Hello, this is Miss Piggy calling...

This morning we decided to move the little boar we are keeping and a feeder pig out to the pasture. Brian suggested that Anders and I should finish up the chores in the barn while he delivered the cage full of squealing porkers to the pasture. We met back at the house for brunch.
Brian was sitting at the kitchen table when he realised he didn't have his cell phone... Uh OH! He took my phone and started calling himself in hopes that he'd hear his phone.
He listened in the house... no ring. He listened in the yard ...no ring.
He listened as he walked to the barn... no ring.
He listened in the barn... no ring.
He listened as he walked out to the feeder pasture and climbed the fence... no ring.
Then he looked down.
The back of the phone with it's little camera eye chomped and chewed was all he found.
Back at the house he plucked up his courage and called for a replacement phone. Of course the girl at Verizon laughed when he told her what happened. She laughed even harder when he told her that he ran over his last phone with a tractor... and she darn near hurt herself laughing when he gave her his email address: kissmygrassfarm@hotmail.com. Oh the agony and humiliation! LOL

This afternoon he decided he should check his messages using my phone. He only had one message . . .

from the pigs! 

" Squeeeaal! Grunt grunt growl! Grunt"

ROFLMAO!

Nothing gets a man's attention like...

  . . . a middle aged woman in rubber boots and a straw hat running down the road waving her arms like her hiney's on fire.

:<)

Let me back up. Yesterday we noticed a bit of effluent at the outlet for the septic system... EEEwwww! yuck! So Brian called the poop pumper guys. He explained that as far as we  know this tank hasn't been pumped since it was installed in the late '80's. He carefully gave the address and described the driveway and the farm sign.
Now keep in mind we own 2 septics on adjoining addresses. The other house they have been to repeatedly it's system is ancient and demands regular care.

Ok so now you know the background. ... This morning Brian and I were in the farthest pig pasture when we looked up and saw the pumper truck at the wrong house and the guys looking puzzled and  getting ready to get back in their truck.  OH NO!!!! Ok so what Brian said was more of the 4-letter explitive variety, but we won't go there now.

Brian had surgery on his wrist yesterday so all he could do was stand there and cuss. Good thing they couldn't hear him over the noise of the truck. I lit out across the field as fast as a middle aged, over weight lady in barn boots could go... managed to scale the fence and jump the ditch without embarrassing myself too much and  went running up the road toward the truck as previously described.  Just in time.

We got the pumper guys out to the right tank and it was a good thing too. Seems this tank hasn't ever been pumped. The "seal" had never been broken. It was full of sludge... Note to self: get tank pumped more often than every 20 years to avoid fence vaulting, ditch jumping and general pasture sprinting.

Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow will stay these farmers from their appointed rounds

This is Brian running water for the "Louisiana" hogs. We haul water to the hog pastures using the tractor bucket and two 55 gallon plastic barrels. Brian's plumbed the barrels with faucets and hoses to make it easier, but on days like today it is cold and windy and wet.
Praying for an early spring, yep praying for an early spring...

A whirlwind tour of Illinois

So we needed a vacation. We got up early fed and watered all the animals extra well. We talked our son in law into walking the dogs. Got my son to agree to gather the eggs, put up the hens and generally keep things on an even keel and we were off to Illinois.

Why Illinois? Well because we want a milk cow and our friends at Green Acres Dairy happened to have one they would be willing to sell. They also wanted some feeder pigs from us. So we packed up the piglets and headed northwest. I forget sometimes how flat the upper 2/3rds of Indiana and Illinois are and just how barren it all seems in the dead of winter. Good thing Brian and I had much farm "stuff" to talk over on the trip. Otherwise Brian would have had to listen to me sing along to the radio!

We arrived at Green Acres Farm midmorning Keith and Donna came out and we all helped unload the piglets into their new barn home. Nice digs! Lots of straw and Freddy the herd dog really wanted to play with them! Then we got reaquainted with the three pigs we had sold them earlier in the year: Cagney, Lacey and Mad Max. They are really growing! After the pig rangling Donna invited us in to warm up.

Later we went out to meet the cows. There were black one, black and white ones, mousey gray/brown ones, red ones and golden tan ones. We found the perfect Jersey for us. She's not to big, not too young and very friendly. That last one is most important since this will be Brian's first experience with a milk cow.

After the tour of the milking mommas we headed in for lunch. Home made chili with crackers and big glasses of raw milk followed by home made blueberry buckle. Yummy!

I spent some time picking Donna and Keiths brains about marketing all natural pork to restaurants - article to follow in the Red Wattle Hog Association Newsletter - Spring edition. Then it was time to head on north to visit our friend Clyde in Rockford.

We took a detour out to see the sows who are expecting before we took off. They looked really happy in their pasture with the Piggy Palace Keith built.

