We picked three 5-gallon bucketfuls of peaches today from the one Elberta Peach tree in our front yard, and have another bucket of recently fallen ones! Until today, we have just been picking a few to eat and collecting the fallen ones that were good. Lisa made a wonderful peach cobler earlier this week. I think it is my favorite dessert, especially when it is with our own peaches! (My favorite dessert is usually the one that is in front of me at the moment.)
Now we need to get working on the job of peeling, slicing and canning these peaches. Last year we had many more peaches because we had 2 trees that had bumper crops, but this is a good many in it’s own right.
We were able to can so many last year that Lisa was still making peach coblers in late spring, and we still have a few jars left now! The other tree in our front yard, closest to the road, had so many peaches that every limb on it broke by the time they were ripe! That tree had no peaches this year, of course.
Down on the riverbank we have 4 other peach trees that have produced peaches for several years now. This year the Mother’s Day flood ruined most of the peaches and the ones that survived got taken by the wild. We had ripe peaches on the tops of the trees (the parts that were not submerged in the flood), but the last time we checked on them they were all gone! All that were left were some gnawed on seeds beneath the trees!
We are thankful for the abundant crop of healthy peaches the Lord gave us on this one tree. It is really a wonderful blessing to have such sweet, delicious fruit from our own land!
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2 comments
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jlgoinggreen on July 25, 2009 at 7:53 am
I love peach cobbler! Bummer about your other trees, but like you stated, at least the Lord provided if only from one tree. I pray you are able to make these last at least till the winter this year.
God Bless,
JEN
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CedarCityMom on July 28, 2009 at 9:07 am
Hello, been awhile since I've stopped by…. looks as God is still sending emence blessings your way!
May God send many more!
Jessica~CedarCityMom~
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Pure Water Hollow Chicken Operation Limping Along
I tell you, I am getting frustrated with our chicken losses! The coons are not bothering us as much now, after catching and taking 3 of them off, but we are still losing chickens from both feathered predators as well as metal ones! Most of our predator problem is now coming from the sky, but it really saddens me when we loose a hen by getting hit on the road. During the past 33 days we have lost 5 of our good McMurray laying hens, 3 to hawks most likely, and 2 to the road. A Partridge Rock hen and a beautiful Light Brahma hen have been hit on the road in front of our house! Two Black Giant hens and our largest, most beautiful Buff Orpington hen have turned up missing during the day, and we are constantly spotting hawks flying around. This morning a Blue Jay flew over the lot and all the chickens made the alert sound and disappeared under cover, so I think they know what is going on. Just yesterday (the 21st) was when I lost the last Black Giant and we lost the Buff Orpington on Sunday (the 19th). The other Black Giant hen was lost back in June, but I am furious to loose 2 good hens in just 3 days!
If the hen losses are sad, then our chick losses are downright chilling. I hate to even admit these numbers. In the past, we have had chicks hatch off and we let the mamas free range with them all day long and we close them up in a cage at night. They usually loose one or two chicks that way, but the vast majority survive. We have never before had crows that would come and steal the chicks away, but that is what is happening this summer! Unlike the hawks, they can go down to a lower branch and just drop right down and snatch a chick before the mama can do anything. Ok, here is the disgusting number: we have lost 14 chicks this summer during these past 33 days. And I’m afraid we will loose more! Right now we still have 17 chicks that we are trying to keep safe.
As a result of all this carnage, I am keeping most of the chicks caged (but they have a way of getting out somehow), and I am keeping the hens in their lot later into the evening now. I really like letting them all free range starting sometime in the afternoon, but between the road and the sky, it seems to be too dangerous. This means I will have to feed them a bit more.
One of the reasons to free range is how much it cuts down on the feed bill. (I also think they are happier and healthier and lay more eggs when they free range, but not if they don’t survive.)
Cost Analysis:
We have quite a few chickens, but I can make a 100 pound sack of cracked corn last for almost a month feeding just the 2 dozen or so coop chickens. The cost for that bag has been about $11.30 for the past year now. (I remember when it was just $7.30, as well as when it skyrocketed to $15). That comes down to about 38 cents a day to feed the coop chickens.
Unfortunately, our numbers of layers have gone down by 5 now, but we are still getting between 6 and 10 eggs a day, even with some of them in molt. We are down to just 12 mature laying hens in the coop now, with 2 others raising chicks. We also have the 7 pullets in the coop that are not yet laying and 2 roosters. So, for less than 40 cents a day we are getting enough eggs for a family of 7 with enough left over to sell or feed to the hogs. I figure it is coming out to about 4 cents per egg right now. or 48 cents a dozen, but in the spring we were getting many more eggs for the same feed money.
