For starters, I feel so bad that I've been so bad at updating this blog, but it felt like I had no time to do anything but go to work, and then work on the farm lately. Then there are days where I would get home later than usual, and simply decide to do NOTHING. I guess it's ok to do that once in awhile, but the last few weeks, it's been more and more. Ah well, maybe it's the changing weather, and I'm going into hibernation mode? :)
The piglets are doing well. All 10 that survived the first fews days are still going strong. We have decided to keep two gilts fo
r ourselves and breed them again. We are making initial selections, but are also waiting until they are market weight to really decide which ones to keep in particular. Most likely we will pick the best looking, but perhaps smallest and most gentle ones, since if they are small and lean, they won't be as good at market. We sold off two boars as feeder pigs to a local buyer, and have sold out of the rest as either half or whole hogs.
To sum up the excitement with the piglets: we had to give them iron injections within the first few days - which involved removing them a few at a time so as to not upset momma, and give them the injections, c
ut needle teeth, and get them back into the pen. Thanks to Angie's parents helping, we were able to
do this with no problems! Next, we had to castrate the boars, which Angie did very well, with me being the assistant. This went off without a hitch! Then came the small boar who cut his ear, nearly severing it from his head. After three attempted suturings, we decided to let it happen as nature decided - and it healed on it's own, with the ear just being lopsided (you may see him in a few pictures). After this, was the weaning stage, where we moved Suzy back into the large area with Roxy and the Mulefoots, and generally went well, despite feeling so sorry for Suzy as she filled with milk and looked very painful! Next, we had to give the piglets a vaccination and ear tag them, which went surprisingly well! Lastly, we switched the Mulefoots and piglets, letting the piglets back in with momma (who went right back to being a good mom!) in the large pasture. Whew!
As for the rest of the pigs - Roxy was taken to market shortly after weaning the piglets from Suzy. We did not want to do this, but from a business standpoint, we didn't want to invest the money into breeding her again, since she had a bad first litter (small, and she had no motherly instincts). She was a good, fun pig, but ultimately is fulfilling her purpose by feeding us. We got back about 390 pounds of meat, and are mostly keeping it for ourselves and close friends and family for resale. I have to say, we are enjoying it a LOT after having not bought pork from the store in a long time! The Mulefoots are currently being finished, and will be taken to market in about 2 weeks. At that point, they will be taken out to California and Chicago for resale. They have been an interesting experiement!
We are about to finish our last round of meat chickens for the year, which were a new breed that we hadn't tried before, but are very excited about. Bought from J.M. Hatchery in Pennsylvania, they are the
second generation removed from a totally Free Range bird from France, where they are an important part of the Label Rouge free ranging system. We refer to them as Rangers, or Colored Rangers, and they are fed a lower protein feed, kept for longer (10 to 13 weeks, as opposed to 8 weeks for other meat birds), and are a beautiful array of colors, from tan to dark red, to a mottled blue. We are hoping that we can keep some next year and start our own breeding program with them.
The turkeys are just about done as well, and we are excited to expand the turkeys next year. We are going to stick with the Bourbon Red and Blue Slate turkeys, and are considering keeping some of them as well to start breeding them ourselves. We are going to reinvest farm income this year to buy a high quality incubator for this purpose. In addition, we are going to try and raise ducks for meat as well. For the turkeys, we are looking into getting portable electric netting so we can rotate their pastures during the year next year.
The meat chickens and turkeys will be butchered on November 23rd, and available that day or after. Sorry, but this year, we're all sold out of turkeys, but next year, we'll have many more! Soon we are hoping to have a real website launched, thanks to Randy and Cindy, and we'll let you know when that's ready for viewing!
Happy Holidays, Everyone!
The piglets are doing well. All 10 that survived the first fews days are still going strong. We have decided to keep two gilts fo
r ourselves and breed them again. We are making initial selections, but are also waiting until they are market weight to really decide which ones to keep in particular. Most likely we will pick the best looking, but perhaps smallest and most gentle ones, since if they are small and lean, they won't be as good at market. We sold off two boars as feeder pigs to a local buyer, and have sold out of the rest as either half or whole hogs.
ut needle teeth, and get them back into the pen. Thanks to Angie's parents helping, we were able to 
do this with no problems! Next, we had to castrate the boars, which Angie did very well, with me being the assistant. This went off without a hitch! Then came the small boar who cut his ear, nearly severing it from his head. After three attempted suturings, we decided to let it happen as nature decided - and it healed on it's own, with the ear just being lopsided (you may see him in a few pictures). After this, was the weaning stage, where we moved Suzy back into the large area with Roxy and the Mulefoots, and generally went well, despite feeling so sorry for Suzy as she filled with milk and looked very painful! Next, we had to give the piglets a vaccination and ear tag them, which went surprisingly well! Lastly, we switched the Mulefoots and piglets, letting the piglets back in with momma (who went right back to being a good mom!) in the large pasture. Whew!