Here are couple of pics of the happy pigs at Green Acres Dairy - Oh and of Keith and Donna!

First impressions

We finally got to meet DS, Anders' girlfriend, Emily. She and her little one drove up from her home in Kentucky to spend the weekend.

First impression: she's pretty quiet and that's the happiest baby I've seen in quite a while.

Monday morning, I was getting ready to cook breakfast. Emily was sitting at the table and we were chatting.

I asked, " How are your cooking skills?"

Emily pulled a face and said, " I'd like to learn."

So we cooked biscuits and gravy. We talked about ratios of flour to bakind powder, why you cut the butter into the biscuit flour, how to roll dough with a light touch. Why I never make gravy with just our hot sausage. IT'S HOT! And how to add flour and milk to make gravy that doesn't clump and lump.

Second impression: Smart, inquisitive, observant. So far so good.

After breakfast the guys went outside and we cleared up the kitchen. Emily fed the baby. I told her we were going to castrate pigs.

She offered to help. A few minutes later I noticed she was thumbing through one of Anders' farming books. She was definitely looking for something.

"What are you looking for?"

"How to castrate pigs," she said.

I pulled Brian's favorite pig book off the shelf and flipped it open to the illustrated instructions. She dived right in to study the pictures and instructions.

When we headed out to the hog lot, Emily was the designated "Surgeon's Assistant". She held the syringe and the antiseptic. She makes a great assistant.

After we finished making the 9 boar piglets into barrows. We headed back toward the house. Brian quipped, "Anders you better not mess up."

Emily never missed a beat. "That's right. I have the tools and I've read the directions!"

We all laughed - even Anders.

Impression #3: Good sense of humor, pretty unflappable, willing to tackle even the farm work that isn't fun.

As we were going into the house Emily asked me "Do think your mom would mind watching Joel just a little longer? I want to help Anders feed and water all his animals."

"Go ask her," I said. "I'm sure she won't mind."

I laughed as Emily scampered into the house and slid down the hall in her socks with a big smile on her face.

Impression #5: She is definitely a keeper. :)

Thoughts on pig raising

It's time to look at our pig operation and make plans for how to maximize production, sustain marketing/sales and keep the quality of life up for our hogs.
First we need to decide just how many pigs we want to keep as our breeding stock. We know we want to preserve the line of hogs we are bringing home this week from Louisiana as a closed herd. And we want to keep the 3 sows we have (Dancer, Petunia and Gertrude) with another boar as our second herd as they have different bloodlines. That leaves us with the problem of which boars to keep. Currently we have 3 boars and the new boar will make 4 . That's just too many.
We know we will be keeping Samson. He's more of a pet than a breeder, because he's getting up there in years. We just love having him and he's such a good farm mascot. We're planning a retirement pen for him. I know it's sentimental, but that's ok.
We will have 2 boars from Louisiana. We brought George home as a little guy earlier this year. He is the nice dark burgundy color we like in our RW's. He's not old enough to breed yet, so we don't know what sort of piglets he'll father. The new boar is a coppery orange color. Not our preference, but he's a proven breeder. Then there's Arthur. We've had him since he was a baby. He's friendly, quiet, a proven breeder and the only curly coated pig we have. Everybody loves Arthur.
As you can see they all have their good points, but we can only keep 2 breeders in addition to Sampson. Got any thoughts or comments?
The next thing we have in the works is new pasture. We've had to keep the pigs up most of this summer in small lots because the new fencing is not in. Dillon & Brian are tearing out the old fence now. We're hoping to have 3 new large pastures fenced in by fall. These larger pastures will have woven wire fencing parameters with a hot wire at nose level. We'll be able to subdivide them with temporary electric fence to rotate the hogs. Each pasture will have it's own loafing shed and a "wallow". The plan is to keep each "herd" in it's own pasture and use the third pasture for the growing market hogs.
We'll be moving the farrowing into the new barn. Each sow will have her own pen with waterer and feeder and a built in baby bumper and a permanent heat lamp for the little ones.
Of course all of this costs money. We've been lucky enough to find posts at a good price and we're bartering for some fencing and gates. We still need more fencing and the barn is a whole seperate issue. It looks like it's going to go up in stages as we're able.
Ahh projects! They never end and we are continually reanylizing the possibilities, pros and cons.
If you have any thoughts on our RW hog projects, let us know!