Where we are probably not making much money sense is feeding our "meat flock". We need to have several more serious butchering days like we did earlier in the summer when we butchered those 7 roosters. We have a flock of 11 birds still in the ravine lot, 8 waiting to be butchered, and we are still raising 9 roosters in the duplex lot for meat, as well as 2 Light Brahma roosters that are ready. Those in the duplex are not yet full grown, but they will be to a good butchering size by fall. Those in the ravine lot are just costing us money in corn. The meat will be valuable, but I don’t know if it will be much of a bargin if we keep feeding them! So between them and the chicks, I go through another 100 pound sack of cracked corn pretty easily.
Keeping all the chickens shut up most of the day, I will probably need at least 3 sacks of corn in a month, feeding them twice.
Current Count:
So even after our recent losses of those 5 hens and all those chicks, here is the tally of the birds God has entrusted us to care for. I already mentioned the 19 birds for meat, and the 17 chicks that are still alive. In the hen department, we still have 4 Light Brahma hens, 3 Black Giant hens, 3 Partridge Rock hens, 2 Buff Orpington hens, 1 Black Australorp hen and 1 Game hen, for a total of 14 hens. Our pullets are 3 Rhode Island Reds (still not sure if these might be cockerals), 2 Buff Orpingtons, 1 Black Giant, and one Buff Orpington/Black for the total of 7 pullets. In the rooster department I am still keeping 2 Buff Orpingtons, 1 Black Giant, and 1 Light Brahma, a total of 4 roosters. So if I add all that up right, we still have 25 chickens that we are caring for as well as 17 chicks. We also still have 3 geese and 2 ducks (having lost 1 goose and 2 ducks earlier).
In conclusion, I know I need to keep better watch on our poultry. We also need to get the butchering done so we can save on feed and also open up some more cages to keep the chicks better. We are thinking about putting a scarecrow by the chickens to fool the hawks and crows and I am planning on sitting back there with a shotgun to see how many crows I can kill. I am thankful for the poultry we still have and want to take good care of them!
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2 comments
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Glory Farm on July 22, 2009 at 9:18 am
Crows took out all 24 of my friend's ducklings. I didn't realize they were so nasty.
Rhonda
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jlgoinggreen on July 22, 2009 at 10:38 am
Thanks for posting all this (very useful to a newbie) information. These are things that the books I've read do not mention. "Real" life on a farm. Things I really need to prepare for. My dh (after a lot of explaining) has finally convinced me to allow my son to get an air rifle. After reading this, everything he told me makes sense. I guess my son will be making good use of his air rifle.
I will be praying for your family and your chickens safety.
God Bless you and yours,
JEN
PS- Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving your very helpful thoughts.
If the hen losses are sad, then our chick losses are downright chilling. I hate to even admit these numbers. In the past, we have had chicks hatch off and we let the mamas free range with them all day long and we close them up in a cage at night. They usually loose one or two chicks that way, but the vast majority survive. We have never before had crows that would come and steal the chicks away, but that is what is happening this summer! Unlike the hawks, they can go down to a lower branch and just drop right down and snatch a chick before the mama can do anything. Ok, here is the disgusting number: we have lost 14 chicks this summer during these past 33 days. And I’m afraid we will loose more! Right now we still have 17 chicks that we are trying to keep safe.
As a result of all this carnage, I am keeping most of the chicks caged (but they have a way of getting out somehow), and I am keeping the hens in their lot later into the evening now. I really like letting them all free range starting sometime in the afternoon, but between the road and the sky, it seems to be too dangerous. This means I will have to feed them a bit more.
One of the reasons to free range is how much it cuts down on the feed bill. (I also think they are happier and healthier and lay more eggs when they free range, but not if they don’t survive.)
Cost Analysis:
We have quite a few chickens, but I can make a 100 pound sack of cracked corn last for almost a month feeding just the 2 dozen or so coop chickens. The cost for that bag has been about $11.30 for the past year now. (I remember when it was just $7.30, as well as when it skyrocketed to $15). That comes down to about 38 cents a day to feed the coop chickens.
Unfortunately, our numbers of layers have gone down by 5 now, but we are still getting between 6 and 10 eggs a day, even with some of them in molt. We are down to just 12 mature laying hens in the coop now, with 2 others raising chicks. We also have the 7 pullets in the coop that are not yet laying and 2 roosters. So, for less than 40 cents a day we are getting enough eggs for a family of 7 with enough left over to sell or feed to the hogs. I figure it is coming out to about 4 cents per egg right now. or 48 cents a dozen, but in the spring we were getting many more eggs for the same feed money.
Where we are probably not making much money sense is feeding our "meat flock". We need to have several more serious butchering days like we did earlier in the summer when we butchered those 7 roosters. We have a flock of 11 birds still in the ravine lot, 8 waiting to be butchered, and we are still raising 9 roosters in the duplex lot for meat, as well as 2 Light Brahma roosters that are ready. Those in the duplex are not yet full grown, but they will be to a good butchering size by fall. Those in the ravine lot are just costing us money in corn. The meat will be valuable, but I don’t know if it will be much of a bargin if we keep feeding them! So between them and the chicks, I go through another 100 pound sack of cracked corn pretty easily.
