Sir Loin, Our New Guernsey Bull Calf

9 Hungry Piggies and One Patient Momma

Newly Born Piglets

Nosey Piggie

Yummy Turnip

Our Seedling Greenhouse

Garlic

Little Squash in the hoop house

Mixed Greens

Our harvest one winter Saturday from the hoop house

Curly Parsley

I Walked for Miles and Miles and Miles

PIG: What a month.  I am happy to report that momma pig gave birth to 10 piglets (5 girls, 5 boys) the evening of Monday, January 23rd.  Cris was out of town for work until Tuesday so he missed the fun.  I got home from work around 5pm, did my usual of checking on the cows, feeding of the 4 gilts and then headed over to momma pig in her farrowing hut.  I lifted the lid and there was momma, laying down with one piglet next to her face and another one had apparently just been born.  I grabbed the cell phone (which was about dead), called Cris, went inside and got the video camera, a towel and flashlight.  I stayed outside with momma for about 4 1/2 hours while she went through birthing 9 beautiful piglets.  I actually thought she was done after 8 because some of the afterbirth came out....but about 1/2 hr. later, out came number 9.  I did nothing but video tape and keep her from laying on the piglets.  I did have to climb in the hut one time when she rolled over on a piggie.... Luckily, I was able to move her large body enough to pull baby out...no worse for the wear. The man we purchased baby momma from said she was a good momma and he was right.  I went to bed around 10pm, woke back up around 2pm and check on the pigs....to my surprise when I did a head count there were 10 piggies! 

Unfortunately, when I came home Wednesday, one of the girl piglets had died.  It looked like momma had accidentally  laid on the the pig.  That is the main cause of death for piglets the first few days after birth.

It is now almost 2 weeks since she gave birth and the piglets are venturing outside, running around the pig hut, starting to dig in the dirt with their noses like momma does and have even started eating pig feed.  The girls are larger than the boys and the first piggie born is the smallest but not by much.  They are growing nicely and are so funny to watch; especially on the pig camera we have set up in the hut. This mild winter we are having has been good for the piglets too as they get cold easy.

Baby daddy (the boar) has been moved to his own lonely pig area because the 4 gilts are too young to get pregnant and he was getting too friendly with them.  He does not like being alone but we now have the cows next to his pen so at least he can visit with them.  As soon as some of the boy piglets get older, they will go in the pen with baby daddy. 

COWS:  last Saturday (Jan. 28th) we had a Guernsey Bull Calf delivered to our farm.  He was about one week weaned from his momma.  We put him in the paddock with the 4 heifers and they were not one bit happy about that.  The girls ran around in a tiffy and two got loose and took off.  It was the worse two to get loose.....the youngest and the most shy.  We searched for them Saturday and Sunday on our property and our neighbors.... no cows, no hoof prints.  We got a call Sunday night that they were spotted on highway 57...about a mile south of us.  By the time we got there, they of course had run back into the woods.  We were able to search on the land next to highway 57 during the week because the owners of the land we very supportive.  Cris saw them once on that land but again, they ran away.  We eventually spotted their hoof prints on a property next to our property which meant they had moved closer to home....which was a good thing.  Friday evening we were able to coax them with sweet feed so they would not run off...I even got to pet one of the girls.  I was so happy.  It got too dark though so we left them int the pasture with feed and water.  Saturday we went back to the field with our Great Pyrenees Daisy, and located them again.  This time Daisy helped to get the girls moving and with the help of a feed bucket full of sweet feed (their special treat), we were able to move the cows 1 1/2 miles back home.  We went through the woods, up and down hills, through sticker bushes, a stream, fencing.... it was a long ordeal and I prayed the entire way home.  We had to take baby steps at times because they did not want to cross that stream.  We would walk 5 feet, put the bucket down, wait for them to come...walk another 5 feet....over and over.

