love Thyme

We love thyme. With seemingly endless varieties of this aromatic, delicious, medicinal, flowering evergreen ground cover we thought it was a perfect namesake for our farm. We especially loved creating a play on words that reflects hope, regeneration and abundance.

Our Favorite Herbs & Spices

Any herbs & spices that we need but don't grow ourselves, we buy from Mountain Rose Herbs! The first time we smelled their garlic powder, we realized they offer the best bulk herbs you can buy and we've loved every herb and spice we have purchased from them - both for ourselves and our animals!

Shop Our Favorite Organic Herbs & Spices

Homestead Cleanup!

How clean is your homestead?

Whether we're cleaning messy child hands, muddy chore overalls, milking supplies, slobbery dog bowls (or any other mess you can name on the homestead) these are the ONLY cleaning supplies that met our holistic standards for our homestead! 

I was so thankful to discover the Thieves line after tiring of greenwashed products that didn't get the job done and left me feeling awful too. No compromises here!

Clean Your Homestead without Compromise
The Lord will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest.
-Psalm 85:12

Great Pyrenees Livestock Guardian Dogs

About our Dogs: Why Great Pyrenees Livestock Guardian Dogs

About Our Puppies ~ Available Puppies ~ Previous Puppies ~ Puppy Questionnaire

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Puppy Testimonials

Ron has been the absolute best blessing we could’ve asked for in a dog. He really has been such a wonderful addition to our family and we thank you so much for raising such an amazing pup in a child friendly house.

― Caitlyn

Most of the photos and videos are of us on adventures. She is a dream come true and I love every second with her. 

― Katherine

Apollonia has surpassed any of our expectations.  We love her so much and could not imagine being without her!!! We continue to feed her a raw food diet. She has had zero health issues!

― Niccole

Appa has been perfectly healthy since we’ve had him and I attribute that to the raw diet! We can’t thank you and your family enough for trusting us to take care of him! As well as being an inspiration for a healthier and more wholesome life.

― Zach

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Ameraucana ~ Bresse ~ Cream Legbar ~ Splash and French Black Copper Marans ~ Lavender Orpington ~ Silkie ~ Silverudd’s Blue

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Located in Shepherdstown, WV

Phone: (240) 805-3618

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Latest Blog Posts

  • Packing Hatching EggsApril 11, 2023
    Q: “Would it be in the scope of this course to show how you pack the eggs […]
  • Ewes chewing their cuds
    We thought we were going to lose herMarch 31, 2023
    The ewe in this story is the white one at the front of the photo. The photo […]
  • It’s time to wean this bullMarch 21, 2023
    We had two calves born in late 2021, and our original plan was to have them nurse […]

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Guinea update! Last year I shared a bunch about Guinea update! 

Last year I shared a bunch about how happy we were with adding Guinea fowl for tick control and they’re still doing great for that purpose. Our birds are almost a year old and we still have all 5 that we started with! 🙌

This spring I had a tick bite after opening up dozens of bags of leaves we got from a neighbor for the garden. 🤦‍♀️ So I tried to encourage the guineas to spend some time in the garden cleaning the leaves and it worked.

We ended up with 2 females and 3 males, which isn’t the best. They have paired off, with one pair roaming the pastures and the other pair staying in the garden. The male with no partner spends most of his time circling the garden fence trying to convince the female in there to switch to him. I think we need a few more females. 😅

We had a turkey sitting on a nest with one of her own eggs and about a dozen Guinea eggs. Unfortunately none of the Guinea eggs hatched. I’m thinking I will pop a handful in the incubator if the females don’t go broody soon.
Mulberry’s calf is 10 days old. We‘d like to t Mulberry’s calf is 10 days old. We‘d like to to decide by a month old whether to raise him as a steer or keep him intact to be a bull for another homestead/farm (we want to stick to one bull here for now). We also don’t have a name for him yet if you have any suggestions!

This little guy is likely going to be right at the line between mini and mid-mini. He’s a2/a2, naturally conceived, from many generations of grass fed only, and likely homozygous polled (we’d have to test to confirm he’s not heterozygous polled). He has his daddy’s eyes and darker coat. (The last photo is his dam and sire together.)

One thought I have about keeping a steer is that we have a built-in buddy for our bull (once weaned) and then we can be more precise about when we put cows with the bull to be bred! For now we have one pregnant cow who is staying with the bull and each of the mamas with new calves are in their own areas for bonding and to make sure they don’t get pregnant again as soon as they start cycling.

What would you decide??
Thank you again to everyone who discussed raw milk Thank you again to everyone who discussed raw milk sales with me from my stories last week. So glad this is an option in our state! 🙌
I got this text last night from one of our puppy f I got this text last night from one of our puppy families. Truly melted my heart!

