Just another Day on the Farm

Ok, I have given a idea on how to get the video links to show up in the posts and this is my try at it.. if it works, here is little Miss Rooten Tooten on her first week on the farm, learning how to enjoy garden extra’s, and do you see how good of a job she had already done on digging the ground around her

Big old fail, goes in, does not show up.. doing something wrong.. here is the link..

http://youtube/uRUagBReojU

Fall has arrived, if you are silly enough to spend time outside without a hat and gloves, your ears and fingers will be burning in a matter of minutes early in the morning and evening chores are being down in the dark at this point. Brandy was very funny in that she went all spooky at the flashlight, guess she has not seen one before or at least not the kind we use but after starting a few times, she settled down and will no doubt figure it out soon enough.

This cold/flu bug combined with the bruises covering  parts my body from a run in with a moving metal round hay bale feeder has got me feeling like I took a good old fashioned whooping, thankfully I think that I am on the tail end and perhaps will be feeling better soon.

I am amazed that we are down to the last ten packages of lamb inte big freezer, wow, talk about good timing considering that this years current lambs and hoggots are heading out at some point in the near future.  Last year we held back four lambs and four hoggots for our own use, and that held us for the year, but I will admit that I  am looking forward to having beef and pork join my lamb, chicken, duck and turkey as well as the odd rabbit into our meat menu.

I am currently thawing out a couple pds of lamb meat to make into sauage for some different dishes I would like to make over the next couple days, I also have a pd of stewing meat sitting in a brining cure with spices and suger, I want to see if I can cure the cubes, chill them really well and then grind them and play with it as a spiced cured potted meat, I will update with the results.

The piglets are one week old and we have big plans for getting them set up with their creep feeder this weekend, the pen needs a clean up and tidy, fresh bedding of course and a sexing of the wee ones, we also need to do the three big windows for winter, we open them up for the spring/summer/fall for excellent air flow but with the cooler temps and the young piglets in the barn, we want to keep good air quality but limit the draft over all in that area.

I didn’t cut the wolf teeth and I have been checking Miss Piggies teats every two days for cuts, soreness or any sign of issues and thankfully because its Miss Piggy, she will let me touch as well as see them and so far, we have had no issues, her teats are well developed, she is producing well but no cuts, no sores, no redness or heat.. everything looks really well.

Thanksgiving came and went, and my family had an amazing get together and what looks like a stunning meal.. (see below) I on the other hand got invited to a get together on saturday and it was wonderful, (thanks again, you know who you are 🙂 but on thankgiving monday I was already sick and wanted comfort food but also something to remind me of my family, so I made the dish above, its really not that healthy, I know this but its been a favorite since childhood, and I went with it, I did at least move it from cool whip to really whipped cream..

Here is the recipe I learned as a child

1 tub of cool whip, 1 tub of cottage cheese, 1 large drained can of christmas orange pieces, 1 orange jello mix (the sugar kind, not the fake sugar kind) mix them all into a bowl and let it sit for at least four to six hours or overnight.. eat as a side salad or as a dessert or as a stand alone treat or as a breakfast dish..  If you want switch out the same amount of cups of whipped cream for the same amount of cool whip but it won’t hold as long before weeping if you do so.

What is that dish you started making when you were a child that has stayed with you for years and years well into adulthood..

Miss Piggy’s little ones need names, and while you would think that with them being all black that you could not tell them apart but as I spend more time with them, I am being able to figure out markers for each one, I have not stressed them by sexing but will update on that soon.. So I need eight names for the little tikes,  please remember that while getting names, none of these are planned hold backs they are all planned for sale or freezer camp (just being honest here guys)

Looking forward to hearing what you all think..

We all know that old saying, if you are sick, get thy to bed and rest.. and that’s wonderful if that is a choice you can make, but what about if you are farming.

Maybe three times in eight years I have had a day that I was sick enough that I truly could not do the farm and DH stayed home from work or worked from home to look after me and the farm.. its a very rare day that I can’t manage home alone and the farm even while sick..

So here are a few of the different and in some cases very common things that I do to give a helping hand in regards to being sick and running the farm at the same time.

1st thing to do is a list, write down what has to be done that day, don’t think that in your fuzzy headed ah, that you will be able to remember if you did this or that because the first thing to do when sick and running the farm is break up the chores. This means that you have to use that list, because you don’t want to forget anyone, and yet it will allow you to take rests and naps in between.

