A picture of my injured truck and some other items

Well, to start off I wanted to show a picture of my injured baby.  While helping on a project at my parents house there was a little mishap that ended with the front right corner of my truck getting smashed.  In the end the only one hurt was my truck.  Gonna take $2500 to fix everything.  It doesn't look like much in the pic but the hood, fender, and light need replaced.  The front clip got shoved sideways so the drivers side fender is shoved out of line as well.  The bumper is not bent but it is scratched so it is all going to need repainted as well. 

Next up, we just sent a steer, three feeder pigs, and one of the youngest sows to the butcher shop.  We are sizing down the herd of pigs as we cannot afford to feed them for feeder piglets due to the drought causing prices of the corn, bean meal, and alfalfa meal we use to supplement their diet to soar!  I thought the sow was getting big even though she was only a little over two years old she was still bigger than the rest.  Turns out she was over 600 lbs. live weight!!  Two of the three feeders we sent were over 300lbs. live weight.  No wonder they were gobbling down so much feed.  I also really need to find an animal scale to weight the pigs with so I can keep from letting them get too big.  Once you pass about 280lbs. for a pig the amount of feed they eat sky rockets compared to the amount of actual muscle they put on.  A lot of it ends up being fat.  

So, I went to pick up the meat from the butcher yesterday to deliver to the local customers I have and prepare for a trip to Columbus next weekend with the rest.  While packing some of the pork chops in the freezer I snapped a pic of one of the packs of two chops from the sow we sent.  They are bigger than most porterhouse steaks!!!!  This was one of the middle sized ones, some of the chops are pushing one pound each!

While the kids were taking a nap today I headed out to spend some time with the cows and see how everyone is doing.  I am waiting on Prairie Fire to have her calf and have been checking daily.

I took this picture just because it has most of the calves in it.  It was only a few years ago that I was thrilled to have almost ten cows....now I have almost ten calves!!!

 I got a close up picture of the cousins!!  On the left is Precious and the right is Princess.  My daughter named her. 

My daughter also now wants to claim both of them for herself!  So, tonight we had discussion about why she only gets one calf and I get all the rest of the cows.  I explained to her that I have purchased and fed and raised all the cattle here.  I am giving her one to start a herd with.  I will also give my son one to start a herd with.  I will run them all with my herd till she gets old enough to run her herself and the same with my son.  I am going to use it to teach them how to run a business and be accountable and have responsibility as they grow up.  It will be able to provide them with income and food for when they get married and start their own lives.  It will also allow me to give them something financially that will grow itself over time.  If, down the road they decide it isn't for them they can sell their herd, or continue on and grow it for their children!!

Here are a few more pics of Princess.  That is Legacy behind her and her sister Precious in the background.  Legacy is doing well for a little man without a momma.  He is growing much much slower than he should be but he also didn't have any of the milk that he should have gotten.  Shortly after letting him back lose in the pasture this spring he quit drinking the milk I was bringing him and he has been of a full grass diet ever since.  I know he will be fine though and it will make him even stronger in the long run! 

At this point she was getting interested in my phone and what I was doing with it!

She finally got up the nerve to come within arms reach and gave me a nice pose before trotting off to play with the other calves!

To finish off the night we decided to cook out on the wood fire.   I was headed from the house to the fire pit to get this started and found two visitors in my lawn.  They are two of my dads calves that are supposed to be in the pasture behind the trees in the background.  However, due to the drought the electric fencers is not very effective due to the lack of conductivity of dry soil.  So, all the calves are taking turns trimming my lawn.  Apparently they feel the grass is greener on the other side of the fence.  They better not get the same idea about my wife's garden that they have been walking right past!!

 Lastly, a pic of dinner as I was starting to cook it.  I put some hickory wood on just before cooking for some smoke flavor in the meat.   Man it was awesome.  These are some T-bone and Porterhouse steaks and some sausage stuffed hot peppers from the garden.  It was quite a yummy supper!!!

Well, I need to get to bed.  Another very hectic and long week ahead.  My daughter starts kindergarten this week.  Seems like it was just yesterday that I held her for the first time.  Now she is starting school already and it will seam like a few short years and she will be getting married......I am so not ready for that yet!

Goodnight everyone!!

Kenny

Update ... Sorry for the delay!

Well, it has been quite hectic around here the last week and a half.  On July 30th both Pig and Daisy Pig had their litters on the same day while I was at work.  Pig had her entire litter with no problems.  Daisy pig however did not.  When I got home she was still in labor and had been since about 9am.  These where the ones running around in the pen.

