Category Archives: JAZ Farm Livestock

Spring Is Springing!

The flock is outside, the meadowlarks are singing, the roosters are crowing, and the new wheat field is in.  The grain said to plant the Spring Wheat as early in the spring as possible.  Dunno what that means but since its been in the mid-70s I figured what the hell.  Plowed it all up, tilled it, planted it and now am attempting to keep it watered.  Half of it is wheat and half is alfalfa to help build the soil quality.  It will be interesting to see if it grows.  I need to plow up one more plot for the hard corn but I have some time before that needs to be done!

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The Hotel Pigafornia

It SNOWED this past Tuesday.  Yesterday and today has been over 70!  Its FEBRUARY.

We took the opportunity today to get the pig shelter moved into place and then measure out, dig the holes and cement in the posts for the last wall of the pen itself.  We ordered the waterers and it looks like our local feed store has a feeder for sale.

We have decided that we will likely get 3 pigs to raise.  We inquired about organic feed and in order for us to be able to get it at all locally (within 100 miles) we have to buy 2000 lbs of it.  2 pigs will go through about 750 lbs of feed to get them to between 220 and 250 lbs.  If we only got 2 we would end up wasting 500 lbs of feed.  A dressed out hog will evidently yield 150 lbs of meat.  3 is then 450 lbs!!

So what we are planning to do is raise and process the three.  1 1/2 of those pigs we will keep, vacuum seal, and freeze for ourselves.  The other 1 1/2 will go to friends who want to help us offset costs.  We are figuring around $6.00 lb.

The fence will be easy to complete.  We also are stringing a hot wire around the base of the fence to keep them from rooting around and tearing up our fences.

So between the laying hens (which we now have 21 new ones to go with the other ladies in the coop), chickens being raised for meat and the new additions of “Ham, Sausage, and Chop” in our new pig lot, I would surmise we will have more than enough meat for this “Mostly-Terian” family.

Check out the sexy overalls!  I still gots it!

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A Home For The Piggies!

As if taking care of chickens, growing vegetables, anticipating the arrival of a new greenhouse and working a real job for a living isn’t enough, we decided that raising a couple of pigs for meat sounded like a great adventure!  With Basil the dog’s knee surgery I found out through conversation that one of the vet techs at her vet clinic breeds pigs and sells piglets to raise for the freezer!  These folks also can do vet medicine for all sorts of farm and ranch animals including our chickens and pigs!  Woohoo!

We have a great place to dedicate as a pig pen.  It will allow them to root around and turn over the dirt and create mountains of fine fertilizer for our garden!

As with keeping a dog, a pig’s needs are pretty basic:  shelter, food, water, some shade and a place to wallow around in mud because they don’t sweat.  We will buy them next month (March 2015).  It takes about 5 months to raise them from 30 lbs to 250 lbs.  The vet tech (Kayla) also recommended a processor that does good work.  From my never ending reading and research (my wife teases me that I need to be so well versed on these subjects that I could teach a class! – and that’s bad why?) a 250 lb pig will provide between 150 to 180 lbs of meat.  This is in addition to the 4 legged composting machines that they are.  All of our scraps, Whey from Zina’s job, rooting around and, if I can swing it, produce discarded from local grocery stores, will provide meat and fertilizer.  Of course they eat a lot of corn, but corn in the corn and wheat belt is pretty cheap!

I found a ranch and farm supply house up north of us that sell pig shelters.  Being the cheapskate that I am, I had designed one that I was going to build.  But low and behold!  This one was the same dimensions and cheaper!  Brilliant!  I called up there and they had them in stock.  I just needed a flat bed trailer to haul it.

Our local Uhaul rental center had a trailer available that was 6 feet by 12 feet in dimensions.  The shelter is 6 feet by 11 feet!  VERY tight squeeze!  I figured, because it is a half oval, that they could put it in upside down (curved side down) and I’d be able to just slide it out.  WRONG!  They picked the thing up with a tractor equipped with skid blades and it JUST fit in the trailer curved side up.  The problem is that it weighs over 100 pounds and it was just yours truly to get it the hell OUT of that trailer.  Suffice it to say that there were many problems getting it out.  MANY problems!!  Had they put it in upside down it would have only taken a couple of minutes.  The way they put it in the trailer, it took over an hour and much cussing.  MUCH cussing!!  I stood there at one point wondering if I’d have to take it all the way back up to the store and have them flip it.  At one point I was gasping and cursing out the stupidity of getting older thinking that I MUST get this out of here because I am quickly losing my strength.  As usual, I he-manned the sucker out.  The next day I was so wasted and drained of energy that I lay around groaning and reading, wondering if this whole farm thing was a colossal mistake.  BUT!!  The ex-powerlifter tuff SOB got it out!  ALL BY HIS LONESOME!!

So I now have the luxury of pulling the shelter into place with the tractor.  I only need to install one side of fence to complete a rectangle and then string some electric wire and then bring on the piggies!

Here is the shelter IN the Uhaul:

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Here it is after Godzilla heaved it out of the trailer!

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Damn I’m good!

