I found our first Turkey egg just a day or so ago, but this is the first time I’ve caught her on the nest. After I found the fist egg I fixed her up with a big box of hay. She seems to like it. Hopefully the two toms will leave her alone.
Our Turkey on the Nest
– Stan.
Look what was waiting for me this morning while doing the farm chores. That is no ordinary egg, it is a Turkey egg. The first one of the season.
First Turkey Egg of the season
Look at the Turkey egg on the far right compared to the chicken eggs. It’s quite a bit bigger, even compared to my Buff Oprington eggs.
Comparing Eggs
Once the weather warms up a bit I’m going to save up some Turkey eggs and try to hatch them. Come on spring!
– Stan.
I’m waiting for a program to install before I do more IT work, so I thought I would post a blog update real quick.
So, this was the view as I headed out to do farm chores this morning? As of right now this is looking like our biggest snow of the year… and it is supposed to be spring. Oops, scratch that. I just looked outside again and the sun is doing a number on the snow!
Spring ?
The pigs did not seem to be too upset by the snow, but the pen is going to be a MESS later.
Snow pigs
The sheep were waiting for me when I came out of the back of the barn. They refuse to get in the “goat house” that is in the coral. I grabbed the feed pans that you see in the background and moved them to the goat house. That will get them out of the snow for a little while at least.
Sheep wait for a snack
Got em in there for a little while.
Sheep in the goat house
I gave the cows some extra square bale hay since it was snowing.
Extra hay
Pumba and Timone got some sweet feed. (Actually, it is not really sweet. It’s just corn and soybean)
Pumba and Timone
So the rooster decides to sleep in.
Roo Sleeps in
And the cats stay in the barn.
Cats stay in the barn
The daffodils cry for mercy!
Have Mercy!
And I went back inside for more coffee!
– Stan.
With a lot of new critters arriving lately, spring on the way, and meat processing coming up soon, it was past time for a critter shuffle.
The first set of critters just stayed where I put them. I got the sheep last weekend, so they didn’t move. I (well, James really) put a roll of hay in the coral. I wanted to keep them thee until they had some time to be trained on the electric fence. Tomorrow I’ll let them into the fenced off chicken area where they can start munching on some grass. I’ll be home tomorrow, that way if they decide to test the electric fence I’ll be around to catch em.
Sheep stay in the coral
Since I’ll be taking beef to be processed in a month or so, I wanted to separate the cows that I want to process from the “growers”. Also, I needed to get them on a magnesium block since new grass is coming out. I left the “growers” in the back pasture and put out a mag block for them. The picture below is the “growers” wondering how they can get to their buddies. You can see the mag block on the ground. I had to use a small pallet to keep it out of the dirt… hey, use what you have, right.
The cats, well, they go where they want…
Our lonely free range rooster… he goes where he wants to as well…
Here is my rig that allows me to share one big tank across two pastures. You can see the “grower” cows looking toward the middle pasture where their two buddies are hanging out.
Here are my biggest cows that are getting ready to go away. I put out a mag block for them as well, and I moved the feeder into this middle pasture so that I could put them on grain a bit before processing. My cows are mostly grass-fed, but I do feed some corn and soybean mix that I get from a Mennonite friend.
Here they are chowing down.
I’ll try to post a video of this later.
– Stan.
I haven’t even had time to post about the new sheep, but I thought this photo was funny. Consider this a preview to a post with more photos and details.
Single File
– Stan
Some new critters took a ride home with me yesterday: Pigs!
New Pigs Take a Ride
These pigs were about 40 pounds, a bit heavier than my previous set when I brought them home. Much bigger, and I would not be able to transport them in the dog cage in the back of my VW. I really need a truck!!!!!
Pigs in the barn
I put these pigs in the barn. My outdoor pig pen is still occupied for another month or so. It’s a bit cold here anyway (24 degrees last night), so the barn is a good spot for now. I filled the stall with an entire bale of hay, plus food and water. They have been eating more hay than feed.
These two barrows are both Hampshire crosses. My other pigs were Duroc crosses. I think they will do well. They are the leftovers from a group of show pigs that sold for $250.00 each. I didn’t pay that for these, thankfully.
The picture below is them all setup with food and water in their new digs. They are chowing down on the hay rather than the feed.
Pigs in New Digs
This stall is also used for calves when I have them. You can see the two bottle holders at the top of the wall. I start them out in this stall then move them to the stall at the front of the barn later since it is set up for bucket feeding.
Still no names for the pigs yet. Suggestions?
– Stan.
From my Facebook post: We are about to start processing our hogs and cows. First hog will be processed at the end of this month. We will keep that one. We will have another one to go in about another month. 1/2 is spoken for already. Cows will go for processing in a month or so. We will sell in 1/2 cow increments. We will do one at a time as they are ready. If you want the second half of the hog, or would like to be on the list for 1/2 a beef let me know ASAP. Even if you have told me a while back, please email me AGAIN… so I can put you on the list.
Update: The second hog has also been scheduled for processing, as well as the first beef. Let me know ASAP if you want 1/2 hog or cow.
Other happy notes: Just double checked with our meat processor to confirm that he can cure and smoke meat. Answer: Yes. Oh happy day!!!!!
Bacon and Sausage
I will have one Jersey and one Holstein to be processed fairly soon, then there will be a bit of a delay before the next three cows are ready. I’m keeping 1/2 of each, so that means if you want meat very soon you need to get on it…
Beef to be
– Stan.
Yep. That is what I said: “Flying Turkey Coop.” Well, it is not really supposed to fly, but that is what it did this morning. Here is the coop across the driveway.
Flying coop
The brown square in the photo below is where the coop is supposed to be.
When the coop left, the turkeys stayed in the general area of their coop… in the rain. They looked a little bit lost and confused. I’m thankful that they didn’t fly off through.
Turkeys looking lost
My neighbor came up and helped me move the coop from the pasture back across the driveway into a safe place. I decided to put it in front of the barn for now. It is in sad shape. The wind did a number on it.
Note to self: Tarps keep the rain out, but they make good sails as well.
Deformed Coop
Looking inside, you can tell that the coop took a beating. The board on the back is supposed to be parallel with the one on the bottom. The coral panels were even bent. Bummer.
Inside the deformed coop
The door won’t close now, so I had to use a bungee on it.
Bungee latch
I did manage to get the turkeys back in fairly easily though. That was a blessing. I spent the rest of the afternoon fixing fences, praying, and fussing at the devil for trying to mess with my stuff. “Don’t make me tell my daddy!”
Here is another fun result of the storm this morning:
Pig pond
Not a good spot for the pigs. We had to move that after fixing the fence. Fun, in a strange sorta way. Kinda like I imagine that mud wrestling would be… no, actually, more fun than that.
– Stan.
All but one of my free range chickens have been killed by the evil opossum clan. (We have been in an ongoing feud for a while.) I think he is getting lonely because now he has taken to hanging out on the porch with the cats.
Our last free range rooster hangs out on the porch with the cats.
