Our First Summer with Pigs

This spring we bought 3 pigs.  1 for sausage and 2 to start a breeding program.

These pigs were fun to watch and we enjoyed them.

So when Darling Husband heard of 3 more for a great price we got them.

They were cute but not fun to watch.  They didn't love playing in the water or happily chase each other they just ate and slept.  Great for fat pigs but I like happy animals.  - proof I'm not a great farmer 

So when I wasn't working we had 6 mostly full sized pigs.  I get a lot of food for the piggies through my work so having 6 pigs during summer when I am not working was expensive.  I was also buying normal commercial grade food for the pigs instead of making sure everyone is mostly grass fed because - pigs eat A LOT.  The 3 Little Pigs were ready to go to Freezer Camp by middle of summer.  We had decided to try to do the butchering ourselves with Darling Husband's friend.  The problem is we needed a free weekend and we were super busy.  Finally end of summer we were all ready to process the pigs.

I wanted a lot of sausage.  I looked up premixed sausage seasonings and realized most were expensive and many had preservatives that I didn't want so I spent days looking for sausage recopies and made the seasoning mixes myself.   

Don't keep scrolling unless you want to see graphic pictures!

Notice the happy dog under the table in this picture.  

The fodder room was a great sausage making room.  We made 120lbs of sausage in one day.  Butchering 4 pigs in one day was a huge job we will never do that many at once again.  

I have discovered the joys of making sausage and I can't wait until I have enough fresh pork to do it again.

I still have a lot to learn.  

We were using a commercial grain instead of me watching the diet like I do with the sheep and cattle so instead of having a meat that is rich in Omega 3 fatty acids I have ended up with a really high in cholesterol pork.  I am thinking of adding flax seeds to the fodder mix and increasing our fodder rooms production.  Don't tell Darling Husband yet! 

All because I LOVE homemade sausage!

Darling Husbands favorite picture.

Three Thirty in the Morning

Three Thirty in the morning

Not a soul in sight

The pasture's looking like a ghost town

On a Moonless fall night

Phone call on my cell phone

There's a problem out there

There eating neighbors flower fields 

Where they never should have been

And the cattle roam

And the cattle roam

Every Flashlights roamin

In a flower field not mine

They rush out to herd them 

Thankful their alive

But those damn cows just 

Run and play 

Throwing flowers all around

And the butcher's called

And the butcher's called

Some how Garth Brooks song keep going through my head while we were in the pasture.  I hope he doesn't mind me butchering his wonderful lyrics with my own.

Brahma Chickens

 I decided I wanted Brahma Chickens.  

I waited patiently for our feed store to get them. I bought all the Brahma's the feed store had.  

We came home with 4 light and one dark.  

After introductions to the dogs were made.  We left them in the top of the coop.  In the morning the dark chick was gone not even a feather of it remained.

A few days later:

The sheep felt the need to inspect the chicks.  

The chicks must have been terrified!

As they grew they spent more time outside.

Now we have moved them into the big coop and they spend all day running around the property.  

Some friends hen turned out to be a rooster so we adopted him.

Electric Fencing

Electric Fencing

The advantage of being a modern farmer is the ability of using electric fencing.  With zip ties, a few posts, a car battery, solar power, 2300 feet of wire, and a willing neighbor; we can save our neighbor from having his pasture mowed and our cattle are happily fed.  

I continued to feed the cattle fodder while they were in this pasture because it was so dry.  Fortunately we were able to stop buying any hay for  8 weeks while they were in our neighbor's pasture.  

I am adding the video below because often people post a video of poor cows that were released from being butchered and the cows are skipping and kicking their feet in joy.  

These cattle are 1 year old to 14 years old and are in a new pasture for the second time this month showing the same joy.  

Nim

Nim is the perfect farm cat.  

She is a great hunter.  

She has a brother who often steals her kills or tackles her mid-pounce.  

They are really cute and he will only eat out of 1/2 the food bowl when they are sharing a bowl.

She will disappear for up to 2 weeks at a time.  

So when we didn't see her on a rainy weekend we didn't think anything.  I thought I heard meowing one night but couldn't find where it was coming from.  Then a couple days after the rain Stick Boy herd it too.  He opened a storage shed and Nim jumped out and started rubbing on Stick Boy's legs then started following us and keeping everyone company while they did their chores around the property.  

She even followed me into the fodder room to get some loving within minutes of being let out of the shed.  

We have not seen her for several days but this weekend when I was spraying weed killer she followed me around chasing bugs and rabbits I scared while I was spraying.  She still has not been home for dinner but I know she is out hunting.  

Good Kitty!

Maxwell

Maxwell is a different lamb.  She is the most stubborn lamb ever!  She is one of our two Shetland Sheep.  Every time she has had lambs in the past Darling Husband threatens to get rid of her.  She likes to hide and do things her own way.  

Our HelpXer's put the sheep away for us and did all the other animals chores one night 

and we didn't get home until after dark.  

Oakley kept running around barking, 

Coyotes were howling unusually close to the house.  

Darling Husband and I looked outside with the flashlight but didn't see anything.  

We MAY have grumbled about a crazy dog barking her fool head off all night 

and threatened to find her a new home.  

Our morning routine has us letting the house dog out,

Oakley usually plays with him while we walk down to let Luca off the cable by the sheep. 

 This morning Oakley didn't join us.  

I was worried where had she run off to but it's a busy morning.

 When Luca was off the cable he kept herding Dakota back to me.  

Then I noticed:

Max was missing!

So I went in search and look what I found!  

Maxwell had 2 rams.

This time Max's lambs are just as independent as she is.

They ran right into my lap so I could check them out.

These guys are very curious and wanted to run and play with the bigger funner lambs so it has been easy to put all the sheep into the night pen.   

It looks like I will get to keep Maxwell a little longer!  

For those of you keeping track:

11 boys and only 2 girls!

Escapees!!!

The dogs were running around and barking.  

Coming to the house and barking at the door then running off barking.

So I looked outside:

This is not the pig pen!

They did a lot of exploring.

Then they tried playing with the lambs.  

The adult sheep tried to keep the lambs away from the piggies.  

Finally they decided to follow me into the pig pen.

And Lilly ran right into the muddiest spot and plopped down wiggling her way into the mud.