So lets say on a typical morning round of chores, you are going to let the hounds out for morning potty time, feed the cats, water the cats and hounds, feed the hounds, back outside to let them run around, get dressed, haul water for the pasture, haul water for the barn, feed the barn critters, come back up, water the birds, feed the birds (doing all the pens), water and feed the rabbits and then comes extra’s, do you grooming, do you train, do you free range the birds, do you need to haul bedding, is it the day to clean a pen, or is it a good morning to wash the water buckets out, or hit the garden next etc.

Now that’s all well and good when you feel well but what about when you are really sick, trying to do all of that at once is enough to make you want to cry, that list is needed..

So the first thing on that list is to drop any and all extra’s, if you need to clean out the area around the water bucket, not that day, throw down some extra bedding and let it go for a few days while you deal with being sick, if the bucket is really dirty, ok, give it the scrub but if not, rinse it out and just refill that day..

Know who can be moved in that list, example the rabbits self-feeders hold two or three days worth of food, and their water dishes are the same, they get done daily but I know that if I move them from the morning chores to after lunch chore time, they will not suffer for it at all.

The pasture critters are a good example, depending on the time of the year, if they have pasture, and can self-water from the pond, them getting their extra ration is not very high on my list, yes it will get done but the pigs that can’t self-water will get put alot higher on that list as they can’t wait, and while down there, you might as well do the feed, but having said that, you don’t have to do the second round trip to give them the slop bucket, it can wait, they are watered and feed, the slop bucket can wait for the next round.

Break those chores into must do’s, example, hauling water is a must do, but feeding at the same time as hauling water is not a must do, you can haul water, come into the house, rest, have a tea, even have a hour nap, and then get back up and haul hay and do the feed on the second round.

If I am really sick I have been known to break it down per critter on each round, the other thing to remember when working is layering and mask’s, if you already got your lungs weakened by the cold, wear a mask so that you are not breathing in hay or straw dust,  As for layers, yes, if you are already running a fever, the work will make you sweat more and you will want to remove layers, remember that as soon as you stop, you can get a chill and it will make things worse, so keep your layers on or only remove what you have to, and change your socks when you get into the house each time, never wear damp socks while sick, what you would normally throw off while being well, will just make things worse when you already are under the weather.

Make a big pot of soup, whatever kind you like but something that will feed you for days for lunch and supper, and for me at least, I like to make a eggy pie for a easy breakfast if I don’t want soup (I like hot soup for breakfast so most time will have that), the eggy pie is one that makes its own very thin crust, its made out of eggs, milk and a bit of sugar, its really very much like a custard) and its heathy and very easy on the tummy, its excellent cold, so once made it can be used either hot or cold.

Learn your body, after you have a sleep and get up, how long do you typically have before you start to feel really bad again, while it might be great to call and talk to your mom, if you know that are at this stage in the cold or flu only going to be good for half an hour or an hour, the next round on the list has to come first.

Housework, some things can slide and others at least to me should not, keeping the bedding and the pillow cases clean should be on the hit list, if nothing else, change the pillow case daily, if possabe, try and get fresh air and sunshine into the bedroom and the whole house.

Now this is a me thing but when I don’t feel good, I love to simmer vinagar and spices on the stove, it may not do anything health wise in terms of cleaning the air but it helps my nose and I like the way it makes the house smell.

And I know this one seems like a silly thing to say but watch your hands -Lots, If you are already dipping down in terms of your immune system, and you are working with animals and in barns etc,  Wash your hands well and often.

So how do you figure out how to do your day when you are sick and home alone on the farm? Do you just do it and then go back to bed, or do you stagger things out and rest inbetween?

Full Credit of this list of things that I am currently thinking about goes to Sugar Mountain Farm, I love this blog when it comes to pigs! They Rock!!

http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2007/02/01/piglet-interventions/

I have cut down the different parts into smaller and shorter points, to read the full, please see the above link..

Toweling & Iodine

– Some people towel off and iodine the umbilical cord of new born lambs, piglets, etc.…

Well, this is kind of a moot point really, Miss Piggy did it all, she birthed them, cleaned up the pen and I arrived to live active little piglets, I did freshen her bedding with more wood chips and I did add more hay to her bedding area, she nibbles on the hay when it first arrives and gets the good stuff she needs because she is not grazing on pasture and then she moves it around by snout or mouth and uses it as sleeping bedding afterwards, As I believe that the deep pack is the best choice possable for both her and the young ones, I won’t be cleaning it out other then the bathroom corner. Clean bedding and healthy normal piglets, no need to treat the cord.

