Luvmypets Journal: A New Season

[Bruce]

I may no longer be an officer and I graduate in a week but I will always be there to support my chapter !

And I'm sure they will be there to support you. I don't know much about FFA but maybe if they have projects, like Eagle Scout candidates do, you can offer your farm and business as educational/project opportunities for current FFA members. That could help you as well as them and keep you in touch.

 

[luvmypets]

Hi friends. Im sure you may have been wondering what I’ve been up to these past few months. Well I’ve been waiting to have the motivation to write an update and the more I waited the more I would have to write but Im finally gonna do it. (I wrote this three weeks ago whoops)


I’ll start by saying I decided on holding back from school this semester. I have many reasons for this anxiety, grief, depression, stress but overall its just too much for me to be starting college with the level of emotional stuff im going through. My mom was upset with this at first, even though I tried explaining to her it doesnt mean Im never going to go to school, its just that now is not the right time. I’ve been trying to get a job all summer to support the farm but no luck until just now. So yeah got my first real job at a department store.


This summer was an experience to say the least. My mental health was all over the place and truth be told I was asleep most of the day and awake during the night. I had a schedule of wake up between 9-11 take care of the animals, then come home wash up and go back to sleep for most of the day. Then I would go the the barn around 6-9pm and so on. This summer we welcomed many new animals to our barn and we said goodbye to some of our old friends.


So the farm is in the process of changing owners. The new owner to be is a friend of my fathers. I don’t want to say much on this until the matter is official. However I will say the name of the guy buying the farm is Eric. He has been been slowly but surely introducing new animals to the barn. He first brought in quails which were lots of fun. He had 15 total but sold most of them to a chef. However there are two left, a breeding pair whom I have named Gustav and Lana. They aren’t very friendly but Lana lays lots of eggs and I really enjoy just looking at the two of them. Then to my surprise Eric brought three beef calves in to bottle feed. Two bulls and one heifer. The boys are for market but the plan is the heifer will produce calves of her own in the future. He also brought in a bunch of chicks that he got for a few cents each at the auction, almost all of them(29 total) are pullets. I believe the majority of them are barred rock while the others are some meat variety. And finally we also have rabbits now. Two are meat but six are pets. I actually picked out a mini lop buck from the bunch whom I’ve named Rolf. Bunnies have been hit or miss health wise. We have lost a few but I wormed them all this week so hopefully thst will keep them healthy. One batch all from the same seller died from a weird neurological thing. All four buns died in one week.


So sadly this summer I had to say goodbye to three of my sheep. Stella passed away late June from unknown circumstances. She had always been off so it probably had something to do with that. Brutus and Rosie got processed for meat. Rosie wasn’t supposed to go but **** happens. All our remaining adult chickens/ducks got eaten as well. I also lost one of Callie’s piglets.


This whole summer the main issue at the farm was piglets escaping. At one point two police cars showed up saying they had reports of loose pigs. I think they were expecting a 500lb boar or something. When in reality it was just a group of piglets maybe 50lbs or so frolicking around. I ended up selling almost all of the older piglets at the auction. I sold 22 of them for 50 bucks each. It really sucked to sell them so cheap knowing the buyer would get so much for reselling them but they needed to go. We are finally down to seven older piglets from Prissy/Lu and Maeja’s four little girls who are only a few months old. I have five sows and Atlas who will be staying. The girls are Maeja, Prissy, Lucy, Callie, and Lil Red(who is still a gilt). However I do have one of Prissys older daughters who is supposed to go for processing but Eric couldnt load her up the day the others went so she has stayed all summer slowly getting rounder.. Im not sure which will come first her going or the babies coming.


Lil Red is very special as me and my dad both fell in love with her. And well as these things go she is expecting. I have no idea when she is due but she is very round and getting her bag in. No milk yet but she is only 1/2 mangalitsa so she may get hers much sooner than the full girls.

Im still struggling with mental health and I take every day one step at a time. Its hard to believe its almost been five months. Its feels like it was just yesterday and at the same time that its been forever since ive seen him.

Truth be told Ive been lurking on BYH and I missed talking to you all. I love the community we have here which honestly feels like a family at this point. I love all of yall and wish you the best. And now for pictures!

Mr. Ras being well his usual self

Maeja the day her little girls made their appearance. She did wonderful and built a nest out of straw and branches she found in the field. This was my first farrowing on pasture and Im very happy with the results.

