Tomorrow is the deadline for me to decide if I want to go ahead with an application for a government cost share program that would pay me $1000 for work I have recently done on the pond and fencing. When I initially applied back in July my local conservation office informed me that I was approved for the full $1000, but something fell through between the county and state and we had to re-submit the application. One of the problems was that the county application was not requiring a Farm Serial Number (FSA), but the state says there has to be one. Farms that have grown tobacco already have an FSA and it is easy to get one.
The problem is that the FSA is a federal thing and I just don’t know if I want to draw attention to myself. I don’t really have a "farm", just a homestead with a hog operation and a layer operation and some goats. I really do not want anything to do with the NAIS if it gets anymore traction with the new administration, and I wonder if an FSA will open the door for future government intrusion to our homestead?
Then again, $1000 would be nice. Every little bit helps. But at what cost?
My soil conservation officer was guarded with his comments, but I thought that I could read some caution between the lines. He said that he saw no problem with the whole NAIS thing right now, but he doesn’t know what he will be saying in 10 years. He also reminded me that he "is the government" and he can’t really offer an opinion. He did jokingly say, "Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they won’t be coming after you!"
So, what do you all think? Am I being too paranoid? Should I take the money and not worry about it? Or should I regret already drawing this much attention to our homestead?
Tomorrow (12-10) is the deadline for the application, so any advice tonight would be appreciated.
Thanks!
UPDATE:
After much prayer and taking into consideration everyone’s comments here as well as my own intuition, I decided to leave the money alone. I am glad the first application fell through, because I think I might have been sorry down the road had I taken the cost-share. It was annoying to know that I had been approved for the $1,000 but that they just needed more paper work. I can fill out papers for $1,000 any day, but I am afraid that it could have resulted in some strings attached later on.
Thanks for all the helpful comments!
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11 comments
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Trixi on December 9, 2008 at 6:26 pm
I don't think you are paranoid at all. My husband too works for the govt. (military) and we definitely don't want to cause anymore attention to ourselves than need be.
Blessings,
Trixi
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Morning Sunshine on December 9, 2008 at 6:53 pm
nothing is free. even $1000. would be nice, I agree. But, why let them know you exist if you do not have to. One reason I want to move north of the Utah-Idaho border – in Idaho you do not even have to tell the schools that you have children, not to mention that you are homeschooling them!
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Heritage Hill Homestead on December 9, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Boy, that is a tough one. I too am very leary of anything that seems to lead to NAIS. And with the government, everything is usually linked together somewhere along the line. I imagine one day they will be knocking on all of our doors, but until then we can make our own decisions. The $$ would be so nice to help out with farm expenses and improvements too though……….hard to tell someone else what they should do. I think you already have your mind made up.
Marilyn
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GrandmaRosie on December 10, 2008 at 1:39 am
Even though the money is tempting and I am sure it would be a help, I sorta like to keep a low profile where Big Brother is concerned. Just my 2 cents worth.
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faithfarm on December 10, 2008 at 5:05 am
I would have to agree on the side of caution. There is a reason you do not have total peace in the decision to accept the money-trust in that–
Blessings>faithfarm
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Ashley on December 10, 2008 at 1:15 pm
I'm with everyone else … nothing is "free". : Sorry, but I think you're making the right choice.
Ashley
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S on December 10, 2008 at 1:32 pm
I wouldn't take the money……and I would stay on the down-low.
Laura
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faithfarm on December 11, 2008 at 4:06 am
Here is a site that has alot of info you might find helpful.
http://xstatic99645.tripod.com/naisinfocentral/index.html
Blessings>faithfarm
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Schatzi on December 14, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Sorry, I cannot offer advice. Plus I just came to your site today and I think I would be late anyways. I also live in Canada and our government would be a bit different. But if it was me I would rather keep a low profile then take the money…I don't like any government sticking their nose in my business…they know enough already without drawing attention to myself.
Look forward to reading what you decided.
Blessings,
Connie
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Rob on December 18, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Can you afford it.. here in Canada it seems there are always strings attached… not only money but eventually infringement on your religious rights. Will the thousand turn into minus 2?
If you do take it get it in writing any requirements. !
Good for you to be cautious. If you turn it down ..and feeling needy. look at the picture on the dollar and remember what Jesus said… "give to Ceasor that which is Ceasor's" It helps me when I feel a loss of dough ra me!
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Steve on February 1, 2009 at 12:36 am
If it were me I guess I would try and get the money. I think the worst thing they can do is tell you no you can't have it but unless you know of some laws they may try and fine you for.
