The Sun Came Out!

Other than being a little cold, it was beautiful out today. The sun was shining brightly. The kids even got to help bed pigs today.

The kids playing with the Tom cat.
I pulled them in the sled out to the pig pen.Austin and Case brought a bail of straw in the pen.Georgia helping Case. She told me that she was "sweaty" from working so hard. Austin and I took the easy route and drive the skid steer with the bale of straw on the forks.Some of the piglets.A sow not too impressed with me being there.And the whole back yard. The sky was so blue today.

Not Much New

There hasn't been a whole lot new here. Which is good. I am a little worried because I think that it is supposed to rain tomorrow. Everything is frozen outside right now, which means little mud, so little bedding is needed. But once it rains, things melt, pigs get wet and everything will need bedding.

Here are some random pictures from today.

Austin offering everyone a chocolate snow man.The kids enjoying watching their new DVD players while I check pigs.The snow covered back yard.Market hogs enjoying their warm barn.Feeder pigs enjoying their barn as well.
And Merry Christmas to all!

And then the sun came out.

The sun finally came out and most of the pigs needed more bedding. Here Case is bringing a bail of straw to the sows while I stand watch with the gate open.
More pig paths.
Steers. These guys are being sold today!
Case bedding the gestating sow lot.

I've declared it a blizzard

I'm not exactly sure of what is all involved in declaring a blizzard, but I've decided the the past two days qualify.

It's been nasty out. Here's the backyard.
Here I am, freezing my rear off.One of the nice things about the pigs is they are lazy, and make paths for easy walking in the snow.
The west barn. Look at all the snow that got blown into it!
And the poor freezing steers. We have no place for them to go, so they've been stuck in the yuck!

Our Luck

I went outside yesterday to check pigs. Of course, knowing our luck, I walk into the pen where the new boars are and wondering, what is that under the snow?

It was a new boar. Dead.

It looked like he walked 10 feet outside of his shelter, fell over and died in the snow.

He better have at least bred some gilts before dying on us!

Trying to Enjoy the Snow

We needed to bed the newest litters today. I had the brilliant idea of putting the kids' snow gear on and letting them enjoy it.

It took longer to get them dressed than what we were outside for. I need to Georgia a new pair of snow pants, I had to stuff her into a pair of 3T's (which is the same size bibs that Austin is wearing).

We let them walk around in the pen while I drove the skid steer with the big bale of straw while Case put the straw into the small shelters.

I looked over and they were both screaming because a sow was walking over to them. The kids then started to walk towards us, Austin slipped into a mud puddle, lost his boots and mittens and kept walking in his socks.

I was able to get his boots back on him, but the mittens were not happening. So after he finished eating the snow, his hands were freezing....
so Austin got to wear my gloves and a fast track ride to the house. He didn't keep my gloves on either. We were able to get what was needed outside done.

The Last Trimester

Yay! Hello week 28. I don't care, I've declared it, the start of my last trimester!

Please try to guess on the arrival of this baby. Please!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://bebepool.com/sparks

Snow!

It thankfully took until December for our first snow fall to actually stick. The mud has frozen making walking around in the pens so much easier! My boots are no longer being pulled off with every step.

Here's looking towards the house.
We currently have 5 new litters. They look warm and comfy.Fat pigs in the barn. They are very warm and comfy!
And we are now down to 7 steer. We don't have any place to house them in the winter and I think the last will be sold soon.

Finally, a nice day!

It's been a while since we have had a nice day. And I finally remembered to bring my camera outside with me.

Here are the steers that are left, we are down to 15 of them, just hanging around.
And Casey's new purchase. Six new Berkshire boars. This type of pig is known for having the highest quality pork and the pork is red in color. They take longer to finish out, so we hope by breeding them with what we have we can have a fast finish hog with high quality meat.

The Berkshire hogs have the 4 white feet, white snout and tip of the tail. Their piglets are usually born with the neatest color patterns. Often there are piglets that look like dalmatians. Hopefully I can post pictures of their piglets in 4 months or so.
Some of the piglets we currently have.This group of pigs were recently weened from their mothers and moved into the finishing barns.
The outside of the finishing barns. This spring Case had the Amish come up and add the doors on the barns. The past two winters the ends have been open. I'm so glad that we added them. They really help keep the heat in.

New Pigs.

In the past 2 days we have had 7 new litters born. The weather has been so nice and wonderful outside!

He's an....

We have 16 boars.

15 of them are no problem. They stay in their pen and do their job.

There is just one, that thinks he can come and go as he pleases. And he does.

A couple of weeks ago we looked out the window and saw him walking around with the steers, obviously out of his pen. We hurried up, chased him back, just to watch him jump over the fence. So, we let him go.

Here he is yesterday. This spot is where the steer feeder was, so he was cleaning up what they spilled on the ground.
It was feeding time for the pen the boar is supposed to stay in. Here is a video of him deciding that he'd join his friends and hop back into his pen where he belonged.

More Children.

Austin asked for a snack last night. I open the refrigerator and he found the celery and specifically asked for it. He loves fruits and veggies. It just cracks me up.I found that it's cheaper (and most likely healthier) for us to make our own ice cream. They just think that it's so fun to watch it spin around.
And Georgia at tumbling. She can push up into a back bend. Over the past couple of weeks they have significantly improved. The next skill she is working on is a cartwheel. It might take her a couple of years to get that one down.

Nature Walk

After dinner today I took the kids out for a walk. It's finally drying up a little back there, and fresh air always helps them sleep. Here are our pictures:

Aren't we cute?

I stopped and looked behind me and they were holding hands!
Georgia up on the hill.
Looking down at the farm from up on our hill. As to why they didn't build the house on top of the hill back in 1903 I'll never know. The view from up there is great!

Tom

Here's our big old mean Tom cat.
He's not really mean or old. Georgia just loves him to pieces and begs everyday for him to come in the house.

Wet Wednesday

It's been raining and wet here for a while. And not a whole lot going on.

Here's Georgia complaining. We were outside less than a minute and she was ready to go back in and "take a nap".The steers. I think they are looking tasty. It won't be long before we are taking them to auction to be sold.We had a load of crushed concrete dumped off and Case was using it to fill the giant holes around the feed pads that the pig dug. Of course he had the steers to supervise him.Case and the kids on the newly filled in hole.Austin inspecting Casey's work. He really just wanted to sit and play in the mud.