Lucy officially looks like a grown up.. She still is as sassy as ever

The three calves. Heifer is in the front, bulls in the back. The black calf was struggling with his weight but is a lot better now. The other two had been stealing his food so he gets fed separately now. This is an old photo.

My buck Rolf, he really isnt that big its just the angle

The lovely Quails. Gustav is the dark one Lana is the light one.

All the boys

The runt of Maeja’s litter who I named Twinkie, I have taught her the importance of belly rubs

My poultry army, this is also an old photo they are huge now.

Lil red from earlier today

 

[Mini Horses]

It is good to hear from you -- hope you can continue to share. Hard as it is, you will find it good for your soul, so try to say hello often.

I agree that you did right to hold off school for a semester. You cannot study in the situation in which you found yourself. Just don't make it "forever". You will find your balance and direction in due time. It sounds like you are still living on the farm & that can be a time of transition for you to accept what will come in the future. Your new job will help you to divert and stabilize your emotions. When your whole world just does a 360 within such a short time, it is difficult to transit the physical, financial and emotional upheaval. It sounds like you are working through it, hard as it is to do. Be proud of yourself -- WE at BYH are proud of you and give you our emotional support!

I love that you still have your animals to hug -- they are a place of solace -- well, mine are for me and I know for you. Sad that many had to leave you but even a couple there helps. Loved the pictures!

 

[Bruce]

I'm really glad to hear from you LMP I hope you are getting professional help with your mental health. You got run over by a loaded semi, it is understandably a huge drain on you. I'm sure many of us who have lost a parent, though most of us at a much older age than you, understand the desire to sleep the pain away, wake up from the bad dream. It WILL take a lot of time, let it.

You will be fine putting college off for a bit, you have a compelling story with your farm and the FFA work. You will stand out from the average "I just graduated high school" applicants.

 

[luvmypets]

I'm really glad to hear from you LMP I hope you are getting professional help with your mental health. You got run over by a loaded semi, it is understandably a huge drain on you. I'm sure many of us who have lost a parent, though most of us at a much older age than you, understand the desire to sleep the pain away, wake up from the bad dream. It WILL take a lot of time, let it.

You will be fine putting college off for a bit, you have a compelling story with your farm and the FFA work. You will stand out from the average "I just graduated high school" applicants.

I have been seeing a therapist since middle school as I have dealt with on and off depression since seventh grade.

 

[Baymule]

Really glad to see you posting again. We are all here for you any time you need us. Don’t stay away for so long, we care about you.

 

[luvmypets]

God don’t you just love it when all your sows bust out of there pen in the middle of the night and rampage across the property and have you chasing them till 2am. Yeah me too.

will update more on this later, for now sleep

 

[Baymule]

Animals keep things interesting, for sure. Get some rest, wake up and tell us all about it!

 

[Bruce]

Oh my Luv!!! That was last Friday, have you woken up yet?

 

[luvmypets]

Oh my Luv!!! That was last Friday, have you woken up yet?

Ah I’m so bad with keeping up with things. So basically it was friday night and I was just relaxing in my room on my computer listening to some music and drawing. It was around midnight so I decided to go to bed. I had left my phone on my bed and for some reason it was on silent which is something I never do because I need to know right away if my pigs are up to no good. Anyways I immediatly see texts from my neighbor, now keep in mind the time stamps.

It was over three hours between the first message and when I saw it so needless to say I was flipping out. Thankfully my brother was home from college due to the virus so I grabbed him and rushed over unsure what the hell was going on. First thing I noticed was that they had raided the garbage and thrown garbage everywhere. I started to go around back when my brother told me they had gotten into the barn. So what did they do? Well first thing I noticed is they ate a turkey, which had been slaughtered earlier and was draining in the barn. They also ripped open so many bags of feed,and let the lambs and calf into the barn so they were gorging on feed. They also let the three bunnies out of their cage. Me and my brother spent the next while corraling the gals and getting them into the barn. It was a lot! Here they are in the prison ward. These piglets were already in the barn for weaning so they were very happy to have the milk bar back.

The sow pen is very damaged and wont be ready for a while yet. However they are currently with the boars and I have caught 4/5 breedings, 3 sows being due on the same day Its the same three that all farrowed in december so I guess they are on the same cycle.

Bonus, the lambs being miserable for three days. I knew they would be fine and that the bloat wasn’t critical.