Pigs – Then and now

How time flies.  I made the appointment today to have the first of my pigs processed.  Here they are shortly after their arrival in the fall of last year.

The pigs last year

 

Boy have they grown.  According to my calculations the male now weighs 185 lbs.  He should weigh at about 250 by processing time.  Here is a photo of the male.  What a difference.

Now - The Boy

The female weighs slightly less than the male.  She is about an inch shorter length wise and around the middle.  We are going to see how it goes with the male and then schedule processing for the female.  We may end up selling most of the meat from the female.  Let me know if you are interested.

Now - The Girl

This has gone VERY well.  Once we get through the first one, to see the process all the way through, we will probably purchase two more pigs.  I’ll keep you posted.

– Stan

 

First update of 2013 – A quick photo tour

It has been quite a while since I updated my farm blog.  I have been so busy doing IT work, studying for a class I’m teaching, and doing farm work that I have not taken time to actually blog.

I’m not really any less busy today, but I just decided to take a slice of time and force myself to do an update.  I took some photos yesterday, so this will be a photo tour.  (short on words)

The pigs are getting large and solid.  The male is especially a chunk.  I hope to have him processed in March or April.

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The cows are doing OK.  I’m using more hay than I have produced this year, which is causing some issues, but we will make it. I’ll still looking for some hay that is close by and cheap.  Good luck with that one.

Anyway, the cows are growing fine.  I’ll push more feed as we get closer to processing time.  (spring)  The photo below is Pumba, our oldest cow. He looks pretty good… could put on a few pounds, but we will take care of that in the spring.

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The rest of the cows:

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Timone, the Jersey has taken to hanging around with our goat Lucy more than the rest of the cows.  They are often close together as in the photo below.

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It is quite cold this week.  It was 28 degrees this morning.  Notice my frozen bathtub water tank.

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So thankful that a friend gave me a great deal on this very large tank a while back.  I put my tank heater in it, and it keeps the cows in water nicely.

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I’m low on chickens lately.  An opossum killed almost half of my layers a while back, so I’m very thin.  The photo below is of what’s left of my good hens.  I hope to get some Buffs in the spring.

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This is what I have left of my “free rangers”.  They have been sleeping in the barn lately due to the cold, so I’ve just left them alone.  It is a bit safer in there.

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I moved the turkeys to the “free range” pen.  They were about to freeze to death when the wind tore the top off my half hoop pen, then it rained and started to freeze.  Yuck!

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We are going through the firewood at a decent pace this year.  Thankfully I had a huge stash.  Good thing, since my chainsaw is broken.  I did not really cut much wood in 2012.  I need to get back in the groove.  I’ll be good this winter though.  The wood left in this photo below is mostly Oak and Locust.  Both burn long and hot.

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The cats are fine too.  All six of them…

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Our Jersey calves are doing well.  They had a rough start late last year with all the alternating rain and cold.  I ended keeping them on milk a LOT longer than normal.  Read $$$$  I had to treat them for scours twice.  Thankfully they are both off milk now.  I’m keeping them two times a day.

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Well, that is it.  I’ll try not to take so long between posts.  Leave me a quick comment to let me know you’ve dropped by.

– Stan.

 

Calf Number Two Moved to the Coral

Since it was a pretty day, and to save time and trouble down the road, we decided to go ahead and move our second calf to the coral today.  Below is a video taken just after we placed him in the coral.  We all love to watch them run and jump as the get used to the extra space after being in a stall for a few weeks.

 

– Stan.

One of the best farm things ever…

When you live on a farm you need some stuff… know what I mean… You need tools, equipment, etc.  However, It is a good idea not to get too carried away, like I did.

One of the most stupid purchases I ever made was a tractor… yep, a tractor.  It was a 42 hp diesel.  Dumb, Dumb, Dumb for many reasons, but basically, I have a small farm and that was a big tractor for this size farm.

On the other hand, one of the best purchases was a small farm John Deere mower (we call it a tractor) and trailer.  Actually, the trailer was “free” when we bought the mower.  Best “free” thing ever.

Trailer

Dump trailer. One of the best farm things ever…

When you have a farm, even a small one, you are always moving something from here to there.  Wood from the shed to the porch.  Poop from the stall to the to compost bin.  Hay from here to there.  You get the idea…  A wheel barrow will work, but can be a real pain, and does not always carry as much as you like.  This trailer has been the perfect size for our small farm.  Easy to manipulate and It will carry a decent amount for our operation.  So, if you have a small farm, get a trailer.  You will be happy you did.

– Stan.

Weekend Update

I’ve been so busy with work I have not had much time to post, so here are some weekend updates.

First of all, we have more leaves on the ground than on the trees these days.

Leaves

Leaves

Our first calf of the season is has been in the coral for a little while. He had a bit of a tummy ache for a couple of days (scours), but after a little treatment, he seems to be doing well.

 

New Calf

New Calf doing well in the coral

Today is a beautiful day.  72 degrees right now.  Nice!   It’s nice to hit a pretty day on the weekend.  It makes it a bit easier to do some “catch up” farm chores.  This nice weather is not supposed to last long, so Anna and I did some preparing for the coming weather.

I try to keep kindling on the porch where it’s dry.  It’s no fun trying to cut up kindling for a fire when it is snowing outside.  The process starts here, on the chopping block in front of the wood shed.

Kindling

Kindling

Then into my fancy bucket 😉

Into the bucket

Into the bucket

On to the porch… ready for the next fire

On the porch

On the porch

We really did not need more wood on the porch, but since it was so pretty outside we topped off the wood pile.

Topped off

Wood pile topped off

Well, that is the quick update.  More to come later.  Like the 2nd calf moving to the coral, etc.

– Stan.

Ick!

Ick!  What a nasty day.  Now that Sandy the Frankenstorm is moving over this way, and the cold front is moving down we are getting some “lovely” weather.  I’m kinda bummed though.  This was a good opportunity for a big snow storm… staying inside… drinking hot coco, etc.  Instead, all the snow is to the east of it, and we have a cold, wet, windy day.

I’ve been quite busy with IT (information Technology) projects lately, so I’m behind on posting a bit.

Here are the cows this morning chowing down on some hay from the barn.  I’ve started adding in square bail hay since they are still in the middle pasture, and they have to lick the ground to get any grass.  My neighbor helped me put out a round bail a little over a week ago, and they have eaten almost half of it already.  Yikes!  It’s going to be a long winter.

Cows Endure the Ick

Cows Endure the Ick … eating some square bailed hay from the barn.

On a more cheerful note, here is our oak tree yesterday evening as the storm blew our way and the sun was setting.

 

Pre Storm Oak Tree

Our oak tree, barn, etc. the evening that Sandy the “Frankenstorm” blew in

 

Well, that is it for now.  I have bunches of programs to change.  See Ya.

– Stan.