Der Paschen Hof	Farm News	RR3 72680 Bronson Line Zurich ON N0M 2T0 Tel: 519-236-4361 Fax: 519-236-7280 Email: paschen@hay.net

New Barn 2003

Sheep Farmer builds a bigger barn after fire
by Mary Simmons

taken from Wednesday, October 29, 2003 issue of Exeter Times Advocate

ZURICH - Uwe Paschen didn't let a barn fire last winter stop him from continuing his career in the dairy sheep business.In fact, he decided to go with a bigger operation; choosing to design and build a new barn with the capacity to house 500 ewes.  At full capacity this would make him one of the biggest sheep milk producers in Ontario. Prior to the fire Paschen was milking 60 ewes. With a double 18 milking parlour Paschen said he expects he will be able to milk the ewes in a six hour time frame.

Paschen said he believes sheep's milk is the future.  He said it is basically lactose-free and worldwide it makes up 70 per cent of milk consumption. Paschen said he will be one of three producers in the province to ship liquid milk.  Most producers ship frozen milk because it is more convenient for them and allows them to take the winter off.  Paschen will keep his operation going throughout the winter months.

The barn is built in a horse shoe shape and takes climate and wind conditions into consideration.  He said he plans to close it someday with a courtyard in the centre so the livestock can be sent outdoors in the winter.  An engineer, Paschen said buildings should be designed to accommodate nature.  He said he designed the barn with tips from Mennonite structures, using an old design with modern touches. Rather than water bowls, the barn will be equipped with water drinkers made from six-inch pipe running along each pen with shallow holes cut in the top.  This will allow the ewes to drink their fill rather than having to wait for the bowls to fill up again.

There is also penning for 300 lambs, which are weaned from the ewes within a day so there is less separation anxiety.  He said this will result in the lambs regarding the herdsman as their mother.  "They will follow you around like puppy dogs" he said. Paschen is starting out with 100 ewes, a mix of Swiss, Friesen and Dorset cross and English and Columbian crosses.  He expects an average of two to four litres of milk a day per ewe.

Paschen said he plans to get a permit to operate his own store on his property.  He would like to see it become a fully organic shop, but says it is hard to ensure organic produce because of the possibility of cross-contamination with genetically modified organisms from neighbouring properties.  Paschen said sheep milk is the best milk product on the market.  It is easy to digest and the fat content is an antioxidant. "If you want to stay in business you have to adapt." he said. "I've always wanted to farm," he said.  "After the fire I decided I had to either do right or get out.

The new barn was open for public viewing October 25.

2005 March

The winter does not seem to be willing to leave on its own this year.   Loki is busy playing tricks, yet it is warm enough to let the Horses out, Kasidy is starting to suffer from cabin fever same goes for Frodo, only Mogli seems to have nerves of steel and could not care less.   As they went out to the pasture two days ago, Mogli took off like lightning, running around the farm, over the road to the neighbours and back.   It took some doing to get him calmed down and on the pasture, especially since he forgot that the fence does have power on, he ran through it twice before he realized that this may not be such a good idea.  For the first four hours the three horses ran up and down the pasture, rolled in the snow and jumped like goats! Schamou got her first muskrat for the year and ran in to her first raccoon, that took off just in time before she could get it.   For some reasons she can not stand raccoons, Pummelchen has decided to move to in with the sheep, where she had her kittens, the sheep found those small creatures rather interesting and were all gathered to welcome them to the world.   Pummelchen build a nest for her kittens and the sheep just look at them- no one has disturbed Pummelchen and her kittens.  From one species to a another there seems to be a genuine respect and compassion that always amazes me and makes me wonder what is wrong with us human's...   Emily, Uwe's ewe lamb is now in lamb,even though she may be still a little too young.  One of the rams must have jumped over at one point, since this was not suppose to happen, yet there are things that are rather hard to control so it seems!

Our milk production is finally picking up giving us about 500 litres per day now at a high butter fat and protein content which does increase the value of the milk and therefore the price as well.  The border to the USA is still closed for Canadian ruminants even though it was supposed to open on the 07th of March of this year.  However one American Judge has decided otherwise, that of course has dropped the price of lamb again and means we will not be exporting any of our genetics to the USA this year as well.  This will be the third year now that this trade embargo has been in place.  I suppose Canada may be better off joining the European Union than staying in NAFTA with the USA, this how ever is a whole new topic by itself...

