rachels.haven's Journal

[Baymule]

Good for you and your Dad! Home grown pork is the best. Do you have a meat grinder? If not, be sure to get the sausage stuffer tubes too, when you get one. You can home smoke the bacon too. Get the big 2 gallon zip loc bags, season the slabs up, one per bag, turn in the refrigerator daily, then slow smoke over low heat. Chill and slice.

Great job on slaughtering the pig! Do y'all have a tractor? It's easier to snatch a pig out of the pen with a tractor, then chain/hang from the front end loader.

On my Wilbur thread, I made breakfast sausage links without casings. It worked really good, my granddaughters loved them, so did we.

Baymule's 500 Pound Boar!

We have just about wiped out Wilbur. Still have a freezer shelf stacked full of pork chops. No pan sausage left. Got tired of pork shoulder and ham steaks, so I thawed them out, had 52 pounds. Been making sausage and stuffing it, BJ is smoking it. Dang! It sure smells good!

www.backyardherds.com

We raised 3 hogs one year and did the slaughtering ourselves. I took pictures and wrote details, it might help you.

Feeder Pigs 2017

Monday, February 20th, we bought 3 Red Wattle pigs, 4 months old for $75 each. I found them on Craigslist and we jumped on them quick. Just weaned piglets were listed for $65 to $100! We plan on keeping them probably 3 months and taking them to slaughter. We offered 2 to neighbors and they...

www.backyardherds.com

 

[rachels.haven]

No, no tractor. I'm afraid of the maintenance and would like to get a truck and trailer first so I can take a tractor places if needed.
The goal with the pigs was to butcher them before they got over 100 lbs so we could deal with it ourselves, and treat them like overly large rabbits but this mixed breed guy did not follow the plan in just about any way.
Talking to my dad yesterday he did really enjoy the experience and would do it again. Mr. Barrow will probably go around New Years then at whatever size he's at.

 

[Baymule]

A tractor will be a huge help. Be sure to get a big enough horse power to pick up the round bales. Look at the different manufacturers, sometimes they offer package deals that can include a trailer. Every once in awhile they offer zero interest.

 

[Baymule]

Kubota L4701 Tractor Package Deal | Coleman Tractor Company

Our Kubota L4701 Tractor Package is perfect for several applications. Get a little bit of everything you need and a trailer to pull it all down the road.

colemantractor.com

If your road/driveway is good, I'd drop the box blade and get a disc.

 

[farmerjan]

Kubota often offers these type of package deals. I looked at one and was pricing it without the belly mower, a smaller bush hog instead, and the backhoe with the trailer... There is a dealer 20 minutes from here. But we have alot of equipment and some is too big for me to run... DS can run everything and I hope that I can get some of the stuff done this year if he will actually do it... instead of always having to beg to get things done.... but fencing is more important to me right now.... making decisions of where to best spend money for the "return"... service would be convenient and that was a consideration.
I think @Mini Horses has one and now she has a neighbor mechanic to call since her DS is like mine... always too busy, or something, to do things when they need doing...

 

[WyoLiving]

We have a Kubota tractor that has a cab and a little LS Tractor. Love them both. The Kubota is pretty expensive to have repaired - getting to be like a John Deere, I think you pay more just because of the color.

 

[Bruce]

A tractor will be a huge help. Be sure to get a big enough horse power to pick up the round bales. Look at the different manufacturers, sometimes they offer package deals that can include a trailer. Every once in awhile they offer zero interest.

Usually zero interest for x months is in place of a price discount. If you need to borrow to buy a tractor find out what the cash price is and what a loan would cost at a bank or credit union in case it can save you money versus the dealer/manufacturer's loan. Often there are discounts if you buy a few implements with the tractor. Of course we are talking new sales from a dealer here.

Also, engine HP is NOT the only thing to consider though often that is what people quote when the talk tractors.

Compare Front End Loader lift capacity (Bay's comment). For instance my Compact Mahindra 1533 will lift 1,650 pounds (per specs) to max height at the pins (which of course is not where the weight is so scale back!), a 37 HP Kubota L3902 only 1,131 pounds. Consider PTO HP as well. My 35 HP Mahindra has only 26 PTO HP so I had to get a 5' flail rather than a 6'. But the Kubota has 30+ PTO HP, it will run a 6' flail of the type I have. The Mahindra 3 point will lift 2,646 at the link arms, the Kubota 1,985.

And, as you'll always read on tractorbynet.com, a really good dealer is important.

 

[SageHill]

Love our Kubota. Front scoop, box blade/grader, & fork lift. had the mower but it's too hilly here to use it so we sold it.

 

[WyoLiving]

We got our LS tractor as a package deal. Tractor, front end loader, undermount mower deck and backhoe all in a package deal. And we added on a front mount snowblower attachment. DH added a light bar package this spring to help with snow-blowing before sunrise and after sunset - which is when we are home during the winter.
And, it seems that my DH believes that a tractor is as good as the number of attachments that you have for it. We have front forks, back blade, roto-tiller, box blade, disk, and plow. I think I am missing some ...
I know he wants to get a brush hog one day, and a thumb for the backhoe on the Kubota.

 

[Baymule]

We got our LS tractor as a package deal. Tractor, front end loader, undermount mower deck and backhoe all in a package deal. And we added on a front mount snowblower attachment. DH added a light bar package this spring to help with snow-blowing before sunrise and after sunset - which is when we are home during the winter.
And, it seems that my DH believes that a tractor is as good as the number of attachments that you have for it. We have front forks, back blade, roto-tiller, box blade, disk, and plow. I think I am missing some ...
I know he wants to get a brush hog one day, and a thumb for the backhoe on the Kubota.

Oh, he NEEDS a grapple!!!