“I have to tell you, I’m so in love with Chip. He and I def were the ones that bonded the most, but he’s been so pleasant to have wondering around while we do life. Then in the afternoons I just sit in the grass and he sits with me. He’s so intelligent and loving. 🧡 These are from this afternoon getting his love.”

This litter is 16 months old and in the home stretch of growing into mature guardians. (They get big bodies very quickly but are still puppy like in many ways until around 2 years old! We usually feel a big shift by 1.5 years old). 

The bond they form with their families and their animals is so amazing to watch unfold! 🥺🥰
Working smarter not harder today! 😅 Teaching M Working smarter not harder today! 😅

Teaching Moonbeam to be milked is easier with her calf by her side since she’s more relaxed, and training Rainbow to be a future family milk cow is easier when she follows her mama’s lead! 🙌 

I was thinking this would be a good topic to expand on/write my next blog post about. 

What would you like me to include in the post? Do you have any questions?
We’ve not had the best luck with chip drop but n We’ve not had the best luck with chip drop but now that we have a pickup we can get a scoop of cedar mulch from the local nursery for way less than delivery! I know I can’t be the only one in love with beautifully mulched garden beds? 

This year I’m working on beautifying some areas that are still barren even though construction wrapped up 3 summers ago now I think it was. Too much traffic from people and animals passing through!

Next I need to figure out where to get some bricks to blend with these amazing bricks we salvaged from a NYC school reno that I loved so much we brought them to WV with us! My hope is to make a wide brick path for the main approach to the house.

I can’t decide what to put between the holly shrubs and the hostas. I’m thinking maybe a bird bath with annual flowers around the base so we can move it if we don’t love it there. 

What would you do?
I don’t like to buy things that I know are going I don’t like to buy things that I know are going to break but since we have the cows in three groups right now, moving daily and refilling water daily… 

I left the yard hydrant running one too many times to not do something about it. This is a super simple manual hose timer that works just like an egg timer. It’s perfect for now! 😅
She’s going to be the most well socialized, well She’s going to be the most well socialized, well trained family milk cow (Lord willing)! 

We may sell her as a bred heifer or keep her around and train her to be milked first. Maybe we’ll even keep her indefinitely. 😅 

Sometimes we try to plan, but sometimes it feels better to take things one day at a time and see where they lead.

Last year I was honing in on how many chickens is the right number of chickens. How many cows do you think is the right number of cows? I’d say the minimum is two (for redundancy, companionship etc), the max may be the number that you can comfortably train and graze with the land you have available for them. 

What do you think? 🤔
Yesterday evening we got the sheep into the tiny p Yesterday evening we got the sheep into the tiny paddocks I make for shearing time! We also always keep the guardian dogs separated during shearing in case they think someone is hurting their sheep! 😅

This year was rough on the ewes since they were all fat from the lack of lambing/nursing but everyone got through it and they’re back to grazing the hedgerow. 

This year I’m going to adjust their rotational grazing to hopefully get them to slowly lose a little weight and conceive lambs for next year.
New sheep goals! 🐑✨ After the disappointment New sheep goals! 🐑✨

After the disappointment of a failed ram last breeding season, I decided to try something new with our sheep.

We added a new proven ram earlier this spring who is a bit older. This week we brought home a yearling ram (the one hiding behind the girls in the photo/video since he’s not used to me yet). Soon we’re going to be picking up a ram lamb, bringing us to a total of three unrelated rams, all with different coloring genetics too.

Why are we doing this?

Our goal is to create three micro flocks and use a conservation breeding plan to be able to maintain a closed flock going forward while also being able to offer breeding pairs or trios to other homesteaders! 

Each of these micro flocks is going to have a role in keeping certain areas of our homestead mowed, especially areas where we don’t want cows going - like the orchard and in the parts of the hedgerow where there are still a lot of thorns we’re working on clearing out. And they each will have their own assigned guardian dog!

PS I recently read Ecclesiastes and have reread Ecclesiastes 11 multiple times, thinking about how to apply the teaching to all of our business and homestead ventures! Have you read it?
Just a handful of years ago there were basically n Just a handful of years ago there were basically no birds on our farm since it was all a big open field - starlings were about the only birds we saw up close. 

It’s so neat to see all the variety of wildlife that have found their way here with all the new habitat we’re creating. 

The second photo was an incomplete nest that fell for some reason… it’s lined with hairs from our pig!

We do have one nest on a porch fan that we reluctantly let the mama bird keep. It’s going to be some work to clean when she’s done.

Last year we had a new type of bird I had never seen before join our cows (the brown headed cow bird). We also see lots of cardinals, eastern bluebirds, goldfinches etc etc. 

Do you leave nests in/on your home or discourage that?
Ducklings are her absolute favorite animal. This l Ducklings are her absolute favorite animal. This little flock loves her and looks to her as mama, except when she won’t let them swim because it’s not quite warm enough!
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