Lots of piglets and update on the little bull!

First off I want to update everyone on how the calf is doing.  I am feeding him milk from Steven's farm next door.  I bottle fed him the first three feedings over the weekend but it takes about ten minutes to feed him with a bottle and I do not have the time in the mornings to do this before work.  So Monday evening I decided to try him on the bucket.  He immediately started drinking and didn't miss a sip! 

He is quickly gaining weight and is becoming friends with his little piglet sleeping buddies.  Every morning when I go out to feed him they are all cuddled up under the lamp in the corner. 

My son absolutely loves to pet him whenever he has a chance.  He and my daughter are greatly enjoying all the babies right now.  This is the first time I have had a calf penned up and able to be petted this way.  Usually they let us get close but not touch so this is a unique situation.

I have decided to keep him to use as a bull.  I need a good angus bull in a couple of years anyway so this just makes sense.  By raising him this way he will always know us and will be calm and gentle for the rest of his life. 

I have also decided on a name for him.  His full name will be Erica's Legacy.  For short we are calling him Legacy but I found it fitting and everyone likes it so it stuck quickly!  I need to get him registered as well.  I am new to that so it will be a learning experience but well worth it down the road.

Next up we delivered meat to several new customers in Columbus Ohio over the weekend.  I already knew most everyone from school or choir and I also made a new connection with a friend of my one classmate's wife.  Everyone has already tried their meat and have been very happy!!  I am quite glad and look forward to more sales trips to bring them and hopefully new customers more!

My wife and I have both been very busy for the last year and haven't had much time to ourselves.  Actually, our trip to Columbus was only the third time since we got married that we have been away from the kids together for more than a couple of hours.  So, since we were in the big city I wanted to have a peaceful dinner with my wife to celebrate making new friends, selling some great meat, and a belated relaxing valentine's day dinner.

 I absolutely love sushi.  My entire childhood I swore I would never eat such a thing.  However, after going to college, meeting new people and seeing new cultures, then meeting my future wife, I learned to try new things.  Sushi was one of these things.  I loved it.  In Columbus there is an authentic Japanese restaurant by the name of Akai Hana.  The food is awesome, the staff is very nice, and the food is awesome.  Yes I said it twice because I mean it. 

 I miss going to Japan for two reasons.  Seeing my extended family, and, THE FOOD.  So whenever I get a chance to eat somewhere that is close to the experiences I have had in Japan I jump at the chance.   Now, if I could just get them to use some of my product it would give me an even more frequent excuse to go there to eat!!

Next up we have two new litters of piglets.  Pig and Pig Pig both had babies the first part of the week.  Pig Pig had hers on Monday night and Pig had hers Tuesday morning. 

 Both had twelve per litter.  However they both had three stillborn.  Pig had one that got away from her in the night and ended up getting laid on and didn't make it leaving her with eight.

Pig Pig is another story.  She managed to step on two of her little ones, neither survived.  The same is true with animals as it is with humans.  Some make great parents and others do not.  When a pig is not careful she can hurt and kill her babies very easily.  She weighs between 400-500 lbs.  Her babies are barely a pound when born.  Pig Pig has a very bad history of being very reckless with her little ones.  

 Most large scale hog farms in the US use crating systems for birthing pigs to keep babies from being laid on.  I do not use them and normally do not need them.  I prefer to let them birth naturally and we know from our experience so far that we do not have problems when we have a good mother.  This has led us to a tough decision but one that had to be made.  This will be Pig Pigs last litter with us.  We will be selling her after she weans this litter.  It hurts me to know how uncarefull she is and cannot stand to see the results.  I would rather work towards having a herd of momma pigs that I do not have to worry about hurting their little ones. 


While we were in Columbus we picked up three new little Berkshire girls for future sows.  They are from the same farm as Lady and should make great mommas.  I will miss Pig Pig but I know I am making the right decision.


I want to leave everyone with a little personal reading suggestion.  A coworker of mine brought me a book to read a few weeks ago.  To be very honest, after finishing college I have not read a complete book since.  I have never been much for reading but if something grabs my attention I  will read it through.  Usually I get into the beginning of a book and lose interest and never finish it.  This book however peeked my interest and kept it through the end.  The book is called "Delivering Happiness" by Tony Hsieh.  It is a story of his life and experiences building his own business and finding his true calling and then helping build another.  I didn't know at first who he was till I got into the book and realized he is the CEO of Zappos.  If you read one book this year this is the one that I recommend.  There are a lot of great stories and a lot of very good knowledge and value in it . 


Have a great evening/day everyone.  I am hoping to get some updated pics of everyone over the weekend, weather permitting, and do another post over the weekend. 

Kenny

Passing of a momma cow and an orphaned little boy.

Well, I got up this morning expecting to have a great day at home and get lots of tasks handled and start off a busy weekend.  After getting home from some morning errands I headed out to check the new pigs and start stuff in the barn.  I noticed that on the way to the barn I heard the little angus calf bawling again.  I heard him doing this last night as I finished working on my truck and was headed for the house but thought he simply was separated from his momma in the dark and left it at that.  What I didn't know was that sometime late yesterday she laid down with him in the pasture to rest and never got back up.  She apparently went very quickly as she hadn't moved and looked like she was still resting. 