Then I would say not to try, if the fines equal more that the 1000$
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Friday, December 05, 2008
Larger Than Average Litters of Pigs
I was curious as to the number of piglets in an average Hampshire sow and I came upon an article on the web from a publication called Seedstock EDGE. The National Swine Registry keept track of the Hampshire litters reported from 1995 through 2003 and came up with statistics from over 81,000 litters.
Based on the data, our Nellie and Sally did very much better than average last night as they gave birth to 13 and 14 healthy piglets each. Of course they are just simple east Kentucky Hampshire mutt sows and the boar probably has some Duroc in him, but they have outperformed the purebred swines that these numbers are based on.
The average number of pigs per litter was between 9.26 and 9.60 for each of the 9 years in the study, and the "born alive" number was just between 8.51 and 8.89 piglets. They also tracked the number of piglets that survived to be weaned and it was just between 7.85 and 8.12 per litter.
Nellie and Sally did better than that in 3 of each of their 4 litters so far. (Their first litters, when they were still gilts, they only had 7 and 8 piglets respectively, which we know now was pretty good!)
I just thought that was an interesting bit of info to record here. We are proud of you, Nellie and Sally!
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1 comment
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Morning Sunshine on December 6, 2008 at 12:37 pm
you make pig farming sound so easy! LOL! I remember when you brought them home for the first time, and the excitement with which you posted learning to geld (is that the right term for swine?) a pig. What about the cost of feeding the pigs – how much profit do you make after you factor that in? I am just curious.
Thanks for the pumpkin idea – that was my next plan for storing, somehow whole outside without getting too hot or too cold. Let me know how that works for you, especially towards the end of the winter when things start warming up, and they start getting old. We like to eat pumpkin in chili, soup, pancakes, waffles, muffins, and, of course, pie, so we like to eat it all year round. But I guess there is a season for everything, huh?
Based on the data, our Nellie and Sally did very much better than average last night as they gave birth to 13 and 14 healthy piglets each. Of course they are just simple east Kentucky Hampshire mutt sows and the boar probably has some Duroc in him, but they have outperformed the purebred swines that these numbers are based on.
The average number of pigs per litter was between 9.26 and 9.60 for each of the 9 years in the study, and the "born alive" number was just between 8.51 and 8.89 piglets. They also tracked the number of piglets that survived to be weaned and it was just between 7.85 and 8.12 per litter.
Nellie and Sally did better than that in 3 of each of their 4 litters so far. (Their first litters, when they were still gilts, they only had 7 and 8 piglets respectively, which we know now was pretty good!)
I just thought that was an interesting bit of info to record here. We are proud of you, Nellie and Sally!
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1 comment
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Morning Sunshine on December 6, 2008 at 12:37 pm
you make pig farming sound so easy! LOL! I remember when you brought them home for the first time, and the excitement with which you posted learning to geld (is that the right term for swine?) a pig. What about the cost of feeding the pigs – how much profit do you make after you factor that in? I am just curious.
Thanks for the pumpkin idea – that was my next plan for storing, somehow whole outside without getting too hot or too cold. Let me know how that works for you, especially towards the end of the winter when things start warming up, and they start getting old. We like to eat pumpkin in chili, soup, pancakes, waffles, muffins, and, of course, pie, so we like to eat it all year round. But I guess there is a season for everything, huh?
Thursday, December 04, 2008
The Pig Farmers of Pure Water Hollow
What an exciting evening we have had here at Pure Water Hollow Homestead! We have once again witnessed the miracle of birth and we are thanking God for all He has done! Our two sows gave birth this evening, and little piglets were popping out simultaneously toward the end of the birthing.
I think you can now officially call us "pig farmers"! This is the 4th set of piglets we’ve had from our two sows and this time it all went by the book. We noticed that our boar Rufus was trying to breed our sows, Nellie and Sally, about 3 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days ago. (The books say a pig’s gestation time is 3 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days.) I had projected a due date of December 5th back in September, so on Wednesday, December 3rd, we led Sally and Nellie down from the pig lot to the barn to get ready for giving birth. They are each 2 years and 3 months old now, and they have become old hands at giving birth. We put several bales of straw in their stalls and made them comfortable. I am so glad we moved them when we did, because the piglets came a day early (which was within the margin of error). When they gave birth in July, they surprised us and caught us off guard. We lost several of the piglets in those litters, partly because of poor planning, I think. But this time it felt like we knew what we were doing; I felt like a professional pig farmer!