Here were Pigs piglets.

After talking with the vet we came to the conclusion she had one breach.   So, the only way to help her was to be the doctor and manually go in and get it unstuck and out.  It was not fun for me and I have no idea how she coped but I managed to get it and two others that were stuck behind it out.  Unfortunately they were all still born.  So, very disappointed, after spending two hours helping her, I headed to the house to clean up for dinner.  I came out afterwards to check on everyone and was overjoyed to find two more happy little babies eating with the other seven.  That made it all worth it!

Above is pig the next day with her litter of 11 and Daisy pig below with her litter of 9. They are all growing faster than any litter before and look great.  I think we are finally getting the pig thing dialed up and we are ready to roll!!!  Now we just need this drought to end and we will be great!

I mowed and square baled my big field across the road last week as well.  I didn't mow the smaller one as it hasn't grown enough to bother.  The bigger 7.5 acre field normally gives me 150-200 bales of third cutting.  This year ... 21.  Last year I couldn't get a wagon load of dry hay due to the rain.  This year I can't get a load of dry hay due to the lack of rain!  So, as every farmer will say, " Next year will be better!"

After finishing unloading I took the kids and dog for wagon ride to give the chaff to the cows. 

Everyone enjoyed the treat as they don't have a lot to eat in the pasture right now either.  I am starting to feed round bales already.  Good thing I planned ahead and made sure I have more than I need!

Then, I found out that I could borrow a lift this past weekend.  I have wanted to limb up all the large trees in the lawn since we moved in but haven't had a way to get that high up in the trees as they are 60+ feet tall.  This lift was a life savor and made it very easy to do the job.  This is one of the six large maples on one spruce I had to prune.  The limbs were drooping low enough to hit the equipment going in and out the lane as well as getting into all pines along the drive.

While I was pruning my kids were collecting the old shells of the locusts that were all over the spruce tree.  My daughter then put them in a container and labeled it "The Bug House"!

A pic of the big maple along the drive way after I finished.  Shortly after taking this photo I went back up and took off the two limbs hanging lower than the rest on the left and right.  I lifted all except the spruce about 40' each.  They look awesome and we can see the sun come up in the morning in our kitchen again!

I had four pigs and one steer to take to the butcher last night.  I did not originally have a divider gate in my livestock trailer so I spent part of my weekend installing one.  This made life a lot easier for hauling as it allowed us to load the pigs and pen them in the front and then put the steer in the back without losing anyone or having them fight on the way there!

Lastly I wanted to put in a pic of Prairie Fire.  She is not quite a year old yet and is almost as big as her momma already!  I can't wait to see her calves!

Well, I need to get to bed.  Another long day tomorrow as after work I have some custom baling to do followed by helping my parents dig some foundation footers for their house remodeling project!

Goodnight everyone and have a great week!

Kenny

Fifty had her calf yesterday!!

It is such a frickin cutie!!!  Didn't expect this color pattern but I have been surprised all year long.  I saw her across the bottom as soon as we came outside yesterday morning.  I grabbed the kids and jumped on the 4-wheeler and went to see what we had.  She was maybe 10-20 minutes old when we got there.  As soon as we got there she got up and started running along side momma to move to the shade.  

After she laid down again everyone else wanted to see the new little one.  I was lucky enough to get all of Fifty's family, minus her granddaughter Pearl, in one picture!!!  To the right is Fifty, her new heifer calf laying down, her daughter Precious who had her first calf who is named Pearl is in the back left, and her son, 51, born last fall, is front left.

Today I wanted to show the new calf to my wife so the kids and I took her on the 4-wheeler out to the pasture to see it.  We looked for an hour and couldn't find so we waited for her mommy to go find her and stopped to play in the creek. 

My wife and kids got down in the water to look at the fish and after they got in the fish started nibbling at their feet.  They are really small fish so it was fun for everyone!

Shortly after, Fifty headed toward the one area I didn't look, so we went over and sure enough it was hiding under a tree.  Shortly after this pic she jumped up and trotted about 20 feet away and started bawling for momma.  Momma immediately came running.

Follow close behind by the herd manager, Mario!!!

After both checked out the little girl they calmed down and Fifty started feeding the baby.

While eating, Daddy came over to see how she was doing.  It is surprising  how many different colors we are getting from crossing him with all the different breeds.  I can't wait to see what I get from my red angus!!!

Have a great night everyone!!

