Two children in northern Utah were found to have toxic levels of arsenic in their blood– and the cause was eggs from their backyard chickens.  The Utah Department of Health traced the source of the arsenic to commercial chicken feed made by IFA.

IFA insists that it does not add arsenic to its feed.  UDH withdrew its report because it incorrectly assumed that the source of the arsenic was a chemical called roxarsone, and arsenic-based ingredient used in medicated chicken feeds.  However, the agency stands by its conclusion that feed was the source of the arsenic, and notes that when the family switched feed the arsenic levels went down.

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We named Kerry’s little girl “Echo” because she has two spots (her mom has one).  We’ve been calling the little boy “Ditto”– he also has one spot.

Now it’s time for Ditto to go to a new home.  As a dairy, we don’t need male goats.  Ditto has gorgeous markings, and would make a great breeder, but we need a buck from outside our bloodline, so we can’t keep him.  But we posted his photos on Craigs List yesterday, and already we have someone interested in him as a pet.  He’ll be great!  He’s very friendly and lovable.

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We haven’t been posting much because we’ve been getting ready for the Iron County Fair. It’s a four day event that will draw 30,000 people to the carnival, petting zoo, displays, vendors, bull riding, and other rodeo events. We’ve got a booth to sell our cheese– probably the biggest event we’ll do all year. So we’re madly producing and packaging cheese to sell at the fair.

Hopefully we’ll see you there!

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Lo 41 °F   

 Wind Advisory Hazardous Weather Outlook Short Term Forecast

Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 41. Windy, with a southwest wind 29 to 32 mph decreasing to between 17 and 20 mph.

Winds could gust as high as 46 mph.

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Rockabilly– this weekend at Summer Jam in Cedar City.  Hope to see you there!

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The CNN headline says, “Feed likely source of salmonella in eggs, federal officials say.”  This as the egg recall expands to 550 million eggs from two mega-egg-producers in Iowa, with tainted eggs traced to 23 states and almost 1,500 cases of salmonella poisoning.

Kind of makes you wonder what those mega-farmers feed their chickens.  Sustainable Table reports that industrial poultry feeds commonly contain post-slaughter animal wastes, as well as antibiotics– but clearly not enough to eliminate a salmonella infection.

In contrast, when we had laying hens, we fed them a mixture of grains with no animal by-products or medications.  And our chickens got plenty of sunshine and greenery, since they had the run of the yard.

Half a billion infected eggs… sounds to me like a great argument for knowing your local farmer!

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Playing this weekend at Summer Jam in Cedar City, Noon to Midnight Friday & Saturday.  And we’ll be there with our cheese!

Check out Friday’s opening act, folk/rock musician Chas Holingshead, too!

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This does not look promising for Summer Jam in the park.

National Weater Service: http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?CityName=Paragonah&state=UT&site=SLC&textField1=37.9383&textField2=-112.648

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Meet Echo.  We gave her this name because she echos Moms spot. Also she takes her name seriously and echos her spot on both sides.

We will not be naming  Kerry’s little boy because giving him a name would make it harder to sell him                                                                                     (Brigette Adams Photos)

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