In Sally’s stall Christina exclaimed, "Here comes one!" I looked over at Sally and Christina for just a moment and then trained my flashlight back on Nellie. I couldn’t believe that the beam revealed another piglet for Nellie! It must have come out just a second or two after Sally’s. This scene was repeated again about 5 minutes later. Christina delivered another piglet of Sally’s and I took a picture and then looked back at Nellie. This time my flashlight found two brand new piglets still attached by the umbilical cords to Nellie! They must have come, back to back, at nearly the same time Sally had pushed hers out!
All together, I witnessed Nellie giving birth to the last 6 of hers and the last 5 of Sally’s. I got home at about 4:30 and the last piglet was born at about 7:00. When Matthew had gone to check on the pigs earlier this afternoon at about 2:00, Nellie had already given birth to two piglets with one of them still attached by the cord. He flew down to the house on his 4-wheeler to let everyone else in on the news and then raced back up the hollow. Erica, Christina, Simon and Lisa with Timothy in her arms, arrived at the barn shortly thereafter. They were on hand to see Nellie deliver her next several and Sally’s first 9. Sometime around 4:00 Timothy declared he had had enough of standing around in a cold barn, so Erica and Simon took their screaming brother back to the house. Lisa stayed a couple of more hours and Christina did not leave until it was clear that all the piglets were born and safe.
Christina actually delivered all but one of Sally’s piglets. As each one came out, Christina made sure their airways were clear and she wiped them off and made sure they found a teat to nurse on. So, after 5 hours of birthing, Nellie had 13 adorable piglets nursing and Sally had 14 beautiful, healthy little piglets nursing.
Matthew and I did not leave until 9:30 because it was important to winterize the barn as much as possible. We stapled up feed sacks over all the cracks in the wallboards and over all the windows. By the time we were leaving, ice had formed on the metal gates in the barnyard, the mud in the road had become a frozen crunch, and a heavy frost was covering the hillsides. The low tonight is forecasted to be 18 degrees and the high tomorrow just above freezing. Tomorrow night the weather man says will also be 18 degrees and the 10 day forecast shows below freezing lows for the next 10 nights! The first week of life for these piglets will be a very cold one! Their first four nights are predicted to be 18, 18, 21, and 15 degrees with the highs only in the 30s!
This is the most piglets we have had to date, and if they all survive it will mean a substantial amount of possible cash. If we can sell 25 of the piglets in January for the going price of $40 each, it would mean $1000 in our pocket in just 5 or 6 weeks! If we sell them at a bargain basement price of $25 each, it would still be $625. And that would still leave 2 of them for us to raise as market hogs which we would either put in the freezer or sell for around $100 each live, or have processed and sell the packaged pork for a substantial profit. I really can’t believe we have 27 piglets! From what I’ve read, Hampshire pigs usually do not have litters this large.
Praise be to God from whom all blessings flow!
I did take pictures and I will try to add them to this post someday soon.
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3 comments
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sassyfras on December 5, 2008 at 3:23 am
We raised pigs when we first came to the farm. I can still remember our first litter. I loved watching it. Our oldest, now 33 was just a little gal and she stayed out in the barn for hours, because she was afraid the mommy would roll on them. She will never forget the things she learned, or saw. What a great learning tool. The Farm, thanks for sharing
sassy
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Heritage Hill Homestead on December 5, 2008 at 7:34 am
Great update on your new additions! I have never been around pigs much, I didn't realize it took so long…..5 hours wow. I am used to goats and they are much shorter, of course they don't have 14 either! You were truly blessed as you said with possible income very soon, how wonderful for you. Isn't it something that they gave birth at exactly the same time.
Marilyn
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amanda on December 5, 2008 at 10:23 am
My hubby and his Daddy used to raise pigs when hubby was a child in the mountains of W. VA. He told of a time when the little piggy's came on a really cold night. His Daddy bought them into the house!
I'm not so sure that I could have done that. But hubby said that pig farming was how they got their money and he wasn't about to let those pigs freeze to death.When its your living, you do what you have to do.
Happy Farming!
Amanda <><
II Corinthians 5:7
I think you can now officially call us "pig farmers"! This is the 4th set of piglets we’ve had from our two sows and this time it all went by the book. We noticed that our boar Rufus was trying to breed our sows, Nellie and Sally, about 3 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days ago. (The books say a pig’s gestation time is 3 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days.) I had projected a due date of December 5th back in September, so on Wednesday, December 3rd, we led Sally and Nellie down from the pig lot to the barn to get ready for giving birth. They are each 2 years and 3 months old now, and they have become old hands at giving birth. We put several bales of straw in their stalls and made them comfortable. I am so glad we moved them when we did, because the piglets came a day early (which was within the margin of error). When they gave birth in July, they surprised us and caught us off guard. We lost several of the piglets in those litters, partly because of poor planning, I think. But this time it felt like we knew what we were doing; I felt like a professional pig farmer!
