Christmas Vacation projects are under way and some other happenings.

I had an early afternoon off work a week ago so I drove up to get a keg of Sam Adams for the holidays.  It is a 1.5 hr trip one way to get there so I do not do very often.  I was over half way home when I realized they gave me the wrong keg of beer.  I turned around and drove back to get the correct one.  When I got back they offered me a gift for the mistake.  

My very own Sam Adams Lager Tap Handle!!!! 

Sam Adams Tap Handle

 I started my annual winter vacation from work on Christmas Day.  There is a very long list of projects that need completed and I know I will not get them all done but here are some I have completed so far.  

First up was building a bench table to hold the mini fridge for the new building.  This is where I am going to store medicine for the animals and Beer for the shop.  The table is also a nice spot for the radio and to set things while working on something to keep them off of the floor.  

Rough sawed lumber bench.

Next is a project I was supposed to be completing for the last two years.  My wife got tired of waiting and decided to go ahead and get it started herself.  The screen door and old house doors I used when I built the pig shed finally fell apart.  I have had them tied shut and been putting this off for a while.  

My wife did the first door and then I helped with the second one.  It was dark and raining when I remembered to take the pic so please excuse the bad picture!

Rough sawed lumber barn door.

 Both doors were made using leftover lumber from the cow and pig shed construction projects.  They were both very simple to build and work perfectly.  I should have done this a long time ago!

Rough Sawed lumber barn door inside.  

I didn't take a picture of the outside of the second door.  One thing we realized already was that we cannot tightly attach the Plexiglas.  It expands and contracts a lot with temperature changes.  When we put them on it was near freezing.  With the 60 degree temps the last couple of days they are all warped.  I will be adjusting this tomorrow so they do not do that any more.  

I wanted to attach a picture showing the effectiveness of the buffer strip we installed last year.  The fields in the background of the picture below are next door at my Dad's farm.  You will notice it is light in color and dormant for the winter.  It is also very short.  

In the foreground of the picture is the buffer strip.  It is very green and still growing.  I let the cows eat it off at thanksgiving.  It was very short when I pulled them off and has grown back another 6-8" already.  If the weather stays mild all winter I fully expect to be able to let them eat it off at least once and possibly twice this winter.  

Riparian buffer strip collecting nutrient runoff from the feed lot.   

I also noticed another very cool thing this week.  I have covered my pastures with the composted manure from the feedlot this fall.  I also coated them with the extra buttermilk that I am getting from the dairy.  Currently my pastures make my buffer strip look like it is not growing.  They are very dark green, very healthy and growing very well.  I am quite excited to see how well they produce in the coming year. 

I am still looking for some help researching land application of buttermilk.  There is literally no information on the topic and I would like to know more about the details of all the little interactions in the soil after I apply the milk to the fields.  If you or anyone you know can help with this please send me an email and we can go from there.  I have done some small scale testing and the results are promising but I still want to know more!

 I haven't had a calf born on Christmas day since I was a child on the dairy farm.  I thought I was going to have my first one born on my own farm this year and we did.  However, it was not what I expected.  Beef cake was in labor when I went out to check everyone on Christmas morning.  I noticed immediately that something was not right and got some help.  The calf ended up being still born.  The umbilical cord got broken at some point and the because the calf was not alive the cow didn't go into labor correctly.  We ended up having to put the calf by hand and Momma is pretty sore but she looks like she will be ok.  After everything was done and I let her back out with the other cows last night, her daughter came over to console her.   Today she seems to be doing better.  Hopefully she pulls through it without any internal damage and goes on to have more calves.  

Other than the disappointment from the still born calf, we all had a great Christmas together as a family.  The winter had been extremely mild and this is the first winter since I have had children that I have been able to spend the holidays with them without worry of having to go to work for snow removal.  

On my "TO DO" list is finishing the plumbing in the new building, finishing the weaning pen for the pigs, getting the neighbors tractor completed and out of the building, getting my next project in the building and started!  

I wish everyone the best for the holiday season and hopefully you all get to spend some time with your families!   

 I will be doing my annual New Years eve post this week so keep tuned in!!!

Goodnight everyone!

Kenny

Buttermilk tanks are in full use and first tractor repair in the new shop!

Ever since I was a little kid I dreamed of having a shop where we could put a piece of equipment inside to work on it when it was cold and wet.  I finally saw that dream become a reality this week when we rolled the neighbors old Oliver tractor in the shop to tear it down to repair the steering system. 