Happy to say they are safe and sound in OUR pasture with the other two girls.  They have learned to live with the new bull calf. They better learn to live with him because Mandy (heifer almost 2 yrs old) has taken little Sir Loin (his name) as her own child.  She watches over Sir Loin. 

We plan to finish the fencing around the perimeter of the farm to keep them from getting off our land again.  We have learned from other farmers that it is just a fact of farming...cows will get out.  And at least we now know that if they do, we can get them back.....thanks to the feed bucket!

So now that the piggies are here and the cows are found....I hope things can go back to normal...as normal as can be anyway!

VEGGIES:  We have starting seedlings in a smaller hoop house.  We have started with the cold vegetables....cabbage, broccoli, etc...  it's too early to start with the summer veggies.

We are still eating out of our large hoop house..... squash, carrots, romaine lettuce, cabbage and plenty of greens and herbs are still growing nicely.  Outside the turnips are doing great too. 

We hope to have chickens in the Spring.  Our next two major projects are a driveway and a chicken coop.  Our things to do list is very long and the top priority items change from time to time and things get shuffled up and down the list.  The driveway is a must though...I am tired of sliding up and down the yard from all the rain and mud.

Momma looks like she is smiling

Our Sweet Daisy

The "girls"

Our Manure Spreader - Love it!

Momma still pregnant

The piglets are getting bigger - they love napping in the sun

The Waiting Game

We had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends in Maryland. We left the farm in the capable hands of our friends with the hope that momma pig would have her babies upon our return Dec 26th. Alas, here it is Jan 7th and still no piggies. Cris has been up all hours of the night to go out and check on momma so I jokingly recommend he purchase a video baby monitor. Well, we now have a baby video monitor... It is called "pig cam 1". Now he can just look at the monitor and see and hear her in the farrowing hut. Her breathing is heavy when she lies down. We had a local vet stop by Friday to check on momma and she is fine but just not ready to deliver yet. Cris is outbof town for 3 days next week so I hope she either delivers by Tuesday or waits till Friday.

We have moved the pigs further into the woods so they will eat more roots and acorns and less feed. They love bread and cabbage. The piglets are really growing nicely and have started eating out of our hands. Baby daddy is a sweetheart which is good. You dont want a large boar to not like you.

The highland cattle have been moved closer to our second field where there is some green grass on the terrace. Mandy will be two in May so we have to start thinking about when to breed her. The others have at least another year and a half to grow.

We have finished the deck floor on the back of the house and now have to put up railing. We will decide later which part to enclose with screen.

We are trying to create as much useful storage space as possible in our new little house on the prairie and also use as much of our own furniture as possible. I cannot bring my large china cabinet to the farmhouse so i converted a dresser into a buffet for the dining room. It holds all my good china very well. I will eventually paint it and change the hardware.

While we were in Maryland we came across a log filled with oyster mushrooms. Cris bought two coolers from Walmart to store them for our trip home. We ended up with about 40 pounds of mushrooms. We also found a lions mane mushroom but it was too old.

The hoop house is still plentiful. Cabbage, lettuce, herbs, squash and outside the turnips are thriving. Once momma pig has her babies and all are settled in, we will start getting ready for spring planting.

We had to take Teddy and Daisy both to the vet last week for dental appts. Teddy (wheaten terrier) had to have a canine pulled and teeth cleaning. He was real sick as a puppy and the antibiotics did a number on his teeth. Daisy had to have 2 baby canines pulled because they never fell out on their own and were interferring with her adults ones. Long story short...... $500. Always something....Month before last was the $500 Nugget injury.

Merry Christmas

Hard to believe another year has come and gone. As much as we have accomplished this year, there is still so much to do. We really need a driveway up to our house. It has rained so much this winter and at times it is so muddy that I slip and slide all the way up to the house. The ground does not have a chance to dry up before the next rain.

Our hoop house is looking good with squash, various greens, lettuce, beets, radishes, cabbage and herbs. The tomatoes can't take the cold so they died. The garlic is doing good outside as well as the turnips.