In Sally’s stall Christina exclaimed, "Here comes one!" I looked over at Sally and Christina for just a moment and then trained my flashlight back on Nellie. I couldn’t believe that the beam revealed another piglet for Nellie! It must have come out just a second or two after Sally’s. This scene was repeated again about 5 minutes later. Christina delivered another piglet of Sally’s and I took a picture and then looked back at Nellie. This time my flashlight found two brand new piglets still attached by the umbilical cords to Nellie! They must have come, back to back, at nearly the same time Sally had pushed hers out!
All together, I witnessed Nellie giving birth to the last 6 of hers and the last 5 of Sally’s. I got home at about 4:30 and the last piglet was born at about 7:00. When Matthew had gone to check on the pigs earlier this afternoon at about 2:00, Nellie had already given birth to two piglets with one of them still attached by the cord. He flew down to the house on his 4-wheeler to let everyone else in on the news and then raced back up the hollow. Erica, Christina, Simon and Lisa with Timothy in her arms, arrived at the barn shortly thereafter. They were on hand to see Nellie deliver her next several and Sally’s first 9. Sometime around 4:00 Timothy declared he had had enough of standing around in a cold barn, so Erica and Simon took their screaming brother back to the house. Lisa stayed a couple of more hours and Christina did not leave until it was clear that all the piglets were born and safe.
Christina actually delivered all but one of Sally’s piglets. As each one came out, Christina made sure their airways were clear and she wiped them off and made sure they found a teat to nurse on. So, after 5 hours of birthing, Nellie had 13 adorable piglets nursing and Sally had 14 beautiful, healthy little piglets nursing.
Matthew and I did not leave until 9:30 because it was important to winterize the barn as much as possible. We stapled up feed sacks over all the cracks in the wallboards and over all the windows. By the time we were leaving, ice had formed on the metal gates in the barnyard, the mud in the road had become a frozen crunch, and a heavy frost was covering the hillsides. The low tonight is forecasted to be 18 degrees and the high tomorrow just above freezing. Tomorrow night the weather man says will also be 18 degrees and the 10 day forecast shows below freezing lows for the next 10 nights! The first week of life for these piglets will be a very cold one! Their first four nights are predicted to be 18, 18, 21, and 15 degrees with the highs only in the 30s!
This is the most piglets we have had to date, and if they all survive it will mean a substantial amount of possible cash. If we can sell 25 of the piglets in January for the going price of $40 each, it would mean $1000 in our pocket in just 5 or 6 weeks! If we sell them at a bargain basement price of $25 each, it would still be $625. And that would still leave 2 of them for us to raise as market hogs which we would either put in the freezer or sell for around $100 each live, or have processed and sell the packaged pork for a substantial profit. I really can’t believe we have 27 piglets! From what I’ve read, Hampshire pigs usually do not have litters this large.
Praise be to God from whom all blessings flow!
I did take pictures and I will try to add them to this post someday soon.
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3 comments
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sassyfras on December 5, 2008 at 3:23 am
We raised pigs when we first came to the farm. I can still remember our first litter. I loved watching it. Our oldest, now 33 was just a little gal and she stayed out in the barn for hours, because she was afraid the mommy would roll on them. She will never forget the things she learned, or saw. What a great learning tool. The Farm, thanks for sharing
sassy
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Heritage Hill Homestead on December 5, 2008 at 7:34 am
Great update on your new additions! I have never been around pigs much, I didn't realize it took so long…..5 hours wow. I am used to goats and they are much shorter, of course they don't have 14 either! You were truly blessed as you said with possible income very soon, how wonderful for you. Isn't it something that they gave birth at exactly the same time.
Marilyn
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
amanda on December 5, 2008 at 10:23 am
My hubby and his Daddy used to raise pigs when hubby was a child in the mountains of W. VA. He told of a time when the little piggy's came on a really cold night. His Daddy bought them into the house!
I'm not so sure that I could have done that. But hubby said that pig farming was how they got their money and he wasn't about to let those pigs freeze to death.When its your living, you do what you have to do.
Happy Farming!
Amanda <><
II Corinthians 5:7
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