NH Homesteader's journal

[NH Homesteader]

So, the guy we buy grain from is having issues with his silo leaking. Just got grain and I am NOT happy. I wouldn't have paid him for it, but DH is nice. I am kindly requesting that we butcher these pigs when this grain is gone. It's not moldy but it's not dry... I am checking it carefully as I feed it out. Glad it isn't a giant barrel of goat grain, because that I would not risk. Either way we will likely not be buying from him again. Which means we may be looking more into AGH's in the spring... Lower feed costs, and we have plenty of land for them to feed themselves.

DH's boss has a meat cooler, just needs one thing fixed on it (DH will help) and we can use it. Bye bye unreliable fridge, and we'll be able to do both at once. I'm trying to convince DH to skip the pig roast. I have a recipes to make pulled pork from shoulder roasts... So much easier and we honestly do not eat that much pulled pork. We eat more ground pork and sausage.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

That would annoy me too... can't be having crappy grain.

Hope the cooler works out for ya'll. I know it would be nice to get those piggies off the feed bill! I do love my pulled pork. Cook it overnight in the oven real low and slow... yum!

 

[NH Homesteader]

Yeah, he has had some serious medical issues so I get why he hasn't fixed it but... Still annoying.

Yeah the feed bill and I need a break from pigs. We move their fence regularly so they have fresh grass and frankly it's a lot of work... And I am tired of nonstop pig work, lol. I need garden time, and clean up the yard time... And we have a bajillion baby birds... And just non-farm drama stuff... Sigh.

 

[sumi]

I hope the cooler works out for you! Less animals on the feed bill and into the freezer is always better.

 

[baymule]

A cooler! Haha! Hanging meat, Southern style, even in the dead of winter, means packing it in ice coolers and covering with ice. That said, we are about to have a neighborhood hog killing. I'm tired of my pigs eating us out of house and home, the water they consume and for their mudhole to keep them cool, has made our water bill go up $40 a month. No more spring/summer pigs for me!!! We have a slaughter date set, but not until August 29. No way I'm keeping them that long!

Jennifer and Jimmy will get their hog first. We'll kill, hang, skin, gut and pack in ice chests, they can take their hog home. I have a small "community" meat grinder, when she's done processing their hog, we'll repeat the process for Robert's hog. Since his wife is in bad health, I'll more than likely do the processing, but that's ok, he does a lot around here to help us. Then we'll do our pig. That will leave Russell's pig and he wants to keep the Aug 29 date, so he can take his pig home and finish feeding her out. Never. Summer. Hogs. Again!

 

[NH Homesteader]

Hahah! See I can't do winter pigs again! I fed them SO MUCH and they hardly gained any weight because they used all their calories staying warm!

How big are yours now? One of mine is 225 maybe, the other is a runt and maybe 175. But I'm done. So sick of feeding them. And they're getting pushy. Ughhh

 

[baymule]

I'm thinking maybe 225 also for 2 of them and 175 for the runty one. By butchering theirs first, it gives ours time to grow a little more. Our neighbor Jimmy is going to do a lot of electrical work for us, we buy the materials and he does the work. We are paying him with a pig. WAAAAAY cheaper than the labor cost would be to have it done. Our other neighbor Robert is always helping us so we are repaying him with a pig. Both ways we come WAAAY out ahead, and they get freezer meat. Everybody is happy. Now that we, as a group, are going to butcher our own, everybody is even happier. We were not going to pay for the slaughter, they would have to pay for their own, so now it's even better. It will probably take Jennifer a couple of weeks to get her pig completely processed, then we'll do Roberts, a couple of weeks to do his, then ours.

 

[NH Homesteader]

Nice. Yeah it is SO expensive to pay someone to do it. We wouldn't raise pigs if we had to pay someone to process them for us! It's a lot of work but not all that difficult.

 

[baymule]

Last year, Robert had a lot of his hog super processed into smoked links, ham, smoked pork chops, etc......over $400!!! He nearly died at the cost, never realizing that all that costs extra! Lesson learned.....

 

[NH Homesteader]

oh dear...