We have been working on the fence and have put the pigs into the woods to forage for acorns etc. We are keeping an eye on momma pig to watch for signs of when she may start getting ready for her big day. We hope she waits to have her piggies till January. The piglets have grown quite a bit. One of the challenges with raising farm animals organically is controlling internal and external parasites without chemicals. We use D.E. to control internal parasites by adding a little to their feed each day. We tried spraying the pigs with a soapy spray to control external mites but the are not very fond of me chasing them around with a sprayer. I think I will try dusting them with D. E. and see how they like that. They don't have many mites so I want to keep that under control. I have also read that adding Basic H soap to their water works great for internal parasites. Not a pretty subject to discuss but a necessary one!

We are finishing up the back deck but won't start enclosing a portion of it until the spring. It is almost time to start seedlings to get ready to plant in the hoop house.

The heifers are doing great and have been no problem except Harriet likes to get out of the paddock they are in sometimes. But once she gets out she immediately wants back in. We just have to make sure we have the electric line at the right spot to be Harriet proof.

We are headed to Maryland for Christmas and have a friend's teenage son who will be checking on the animals while we are gone. Nugget the labradoodle is staying at the doggie hotel though because his scrawny little body cannot not be outside all the time like the other two hairy dogs. Nugget is a princess at times.

First Snow of the Season

Hyacinth & Harriet

Daisy Mae - 8 mos.

After 2 1/2 days and almost 4 inches of rain, it finally turned to snow....but it is turning back to rain.  The piggies have been staying dry by curling up together in one of the pig huts.  We opened up the pasture to the cows so they could find a less wet place to lay down.  The Highlands are used to cold weather and have a thick coat but we don't want them to have to lie down in puddles of water in the cold.  We are going to bring up a rolled bale of hay today to supplement the hay in the pasture.  With all this rain they need some nice dry hay to eat. 

We canned pumpkin and turkey soup the other day.  I laughed to myself when I saw people rushing out to get bread, milk and toilet paper yesterday....the snow never even stuck to the road.  We make our own bread now (or I should say Cris makes it) and when the cows start producing milk, we will have that as well.  Our grocery bills have gone down already as well as our dining out bills.  Our last dining out bill was about $18.00.  We did splurge and have sushi a couple weeks ago but most of the time we spend about $20, maybe once a week.  Cris is such a good cook that there is no reason to eat out.  The other night we had risotto with mushrooms that we picked ourselves and he used the broth from the turkey for the risotto liquid.  The salad was from our garden and he makes really good homemade vinaigrette's as dressing.  Seems we spend more money on feed for the animals than we do on ourselves.  That bill will go down once we get the pigs in the woods to eat acorns and the grass turns green in the spring for the cows. 

Thanksgiving Weekend

Left to Right:  Baby Daddy (boar), 4 piglets (all sisters), Big Momma (pregnant Sow)

Cris and I both took the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off to get some extra farm work done.  I gave the house a much needed dusting and think I am finally getting a handle on the farm dust...but, don't get me started on the mud.  Three days of rain makes for some major mud.  We really need a sidewalk and driveway that goes to the carport that has not been built yet.  It's on the list.  For now I put plastic grocery bags on my shoes to get to the car when it's too muddy out.

