There's been a lot of death around the farm this weekend...

One was planned and one was not.

We had planned on butchering our Pekin ducks this weekend and that went according to plan.

Coming back from church and finding our favorite pig with his neck ripped open was not.

I know that there is life and death on a farm, but my heart hurts to think that pig was in pain.  He had to have been.  He was laying outside the pen, so he must have gotten out.  He was in the pen with the other three before church and something happened in the meantime.  I'm not even kidding when I say it looked like someone tried to cut off his head from the top down.  We looked and looked for a clue as to what happened.  Jon blamed Max right away, which I knew he didn't do.  I've seen Max with blood on him and there was not a single drop of blood anywhere to be found on him.

We eventually did find a few drops and smears of blood around the females and into the bull pen.  My guess is that he got caught on barb wire trying to go under, panicked and ripped his neck open.  Jon thinks that a stray dog or coyote got to him.  We won't ever know, unless I can get Max to speak human. 

Like I said, I know there is life and death on a farm, but seeing an animal in so much pain was difficult.  The most difficult part was we only had a shotgun, instead of a .22.  Thankfully our neighbor had the gun and my husband was able to put him out of his misery.  That helpless feeling was overwhelming at times last night because I COULD NOT MAKE IT BETTER.  You may think I'm too attached to a pig, but this guy was special.  He was always the first to run up to you for a rub and was just a friendly guy.  Next time, if there is a next time, we will be more prepared.

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Name That Plant!

There are bunches of these growing all over the place. They appear to be mainly with the cool season grasses but I could be wrong. If you know what it is or want to take a guess, please put it in the comments below. Winner gets a PRIZE!

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Two Down ELEVEN TO GO!

Baby Calf Dos was born this morning. I saw him as I was headed down the driveway. It's cold, windy and rainy just like it was for Baby Calf Uno (aka Marty aka White Chocolate aka MWC). Of course, it's another bull. Sure hope we can have a few heifers thrown in there... We've decided to hold off on any banding. It's our intent to not castrate at all but if we do, it will be later after we see how the bulls develop.

Let's see if I can correctly post the pictures this time. Keep in mind that I am NOT the photographer in this operation. Which will become evident shortly.

I kept my eye on momma but she let me be. So grabbed a few close ups.

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Weekend Report

Greetings Everyone,
Well we didn't get as much done as we hoped but Jamie's little sister stayed with us, so it's ok. She's a bit of a city girl so it was good for her to experience the joys of country living. And of course we threw in some chores, for good measure.

The first poultry shelter is finished and in operation. We put the Pekin ducks in it, rather than move them back into the "coop" for the night. Which worked out perfectly because my cousin had just finished cleaning the nasty bedding out of the coop and those ducks like to splash and make a mess.

Which brings me to a "soap box moment". My youngest cousin lives nearby and will be a senior in high school next year. He wanted to help on the farm and a gladly agreed. A big part of "sustainable agriculture" is minimizing the money spent on big machinery and expensive equipment. However, in turn, it is often much more labor intensive. I'm not here to debate which is better for a successful farm but I would like to point out how it can benefit rural communities. If a fourth of the farmers in a rural county/area embraced this strategy, there's a good chance it would increase the population by a good 25-50%. A farmer with a thousand acres could easily (I use the term loosely) support 2-5 employees. 20+ would be on the conservative end for more intensive operations (such as large scale produce production). With numbers like that, it wouldn't take long for nearby towns to flourish to past heights of prosperity. As long as everyone wasn't farming the same thing, there would be unseen stability for the community. It's a much healthier population influx, as opposed to one large employer coming into town and then possibly going bankrupt or moving out in 10 years.
(stepping off soap box)

Lawn mowing troubles took up a good part of my weekend AGAIN. But I'll spare you the details. We have a Grazing Conference in Tecumseh Thursday and Friday and we are very excited. The speaker is Greg Judy and he is a very good speaker and quite the expert in Holistic Grazing. I went to Junction City, KS earlier in the year to hear him speak and I look forward to a two-day event to get even more information.

FYI, we will be butchering some 7-8 week old Pekin ducks this weekend. These are the ducks that we have been taking out to a pen to hang out in the grass and sunshine all day, so they are "pastured". What they don't get from the grass and bugs we make up with organic feed that we have made for us, so they are also "organically raised". The carcass weights should be between 4-6 lbs and the price is $5.50 per pound. If anyone would like some, please let one of us know.

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Visitor

We had a visitor stay at the farm overnight on Monday. She goes by the name of 564.

I found a calf hiding in the thickets along the road to the west of our farm. I thought it belonged to our neighbor's to the north so I started heading it that way. Then, as we came to the opening in our fence, it took off on a sprint into our farm. This thing was a furry cannonball! I watched as it went through a three wire electric fence into the bull paddock. Then the yearling bull chased it through another fence and then it went through as double wire gate (And broke one of the wires). It finally stopped when it got to the cows and heifers. Our neighbor came over but it wasn't his and there's really no one else nearby with cattle. We found out that a guy was moving cattle and his trailer had come open and this poor thing had fallen out. Apparently it had been out there for 2-3 days. The guy came over on Tuesday, with two other guys, and the four of us tried to catch the calf. None of us could rope to save our lives and we couldn't catch the little squirt. So he called Bruce Sturdy and Bruce came out later that afternoon hopped on his horse and had the thing roped and in the trailer in about fifteen minutes. Come to find out, Bruce's wife is our landlord's niece!
ANYWAY, without further ado
564


Our guest liked to tag along with our only calf and his momma.


And a random shot of Open Sky, green grass, a little farm pond and happy cows

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This is what happens when you don't have cable...

You take obnoxious pictures of your husband, pretending like he's going to run into you with a lawn mower...

Whew...that was close!

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Meet Marty...aka "White Chocolate"

How does such a little calf get such a big name?  Easy, you have a good friend named Marty who also has the most awesome nickname every...White Chocolate.  Then the decision of what to name your first bull calf is easy...

I prefer to call him White Chocolate and Jon prefers Marty, but we know who we are both talking about.  He is doing so great, running around like a champ.  He's also the world's best Hide and Seek player, because I have a hard time finding him sometimes in the tall grass. 

Cows are such curious creatures.  Before you know it, you are done taking pics of a little calf and WHOA....

There's a cow right behind you checking you out!

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