Some pics with the cows

Kids and I went out to check the cows.  Took some pics while we were out there. 
Kids got to pet 50.  She was feeling friendly today and let us pet her. 
I also took a few pics of the bull and his progeny.  They are great looking calves and are growing really fast.  I hope to use him for quite a while till Legacy gets big enough!
I also got a pic of him today as well.  He has a burnt orange color to him this summer and is doing well.  He is smaller than the other calves despite being but that is due to not being able to eat off his momma like the others. 
We also got a little rain today.  We are hoping for more overnight.  Even though we are in a drought we have enough hay for the cows.  We are gonna be short on hay to sell to cover fuel used to make the hay and to pay for pig feed.  This added to rising costs of all other inputs and fuel that is three times the cost it was when I started the farm in 2005 has forced us to raise the price of our meat.  Was hoping to make it another year or two before needing to but the drought has made that impossible. 
Hope everyone is enjoying their summer!  I am listening to the locusts outside my bedroom window as I am laying in bed typing this on the phone!  I love summer!

New baby calf and vacation picks!

Well, lots of things to talk about today.  First off, I got an early birthday present from my favorite cow right before we left for the outer banks.  Sally Shorthorn had a little boy last Saturday.  Very cute and is already growing like a weed!

We spent all day Saturday getting ready to go.  This included fixing an exhaust leak on the truck, packing everything, cleaning the truck, and buttoning up the farm for my absence.  Steven took care of the pigs while I was away and watched the house. 

We all left Sunday morning at 7:30 am for Rocky Mt. North Carolina.  We got there at around 6pm.  It was a long long trip with two young children and a dog in a pickup for 11 hours straight but we made it just fine.   We stayed in a hotel overnight and headed out early Monday morning to catch the first ferry across the cape to Ocracoke Island.  I couldn't find any Dramamine for the boat ride but after most of the ride was over I was getting over the motion sickness and was fine again.  

A pic of everyone on the ferry during the crossing.

After getting off the ferry we headed to the Ocracoke campgrounds.  On arrival we started chatting with the park officer and he suggested we transfer up to the Frisco campgrounds that day so we wouldn't have to worry about getting a spot on the day before the 4th.  My daughter was very upset because she thought she was going to be swimming in a few minutes so I took her and daisy to see the ocean before heading to catch the next ferry.  We then hopped on the next ferry to take us from Ocracoke to Hatteras Island and drove on up to the Frisco campgrounds. 

This is a view of a portion of the campgrounds from one of the hill tops right by our campsite.  The Frisco Campground is in amongst a lot of dunes.  All the other National Park Service campgrounds are pretty flat but this one offers a different view and setup location for every single site. 

 Shortly after setting up the tent and campsite we threw on our swimsuits and headed up the boardwalk to the beach.  The kids were ecstatic and so was I!  This was our fist time in the ocean longer than to just touch it and drive away.  The waves were 2-3 feet and tide was on its way up.  So, we played for a little while and then had to literally peel the kids off the beach and head back to clean up and get ready for bed. 

The next morning I awoke to the sound of my phone alarm going off and realized it was early enough to watch the sunrise.  So my wife and I headed up on one of the hilltops and watched the first sunrise on the Outer Banks. 

 After that we headed back to camp and made breakfast and got the kids up and ready to go to the beach.  Here is a pic of breakfast on the stove.  My wife upgraded her stove top to a bigger setup.  Now I just need to get her a second one and a splitter for the gas line so she can cook two things at once!

 First thing we did after breakfast was head to the NPS office at the Cape Hatteras Light House to get an off road permit for driving on the beach.  While I was doing all the paperwork my kids took a test and an oath to become Junior Park Rangers!!  They even got badges, which my daughter has worn every day since!

 Just in case you are wondering why you need a permit to drive on the beach I will explain.  Two main reasons exist.  First of all, there are many animals that make their nests on the beach.  The NPS monitors the beaches for these nests and will shut them down during nesting to allow the animals to do their thing uninhibited.  The money that is paid for the permit goes toward these services and keeping all the parks up and running.

Secondly, they have you watch a video before you get the permit explaining how to drive in the sand.  Even wet the sand doesn't pack, and just like driving in the snow or mud, if you do not know what you are doing you will become stuck very easily, very quickly, and very deep!  I have quite a bit of experience in snow and mud and very little on sand.  However I didn't have any problems and found it quite fun!  You do need to drop the air pressure in your tires down to 20 psi to spread the weight out more and get better traction.  I took a picture to show that at that air pressure you are actually using the entire tread area and part of the sidewall when in the sand!  This pic was taken in a wet area right after tide had gone down some.  in the dry areas you sink a lot more!

