Preparing for a Deep Freeze on the Farm

One of the not-so-nice things about living on a farm (with animals) is dealing with cold winter weather.  The animals, but maybe not the horses so much, seem to hate it as much as I do.  The chickens want to roost and linger in the barn all day, rather than brave freezing wind and snow.  But, the chickens (and duck) were happy to get out and roam around a bit over the weekend, once the temperatures rose to about 37 degrees.  And the turkeys and bunnies were pretty active as well.

With the slight break in the weather, I jumped on the chance to get the heat lamps up and ready to get the animals through the next two nights of arctic wrath. I also took the opportunity to pin down the Billy Goat (with some help), to get his hooves trimmed and fit him with a halter.  What a chore! But the collar alone wasn't giving me enough control, and he was still able to swing his head around and puncture holes in my thighs with his horns.  Not fun.  Or safe. 

Speaking of goats, I've been struggling with castration confusion.  If my (hopefully) pregnant doe delivers a buck, is it best to castrate it by cutting or banding?  I can't decide.  If anyone out there has any advice I would greatly appreciate your feedback on this one.

We had a nice dinner to close the day.  The husband wanted steak.  We don't eat much cow, maybe a handful of times per year.  I think if we raised one of our own that could change.  But we love pork, chicken, duck, rabbit, and the occasional squirrel (don't judge).  I'd much rather have a pig or two than a cow.  Or ten goats, but that's another story...

Getting back to the dinner.  This was way too much meat for me to eat, and as expected, I only managed to get through about one quarter of it.  Really, who eats like this?  Other than my husband... But I guess this is why so many of us Americans are large, unlike the Europeans, who's plates would contain only a quarter of what mine did to begin with!  I need to make a mental note to start eating more like a European.   And of course after all that food I couldn't be bothered with taking down the Christmas Tree and putting away the decorations.  I could barely walk. 

Farm Happenings

Not a lot has been happening lately around the farm, now that old man winter has set in (other than snow).  The turkeys have grown nicely over the past couple of months, and would be ready to butcher in a couple more weeks, except now that we have lost all but two (a tom and a hen) to predators. We will not be eating these remaining lucky birds.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some fertile eggs in the spring to toss into the incubator.  A Blue Slate / Bourbon Red Cross should make for some interesting poults, no?

The mother rabbit and her three babies that we acquired back in October appear to be all grown up. As mentioned before, I know absolutely nothing about rabbits.  My husband built them a four foot long box to live and hide in, and he refused to separate the boys from the girls, so I would assume that someone will be having babies soon.  When he goes away for work in January for a few months I will sneak in and separate them, if I can manage to learn how to sex them.  I'm all for a scheduled breeding program! 

Speaking of scheduled breeding programs, I really have to learn more about goat husbandry.  I let the female goat run with the buck all summer and didn't separate them until sometime in October.  I have not idea if she is pregnant or just fat. They had a "date" this past Friday because she was wagging her tail and seemed to be very interested in hanging out with him, but once we let them together he didn't seem so interested in her, or perhaps he just didn't want an audience?  Regardless, she will either give birth in the next couple of months, or she won't.  Time will tell.  And next time, we will schedule her dates with the buck!

The chickens are rather boring right now.  The last time I counted, I had around 42-45, with about 5-6 being roosters. I would think that egg production would be a little better, but as of the last few weeks I am only getting 1-6 eggs per day.  Not much. 

Speaking of eggs, the sole remaining Pekin duck that we were given back in October started laying an egg a day just over a week ago.  I thought she was a boy.  I was most definitely wrong.

And what can I say about the horses?  They are just here, hanging out in the snow, burning through six bags of grain every week (along with hay) and giving nothing back in return.  Yet.  Two are racehorses, and I hope they will pay back their way, and that of the other two, next season at the racetrack.  Otherwise, it will be time to decrease the herd for sure.  Horses are the biggest expense on the farm, and usually do not give back much, other than a fun ride and something to play around with when time allows. Oh but they do look pretty standing out in the pasture, right?  

Hello Snow?

This morning I woke up to the first snow of the season.  I was not expecting it at all.  I still have to plant garlic!  We’ve had some rain lately, and the ground has just been too wet to use the tiller.  Honestly, where I live, we have been so spoiled this October up until this morning.  The weather has been warm, though damp, and little old naive me believed that just maybe we’d get through Halloween with nice temperatures, and after that I didn’t care what happened. 

Well folks, obviously this is my "wake up call."  This morning's weather set my mind racing, thinking about all the things that need to be done or put into place for the winter, soon.  Like, right now soon.

Time to dust off the electric water buckets, make sure the heat lamps are in place, figure out what to do with the 3-week old chicks that are camping out in my kitchen at the moment; order the
last load of hay, stock up on enough bedding to last 3-4 months, etc.  The list goes on, believe me.  It all seems too daunting really.

On another note, this colder weather has caused me to put the wood stove into action, and I must say, it is working fabulously!  The house is so warm and cozy.  Wood only has to be thrown in once before bedtime, once in the morning, and then once (or not) during the day.  I can actually walk around the house in shorts, comfortably.  Amazing.  I just hope I have enough wood to get through the winter.  And, there is still a lot more left to cut and stack, which needs to happen soon before anymore of the white stuff falls.  Gloves... OMG I need new gloves!  And flannel sheets!  I better go grab my list.

Roasting and Reminiscing...

Winter is officially upon us as of next week!  Hard to believe isn't it? Things around the farm are changing, and the animals are all trying to adjust to the colder weather.  The chickens have be hanging around their heat lamp later into the morning and earlier each evening. The horses are all getting their thick winter coats in preparation for the long winter days. The garden has been cleared out and tilled over, with only the parsley patch left to provide a splash of green until spring arrives.  Garlic was planted in early November, with the hope that July will deliver a nice little harvest to dry and store. 

I began the year on my new farm in January of this year.  The number of farm animal inhabitants I started with back then has considerably grown since then, beginning with 7 animals, and now, in the middle of December, the count is at 30 something! 

Start-up costs were high this year with the farm purchase.  There are just some things you need when you own a farm. February's large expenses were due to getting the loft stocked with hay, and also buying a bulk order of sawdust bedding for the (then two) horses. February also had a rooster and a hen added to the homestead. 

March was was quiet and cold, and found us with another Thoroughbred added on that we purchased in Chicago.  April brought us a goat doeling, a stray pitbull, and 27 little day-old chicks from the hatchery. Oh, and six baby Pekin ducklings!

April was expensive, with the purchase of a lawn tractor to mow the few acres of yard to keep things tidy. May was another expensive month, bringing us a new to us, but very old Ford 9n tractor, along with a brush-hog and blade.  May also brought us another racehorse.

June hummed along quietly, with little expense in planting a small garden.  July brought us another chicken, August passed by under the radar.  September came along hatching five chicks for Labor Day weekend, and another horse! October and November were expensive due to stocking up the loft with hay for the winter, and the purchase of a hay elevator to get that hay into the loft!

And we all know December is expensive, with all the gift-giving, party throwing, decadent eating, drinking and merriment that goes along with this time of year. With that, I better end this post. I have a pork shoulder roast to present to a hungry husband...

Score the skin, rub in Salt, Pepper, Garlic, Sage and Oregano.  Roast low at 325 degrees for a few hours, and...

Ta Da! Tender and Juicy!