Our new used milk truck is still not on the road, failing to be certified yet.  The cost of that may justify leasing a new truck and moving the milk tank onto that one instead.   It will still save us substantial money every month trucking our own milk, even with a new truck on a lease program.  The barn has been cleaned out, the doors have been fixed and a new door for the lambing section is under way.  The improvements when installed will improve the ventilation substantially and hopefully give our milk production another boost as well.  Kenny, Randy, Derrick and Greg have done a great job over there March break working on the farm and Andrew is back from his convalescence due to his accident in February.  Nancy is happy over the changes that have speeded up the milking yet does not like the reduction in work hours that resulted from it and this may be only temporary as well, we shall see!  The boys will be back to school by Monday and hopefully I will get the welding on the penning done by Sunday stopping our ewe lambs from escaping, which may not be to their liking once it will be fixed!  Evert is selling us his manure spreader for a good price and we desperately need one for the spring, the tractor needs to go for some repair work on the clutch, the slinger needed some new seals and the milk parlor will soon need some new chains as well!

One field has to cultivated this spring and planted in alfalfa and mixed grain as a cover crop.  I am still trying to get the wind mill in place by this year yet this is getting to be a challenge with the municipality and some people that do not seem to like this project!  Other than that , well the earth is still turning, the sun is still shining and the sky has not fallen down on us yet.  By our next Farm News we will hopefully be havingspring temperatures!  All the best in the mean time to all of you.  You are being missed.

der Paschen Hof
Uwe Paschen.

2005 April 02

Now that April Fools day has passed and all and every one has survived the pranks, it is time to get back to reality.   Spring is trying to break through and the temperatures are finally rising.  The sheep seem to be well as our milk production is now at 1.8 litres per ewe per day for the barn average.   Our best producers exceed 4.0 litres and our worst producers are at 0.7 litres per day.   Weekly production is now over 3800 litres and I hope that by the end of the Month we will exceed 4500 litres per week.

Kenny broke his foot and there for is out for the next 6 weeks.  Nancy is as faithful as ever and like clock work.  Randy was so excited last week as our bulk tank overfilled for the first time in a rather long time.   Douglas has been doing some spring cleaning yet forgot to clean the stove first and empty the ashes.  All the dusting was for nothing and had to be done all over again.   It did frustrate him somewhat!  Jeff and Derrick just broke a new record today, exceeding the 320.0 mark for one milking and are rather proud of it!  Mike went to see his brother in B.C.  and Emily went to work on a sheep farm in B.C., Douglas will go to B.C.  as well in about two weeks from now.  It seems as if every one goes to B.C.  lately!

This weekend we will have to set up the second bulk tank since we do need more milk storage capacity this week and that will be a rather big job!  Shamou is now outside most of the time and next week we will have to get all the fences fixed and hopefully we will manage to get some new ones up as well.

These are our updates for now.   In two weeks we may have more to report.

der Paschen Hof.
Uwe Paschen.

2005 April 30

All things are coming back to life.  The snapping turtle is once again terrorizing all the fish in our pond and even managed to chase away the beaver that has tried to establish himself on the farm, which I would have supported very much.  However Mrs. Beaver lacked the vision of Mr. Beaver and therefore he had to give up, after all what would a home be with out Mrs. Beaver and children.  I can sympathize, yet knowing my stubbornness I would probably have stayed any way and learn to regret it.  The blue heron is now back as well as the frogs, geese and their young and of course Bambi, our deer is now coming to the creek as well.  I tried to reason with our snapping turtle to be more considerate of the other inhabitants of the pond, this how ever seems have been a waste of time!

Emily, our ewe lamb is doing well and still behaving as if she was a human and not a sheep, I may have spoiled her too much and yet I wish all our sheep were as close and trusting as she is!  So far I have not seen Jakar our crow, usually he is back by this time to get some cat food.  I hope that he will show up!  Shamou is busy keeping the farm raccoon free and can still not tolerate the tractor driving through the fields; the cats are savoring the sun and at times I do envy them!

The lake and the beaches are beautiful as always and some people are back to savor this view and the seemingly endless beaches, especially the sun sets are some of the most beautiful I have ever seen!   The field work is starting soon and hopefully we will have our first cut of hay by mid May or sooner.

We are milking 3 times a day now to determine whether or not we can improve production by another 20 to 30 %.   If we can achieve this goal, we will keep this procedure.  If production increases by less than 15 % the cost would be too high and we would go back to 2 milking per day.  Of course some may think that I have gone mad, how ever that would not be anything new.  One has to push the limits in order to break the final frontier and trust me there is still plenty of room for improvement in the dairy sheep industry!