The main reason for getting the permit was this.  We were on the beach directly south of our campsite probably 500 yards away and over the dunes.  To walk took about a half an hour.  In the truck only a few minutes.  We could also take the chairs, shade tent, food, drinks, campsite stove, toys, and dog and park on the edge of the water and stay all day!

View from the other side.  This was on Tuesday, not many people.  From the fourth on were a lot of people there but you still had 20 feet on either side of the tent and truck as "your" space.  The beach area that was open to vehicles here was about 4 -6 miles so you can get a lot of trucks and people out there without crowding!

 After getting setup at the beach it was time to play hard!!

My son is totally not scared of the water at all.  He would get knocked down by waves and get right back up and laugh and do it again!

Now, as most of you already know, I am a landscaper as well as a farmer.  I spend my days digging holes.  Being on vacation you would think I would be nowhere near a shovel.  You would be wrong.  I took two actually and by the end of every day my daughter would end up getting me to dig her a great big hole to build a dam around to see how long she could keep the water back!  Our biggest ended up being 6' around and 4'deep.  Notice who is digging and who is yelling to dig farther!

Here you can see me relaxing in the waves on my chair with a beer.  I finished the hole for my kids and they were working on packing the dam as the tide came in.  

 After the tide got in and the water was to rough to play in we dug for animals in the sand as the waves uncovered them and tried to see what all we could discover there.

On our last day the kids found someone as energetic as them to play with all day long.  They had a blast!  You can see my wife watching on the right.  By the last day we were all sun burnt so  we all ended up wearing some form of shirt top with our swim suits.

We left Friday morning for home and drove all the way up the outer banks past Nags Head and Kitty Hawk and went over the bridge on the north end to head home.  It took two days to get back as we were taking our time and sightseeing as we went.  Friday night we stopped near FredricksburgVirginia at a hotel for the night.  The temps were over 100 during the day Friday and Saturday so we had the air conditioner running.  We have a small one at home that we only use when over 80 degrees at night and only does one room.  So it was nice to have the entire room cool.  Daisy camped out in the chair right next to it the whole night!!  She had a great time too!

I would like to mention a place we stopped at Hatteras N.C. to get seafood.  My wife on the way down kept mentioning that there was a place she wanted to stop that was supposed to be the best place to get fresh fish.  So, during our second full day of hitting the beach we headed out to find a place called Risky Business Seafood.  Their website is www.riskybseafood.com  After showing the kids the docks and boats there my wife and kids headed into the store to pick out some good eats while daisy and I stayed outside.  After a few minutes a very friendly gentleman was walking from one building to the next and stopped to pet daisy and say hello.  We talked for several minutes about daisy and the farm here at home and his farming background and some great stories from his childhood.  After quite a bit of chatting he said he had to get back to work.  As he turned around I noticed his shirt said Risky Business Seafood on the back.  I asked him if he worked there or if he owned the business.  His reply was "It owns me!"  Well put!  I think anyone who owns a business after a while realizes that you don't own a business, it owns you and you can only succeed if you grow it well and work hard!  At this time my wife walked out the door and instantly recognized him as the owner from following his blog and introduced herself and was thrilled.  One of the few things she wanted to do while at Hatteras was meet him in person!  Before I left I gave him one of our cards for the farm and told him about this blog.  I hope someday he checks it out and gives me some feedback.  In the meantime I will be checking out his blog and see what other interesting stories he has on their as well as what I can learn from him!

Thanks for the few minutes of your time Steve, I always love making a new connection and getting to know new people.  Especially those who are very dedicated and into what they do!

Last order of business for our vacation was my birthday.  Due to all the unpacking and the end of the traveling back we didn't have a lot of time left over to celebrate.  I am not a big birthday party guy so I suggested we go get some ice cream.  The kids of course were totally down with that and we made it just in time to get a DQ ice cream cake.  My son wanted a flower on it and my daughter asked them to do blue or green which are my favorite colors.  My wife added the faces after we got home!

We all had a great big piece of cake and headed into the bed room where the air conditioning was running to do some more unpacking and clean up a mess the cats made in the house.  What really happened was we all laid down on the bed and passed out shortly after! 

So goes the motto, Work Hard Play Hard!!!  I think we successfully did both now this year!

I bid everyone a goodnight and a great day tomorrow.  In the meantime I will be dreaming of waves, sandy beaches, and some damn good fish on the grill right next to one of my steaks!!!

Just a quick note

Just got back from vacation yesterday.  Just finished unpacking today.  I will posting pics and details tomorrow. 

We have a new baby calf to talk about and photos from the trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina!! 

Kenny