Welcome to "The Niblet", two quirky exotic animal breeders sharing a taste of the farm life. In this issue we're discussing our 2007 Carpondro Breeding efforts and the ins and outs of Ultra-Intensive Grazing.

We hope you enjoy this issue, and welcome your thoughts and suggestions. If you have an idea for something you'd like to see here in the future just hit reply and let us know. .

All the best,

Ross Lasley	Amy Lasley

Breeding Update: Carpondro Eggs

While most of our females still look uncomfy and eye their nestboxes nervously we're awfully pleased to have the first eggs of the 2006/2007 season in the incubator. Bingo laid her eggs in late April and we've calculated a hatch date in June. This is one of the breedings we discussed in our February issue of the Niblet titled “Love is in the Air”.

This pairing is very interesting and one of two we are doing this year to try and see if it is possible to use a male carpet python with a female GTP. Carpondros have typically been produced the other way around with female carpets and male GTP's. We're unaware of any animals that have been produced using a male carpet.

The dad on this pairing is Gandolph. That's him on the left with Pong. He's a high tan/reduced black carpet python that has a very unique look. The mom that has laid eggs (and the mom that will lay eggs soon) is a Lereh type with a very nice body shape and typical coloration.

So what we know so far is that they will breed – Gandolph was by every definition a “good” breeder this year and paired with every female he had the opportunity to meet. The eggs came out about half and half which is what we expected – half “slugs” , also known as eggs that are clearly not viable when they are laid. Several of the eggs had good strong vein development and visible embryos – and those eggs continue to do well with thick veins and every indication that they will hatch.

We're pleased to be working on a mystery and as many of you know our long term goal is to prove Carpondros to be fertile – this year should see good progress on that with us hopefully answering the bi-directional question, this will expand the possibilities for producing these animals. We did attempt two direct Carpondro to Carpondro breedings this year but we don't hold out high hopes on either of them, our male doesn't seem quite ready. In addition we have a few “75%” breedings with a Carpondro being bred to either a GTP or a Carpet – we may get a clutch there as well but it is still early. The mystery is at least half the fun.

We continue to expect Sorong type GTP eggs from Luna and hopefully from Juliette as well. Our Aru type Phoenix looks to have struck out this year and she is feeding again. Our old girl Pongo isn't looking likely at this point either but you never know.

We'll keep Niblet readers updated on our efforts but in the meantime we do keep our 2007 Breedings page right here if you ever feel curious about what is going on here at the Farm.

Growing Your Own Grass

Ultra-Intensive Grazing, or How to provide fresh
grass with very little pasture

The word pasture for me has always conjured up images of rolling, lush, green hillsides framed with perfect, white, three-rail fences all around and contented critters happily munching away to their heart’s content. Since moving to our 85 acres of heaven in the western Maine mountains, I’ve had to get pretty flexible with my definition of pasture. You see, our 85 acres is covered in trees… lots and lots of trees. Only about 5 acres of the 85 are cleared, and these 5 are occupied by our house, barn, garage, sap house, driveway, garden, greenhouse, etc. By the time we get done subtracting the space taken up by all the “stuff” that makes up a farm, we’ve probably got 1.5 acres of actual, accessible grass.

Being the kind of person who won’t take “yeah right” for an answer, I’ve spent the last couple of summers trying to figure out how to get blood from a stone. We have two gorgeous draft horses who eat as much as three regular sized horses, if not more. We also have over 100 meat birds we raise on pasture. Of course nothing less would do but to raise our own grass fed poultry, LOL.

The benefits of fresh pasture are too many to enumerate here, but suffice it to say that pasture in my opinion is nature’s perfect food for horses and many other herbivores. Its not easy to finagle with limited acreage, but here are a few guidelines that have helped us get the most of what we have.

1. Get Over It
Our pastures are never going to look like the storybook images I see in my mind. One of the biggest obstacles for me was to acknowledge the utilitarian nature of any grass growing land on our property. You might call it a lawn, but I call it a pasture. One advantage of using any scrap of grass growing land to pasture your animals on is that you’ll only need to mow once or twice a year, just enough to keep undesirable plants in check. Just remember not to use any chemicals on your grass that might be harmful to your animals.

2. Temporary fencing
We are big fans of electric tape fencing and plastic step-in posts. These materials cost very little, last a long time and can be picked up and moved quickly. If your horses and other livestock have already learned to respect the electric tape, you may not even need to electrify it for your grazing areas. An animal with a face full of the green stuff usually won’t be interested in escaping.

3. Rotate, Rotate, Rotate
We have 5 or 6 different areas, each less than 1/4 acre that we use for our animals. One key to keeping the grass growing is not to let it get eaten down too much. We rotate the grazing area at least once a day, sometimes twice. This gives each area a chance to recover before the next onslaught.

4. Pick up the Poop
It might sound obvious, but its important to either pick up the droppings or spread them thinly EVERY day. This not only keeps the grass under the droppings from getting burned, but also removes breeding areas for flies.

5. Don’t wait for Rain
Remember that you’re asking a lot from a small area. If the grass is looking dry, water it. During dry spells, we water ours every day. Its not that much area for a lawn sprinkler to cover, and the cost of watering is usually less than the price of the hay you’d be feeding, assuming you don’t have town water. Pretend the grass your animals are eating is just another garden crop and treat it as such.

6. Make do with what you’ve got
Even a couple hours a day of grazing can do wonders for the health and happiness of your animals. Grazing is a natural behavior. It relieves stress and boredom, while adding trace minerals and fiber to the diet. Don’t worry about what your neighbors think of you, just do the best you can with what you’ve got.

These are just the major principles that come to mind, but I would be happy to answer any questions you may have about what has and has not worked for us. I’m not an expert by any stretch, but would love to chat. Feel free to drop a line!