 

New Additions To The Chicken Flock

One very fun experience with this whole farming craziness is going to the Post Office to pick up a cardboard box that cheeps.  I have had the pleasure of having little kids in line when I arrive.  Getting to see the look of astonishment on their faces when I lift up the flap so they can see them is a hoot!  Today was no different.  The box was cheeping like crazy and the kids were thrilled.

We selected a mixed batch of chicks this time.  They will eventually go in with our Buff Orpingtons and 3 roosters.  Our goal is to begin managing our own flock and hatching our own chicks.  We may still buy some meat birds to keep the freezer stocked, but these new ladies are considered heavy layers; heavy meaning they are larger birds and lay lots of eggs.  Considering most of our eggs are fertile and we do have an incubator, we are going to embark on a system of making stew, stock and roasting birds, along with replenishing our layers as they age.

They are the cutest durn things.  Our whole basement is cheeping. The little buggers are eating and drinking and look as healthy as can be.  They will stay in our brooder until the first week of March when they will then join the rest of the crew outside.

It is also amazing to watch nature in action.  Chickens need about 12 hours of daylight to keep them laying eggs.  As we approached the winter solstice our egg production dropped to only a couple of eggs a day.  After that time, the days get longer by 4 minutes per day.  As this has happened over the past month, the number of eggs per day has begun increasing! Considering that eggs are REALLY meant to produce more chickens (not just giving us breakfast), it makes complete sense.  Why lay eggs when the eggs and the chicks might freeze to death?  I did some looking and this is why we have eggs and bunnies at Easter time.  At Easter the eggs are in full production by then and the new baby rabbits also begin emerging from their burrows.  The cycle of life!  Too bad the religious nuts hijacked these celebrations.  I wouldn’t have grown up wondering what the hell eggs and rabbits had to do with bleeding Jesus!  Ha!

Here are the new ladies……

2015 chicks 2                      2015 chicks 1

Stage One of the Pig Pen

The three of us got out today and laid out the 30 x 60 foot rectangle for the new pig pen.  Wow did we get anal about that!  We even made sure it is parallel to the house!  We got out the long measuring tape, measured the front edge from the farm house and equidistant from the sidewalk, put down the rebar, measured the hypotenuse of the right triangle to make sure it is squared and then put the posts in their proper proximity to the holes that will need to be dug.  They will all go in 2 feet deep leaving a 4 foot top.  Livestock panels and a gate will get attached and I am designing the shelter, water and feeding systems as well as shading areas.  To make this work we are going to have to find a couple of participants who want to buy into a whole pig or a side.  We will use one a year but they need to be raised in two’s or three’s because they are social.  Either that or we will get a few and then simply send one to the processor from time to time.  If we do that then we are given another set of variables; that being water heaters and heated shelters for winter.  Farmer Jon is thinking not.  That headache would fall squarely in his lap just like the chickens.  Unless I can quit my job…. HINT!  I can’t be out here to take care of wintering livestock.  Client livestock has something to say about that!  So we will probably get them in April and send them off to become freezer dwellers six months later and repeat every spring.

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Sumo Birds

The roasters are growing into little Godzillas.  They sure don’t like to get far from the food and water.  The little bit they do go out into the run is early in the morning when it is cool.  The rest of the day they make circles around either the food bins or the waterers.  I give them access to about 11 gallons of water and pretty much unlimited food.  This week, (5 weeks old) they went through all of the water and about 40 lbs of food in less 3 days.  Good thing we don’t have to keep them longer than about 8 weeks.  They’d eat us out of house and home.  If I had to guess, they are all around 3 pounds.  The expectation is that they will be anywhere from 4 to 8 pounds.  We have lost 3 to heart attacks so my purchase of buying 30 to end up with 25 seems to have been sound.  I expect that we will use the 4th of July weekend for processing.  Its a long weekend and it will put them right at 8 weeks old.

I bought the posts to build the pig pen today.  Aaron was tasked with helping to find an optimal location and figure out how to lay out a rectangle on the ground with even sides and square corners.  We will commence the post hole digging once again soon.  This weekend though is hoeing and adding some extra drip lines to some of the garden beds.  I will try to remember to take pictures of the farm beds as well and get those posted.  The root stuff seems to be doing well.  The potato greenage looks very healthy.  Summer growing and chicken plucking is underway.

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Blue Sky, Floods and Relaxed Goats

It is finally clear and we have only had sprinkles the past couple of days! Perhaps the bludgeoning of our garden, wheat fields and chickens is over!  Wouldn’t that be nice.

I’ve had to go through the glass half empty/full debate in my head over the garden.  It was probably naive to think this thing would go without a hitch considering I’ve never done it before.  BUT, I hate to fail, and the less than stellar look to some of the larger leaf and fruiting plants makes one kind of ache, especially after having nurtured them indoors for 2 months.  The reality though is that there is a lot growing in a garden of lesser soil quality that I have yet to amend, and some of the most brutal storms I’ve seen in a very long time.

The tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, and tomatillos are the worst hit.  But that is only 4 beds out of 18.  The strawberries are leafing out.  WE HAVE ASPARAGUS SHOOTS EMERGING!!  The squash, onions, black beans and potatoes are all up and growing.  The beets are up and there are a few carrots showing themselves.  The sweet corn is having some trouble breaking through the crusty soil but they are coming up non-the-less.  The peppers that got hailed on are now looking better than the one’s I bought to replace them.  So tomorrow, we are pulling out the store bought hybrids that got pummeled last week and putting in the heirlooms.  So all in all, if there is any loss it will be the tomatoes and tomatillos and I have 30 tomato plants at the urban farm all doing fabulously well.  We are considering putting up a greenhouse next year to house the more delicate plants.  An article I read about increasing tomato yield has intrigued me and would involve a greenhouse no matter where the garden was located.  The corn patch, which is about a tenth of an acre was planted with corn for meal and kidney beans.  The kidney bean seeds washed away a bit but there are still bunches coming up.  The dent corn looks as though most of it is coming up.  Once some of the earlier crops are harvested, I have 5000 green bean seeds to sow and will have us busy canning into the fall.

So I think I should stick with glass half full considering the challenges we have just faced.  I am going to be going on many lumber scrounges to find some boarders for the beds.  I need to stop the erosion that happens every time it rains.  By damning it in place and mixing in lots of our manure pile and the straw we should get from the cutting and baling of the wheat field, the soil should begin to improve.  I will also be planting alfalfa on the beds, digging it in and covering them all with burlap for the winter.  Lots of work….. I can rest when I’m dead.

On my way back from the store I saw a cute sight.  It was about 75 degrees and sunny and on top of two round hay bales on the farm next to ours were two goats sleeping on top of them.  The picture is hard to see as it was from my phone but I posted them below.  One way or another, we are going to have goats.    I need poop factories and they qualify.  I don’t want horses or cows.  These guys will do nicely.  Aaron and I will begin working on our pig pen shortly as well.

The last picture is the farm across the road from us.  That isn’t a lake.  It is still undrained flooding from the past couple of weeks.  The mosquitoes are beginning to emerge.  Going to have to get out the dedicated outdoor garb and douse it with bug juice.  I hate that stuff… but I hate mosquito bites and West Nile Virus worse.

Tomorrow, while I plant the peppers yet again, Aaron will be on the business end of the diamond hoe and the garden weasel, breaking up the crust on the beds yet again.  I have half a mind to buy and replace the tomatoes.  I doubt it, as they may still yet come back.  If they get pounded again maybe they will just turn into green beans.

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Broody Time Out

Our Buff Orpington ladies are living up to their broody billing.  We have several who really want to be mommies.  When a hen goes broody, they go through a hormonal change and will do anything and everything to “brood” a clutch of eggs.  If you want chicks then this is a good thing.  If you just want eggs… not so much.  When they go broody they stop laying eggs.  They also get kind of nasty and will peck at you whenever try to get the eggs from underneath them.  Zina and Aaron went out and started the “break a broody” proceedings.  The hen in question gets isolated (we use Basil’s old puppy crate).  They essentially need to be put somewhere where there isn’t anything to nest in and will sort of cool off their tummies.  This lady was so broody she tried to nest in her pan of food.

In about a day or two she will be let out.  If she rejoins the flock we are good to go.  If she heads back to the nest…. more time out is in order.

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There Will Always Be New Projects

Zina and I were mulling over the past year or so of the JAZ Farm last night.  We are tired yet so proud of all of our accomplishments and this place is really starting to look like a farm.  JAZ Farm has laying hens, is capable of hatching its own chicken replacements, has meat birds in the brooder, and is going to be able to grow a great deal of the food the birds need throughout the year.  We have wheat coming up and are mere days away from hardening off hundreds and hundreds of plants for the organically grown vegetable garden (Cudo’s to friend Mike for coming down and helping to put up the remaining wind break fences…. you saved my lower back some agony!).  On top of it all we are going to be sowing Millet and Amaranth on the front 15 acres to help heal and build the soil.

While enjoying a Mother’s Day dinner out while Aaron stayed at the farm and babysat the dog, we talked about the future livestock that may visit the farm.  To me horses are nothing but toys.  Cows are huge and we don’t really eat much red meat.  If you want animals like goats, sheep, or Llamas one needs a barn to house them; especially during the really cold months of winter.  What we came up with is pigs:  Feeder pigs.  Feeder pigs grow to around 250 lbs in about 6 months.  If purchased in April, they are ready for the processor in October.  They require a pen, a hut, water and food.  I have already designed the hut in my head and the pen, after all of this fence building is a no-brainer!  So throughout the summer I will be building a pig pen and getting it outfitted for spring 2015.

We figured that with the wheat, the organic garden, the eggs and broilers and pigs, we will likely have all of the meat and vegetables we could ever need.  As the pigs are quite big, and they need to be raised in a group of 2-3, we will likely invite friends, neighbors or clients to go in on the cost.

JAZ Farm…. a real…. working…. homestead.

http://thehomesteadingboards.com/2012/03/simple-pig-pen-design/