Quail_Antwerp: Words from the Barnyard...

[keljonma]

Congrats on the poults!!!


Check the 'Home Farm Pigs', 'Keeping A Pig' and 'Farrowing' info I emailed you....

I think you might mean a Saddleback?

-- Large Black: A lop-eared, old, and rare breed, now out of fashion, but a hardy, mild-mannered pig with good mothering instincts. An ideal pig to keep in outdoor housing. Very self-sufficient. Excellent for pork or bacon production, but heavy pigs will carry plenty of fat.


-- Saddleback: Easily recognized by its lop ears and its black and white markings. Colored breeds of pig tend to be hardier than white animals. A good pig for traditional rearing in field or sty. A dual-purpose breed for pork or bacon production.



edited to correct descriptions....

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Congrats on the poults!!!


Check the 'Home Farm Pigs', 'Keeping A Pig' and 'Farrowing' info I emailed you....

I think you might mean a Saddleback?

-- Large Black: A lop-eared, old, and rare breed, now out of fashion, but a hardy, mild-mannered pig with good mothering instincts.

-- Saddleback: A good pig for traditional rearing in field or sty.

Saddleback...hmmm so that's the black and white pigs?? I will have to look into it. I'm not going to play a smarty pants and act like I know what I am talking about! I know nothing about pigs...and well, since DH isn't sold on the Alpaca idea........guess I'll learn about Pigs!

I like the idea of a lop eared Pig....The Large Black is sounding more appealing.....

So, here's some pics of Mama Aslynn and some of her poults!

This pic is my favorite!!

 

[freemotion]

-- Large Black: A lop-eared, old, and rare breed, now out of fashion, but a hardy, mild-mannered pig with good mothering instincts.

Well, except for the mothering instincts......and the lop-ears....sounds kinda like dh! (I told him I posted this and he actually STRUTTED! )

ETA: Way jealous of your poults! My BR stopped laying, and never sat on a thing but her roost!

 

[Farmfresh]

My baby turkey poults were puffed up and struttin' there stuff this afternoon! It was so funny watching these little 4 inch tall babies trying to strut.

 

[Beekissed]

Awwwwwww! Aly, cute pics of the poults! I never get tired of seeing babies.

So....yer gettin' a pig! What a menagerie! I expected you would finally get around to getting a pig! I don't blame you.....pound for pound they produce more offspring in a smaller area than any other large livestock. Are you going to pasture it or pen it?

FC would be the one to ask about piggies, as she raises a slew of them.

Those large blacks are expensive hogs, I tell ya. And the registry folks who breed them and swap bloodlines are picky, picky, picky and all involved in preserving the breed and bloodlines and such.

Have you ever heard about the red wattle breed? Cool heritage breed also.

Here's a real interesting site from a farm that breeds both the red wattles and large blacks and then crosses them to have a black wattle breed.

http://www.nigeriansandicelandics.com/Pigs.html#Large Black Pigs

Cool to read about their philosophy and how they manage their breeds and such.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

We discussed the pigs in more depth today. Decided we'll start with two to raise up for butchering, see how I like having pigs to raise, before we make the decision to purchase breeding stock. Only because DH and FIL both say it's crazy expensive buying hog feed and feeding them. I keep thinking there's gotta be a cheaper way to slop them, right??

Anyway, now I'm thinking smoke house...I'd really like to have one so we can cure/smoke our own pork.

We also need a root cellar. I've borrowed a book on root cellars from my Aunt, and now I'm looking in to digging one out.

Cleaned out, rotated, and organized my canned foods today. Re-arranged the livingroom, and managed to get rid of some non-needed items. Made more space!

My DD's chicken, Chirpy the Sizzle, hatched out one chick so far. She's a cute little white chick with gold chipmunk like striping down her head. So cute! Hope she hatches more.

Cleaning the incubator in the morning and firing it up to set some of my own eggs...plus expecting some eggs from bargain in a few days... going back to handturning, hoping it improves my hatches!

 

[Beekissed]

Isn't it just like all you SSers to use this holiday weekend for working? Farmfresh was doing the same thing! Memorial Day, gals, not Labor Day!

The most work I will be doing this weekend is filling up my garden with plants, planting seeds, shoveling manure compost!

I've heard the pig feed is expensive also, which is why I was planning to supplement with table scraps from the various food sources in town. I've heard of folks picking up the produce that is trimmed or thrown out by the local grocery stores as an extra food source.

Did you read that site? Pretty interesting, that farm.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Sorry, Bee, didn't get a chance to read that site, but I bookmarked it. I barely sat down yesterday.

Technically, Memorial Day is Monday...and there's always work to do around here! A Holiday is just another day, and we don't get it off. Course, Labor Day, we work 3 times as hard as any other day......

Everyone else is having picnics, getting drunk, running 4wheelers....we're not letting the day go to waste! We're too scared the farm stuff will fall behind...LOL especially with DH having surgery soon, we can't afford to waste a day.

 

[Aidenbaby]

Congratulations! Your little poults are adorable.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

woooweeee.....I'm exhausted!

Today we planted the rest of our garden. We put out squash, zuchinni, green beans, and our corn. My peas are already up. The potatoes are showing signs of maybe coming out of their frostbite...we'll see though...

We also finished cleaning out and organizing the livingroom and bedrooms. Was hot and sweaty, but we're all done.

Chirpy has 2 chicks now. Second one hatched today and she has another one pipping.

I moved my spitz and faverolles outside today. They were quite happy to be out in the big pen and stretching their wings!

Something really neat happened today, and I must say, it sure made me feel like we had travelled in time...back to a time when neighbors cared about eachother and weren't afraid to help one another.

One of our yard sale customers had noticed the field to the right of our driveway and he commented on how it was obvious that we were slowly trying to get it cleared and mowed. DH agreed that yes, we let the goats or calf eat it off some, then we mow behind where they ate.

Today, this customer, who is an 82 year old man, came back with a walk behind brush hog! We expressed our gratitude, as we were assuming he was allowing us to borrow it. He said no problem, then proceed to fire it up and brush hog our field himself!!!! Now DH and I were surprised, and felt it was only right to offer him payment. He refused. He did accept a large glass of cold water and I offered him a dozen farm fresh eggs. He refused the dozen, but said he would appreciate a 1/2 dozen. I ran to the house and chose the freshest 6 eggs I had for him. Told him to keep his carton and bring it back for another 6 when he needed them. He was thrilled with those eggs.

I would have to say, that was one of the best things to ever happen to us! He sat and talked with DH forever about how to build a fruit cellar, and gave DH some ideas on how to do it "the old way."

This man was quite impressed to see us "youngin's" doing things by hand and much like the older generations did things.

Anyway, found a local girl who needed some things because she just got her first house, so we loaded her up on stuff we were no longer using, and even gave her some of her first flowers to plant in her first flower bed. She was thrilled.

Now DH and nephew are watching a movie together and I'm trying to unwind before I call it a night and go to bed.