Anyhow we are now in reach to exceed the 4000 litres of sheep milk per week with the same numbers of sheep being milked.  That means that we are breaking the 2 litres per day per ewe barrier for the barn average!  If we stay on track and as long as all this does not kill us, than we will break every production record for sheep dairying in North America this year and that is the intent!   The government has decided to assist the farmer because of the ongoing B.S.E.  crisis for the past 3 years by giving each farmer $14.00 per head.  However this assistance is only for culled animals of producing livestock that have no lambs, an amount that would be just enough to feed our sheep for two days.  For a 3 year crisis that is less than $0.46 per day, considering that farmers have lost substantially more than $130.13 per day due to this crisis and the closure of the border thereafter, this is a joke that is not funny at all.   What is saving us in all this political mayhem is our milk production and the fact that we sell our milk within Ontario!   Knock on wood!!!

Our grape wines seem to have survived the winter, so we may be able to produce some wine as well in a couple or years.  This area may be best suited for Riesling or Edelzwicker grapes, we shall see.  I want to plant some okra this year and see how it does on our farm, since there is a good market for okra in Ontario it would be a good crop to grow.  The problem may be our heavy clay soil, that most vegetables do not like too much!  Some of the sunflowers from last year's seeds are starting to come up.   That is the third year in a row that the sunflowers have self-seeded.   They must be a weed therefore,or at least they are persistent.  In this particular case I do not mind at all, the problem is that there are some weeds I rather do without!

I am about to propose to our village prosperity committee and council a new summer festival, " the Sheep and Lamb Festival Weekend!"  It will be success so I believe since almost everyone does like sheep and because there is nothing like it in Ontario so far.  Since I can not sleep any longer I might as well do some more.  Joking aside I believe this will be good for business for our village and community, something everyone here needs desperately.

Now with the warmer temperatures the cottagers are slowly coming back as well and with them the farm store is picking up to, which is a welcome side effect!  If it could only be spring and summer all year round, it would be paradise.  Oh well that was back home in Africa, was it not! What were we thinking, giving that up?

Now it is time to go and get some work done, until we meet again or hear from one another again, may the sun shine and warm you all and may the wind always be at your back...  and may you all be well!

Uwe Paschen.

2005 May 03

Well we are now in May, yes May.   For a while I believed winter to be over, therefore got the land all worked up, the field planted and started mending the fences.  Well, I was wrong.  After two almost 3 weeks of summer, we ended up with snow, hail and now rain and cold weather, I suppose our pollution is making things a little worse every passing year and yet we still bury our heads in the sand!   We have had 2 air quality alerts since January.

Now my experiment with the 3 milking per day was rather exhausting and gave us so far only 12 % increase in production, there for I terminated it and went back to 2 milking per day.   We are running an average of 1.85 litres per ewe per day for the barn.  Keeping in mind that about 60 of those ewe's have to be dried up soon! we have about 70 more ewe's coming into production in the next 4 weeks and we will hopefully reach 450 ewes milking by the end of June 2005.   Keeping volume up with all the radical weather changes has been a challenge as the sheep do not like those extremes.  It takes a lot to keep them producing at there best!

We have spread almost all out composted manure, but this activity came to a total halt due to the rain that came. Yet the hay is already growing and we still have to pick stones and finish spreading the compost. The barn needs to be cleaned out as well and soon we will have to make our first cut of hay regardless.  If we want the 20 % protein in it we have to cut it before it is 60 cm long, preferably 40 cm. We pumped the holding tank for the milk wash water out and irrigated the field with it while the weather was still warm and dry.  The long May Week end will come up soon as well I noticed that with 3 milking per day our butter fat went up to 7.2 % and our protein to 6.3 %, now with 2 milking per day, our butterfat is back at 6.14 % and our protein at 5.4 %, yet the sheep seem more content with 2 milking per day.

I picked up my father, Hartmut, at the airport in Toronto.  On the way back we passed Stratford and while there we wanted to have supper at Pazzo yet I forgot that on Mondays they are closed, too bad.  Well instead we went to the Colonial in Grand Bend whitch was rather good. Mike is back as well from B.C. and came to help me milk one night.  Hartmut has to readapt to a more vegetarian cuisine, yet he seems to like it so far.  I did take him to the Greek restaurant for a break so, since he took over the cooking and the Farm Store!   We have much to do and yet I keep on coming up with more new projects and plans as if I can not find enough to do as is and none of them are small undertakings.  Yet there is hope, as Paul, my grandfather is turning 95 on the 09 of May 2005, so there may still be hope for me to get all those projects done. The sun seems to have come back and hopefully some warmer weather with it as well, Pastor Anne has been very supportive and helpful and Kenny takes on more and more responsibilities and seems to really like his job, Nancy and Andrew are starting to get the hang of it only now Nancy can no longer smoke in the house, so she goes and sits out side on her break and has her two cigarettes!  