Heat Lamps – We haven’t done this. My biggest reason for not doing it initially was fear of fire. . An open shed with its back to the wind, a deep bed of hay and their mother is what they really need. For the new born piglets, their mother’s body heat is key – she’s 103°F.

This one is a bit more of a worry for me, I don’t want to use extra heat source, first because I took the barn off power and would have to have some rewiring done in order to safely run a heat lamp in the barn itself, not my idea of a good time, now at the moment, the piglets have two walls with their sleeping bedding area in front of it, with a front blocked half way, no drafts and lots of straw/hay bedding mixed with wood chips and their momma to boot, I also placed a large plastic tote flipped on its side and stuffed with bedding that they can choose to go into to sleep in as a huddle to have a much smaller space to heat up, I also blocked off most of the windows that provide fresh air, the air is still coming in other windows and the door of the barn as air is key but I don’t want a draft on the litter either. So far so good.

Cutting Deedle Teeth – We don’t cut the needle teeth on piglets. The reason I’ve read for doing it is to prevent damage to the sow’s teats and to keep the piglets from hurting each other when they tussle. I’ve only seen a cut on one teat on one sow in our herd of thirty so I don’t think this is necessary. It would be a lot of work and I could see it causing problems for the piglet when teeth are broken (cut). The only damage I’ve seen from biting is suckling on tails and cutting needle teeth (fangs/tusks) would not help with that – suckling is done with the tongue and upper front teeth which are not the teeth being clipped.

This one is a easy answer, if cutting the teether does not help, then I’m not doing it, I  know that Miss Piggy, her mother and Grandmother didn’t have theirs done, and I know that Angelo and his siblings didn’t have theirs done either, both breeders didn’t believe in it and I saw a good number of large black females that were nursing and none of them had any issues on their teats, I checked out Miss Piggy mother quite closely and she seemed healthy and normal, so for now, I say no and will report if I needed to change my mind on this one.

Tail Docking

– This is done in confinement situations (e.g., factory farms) for pigs to prevent tail biting in grower pigs. I’ve not seen this behavior with our pigs to any degree that I would think it necessary to do.

This one is so easy for me, No, both my Large Black pigs have their tails, they use them and I see no reason to dock given the room and space they all have, I don’t see it being a issue.

Vitamin Shots

– We don’t do do this one either. What I have read is that pigs kept on concrete need the shots or they need to be fed fresh greens. Sounds like a dietary issue. Our pigs are out on pasture where they get plenty of greens and sunshine. During the winter they get hay which replaces the pasture. Pigs, unlike people, make their own Vitamin-C. A healthy diet is better than a shot of vitamins.

I am not planning on giving a shot to them, I will make sure they get fresh air, direct sunshine, hay(as its fall/winter time, so pasture is not a real choice at this time) and as full and healthy of a scape kitchen pail as I can manage, O how I wish Girl was freshened, I would love to be able to feed the piglets fresh skim milk and whey from cheese making. Next time..

Mineral & Iron Shots and Supplements

– Another thing we don’t do – pigs are very good at getting the iron and other minerals from the soil, if you let them. If you are raising pigs on concrete then give them a shovel full of good dirt and that is enough to give them what they need. Personally, I suspect the pigs prefer to root than have you shoot them full of supplements.

I wil be giving them access to dirt and am more then willing to bring a shovel full into the current pen, but I also do feed a ration that has these, something that the person at there farm does not, they have access to leftover milk from their local dairies (in the states) and so they need alot of yogurt or clabbor, something I can’t do.

Vaccines

– We don’t vaccinate the pigs. I do believe in vaccination as preventative medicine.

I will check with the vet on it there is anything I need to worry about but when I asked about my own, I was told if they were healthy and had no issues, then I didn’t have to, and I expect that will be the same choice I make for the piglets but I will still check as its been over a year since I checked last.

. Castrating – Not if I can avoid it. the taint, which is “due to the presence of h
igh levels of androsterone and skatol.” One key the research talks about is that slaughtering pigs at a young age, the normal market weight of around 6 months, means they don’t have high levels of these chemicals and thus no boar taint. Pigs are normally slaughtered then so castration may be unnecessary at normal market sizes.

This is a touchy one for me, I need more time to think about it, I don’t know if my lines typically have it or not, I have been told not, but that’s just talk..

I would perfer not to, but that means that I need to make sure that the boys are butchered out at a younger age then the girls, and the second question is will it effect the sale of weaner piglets or not? or farm gate sales or not?

Open to thoughts and comments on the altering question?