Alex was here for Thanksgiving and he enjoyed playing with the dogs, cows and the newest addition to our farm....the pigs.  We welcomed a pregnant sow (this will be her 2nd litter of pigs), a boar (he is NOT the father of the upcoming pigs) and 4 female piglets (all sisters but not related to the boar or sow).  The boar will be able to breed with all the females and any female pigs born to the sow since he is not related to any of them.  We set up an area in the main fenced field for the pigs.  The boar and sow came off the truck just fine and settled in to their pen.  The piglets were terrified and took off in 4 different directions....right under the electric fence.  Thanks to the efforts of 3 dogs, 4 humans and a utility vehicle, we eventually rounded them all up and put them in the 10x10 dog kennel for a few days to get used to the area.  Teddy the Wheaten Terrier was great at rounding up the pigs when they ran off and he was able to get three of them to stay put long enough for us to grab them.  Unfortunately, Nugget, the labradoodle is not a fan of the piglets and we had an incident two days ago when Nugget got into the dog pen and went after the piglets.  He had a hold of one by the neck and was shaking it.  Piglets scream something awful too.  We have a shock collar on Nugget now and Cris had to shock him a few times on the highest power to finally get him off the pig.  Two of the piglets ran out of the dog pen and went straight for the sow and boar in their pen....so we put some medicine on the bite marks on the hurt pig and then put the remaining two in with the big pigs. That is where they are now and seem happy to be there.  We added a very low electric line to keep them in the pen and they have already learned to respect the fencing.  They are really so cute.  The sow is expected to delivery the first of January which means Cris may have to come home early from Maryland in December but we will play that by ear.  Cris made a 'farrowing pen' for momma pig .... he wants to paint a stork on it with a piglet in the handkerchief.

The cows are doing great and we are able to pet Harriet and Zinnia now as well of Hyacinth.  We move them to a new field about every third day and the pigs get moved about every 3-4th day too.  When we get chickens they will follow the pigs and cows.  They will scatter the manure and eat all the bugs.  It is so nice to be able to use our food scraps to supplement the pigs food. Nothing goes to waste around here...if they pigs can't eat it, then the worms do.  

We are still working on the fence...that will be a long term process.  We want to fence in the perimeter of the pond next so we can put the pigs in there to dig up the area we want to clear and also, pigs love, love, love acorns and there are plenty to be found in the woods.

Our friend, Larry came over last Sunday to hunt.  He got here around 6am, got settled in around 6:30am and shot a buck around 7am!  I watched his friend field dress the deer and I want to try and do it myself the next time Larry comes out and gets a deer or if Cris gets one.  It wasn't as gross as I thought it would be.

Cris scared me today and he got a stern talking to about ATV safety.  Daisy had walked down towards our neighbors house while we were installing t-posts.  I went down on the UTV to call her back and Cris came down on my Polaris ATV.  We found her and Cris went a little too fast on the gravel road..... tried a sharp turn and the ATV went up on it's side and flipped over.  He landed in a ditch with the ATV over him.... if his body had not landed in the ditch, things would be different.....as it was, he was fine.  I screamed his name a couple times as I was running towards him down the road (I could not see him, all I could see was the ATV) and he did not answer.  Then he finally grumbled.... "I'm OK"..... He told me later he was giving himself a 10-point diagnostic check (checking for broken bones etc...) and that is why he did not answer me right away.

The hoop house has an abundance of lettuce and the radishes are huge!  The squash plants are large but the buds are slow to grow.  The herbs are fantastic as well.  We harvested some cilantro, dill and parsley for our neighbor.  The herbs were beautiful.  So green and fresh looking.



Last Saturday we went to our friend's house for their family's yearly stew cooking event.  They take a large black kettle (think witch's brew type kettle) and start cooking the stew over an open fire in the morning.  By lunchtime it's ready and it was delicious.  We met their very large family and everyone was so welcoming.  We all had a bowl or two of the stew and the kettle was still very full.  Each year that they make this, they divide the stew up and each family takes some home to freeze.  It was a very nice day.

Next week is our monthly meeting with friends at the dairy in Middleton.  It's our Christmas meeting and I've been trying to decide what little gift to take to everyone that reflects the 'sustainable living' lifestyle.  I think we are going to bring everyone some of our fresh cut herbs.

Rain is in the forecast the remainder of this weekend so I think we are going to work in the barn and go through the many boxes we have brought from the Memphis house.....decide what to keep, what to burn (some of Cris' paperbacks got wet and have mildew), what to recycle (or donate) and what is just plain trash.