Today as I walked by the garden I noticed that all the forget-me-not flowers are in full bloom.  Since Nandi and Sebastian planted them 5 years ago, they have grown into a beautiful carpet of forget me not!  Half of the trees that we planted last year do not seem to have survived the winter.   This is the first year that the trees we planted the year before did not make it or so it seems at least, maybe there will still come around.   All in all, things look much better now than there did three month ago, we had a lot of frustration then and just survived a major set back with the barn accident that cost us a fortune.   I suppose in order to survive in agriculture one does not only have to know what there are doing but has to be extremely persistent, stubborn and optimistic, yet I do believe that it is all worth it, One can only appreciate God's creation fully as a farmer or similar professions.  At the end of the day I can only be grateful for what we have here, this is truly Eden!   So long for now my friends, may God bless you all and keep you!

der Paschen Hof.
Uwe Paschen.

2005 June

Well June is now almost over, and we beat a new record as June 2005 is now the warmest Month so far.  It seems as if we are beating new records every year for the past decade and I am not so sure that this is a good thing.  As far as our sheep are concerned, they really do not like all those new heat waves.  Fortunately the barn is underground and there for they are always some what cooler then they would be outside in the shade.  Milk production collapsed with the first heat wave we had, however since then we managed to get it back up by pushing the feeding time from mornings to nights and basically turning the whole day around, since at night it does get some what cooler!

Hartmut went back to France after being here for about a month and soon Gloria, Johann and Lionel will come as well as some more people, I am not certain yet.  Nandi and Bastian are in Guadeloupe with there Mother and the rest is as usual!  We finally finished getting in our first cut of hay and so now the barn is filing up again.  Hopefully with the second cut we will have enough to get us through the winter.

Well I suppose that would be the most essential news for June.   I will go in to more details in the July news! Until then may you take all care and stay well!

der Paschen Hof.
Uwe Paschen.

2005 September

This past summer has been rather eventful and busy as well stressful to say the least, therefore I did neglect the Farm News some what, how ever I will try to catch up on all that has been so far!  July was rather hot and dry, great for tourism yet not so great for hay or grazing. Nandi and Sebastian came back from nine months in Guadeloupe and Dominique.  My Brother Olaf's son was diagnosed with a brain tumour, which was later successfully removed and he since has recovered from the ordeal.  Anette my sister has been rather busy with her consulting and engineering business and Hartmut, my father underwent some surgery as well in August that scared us all.  My grandfather Paul passed away in July of 2005 at the age of 95 years.

On the farm we where struggling with a sudden rise in mortality of our dairy ewes.  As we desperately were looking for the cause, we found out that the feed we purchased from our local feed company was contaminated with high levels of copper that poisoned our sheep.  Due to that unfortunate event we lost over 220 of our best dairy ewes and our milk production collapsed beyond recovery.  So far we have not seen any compensation or help from the feed company even though they did admit liability! J ohann, Gloria and Lionel spend the month of August here and ran the Bed & Breakfast.  We were fortunate and grateful to have there help and support in this times of great trial and stress.  Kenny and his Brother Greg have been holding up their work and helped me immensely save what we could.  We have been trying to somewhat limit the damage of the copper poisoning and still rebuild new line for the milk production on which we depend.  Don and Mike did hang in there and gave us great support as well in spite of the depressing site of exceptionally high mortality in the barn due to the copper poisoning of our dairy ewes.  On a brighter note our annual BBQ on the second week end in August was as usual pleasant and it was great to see so many of you attend again this year, thank you!  Emily came back home after helping her uncle in Australia and visiting her father in Chicago and in spite of all the disasters, we did manage to get engaged and plan to get married on the 21th of March 2006.  Life goes on, as my grandfather would have said, " what does not kill you, will make you stronger."

May you all be well and may The All Mighty be with you, always! until next time!

der Paschen Hof,
Uwe Paschen.

P.S. : My apologies for all that I have left out in this news and for all the friends and family not mentioned here!