Scott got all the parts today so we can get them all put in tomorrow and get it running again.  It still needs the injector pump rebuilt but for now we are working on this item so we can get it completed and get it back out of the shop before the electrician comes back to finish the wiring.  

I have been using my new setup for the buttermilk tanks for a week now and it is pretty darn awesome!  For anyone who hasn't been following or is out of the loop, we started feeding buttermilk to the pigs and cattle this year as a supplement to their hay.  The buttermilk comes from a local dairy and the milk is from local farms.  I tested it out over the summer to confirm that the idea would work and that the cows and pigs would both like it.

The results have been amazing.  When making butter, almost all of the butterfat is removed from the milk leaving the protein, amino acids, and all the little micro nutrients that come with milk.  As we all know, when a baby calf is born they drink their mothers milk to grow.  Cattle may be weaned off of breast milk as they get older but they, just like us humans, still like milk!  So, when offered buttermilk they will drink it.  The micro nutrients and amino acids in the milk balance out what little things may be missing or are low in the hay they eat and also help in digesting what they eat.  The results are even better than I thought.  The cows didn't lose weight and thin way down while feeding their calves this year like they have in the past.  They maintained their weight and the calves grew much better this year as well.  The pigs showed very similar results as well.  I have been able to reduce the amount of supplemental grain that I feed the pigs to a very low amount as well.   

We have already had both beef and pork from animals who consumed the buttermilk.  I was concerned on how this change in diet would affect the flavor and fat in the meat.  I have noticed no changes in the fat content of either the beef or pork in the first batch of meat.  I also did not notice any change in the flavor as well.  

All that being said, lets get back to the new building!   I needed a place to keep the milk inside for a few reasons; 

• to keep it from getting too hot  
• to keep it from freezing
• to have it in a place were I can keep a clean setup

In setting this all up I tried to keep it simple and easy to use.  In almost every milk house on every farm in the world there is a hole in the wall with a flap to keep the cold out for the milk truck hose to go through to hook to the tank.  I did not want a hole like that.  Instead, I installed a piece of pipe through the wall with quick couplers attached.  This way I do not have to have any open doors for a hose to go through.  The delivery truck just hooks up outside.  

On the inside a hose hooks the two tanks up to the pipe in the wall.  A simple flip of a valve allows the delivery guy to select which tank to fill.  When done, he simply shuts the tank valve and disconnects outside.   A bucket under the pipe catches any spillage to be fed to the pigs. 

The milk is pasteurized so as long as I keep it cool and circulate it it doesn't spoil.  It will still separate if I don't mix it though so once a day I circulate any milk in the tanks.  The picture below shows everything hooked up to circulate the milk.  The pump is an electric one and is set up on its own switch.  I have a long hose to hook up to another pipe going through the south wall to pump milk directly to the tubs that the cows drink from.  Once the wiring is all done the pump will be on a remote control switch so I can turn the pump on and off while down at the corral.  This will make it very easy for one person to put milk out to the cows and pigs.  

I also am putting in a picture of the heater and the new electric service the electrician and I installed last weekend.  This pic was taken during installation so you can see there is a mess as well!

 

I also moved Scott's and my toolboxes to the new shop.  The only thing left to move is the air compressor.   I also need to get a small rolling work cart to keep in the shop for when we are working on stuff so we don't have tools all over the floor!

Today I cleaned the lot and spread the pile of manure I had built up while the weather was nice.  As I was getting started the pigs decided they wanted to go out to the pasture to enjoy the day.  If you look closely you will notice that the baby piglets (3 weeks old) are running right along side of momma!  Man are they growing fast!

When I was getting ready to purchase my tractor last winter the salesman saw my tractor parked in the shed and told me that I may not want a new tractor because the new one is taller and may not fit.   After I told him that this might not be a great sales technique as he is not a salesman for storage buildings, I told him to find me a tractor and I would figure out how to get it in the shed!  Well, the time had come a week ago to "Get it in the shed"!  The best part of having a large tractor with a large bucket is it is very easy to move soil.  After about 20 minutes of digging I lowered the dirt floor of the shed enough to fit the new tractor in.  Now she is neatly tucked inside when I am not using her so she can stay dry and out of the sun!

I am expecting two litters of pigs at the end of the month as well as our last calf of 2015 / first calf of the 2016 season.  Beefcake had her calf 1/5/15 and is due to have her next calf just before Christmas.  Going to be an exciting winter and spring!  We are going to have to enjoy the next three months cause as of the second week of March things are going to get pretty hectic pretty fast!

Have a great week everyone.  Let's hope this nice weather continues all winter.  I am looking forward to a mild one!

Kenny