Tag: Animals

Animals on the farm

Telling the Bull goodbye

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A few weeks ago, we decided to part ways with our bull. We have had him for almost a year now and he just got done breeding all our ladies. I don’t normally sell bulls this fast, but this year it dosent make any sense to hold onto him till next fall breeding cycle.

Ultimately, we decided to sell the bull for several reasons. Our bull has gotten a little more aggressive over the last few months. Aggressive bulls are hard on our fences. In the last two months he has busted the fence a couple different times. One night, we got home to find him close to the house because he had busted loose. It’s scary trying to catch a bull at night when you can’t see what you’re doing, and the bull weighs about 2000 pounds.

Another reason we needed to see the bull go is because he has gotten so big that he runs the risk of hurting our cows during breeding. At this point he actually runs the risk of breaking our cows’ backs, hips, and back legs. He is so heavy and the cows are not big enough to handle his weight. He can actually push the cows down into the ground when breeding that it breaks bones. With his weight, he also runs the risk of hurting himself while breeding. He also can break his penis or rip the sheath when breeding a cow too small.

Since deciding to sell him I have thought about what direction we would like to go next fall with bull choices. I really like the way Brahma bulls crossed over angus cows look and how well they handle the heat and grow. I also have been thinking about going with a Hereford bull to give lots of growth to my calves and also make the more desirable white face black cows.

There is one final option I have thought on: renting one of the above bulls. The cost for me to buy a bull is around $2000-$4000 every 4-6 years as I would want to sell before they get too big to breed. Rent would only cost me around $500-$700 a year and I would only have to feed the bull for 90 days instead of 365 days.

One thing is for sure what ever choice we do decide we will get the best genetics we can afford so we can have the best calves possible.

The Slow Down

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Winter brings a slow time of year. While there are animals to feed, and some chores outside to take care of, that typically only takes a few minutes of each day to complete. This leaves me with the task of trying to find other ways to occupy my time, including indoor chores.

In June, we are expecting our first child. With this adventure getting closer each day, I have been tasked with cleaning out our upstairs bedrooms to make space for the baby.

Over the years, the two upstairs rooms have become storage space for my grandparent’s collections. Both of them have several collections upstairs, and it has not been an easy task sorting through all of it. The main reason this is such a difficult task is because of the sheer amount of stuff that there is to go through. On top of Grandpa’s gun and fishing lure collections, there are also collections of antique dishes and other stuff that has been in boxes untouched for years. The task of going through all of these items has been especially hard on Grandma, as she has a hard time letting go of some of Grandpa’s things.

Despite the setbacks, we have made progress. One of the bedrooms is almost ready to go. That bedroom will become the office. We have successfully moved the roll top desk upstairs, and have a couple more things to move out before we get all the office space set up.

The other bedroom will, of course, be the baby’s bedroom. We have already started accumulating some of the bigger baby items needed. Tiffanie has also began collecting some of the smaller items, a pack of receiving blankets here, some bottles there. We are ready to have the room cleaned out so that we can start setting things up for the baby.

While it does make me sad to go through some of Grandpa’s things and ultimately throw it away, we are ready for this next chapter to begin.

Winter Weather Has Arrived

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This weekend, we had a bad storm rolling in to our area. All weather reports said that the storm would hit mostly north of us, but we still needed to do some things to prepare here around the farm for the severe cold that we expected. Although we knew it wouldn’t be a bad storm for us, it would still bring colder air and a little snow. One thing that a lot of people don’t realize is that there is different preparations needed for different weather types. For example: rain vs snow. With snow, we can get several inches and it will not soak through the cow’s thick hair. This is great, because they don’t get soaked to the bone. Their thick hair keeps the snow out, and it settles on their backs. Sure it is colder, but the hair and their own body fat keeps them well insulated from the cold. With rain, however, it doesn’t take long for that to soak through to their skin. When the cows get soaked with the rain, they have a harder time retaining heat. They will then develop sickness such as pneumonia due to the cold rain. However, with the rain, there is not much we can do to protect them from the weather save from packing them all in the barn.

We started off our preparation by putting a bale of old hay in with the pigs to give them something to burrow into. I figured with enough food and some warmth from a wind block they would be fine. I also decided the cows needed a wind block. This was harder to do for the cows, as one bale would not cut it.

I put out 4 bales for the cows next to one of the barns. That should have been enough to last two days, but they ate almost all of it over night. I ventured out today to try and put a few more bales out. Unfortunately the pad lock was frozen solid. I tried everything but the obvious. After 30 mins I tried hot water… it worked first try.

After putting more hay out for the cows, and feeding the pigs, I hitailed it back to the house. As the saying goes, even in the winter the farmer has to work.

Mealworms

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A few months back, I decided I wanted to try to grow mealworms for my chickens as a sustainable, money saving source of food. This venture has proven to be a neat experience, as well as not being a super productive way to spend my extra time.

I have them set up in plastic drawers for easy storage, which makes them easier to separate out. I put the beetles in the top drawer worms in the lower drawers. The main issue that I have encountered is that the worms go into hibernation in the winter if their surroundings are not kept warm enough for them.

When I started out with the meal worms, I ordered a starter set on Amazon and let my colony grow from there. I haven’t removed anything but growth has been slow. One thing that I would like to try is keeping the building where I house my worms at a higher temperature. Hopefully this will keep my colony growing. I will post an update in a few weeks, in hopes that I will be updating you on the growth of the colony.

I am including a link to the starter kit I got when I first started. They shipped really fast and they were all alive.

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Stinky pigs

On By AdminIn blog, farming, Uncategorized3 Comments

I was always told pigs stink for more then one reason, but I never really knew why. Late last year, I decided to buy a couple pigs to fatten up for stocking the freezer. So far, this has proven to be a stinky mess. Pigs are one of the worst smelling creatures that I have ever smelled before in my life. In addition, we are spending a small fortune feeding them.

Before we got our pigs, we had purchased half a hog from a local who sent the pig off to the butcher for us. All we had to do was pay for our half plus the butcher fees, and tell the butcher how we wanted the meat packed. In hind sight, this was the cheaper option.

There are pros and cons for both of these options. If you raise the pigs yourself, you obviously know exactly what the pigs have eaten. You also have more freedom as far as when you want to butcher. But, as aforementioned, the stench is almost unbearable. Pigs are also notorious for throwing mud anytime you get close to the pen. Pigs are well known for eating everything. This can be an advantage, but also a con if you think about it too much. Our pigs ate their sister.

An advantage of buying a butcher pig from someone you know is that you still have a general idea of what they are eating from day to day. You also are not the one who is out any cost if the pigs get sick or die at any point.

Both of these options are WAY better than buying meat at the store. It is way cheaper, and you know generally how the pig was raised, and in what type of environments.

In the future, I do believe that we will just buy our pig from someone that we know and trust, and forego a lot of the extra costs.

In the meantime, does any body want to buy a pig?