As for the rest of the pigs - Roxy was taken to market shortly after weaning the piglets from Suzy. We did not want to do this, but from a business standpoint, we didn't want to invest the money into breeding her again, since she had a bad first litter (small, and she had no motherly instincts). She was a good, fun pig, but ultimately is fulfilling her purpose by feeding us. We got back about 390 pounds of meat, and are mostly keeping it for ourselves and close friends and family for resale. I have to say, we are enjoying it a LOT after having not bought pork from the store in a long time! The Mulefoots are currently being finished, and will be taken to market in about 2 weeks. At that point, they will be taken out to California and Chicago for resale. They have been an interesting experiement!
second generation removed from a totally Free Range bird from France, where they are an important part of the Label Rouge free ranging system. We refer to them as Rangers, or Colored Rangers, and they are fed a lower protein feed, kept for longer (10 to 13 weeks, as opposed to 8 weeks for other meat birds), and are a beautiful array of colors, from tan to dark red, to a mottled blue. We are hoping that we can keep some next year and start our own breeding program with them.
th no indication that she was actually in labor, but when we awoke in the morning, we walked into the barn to find her nursing 10 piglets! She ended up having 14 total, with 2 stillborn. She took to being a mom right away, and was nursing all day long.
ely, as can often happen with new mothers especially, we lost two more pigs due to Suzy rolling on top of them. Those who do not learn her verbal and physical signals do not learn to get out of her way. After the first day or so, we 'shouldn't' lose any more, but obviously, it's not for certain.
dle teeth, which can hurt each other as well as their mom while nursing. This was done using the help of Angie's parents.
and hopefully in a few short weeks, we'll have an abundance of piglets running around the pasture! :)
didn't go as planned. The first one out was a Hampshire Gilt, and with her black and white markings, was exactly what we had hoped for. We had images of raising her up, breeding her, and getting more baby Hamps from her. Next out was a p
ink Yorkshire Boar, that had muted black markings on his head, almost just like his momma, Roxy. We removed both pigs to clean them off, and planned on putting them back in to nurse once Roxy settled down. She was constantly getting up and laying down, and basically just stared at the pigs when they came out. So, we thought, once she lays down again, we'll put them in to nurse. We tried this first with the Gilt, and Roxy did not like it. She jumped up, trampled, and finally bit and shook the gilt to death right in front of us. Not a good experience, and one we won't soon forget.
ottle feed the other pig, and he w
as doing ok after a visit to Meijer for baby bottles, TSC for milk replacer and colostrum, but after a few days, he was not looking good. We believe he finally succumbed to anemia and hypoglycemia, and most likely an infection that spread to his lungs. There just was nothing we could do in the end, even though we tried as much as we could. Thank God I have a wife that's a veterinarian (just not officially, yet).
bushes, but we also found that we have an apple tree and a couple of oaks on the tree line as well. How we missed these before, I don't know. But, both are great for pigs, so we have been feeding them apples every day, and will try to get as many acorns as we can in the fall - it's a great pig finishing food, used in Spain for the famous Iberico hams. We've also harvested quite a few black raspberries from a few bushes around the property. In fact, I have some in my lunch today! From our regular vegetable garden, we had already gotten radishes, and the other day we picked 3 heads of lettuce (two types), 4 small bunches of spinach, 3 decent sized white onions, and a large amount of regular and snow peas and green beans. Tomatoes aren't far behind! :)
We planted everything from seeds, with the exception o
f the tomato, red pepper, and jalapeno plants, which we bought already started from Horrock's. We have already picked the radishes, which Grandma Lyman loves fresh, so we passed some her way (which she was excited about, cause they were straight from our dirt!), and we love to add them to salads.
ve obviously not had anything harvested from them. The peas and beans have started showing their pods in the last few days, and the peppers and tomatoes are growing like crazy! We are really looking forward to harvesting and canning them, for our own homemade diced tomatoes and green chilies. :)
Hope everyone out there, who has their own small gardens, or even a window-sill herb garden, are having the same or better luck than us!
We have two large cherry trees in our tree line. I believe we saw them before, but assumed they were crab apples, but this year, I decided to try 
it, and to my surprise, they tasted like cherries. They were tart, but cherries nonetheless. Angie seconded it, and we decided to pick them as well, and try a preserve from them. Using our step ladder to reach higher branches, we picked 6 pounds of cherries, and it looked like we barely made a dent in the tree! And we have a whole other tree further down the line!
eks old now, and growing a little fast
er than we expected. They are fun to watch, and a few are already showing Tom characteristics - puffing up, tiny tail feathers rising up, wings drooping, and just strutting around. Adorable! All in all, so far, it's a great experience, and something I feel we will be repeating in the future!