I found little man trying to get her to get up so he could eat.  I knew there was nothing I could do for her so I picked him up and headed for the barn.  I put him in the pen I set up for the baby pigs and went and got some milk from the neighbors.  I got him to drink a little and he was hungry but wasn't interested in the bottle.  

We had to grind feed for the pigs today and take care of some other business so we got that all taken care of and I headed to work to get an excavator so we can bury her under the apple tree tomorrow.

After getting back I went over to Steven's and got some fresh milk and brought back to feed him.  He was very hungry by this point and didn't waste time in downing the entire bottle.

My daughter went out to help feed him as she has never gotten to do that here before ( she has helped the neighbor a couple of times) and to pet him while we were out there.

 He has already grown quite a lot and will be hard to keep enough milk in him to match what his momma was producing but we are gonna give it a shot!

When you have a farm you learn to keep detached to the animals you raise for sale.  You give them the best you can and treat them well but you always know that they are not meant to stay.  However you do become attached to the ones that stay.  Especially the ones that catch your eye from a distance!  Yes there is a monetary loss associated with this cow that I don't have with the others but that isn't what hurts the most.  I was looking forward to her growing old here and having many more great calves.  But that is not what was meant to be.  So we will take care of the little guy and he can carry on in her absence.

Goodnight

Daisy pig has her first litter!

Well, it has been a very busy start to the year 2012.  I have been working more the last 6 weeks than I did the previous three months!  Between snow and a couple of big projects that we are working on I haven't had time to get much done around home including posting on here.

The good news is we have some new baby piggies to talk about.

Daisy pig had her first piglet at around 10pm on valentines day.  Two more quickly followed.   Daisy went out to see the new babies and quickly went into mommy mode and jumped right in the pen and started licking them off and rolling them around to get them warmed up.


A friend of Steven's was in the pen to see pigs born for the first time.  She was very excited and fit right in!



There is always a lot of interest when babies are born.  Having the barn set up the way it is is very nice for people to come see it happen. 


She had a total of 11.  Four of them were stillborn.  This is common for a first time mother and I know the next litter will be much better.






Some have cute little black noses.  There are two of them that are brown with golden hair and the others are mostly red.



I put up some boards to keep the bigger pigs out of the extra pen so only the little feeders could get in there to eat.  Lady A. decided she wanted in any way so she lays down on her side and slides under the board to get in.  The boys don't mind though as she make a soft warm pillow!




We also ground feed today and took care of some other business.  Was sunny today and it was a good day to have off from work to be home.

Our first calf of 2012!!!

 Well, Erica was due to have her calf on the 10th, which was this coming Friday.  However, I was extremely excited yesterday when I got a picture message from my business partner of a fluffy little bull calf that was just born!

 I didn't get home yesterday till after dark so I couldn't take any pics, but tonight however I got home at dusk and had just enough time to take a few pics before it got dark.

 Momma is very very protective of him.  She won't let anyone but me withing twenty feet of him. 

 Every time that I got within ten feet of her she would walk away and call him to follow.

 However, he was hungry and wanted to eat and I was persistent and wouldn't leave.

 But she still kept a keen eye on me.  So I patiently waited for her to relax a little and realize I wasn't there to harm them and just wanted to check on them.

 Still however she didn't want me close.  I was about eight feet away this time and she started to walk away.

 Only this time he didn't follow!  She stopped and called him repeatedly, but, like any other child, he ignored her!  He wanted to see who was following them.

 So we stood there and looked at each other from a short distance for about a minute, much to the extreme dismay of his mother!

 Then, to my surprise, he started walking toward me.  I wasn't sure what momma was gonna do so I didn't move at first.  Just waited for him to decide what was up.  He came straight over and sniffed my legs and then rubbed up against my leg and wanted petted.  So I started scratching him behind the ears and he just stood there enjoying it.

 Momma wasn't worried yet so I knelt down and got a quick pic of him looking at me.

 The flash of the camera then got momma's attention and she decided that was enough and it was time for me to go!  I stood up and she came walking over saying something to him and looking at me as if to say I had better be moving on or I was gonna get moved on.  So I patted him on the head and stepped back a few paces and waited.

As soon as she got to him he turned and started to follow her again to go eat.  I headed toward the barn and said goodnight and she went back to feeding him.  He is so fluffy and cute it is unbelievable!

Next I have some pics of the livestock trailer I just got.  I managed to get an unheard of price on it due to a few issues.  The lights worked partially and the brakes were not working. 

 

However, the frame is almost like new.  The floor is solid and clean.  The sides and gate are solid with little to no rust, and the roof is still in great shape.  

I spent a couple of hours working on wiring and quickly had all the lights fixed and working perfectly.  This use to be used as a horse trailer and the owner who had it before the guy I bought it off of had built a small living quarters in the front.  The person I purchased it from took all that out but couldn't get lights or brakes working so he went and got another newer trailer.  This is a 16' gooseneck which is perfect for what we do.  I have already hauled twice with it and I am very happy.  I also got the drivers side brakes working.  I simply need to replace the electromagnets in the passenger side wheels and I will have brakes as well.