Lessons learned

Important lessons we have learned this year:

1. Never wait until later to put the sides on your barn. We lost ours to straight line winds because it had no sides so it acted a bit like an umbrella in a windstorm.
2. Chickens should NOT be housed over winter in the high tunnel. It's disgusting to clean out in the spring.
3. Heifers don't always give you any sign that they are about to calf. Rosie never showed any of the classic signs: bagging up, loosening in the rear before she dropped her calf. By the way we named her calf "Surprise".
4. A porcine lesson: If there is a way to escape from the pen at all they will find it, but you won't until too late.
5. Pigs can and will climb stairs.
6. If the cows are out, it is a myth that they will go back into the pasture where they came out. The reality is they will wonder up and down the fence line, gallop across the neighbors alfalfa field and you will eventually give up and cut a hole in the fence to drive them through.
7. Sunrises are beautiful even on mornings when a phone call from the neighbors about your escaped animals is the reason you are up to see the sun rising.
8. No matter how much you plan, things move at their own pace.
9. There's always more that needs to be done than there are hours in the day.
10. Deer and rabbits will eat all of your strawberries if you don't protect them.
11.Learning new things and sharing what you know with others is fun and very gratifying.
Can't wait to see what we learn in the second half of the year! :)

Of Farm Tours and Ladies' Luncheon

This week we hosted the garden club at the farm. Eighten ladies came out to the farm to enjoy a tour and lunch.
While my daughter, Lydia, and my mom prepped the food, I took the ladies for a hike around the farm.
We started with the little chicks in the brooder that Brian and Kacie were loading up in the tractor bucket to haul out to pasture. Then we walked out through the tall grass to the 6 week old chicks and then stopped by to see the ten week old chickens that are ready to process this week. It was a nice way to show how the birds grow and change.
We hiked down through the woods, stepped over the little run in the bottom and headed up The hill with sheep scattering every which way. At the Egg Mobile I introduced the hens and the new puppy. Of course everyone fell in love with Peaches our little pyrennees puppy.
One of the ladies had her granddaughter with her. She wanted to touch a chicken. So I opened up the nestbox door and let her pet one of the hens. The hen wasn't too sure she liked the experience but she didn't want to get off of her eggs either. We also found 3 eggs out in the pasture. I had the little girl put them in her pocket. When we got up to the pig pens I let her feed the eggs to our Red Wattle hogs.
Then we had a little visit with the cows and their calves. Everyone laughed when they saw the "skunk" calf. We left the cows and headed back down the driveway. It was a little to wet to walk in the gardens but we talked about the wide beds we use, all the different varieties we are growing and our plans for the future.
After all the hiking, lunch sounded pretty good. Lydia served: Bloody Mary's, cucumber sandwiches, a lovey salad of our garden lettuces, goat cheese and pears with her homemade creamy dijon dressing. She followed the salad with gouda stuffed turkey burgers garnished with a roasted apple ring and arugula on a home made bun with a side of baked seasoned sweet potato chips.
For dessert there was a layered banana cream pie made with real made-from-scratch pudding and fresh whipped cream. Yummy!!
It made for a really busy day, but I think the ladies all had a good time and noone went away hungry.
Now we are gearing up for the Secret Garden tour in mid-July. This is a fundraiser for the garden club which allows folks to see gardens that normally are closed to the public. We will be giving tours of the farm on the hour. I'm really looking forward to it.

The Piggies are coming!!

It's finally here!

Time to go get our Red Wattle piglets. We have been on the waiting list since March. Originally, it looked like we wouldn't get our piglets until December. Marian, from Five Ponds Farm, called us in May and said she had our piglets if we could send the money and come get them soon.

We put the check in the mail the next morning.

So this is a really busy week around here. The weeds in the gardens are growing faster than we can pull or till them. Brian brought home our 4 new brood cows yesterday evening. The beltie is so close to calving he was worried she'd have her baby in the trailer on the ride home! Luckily she didn't. The 2 white park cows should calve soon, too. The fourth cow, Profit, already has a little creamy white calf by her side. For now, all of them will stay in the corral until they are used to their new home.

Today, Brian's moving 100 chicks to pasture pens, fixing the mower, weeding in the gardens, cleaning the stock trailer, setting up the pig hut in the new pasture lot and about a hundred other things to get ready for the piglets.

Tuesday morning, we are going to the justice of the peace to get married. Tuesday afternoon I am going to work at the hospital while Brian packs. Wednesday we're off for a whirlwind 3 day "redneck" honeymoon. We can't really be away from the farm for more than 3 days. My son will be doing the chores while we're away.

We'll be driving to Missouri, Wednesday night we'll spend in a small hotel. Then on Thursday morning its off to pick up the 3 Red Wattle piglets, and the perrenials we're buying from the Van Beevers at Five Ponds Farm ( http://fivepondsfarm.com/ ). Then off to Kentucky! Thursday night in a hotel for us and the piggles will stay in the trailer with plenty of hay, feed and water.

Friday morning it's off to C2H2 farm to pick up 6 percentage Boer goats from Carol Holler. Once we've got all the goats loaded it's time to get back to the farm. We need to get our hay cut this week while I'm on vacation.....

Talk about adventures in farming!

Stay tuned for updates......I'll post about our trip on Saturday

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