Minnie Mae (the princess dog) wanted to go out for a potty break a little while ago. I was ready for a break from C# programming, so I took her for a walk. I decided to stop by the pig pen to check on them, since it was on the way.
Where are the pigs?
Can you find the pigs in this photo? You may have to click on the photo and then zoom it a bit. Leave me a comment if you see them.
– Stan
Put the free range birds back in the pen.
The young free rangers penned up
Collect eggs, make sure chickens and turkeys have food and water.
Only Three Eggs?
Only three? I hope they did not decide to make a nest in the barn again. (Not pictured: the red free range pen, the “mini-pen”, and the turkey pen. I’ll show those some other time)
Feed the Cows (and Lucy the goat). I don’t do this every day. I want them to be mostly grass-fed. I just give them grain to keep them coming to the barn. As it cools down and the grass slows up, I’ll probably add more grain to their diet.
Lucy is the first one to the feeder
And the cows arrive
And the cows arrive
Check on the Pigs. I only feed them in the morning unless I have treats. In this case, I gave them the tomatoes that the chickens ruined.
Pigs are doing fine
They seem quite happy in their new spot.
Abbie filled up the cow water tanks (bathtubs) for me, and had some time to give the kittens attention.
Abbie with one of the kittens
Well, that is the evening chore tour.
See ya.
This is about all that’s left of the garden:
Last of the Garden
Our family wanted to plant raised boxes this year. Here is the short story: FAIL. Some things don’t work really well in raised boxes… not unless you give them lots, of attention and guidance. Tomatoes for example. Ours needed some serious cages, something I don’t have and refuse to buy. So, this is the result. I piled all the remnants of the tomatoes back into the boxes so that we could mow around them.
Next year’s plan: A long skinny box for tomatoes with a fence down the middle for attaching the runners. Small stuff in the raised beds. Some things like potatoes, pumpkins, plus farm feed stuff will be planted the old-fashioned way.
On another note, did you notice the chickens. I let out the younger bunch to free range again today. No matter where I move the coop, they end up back at the barn. They also helped themselves to some green tomatoes. Grrrrr. This is them running after being caught in the middle of their mischief.
Bad Chickens!
After a few seasons of corn on half of our pasture land we are converting it back to pasture. The corn was chopped for silage a few days ago, and we are getting ready to drill in seed. Before that my Mennonite friend is spraying to kill off the “junk”.
Time to spray the pasture
This is not my favorite practice, so we will discontinue any spray kind of thing after I get the pasture going. I hope to use the most natural means I can to keep the pasture healthy.
We will use it for hay to begin with, but later rotate critters through on a regular basis.
I’ll try to post some pictures as it starts growing.
We try to move the critters to make the most of our pasture resources and to spread the fertilizer around. We usually move the poultry around weekly. Now the pigs are part of the weekly rotation. Here are the pigs in their new location (digs).
The pigs in their new location.
The plan is to move the pen one square at a time and let them dig up the garden and fertilize it at the same time. In this section I had planted mangrel beets and turnips. They did not turn out very well due to the heat, but there are still a few in there to keep the pigs busy.
You can see on the outside of the pen the old location. They have already trampled it down (and dug it up) quite a bit.
As soon as we got them settled in the new location they began rooting around and snacking on the vegetation. This is exactly what I had hoped they would do. Eventually when they finish the garden I hope to put them out to pasture. Pigs will actually free range like chickens and eat grass. See this site for more info: Sugar Mountain Farm
The pigs enjoying all the yummy stuff in their new spot
Well, that’s all for now. See ya.
* Fixed the link to Sugar Mountain Farm 🙂
This is a normal sight in the morning. They kittens and mommy cat greet me at the door and walk me to the barn to get their breakfast.
Kittens waiting for breakfast
Nothing much was stirring in the pig pen. They usually bury themselves under the dry hay and sleep until I bring in the goodies… slop (leftovers), pig feed (mixed locally), milk (old milk from a local dairy) and boiled eggs (1 for each of them). They are in “hog heaven”
This is my morning view over the pig pen
Pigging out
Breakfast for the pigs
Lucy hoping that I will give her some breakfast as well.
Lucy hoping for food
Welcome to the first post on www.VicktoryFarm.com. Yes, I know the spelling is incorrect, but that is on purpose. It’s a play on our last name “Vickers” and some spiritual themes. See 1 John 5:1-5
I’ve been thinking about doing this blog for a long time, but have just have not made time for it. I’ve been posting photos, etc. on my Facebook page, but decided to open it up a bit more.
This site will mostly be for updates on our small (12 acres) KY farm.
Some goals for the farm:
Time for some photos:
A typical sunset at Vicktory Farm.
Here an older fall photo looking back towards house and the “White House” looking from the barn.