 

Lastly, before I head off to bed, I want to attach a pic of a project I saw a guy working on near Shreve ohio.  The owner is apparently cutting down old pine trees which is not out of the ordinary.  However, carving all the stumps into Morel mushrooms is!

Sum are almost 6' tall.

 Well, I am exhausted and I have to be back up for work early.  It also may snow tonight which would mean almost not sleep so I am gonna get to bed.

Have a great day everyone!

Kenny

New trailer, Snow, and another Chesapeake well site!

 Well, it has been very busy here the last few weeks and I haven't been able to post.  Tonight I finally have a chance to stop and update everyone.  We had our first major snow of the winter two weeks ago which took me away from the house for a few days.  It was only five inches but for a winter with no snow that was a lot!  That put me behind for a couple of weeks and I am just now catching back up.

First things first.  We purchased a gooseneck livestock trailer last weekend for the farm.  I have wanted one for many many years and I finally had a chance to get one and jumped on it!  I found it listed on Craigslist and made  an offer and they accepted.  It had some issues with the lights and brakes.  I was able to get it for a $1000.  It is a 16' gooseneck and is in pretty good condition.  With working lights and brakes it could be worth closer to $2000.  Well, I started digging into the wiring immediately after getting it home and realized that everything was improperly connected.  I managed to get all the lights working in time to haul five more of the pigs to the butcher Monday night. 

 As you can see in the pic above I also managed to reconnect all the running lights and all are working perfectly.  I will try to get some good daylight pics of the trailer this weekend after I finish working on the brakes.  From what I can tell they simply need connected properly and I should be good to go!

Next topic is a Chesapeake well site that was started on my cousins farm.  The pad encompasses approximately 10-11 acres of ground.  He only has about 50-60 acres of crop ground to begin with so this will put him in a bind for making feed for his dairy cattle but he should be ok.  They are to begin drilling several wells on the site sometime in late April to early May.  This site is scheduled to get six wells.  The bigger pads can hold up to ten. 

 As you can see there is a dyke all the way around the pad to contain anything that may accidentally be spilled.  There are many inspectors on site throughout the construction of the pad and they tend to be quite stringent.  You can also see in the pic below there is a small 30hp tractor that the neighbor is driving around the pad that looks like a toy.  It gives you some scale of what you are seeing.

 These wells are proving to be a double edged sword to most small farms.  The royalties that come from these wells are enormous.  However, they take up a lot of space for the farmer who ends up with the pad and there is not an infrastructure in place yet to handle the flow of gas from these wells.  So they may get them drilled and ready to produce but it could be two to three years before the farmer who lost the ground will actually see income to offset the losses they incur from the installation. 

 

Another issue that needed addressed was the narrow, one lane, mostly dirt road leading up to the pad.  This is not the original road.  The original road went up the property line in the woods in the top right corner of the pic below.  However, back when my great grandfather lived there he put a driveway up through the barns to the top fields to save some travel.  Over time this became the route that everyone, including the township trucks, began to use.  Over the many many decades the old road is grown over with trees and is no longer visible.  When they bring the rig and hydraulic fracturing equipment in they need heavy use wide roads.  So, they are moving fences and widening the road to the full thirty feet.  They also installed a minimum 12" thick limestone base in to carry the heavy loads.  Once drilling starts there will be a nonstop line of trucks going in and out this road for several months.  Hopefully everyone is careful!

 I will try to be more diligent and keep everyone posted on how things play out.  This area is in need of the jobs and the income as many small farms are giving way to large scale farms in the Midwest.  This can help save many of the small farms that built this area and paved the way for many of the cities around here to become what they are today.  It will be interesting to see how this area copes with the added truck traffic and noise and light pollution for the next five to ten years till the drilling is done.

Next, on a lighter note, I see a lot of crazy and stupid things when I am out doing snow removal.  Apparently when it snows people begin to panic and forget what is sane and begin to drive horribly and do things they normally wouldn't do...like haul a cast iron bath tub in the truck of a sedan on an icy snow covered road!

I have no idea what prompted the event above but I had to take a pic and share this.  This is not the worst I have seen but this is the first time I have gotten a pic of the insanity!

 Due to the snow fall my daughter was finally able to build her snow man and we were able to do some sledding.

 This is Josh (steven's brother), Lisa (my daughter), Sylvana (our buddie's daugther), and daisy!

 Just a pic from the living room window of the beautiful morning after the snow fell.

 This is a pic of Lisa right after we got done building it.

Some quick updates on pigs and cows.  We are expecting a calf from my newest cow on the tenth.  We are also expecting three litters of piglets this month.  We have sent 8 of 9 pigs to the butcher shop and will be delivering most of the meat over the next few weeks.  I have beef going in Monday and some of it goes to Columbus with the pork so I will not be done with this round till near the end of the month.

We added another sow to the pig herd and she is already bred so in 3 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days we will have another litter of piglets!

Hope all is well and I will try to post again Sunday.  Now time to get some sleep!