Mike CHS
Herd Master
We lost a lamb this spring that got caught in the netting. We later found that the netting wasn't hot due to a connection got switched.
Misfitmorgan's Journal - That Summer Dust
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misfitmorgan
Herd Master
Basically yes....but that was before the net was actually electrified. The young ones dont go near it now and the only current issue now is Ivy is jumping the net. We have T-posts on it so we are going to have to go buy a few more and run some electric wires above the net. It is a short net only 35" tall so not a challenge for her. The net however is working fantastic for our turkeys and ducks. They have 165 sqft of pasture and we can add another 165 sqft of pasture if needed. We have not yet put the midget whites into the net because they are so light and small still they will fly right out.
Sorry to hear that. We have lost a few to fences just not the electric net yet.
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misfitmorgan
Herd Master
We had 2 hold backs for butchering, one got sold last weekend and the other one went for our freezer. Here are some pictures so I can point out something.
Our friend also took in his approx 5yr old Poland China Boar to be butchered. Te first 2 hanging is the 5yrs old poland china. The second hanging is our 7 month old hereford/duroc gilt. The reason I am pointing this out is, the hams were almost the same size, the meat redder in the hereford and leaner, the poland has a fat cap where the herefords do not.
So far everyone who has raised our pigs for butcher, loves the taste of the hereford or hereford/duroc cross.
Also size comparison, this is the poland being split.
Poland hang weight - 340Lbs
Hereford/Duroc live weight - 305Lbs
We also have a buyer interested in 28 butcher ready pigs yearly, and any goat kids we wanna raise to slaughter size. The kids we will think about, and the pigs would be paid for in full as soon as the litters are 2 weeks old. They would be paid as 250lbs hanging, then when they are actually hanging the differences would be settled. It sounds like a good deal but we are not set up for it atm. The most we have raised for butcher is 4 at once.
Our friend also took in his approx 5yr old Poland China Boar to be butchered. Te first 2 hanging is the 5yrs old poland china. The second hanging is our 7 month old hereford/duroc gilt. The reason I am pointing this out is, the hams were almost the same size, the meat redder in the hereford and leaner, the poland has a fat cap where the herefords do not.
So far everyone who has raised our pigs for butcher, loves the taste of the hereford or hereford/duroc cross.
Also size comparison, this is the poland being split.
Poland hang weight - 340Lbs
Hereford/Duroc live weight - 305Lbs
We also have a buyer interested in 28 butcher ready pigs yearly, and any goat kids we wanna raise to slaughter size. The kids we will think about, and the pigs would be paid for in full as soon as the litters are 2 weeks old. They would be paid as 250lbs hanging, then when they are actually hanging the differences would be settled. It sounds like a good deal but we are not set up for it atm. The most we have raised for butcher is 4 at once.
Bruce
Herd Master
28 is quite a commitment for a small farm.
Mike CHS
Herd Master
Your stock has some awesome color.
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misfitmorgan
Herd Master
I agree it would be however the rewards for income and exposure of our farm and pork would be huge. I mean we are talking minimum an extra $14,000 income a year and putting us in the bracket to be able to use/get farm grants and do some other programs we can't do otherwise.
We have been discussing it and we would need to get another gilt/sow. ATM we only have 3 sows and sara is going down the road as soon as she weans her next litter. DH wants to keep a gilt out of her and stubby, both got bred by the poland china boar. After seeing the carcass I can't say i'm sold on the idea. I would rather get another hereford or even a duroc.
Thank you very much. We got the everything back from the boar we had butchered. Different pig then in the picture from my last post.
I didn't want any ground pork so asked for equal breakfast sausage and Italian sausage. This picture doesnt look like much but that is almost a foot thick across almost the entire top of our freezer. About 50lbs of sausage alone.
Pork Steaks
Pork Chops
We also got roasts, ribs, and cutlets. We didnt ask for bacon or hams this time. Seems we dont eat much ham and the bacon would have been thin on this one since it was that little boar i mentioned not being a good grower. He only hung at 230.
We opted to have this one butchered off-farm because it is just to hot here to reasonably do it with our set up and doesnt look like we are going to have a cool spell anytime soon. We got everything vacuum sealed into 1LB packages and the total cost was $100.
We already have people wanting to pay for and reserve pigs to raise next year because they really like the pork...we just need to decide how much we want to do. It may involve getting rid of the mutt sheep and focusing on poultry, pork, purebred suffolk and boer goats. Basically meat critters. The mutt sheep are ok but they didnt really do well taking care of their lambs or lambing and they are about half the size of our normal size suffolk.
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misfitmorgan
Herd Master
The tail end of summer passed without a ton going on here.
The calves moved outside and seem to be doing well. They are still very friendly but complain a lot.
The sheep herd came home off pasture on Sunday, everyone seems well except one of the mutt sheep is missing. No one is talking on where she went and since it is a 8 acre pasture that is half wooded we didnt notice until we were loading up. We did search the pasture didnt find anything.
Ivy's tan daughter had a boy kid about 2 weeks ago. He seems strong and healthy so far. All the goats look pretty heavily prego, so we are in for early winter babies it seems. The Boer non-seasonal breeding thing definitely seems to have kicked in which we dont mind. Also the quick growing part, the spring kids are almost as big as Ivy and stocky.