2006 June 29

Much has happened since the last Farm News, yet the reason for this Farm New is the death of my father, Hartmut Herbert Fritz-Heinrich Paschen, born the 15 of July 1939 in Berlin in time of War and despair. He was the first child of Paul and Charlotte Paschen and he became a remarkable man that achieved much in his short life but I will not elaborate on that today. Most of his achievements can be fund on the internet or in libraries, he was knighted by the President of Niger for his commitment and great work and never advertised it. My father was a humble man, that did his very best to be as fair as can be, to help where ever help was needed and he put himself and his need's last. He never took a bribe, nor did he ever gave one and he was well known for that. This by itself was some achievement since where I was brorn and grew up in West Africa it was common practice, at least then! My father always took care of his children and grand hildren and loved them very much. He was a great and generous friend,who would have given his last shirt if asked for. Hartmut was also a religious man, putting all his faith and trust into God, yet never lecturing nor imposing onto anyone his beliefs, nor would he preach to any one either. No, he lived his faith and by doing so became a example to follow by many and that is probably what always intrigued me and impressed me about him the most.

In a way he was living as Christ himself would have and he was teaching others to follow, not through lecturing them, but by becoming a living example for us, in world of despair, war, injustice and uncertainty. He showed us that there is hope and a future to live for! He never labelled any one either, he judged by action not words and he would give any one a second and third or even fourth chance to change for the better or redeem his/her self. As a youngster I often argued with him that in order to change the world we had to take more drastic action like Che Guevara. Yet he never believed in war nor revolutions, he always chose peace and negotiation, as Gandhi would have and he was by doing so more successful then his counter parts, but his way took patience and perseverance. Many of us want instant fixes that in the end lead us no where but more trouble! I admired My Father for that and often wished I had half his patience and strong believe in God!

He was a decent man, even a great man, an example to follow and to learn from! I know I will miss him very much, especially his wisdom and patience, his unconditional love and friendship and his company as well!

Farewell Old Man, may you travels be peaceful and all you ever believed it to be! I will miss you very much! May God be with you always!

Your Son,
Uwe Paschen.

2006 Aug 12

Well, on the brink of negativity throughout the world with more and more people bracing themselves for the next world war; feeling the heat rising and diplomacy failing: observing civilian becoming victims of extremists from all sides, we could despair and get overwhelmed with all this. Yet there is light at the end of the tunnel, at least when it comes to the farm. Ever since the Black Dog restaurant in Bayfield started putting our cheeses and lamb on their menu, we can hardly keep our store stocked with products. I have never seen such a turnover since we started this farm in 1998. This really seems to be the turning point and I hope, God willing, that this will stay like this for some time! We had a good harvest of hay as well so far and the sheep are doing well. I wish you all well and may peace on Earth become more than just a Christmas carol!

God Bless!

September 2006

After a year of turmoil, hard ship, disasters and sorrows we seem to have entered a more normal life style once again. Much has happened in the past year. My grandfather Paul passed away a year ago followed by my father Hartmut's death last May, my nephew Dominique went through brain surgery, my daughter Nandi was in the hospital last February giving us a big scare and the planed wedding of Emily and I last March was cancelled. The farm took a few severe blows with the copper poisoning and the loss of way too many sheep, and we had to much work, stress and worries. Consequently I suffered a slow burnout. It was one of those years that takes a toll on one and bring you to your knees. Since then we are starting to recover, getting new deals with the banks, finding new prospects with the moral support of great friends and family. Perseverance and stubbornness did help has well as God's grace!

Today Mike our new apprentice from Spain as well as Robyn our helper from Australia and good old Don, Kenny, Greg, Jeff and Anne, our part time help, make it all manageable and free me up for the field work and the rest of the farm work by taking care of the milking and lambs as well as the house hold and some of the store keeping! The B&B did exceptionally well this July and August and our store really picked up this summer!

Milk production is still lacking due to the loss of sheep last year, however we should be able to recover from that by late winter as our ewe lambs will start to come in. In spite of all that has happened and all the stress, hardship and sorrow due to the loss of loved one's, I have learned a lot this past year and realized that what makes us strong and successful can also destroy us. Our defences are also our weaknesses at times, in some way I feel as we where tested and brought to our limits, somehow we failed the test and somehow we also succeeded. It taught me a valuable lesson or two, doing the best we could and persevere and leave the rest in God's hands! Learning patience and to trust in the Allmighty again! Nothing good ever comes easy I suppose!

Be well!
Uwe Paschen

Rev 2006 Nov 24