Please Be Patient!

Oh My Goodness! I'm still here! I don't know what's busier.....Thanksgiving season or Spring season. The other day while doing chores, I needed to look for something in the van. I actually thought, "Geez...I can't stop. No time to look in the van!". So, please be patient. Every day there seems to be a new story or thought. I shall continue to do my best to post!

I can't tell you how many times I have sat down and started to post, only to be sidetracked by some event here on the farm. Scott and Tony went to the Culpeper's Farmers Market this morning. Today is the first day. We just got our official enrollment notice for the Ballston Market in Arlington. We're excited to tap into Northern Virginia.

Our brooder room is full of Heritage turkeys and we get another shipment of broilers next week. Our Berkshire pork still isn't ready yet. I'm sure we'll get a call beginning of next week.

Not only is spring full of endless farm chores, it is also full of soccer and lacrosse games and practices. Speaking of which....I need to get outside....soccer tournament later today!

Sometimes It Just Plain Stinks

Most of the time, the runts of the litters we have here are feisty enough to survive. You can tell who the runt is of a litter, but generally it is just a small size difference. My Frances had a litter of huge piglets last Wednesday. The runt of this litter was so tiny, a quarter of the size of his siblings. As I watched the litter as they were just being born, I noticed the runt crawling in some straw away from everyone else. He didn't seem very strong on his feet. I placed him with the other piglets to see how he could move around and to see if he was strong enough to get some milk. I decided that there was no way he could make it during the night with the piglet chaos so I brought him in the house. We got the formula and bottle ready and started the feeding process. Tiny little guy but he quickly learned how to take the bottle. The kids love taking care of the piglets, however, they know the possibilities when you bring in a runt. On Sunday we noticed he was gaining weight. Great sign! Yesterday I took him out in the warm sun so he could freely walk around and gain some strength in his legs. By last night, I thought he was out of the woods. Scott said he was fine during the night, but this morning he started to fail and we lost him late morning. When I went out to feed Frances, I was reminded how much smaller he was compared to the others. Frances herself was bottle fed in the house, but she was a full size piglet. Our little guy could have had something wrong with him that we just couldn't tell. Like a preemie.

On another farm topic...we got in some of our heritage turkeys last week(Narragansetts and Midget Whites). After a couple of days we noticed the Narragansetts picking at the Midget White's bottoms to the point of bleeding. The wounded birds had to be separated but they wound up not making it. We had a red light on them which they say will deter the birds from having this kind of behavior. The turkeys also had plenty of room. Overcrowding can also be a problem. We have had these breeds before living in the same brooder, but never had this cannibalistic behavior before. We then decided to take all of the Midget Whites out and put them in their own brooder. We already lost half of our Midget Whites. The hatchery will send out more turkeys but it's getting late to start raising Heritage turkeys for Thanksgiving. Ideally, February would be the perfect time to get them but hatcheries don't have them available until the end of March. I have to place my order in November to make sure I'm towards the beginning of the shipping list.

We are blessed with so many good days here on our farm. It just really stinks when you have a bad one.

Happy Easter!

The thought of "taking it easy" and not doing any farm work seems to be appealing during holidays. In the past, we would do extra work the day before so we wouldn't need to do anything but the standard feeding and watering for Easter, Christmas or other holidays. But in reality, when we wake up to a gorgeous day, the farm is exactly where we want to be. It's where we are reminded of our blessings. We are also reminded of the hardships, which is okay....it makes our blessings that much greater.

We have had more litters of piglets since the three-part piglet story and we're still waiting for more litters to arrive. I have taken videos but I am still learning how to post them on the computer. Lots of piglets means lots of castrating. Sometimes it is nearly impossible to get the piglets away from mom. Our delightful sow, #2, is one who you really need to watch your back. I always feel it takes a two day, world summit meeting to orchestrate how we get the piglets away from her. We usually put a chain link dog kennel in the paddock and feed them inside so they will feel comfortable. The day we plan to castrate, we feed them, lure mom out of the kennel and close the door so the piglets can't get out. The piglets are then placed in a large dog crate and put on the tractor to head down to the shop. Simple. Most of my sows will grunt and be "concerned" but not #2. We're convinced that she will bust through the kennel and have us for dinner. She's fast and tough. Yesterday, the plan was to remove her totally from her paddock to the other side of the farm. But she wouldn't budge. She would not leave her piglets.

We're trying to castrate early since there are so many piglets and soon they need to go to their new farm home. I think we are going to have to wait another week with #2's litter. She's still too attached to her piglets. As they get older that attachment will start to fade and hopefully she will be more willing to take a walk across the farm.

We are in the process of building a new website. Still in the works so please bear with us.

Well...coffee is done, breakfast is done. Time to go out and enjoy what God has made. Happy Easter!!