OK, so I haven't posted in a while so I will play catch-up. After Ginger had Bullseye, we bought a Holstein bull calf from a friends dairy. That would be Bullwinkle. To save on gas, we brought him home in the back of the car; it made for some cute photos! For the first week I had to keep Ginger tied up while he fed, but eventually she stopped kicking him away and he is now adopted! A couple of weeks ago the two bulls became steers and all is well.
Crystal the Highland cow had her calf, another boy. I swear that if I had never seen those cows before and someone showed me a photo of that calf, I wouldn't be able to guess what kind of animal it is! They are so cute, like a cross between a grizzly bear and a cow. However, last month we decided that we just can't afford the buy hay all year round, because our fields couldn't keep up with all of our grazing animals. So we sold the Highlands, and in a way it's a relief because I just don't know if I could butcher them. They are so mellow and personable and if I ever need a cow to just be a pet, I would get them again.
And then Fannie had her piglets. Unfortunately, the night before when the pigs were put back in the barn from their paddock, one of the kids let Kermit go in Fannie's stall ( like he used to do) and Fannie hurt him badly. It was too late by the time we got him out and he died. Then the next day Fannie had 14 piglets, all went well and the babies were all healthy. But true to all of my research, she squashed some, three in the first three days. But then the following week, another one. So we moved them outside to the paddock, and she squished another one. We now have been holding steady at 8 piggies left. One little girl has an injured leg and limps along, but she doesn't seem to be getting worse or ill, so I am leaving her be. We did have one little guy that Fannie stepped on and skinned his leg pretty badly, but lots of bandaging and a course of penicillin has fixed him right up. I sure hope that's the end of our piglet problems. Except, we still have to castrate the boys. I am afraid to do it myself, so I have to find someone to help. Hopefully before they get too big.
The chickens are running the farm now, we have more than I ever thought we would have. We are at 141 meat birds, the first 50 are ready to go now. Then next week we get that last bunch of 50. By law, we can't have more than 200 meat birds, so that's what we are doing this year. Next year we are going to get a license for free range poultry and go bigger. We have been using chicken tractors out in the pasture and it is working great. The chickens actually look forward to the fresh grass every day and I hope that will make for some tasty chicken. Plus, less shoveling manure!
We still have our Delaware chicks and Rhode Island Red cross chicks, they are about two months old now. I can't wait till they start laying, we need more eggs! Jamie has been able to sell a lot at work and the neighbors have been buying them too. We get about a dozen and a half a day, so we need to increase production! Our little hens that were from our first two hatches this year have started to lay, so we get 3 - 4 little eggs from them too. We killed and ate the two roosters from the first hatch, not too meaty, but they were tasty! There is one guy left in the barn and he is going soon. He is annoying to the hens and one loud rooster is enough. Archie is the man of the farm and since he is good looking and mellow, he is guaranteed to remain out of the pot!
And the garden is now growing. After I first set up and planted, it just kind of lived. Nothing was growing, and we got hit with a fungus. I treated it with sulfur, which worked, but still nothing would grow. I think that the store bought dirt and compost I used must have been tainted with something. We actually had kale seeds fall outside of the raised boxes and is growing profusely, and the kale I planted is a tiny sprig. So I added a liquid fertilizer, put seaweed on, watered with manure tea, and put manure on. Finally, after a good rainstorm, things started growing. Everything looks good now, although the cucumbers, squash and zucchini are stunted. The potatoes are doing great though, I planted them in feed bags and used manure and dirt from the yard. No more store bought dirt for us.
Well we have been here for one full year now and I think that it has been a good year. We have learned a lot and we are still ready to take on new things. Like sheep. I want to get sheep.
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