Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

[NH Homesteader]

10! Goodness she's ancient lol! DD's is next weekend, and DH's is the 30th. Popular time of year I guess!

Good luck getting those pigs wrangled. Grrrr

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Yep - she's old, lol. October is a big b'day month. My boss's sons' b'day is today.

Not even gonna worry about those pigs until tomorrow. Ugh. Just stinks to work all day on something and have it un-done so quickly. That big boar is so powerful... and BIG! I know he's over 300lbs. The last 'big' hog we butchered at home was 305 and this guy is bigger. So glad he's friendly!

 

[Mini Horses]

That big hog would go to the butcher...at least a kill & chill!

I use the "let the doelings keep her in milk" method, too. Works ok & you do get less milk when you share. Now, if you want that doe to really reach potential, you won't get there this way. I milked yesterday & this evening...that 8 month doeling is not now nursing as before! It's ok -- can always use the milk -- but I haven't been "milking regular" for months!! Now I guess I need to get back in gear. I was thinking more along Spring. LOL Will do 1X day and get 1/2 gal or so for a while then dry her for winter/kidding. Will make a little cheese, etc. for holidays.

A while back I noticed a hen who wanted to go broody on me -- had hatched a brood in spring -- silly girl!! She was on an OLD nest egg. Didn't take the time to break her up -- hey, that thing was never gonna hatch. Never kept track...noticed a wk or 2 ago, when she was off nest, there were TWO eggs...both hers, green. Friday, she was not on nest but a few feet out in the stall, sitting & all ruffled up, ONE egg in nest. Hmmm, odd --snake????? Rush to work, worry later. Tonight, I look over stall wall to check her & there she is with ONE CHICK Time flies! Determined hen.

FENCE -- Wow, I may NEVER get away from repairs. Goats, hogs, stallions....their life is based on destroying fence!
Now, with "restructuring" the areas, even more fun, right?? I'm with ya on this!!! I have until 11 in AM to work on farm stuff & then to work. Why do I keep doing this ?

 

[NH Homesteader]

Yes, that is exactly why I don't want to leave babies on mom (but will if I can't keep up with milking), I want to get the most milk I can out of my does! I would love to do milk test someday, just for my own entertainment!

Why do we all do it? Good question! Lol

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I'm lucky to have enough does that I can have all the milk I ever want. I probably have at least 4 gallons in the fridge right now. I'll probably make some cheese here soon - or maybe even some cajeta. LOVE cajeta - but it's definitely NOT low carb or low sugar. However, it is heavenly! Probably wouldn't be so bad in moderation - like a teaspoon at a time, lol.

I have started making kefir again. We really like it and it does use up milk in other ways. I needed two cups of buttermilk to make muffins yesterday so I used kefir. Best darn muffins ever!

The big hog isn't going to the butcher anytime soon. He's the only non-related guy I have and he throws awesome babies. I had another boar for awhile and even though the two boars were brothers - I didn't like the piglets the other guy threw. I still have two of those (one gilt and one young boar) and I'm going to butcher both of them. They were from an earlier batch of babies and the newest babies have almost caught them in size even though there is over 4 months between their ages.

I found the place he got out and he simply broke a rusted snap that was acting as a hinge on the gate. Can't use inferior fencing products with superior pigs, right? LOL

We had a nice storm move through this morning. Winds near 30mph and hard rain - but it seems to have rushed through and is now clearing up. That's ok with me - we needed a tiny bit of rain (which we got) and it's in the low 60's right now. Hooray!

 

[sumi]

My head is mush today from lack of sleep and overdose of dramas this week I read the last bunch of posts and now I forgot what I wanted to say, so I'm just going to leave a here for you as well lol

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Ahhhh, Sumi! Sorry you've had such a rough week...hope things settle down for ya now! Thanks for the hug...backatcha!

 

[baymule]

I really like feeder pigs. Buy them, feed them a few months, then butcher and eat. Thanks to all the breeders out there that put up with hogs!

 

[NH Homesteader]

He sounds like a good boar!

Yeah if you have a bunch of does, it makes more sense to let them do their thing and have access to milk without the required 2x/day milking! I'm trying to not have that many does, lol!!

My breeder pig snapped a wooden fence post today. I grabbed the fence and 2 whole panels wiggled! Or should I say flopped! DH hustled to fix that right away- another few minutes and she would have been out! We need to move her to fresh grass so she stops causing trouble! Pigs!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

It is amazing how strong they truly are. This guy previously bent a section of horse panel that we were using for a gate nearly in half. They are heavy gauge but with 2 x 4 openings so there's a whole lot more metal than in a cattle panel or a hog panel.... I cannot imagine the force it took to bend that panel the way he did.

Good thing you found that broken fence post before the gal went rogue on you!