The broad breasted turkeys will be getting butchered next week. I honestly can say I will be sad to see them go. I have found out I love turkeys!! All the turkeys are soo friendly and talk to me, follow me around. I'm really glad I got the midget whites for breeders. I really love them, they will come up to me if I crouch down and lay down in front of me to be petted. I think they are by far my favorite poultry. The ducks come running for food but otherwise dont care about you. The chickens again come for food but otherwise dont really care about you. The turkeys will follow we everywhere I go and try to figure out what I am doing. They will come up wanting petted and talk to me non-stop. Really super social in a way I've not seen other poultry be.
I've ordered all the supplies to build a hoop house for our poultry shelter for the winter. We have everything now except the pipe. The over all cost not including the wood which we had already is approx $750 for a 12'x32' high tunnel/ hoop house. I'm not sure what to call it, It should end up being between 8-9' ft tall, If i could have found 8ft line posts it would have been taller. We will start building tomorrow. We are making a few modifications, the base boards will go approx 18" up on all sides to discourage any pecking at the greenhouse plastic, the sides will not get the roll up modification until spring, there will be vents at the top of the end walls, between the hip board and base boards around the entire greenhouse will be covered on the outside with cattle panels to keep goats and large predators out, the inside between the hip boards and base boards will be covered with poultry mesh again to discourage any pecking at the greenhouse plastic and keep smaller predators out. The end 4ft of high tunnel will be sectioned off for feed storage. The poultry will be closed up into the hoop house until spring except on nice days. The electric net will be taken down for winter.
Stubby had 13 piglets. 1 was born with a hind leg defect, and 1 got stepped on by Sara as they were not separated yet so both got put down. Sara ate 3 of the piglets before we could get them separated, we do not know if they were accidently stepped on or what. We got a cold snap for several days the night they were born. Long story short she ended up with at the moment 5 piglets.
Sara had 8 piglets, all healthy...she killed and ate them all. Sara has a date with the butcher. DH is furious with Sara. We have a new gilt being raised on another farm for her replacement.
We have the two lambs who will be going to the butcher and 18 more meat birds to get to size for butcher. We will also be butchering our mule ducks.
The calves moved outside and seem to be doing well. They are still very friendly but complain a lot.
The sheep herd came home off pasture on Sunday, everyone seems well except one of the mutt sheep is missing. No one is talking on where she went and since it is a 8 acre pasture that is half wooded we didnt notice until we were loading up. We did search the pasture didnt find anything.
Ivy's tan daughter had a boy kid about 2 weeks ago. He seems strong and healthy so far. All the goats look pretty heavily prego, so we are in for early winter babies it seems. The Boer non-seasonal breeding thing definitely seems to have kicked in which we dont mind. Also the quick growing part, the spring kids are almost as big as Ivy and stocky.
The broad breasted turkeys will be getting butchered next week. I honestly can say I will be sad to see them go. I have found out I love turkeys!! All the turkeys are soo friendly and talk to me, follow me around. I'm really glad I got the midget whites for breeders. I really love them, they will come up to me if I crouch down and lay down in front of me to be petted. I think they are by far my favorite poultry. The ducks come running for food but otherwise dont care about you. The chickens again come for food but otherwise dont really care about you. The turkeys will follow we everywhere I go and try to figure out what I am doing. They will come up wanting petted and talk to me non-stop. Really super social in a way I've not seen other poultry be.
I've ordered all the supplies to build a hoop house for our poultry shelter for the winter. We have everything now except the pipe. The over all cost not including the wood which we had already is approx $750 for a 12'x32' high tunnel/ hoop house. I'm not sure what to call it, It should end up being between 8-9' ft tall, If i could have found 8ft line posts it would have been taller. We will start building tomorrow. We are making a few modifications, the base boards will go approx 18" up on all sides to discourage any pecking at the greenhouse plastic, the sides will not get the roll up modification until spring, there will be vents at the top of the end walls, between the hip board and base boards around the entire greenhouse will be covered on the outside with cattle panels to keep goats and large predators out, the inside between the hip boards and base boards will be covered with poultry mesh again to discourage any pecking at the greenhouse plastic and keep smaller predators out. The end 4ft of high tunnel will be sectioned off for feed storage. The poultry will be closed up into the hoop house until spring except on nice days. The electric net will be taken down for winter.
Stubby had 13 piglets. 1 was born with a hind leg defect, and 1 got stepped on by Sara as they were not separated yet so both got put down. Sara ate 3 of the piglets before we could get them separated, we do not know if they were accidently stepped on or what. We got a cold snap for several days the night they were born. Long story short she ended up with at the moment 5 piglets.
Sara had 8 piglets, all healthy...she killed and ate them all. Sara has a date with the butcher. DH is furious with Sara. We have a new gilt being raised on another farm for her replacement.
We have the two lambs who will be going to the butcher and 18 more meat birds to get to size for butcher. We will also be butchering our mule ducks.
Senile_Texas_Aggie
Herd Master
Miss Misfitmorgan,
Good to see you back on the forum! We have missed you.
Senile Texas Aggie
Good to see you back on the forum! We have missed you.
Senile Texas Aggie
frustratedearthmother
Herd Master
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So sorry about the piglet losses. 
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misfitmorgan
Herd Master
Thank you Mr STA....I come around and lurk, just dont always have updates for the thread.
So sorry about the piglet losses.
Thank you. Breeding pigs is hard when you dont want to use crates or dont have a big pasture yet, or when the night they choose to have piglets it suddenly drops to 28F and then stays in the 30s for 4 days.
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