Keeping all the chickens shut up most of the day, I will probably need at least 3 sacks of corn in a month, feeding them twice.
Current Count:
So even after our recent losses of those 5 hens and all those chicks, here is the tally of the birds God has entrusted us to care for. I already mentioned the 19 birds for meat, and the 17 chicks that are still alive. In the hen department, we still have 4 Light Brahma hens, 3 Black Giant hens, 3 Partridge Rock hens, 2 Buff Orpington hens, 1 Black Australorp hen and 1 Game hen, for a total of 14 hens. Our pullets are 3 Rhode Island Reds (still not sure if these might be cockerals), 2 Buff Orpingtons, 1 Black Giant, and one Buff Orpington/Black for the total of 7 pullets. In the rooster department I am still keeping 2 Buff Orpingtons, 1 Black Giant, and 1 Light Brahma, a total of 4 roosters. So if I add all that up right, we still have 25 chickens that we are caring for as well as 17 chicks. We also still have 3 geese and 2 ducks (having lost 1 goose and 2 ducks earlier).
In conclusion, I know I need to keep better watch on our poultry. We also need to get the butchering done so we can save on feed and also open up some more cages to keep the chicks better. We are thinking about putting a scarecrow by the chickens to fool the hawks and crows and I am planning on sitting back there with a shotgun to see how many crows I can kill. I am thankful for the poultry we still have and want to take good care of them!
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2 comments
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Glory Farm on July 22, 2009 at 9:18 am
Crows took out all 24 of my friend's ducklings. I didn't realize they were so nasty.
Rhonda
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jlgoinggreen on July 22, 2009 at 10:38 am
Thanks for posting all this (very useful to a newbie) information. These are things that the books I've read do not mention. "Real" life on a farm. Things I really need to prepare for. My dh (after a lot of explaining) has finally convinced me to allow my son to get an air rifle. After reading this, everything he told me makes sense. I guess my son will be making good use of his air rifle.
I will be praying for your family and your chickens safety.
God Bless you and yours,
JEN
PS- Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving your very helpful thoughts.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Farewell, Rufus
We finally decided to sell our big boar, Rufus. He has been with us since he was just a wee little feeder pig back in the fall of 2006. Today, he weighed in at 925 pounds and he was just as gentle as when he was 30 pounds! It was difficult to part with him, as he had become sort of a pet.
He did not want to leave us, either, which made it even harder emotionally. He volunteered to walk up into the hog trailor on his own, since we had fed him in there several times. When I started down the hill with him, however, I did not think I would make it to the house! He had reared up on his hind legs and had his front feet and head over the back tail-gate/ramp, trying to get out. This gate is a good 4 feet and I would not have thought such a massive short-legged animal could raise up that high! We fortified the back of the trailor with some cattle fence and headed on down the road for the hour and fifteen minute drive. Rufus remained standing for almost the entire trip, making the trailor sway back and forth and from side to side as we drove down the highway. He also did a number on the rails of the trailor, but we finally made it to our destination, more or less in one piece.
I didn’t realize we would be parting with him before he even turned 3 years old. I thought I had read that they are productive breeders for 6 or 8 years! That may be true, as Rufus was still very willing this morning to get at Sally. As it turns out, it just makes good business sense to get rid of him now instead of later. Even though our sows are also huge, it seems that his weight in addition to their own, has gotten to be too hard on their back legs.
We will have to sell off his two sows, Sally and Nellie before too long, also. This last time Nellie did not get pregnant at all and Sally only had 6 piglets. 6 is a drastic drop from the 14 she had last time. Sally and Nellie have just gotten too large as they are each 700 – 800 pounds. The last time they farrowed we lost several of the piglets to getting squashed by the big mama sows. Thankfully, all 6 of this last group from Sally have survived with no problems, but we have decided it would be all around better to start with new stock.
It is a tough choice, but we must look at it somewhat from a business perspective. With decreased or non-existant litters, the expense/benefit ratio begins to outweigh heavily to the expense side in keeping 3 very large hogs. It sounds cold, but every animal we keep here must have a positive contribution to our homestead that at least equals the expense of keeping them. If not, we are being poor stewards of the resources God has entrusted us with. Lately, Rufus, Nellie, and Sally have not been carrying their weight around here. (pun intended)
Right now, Sally is still allowing those 6 piglets to nurse from time to time, and I have decided to just let them nurse for as long as Sally will let them. I figure that is free food and nourishment and will allow these piglets to grow faster and healthier. Come December at least 3 of them are going in our freezer, 1 is going to a friend, and 1 will be the replacement for Rufus. (I’m not sure what we are going to do with the sixth one yet.) We also plan on soon getting two new girl feeder pigs that are of a different bloodline from ours to eventually replace Sally and Nellie.
We are planning on keeping Nellie until we are reasonably sure that she is not bred. She has been with Rufus continually and we have seen them breeding, but the earlier times this year have not taken. Maybe she is pregnant now? The gestation period is about 3 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days, so if she is not showing any signs of being pregnant by the first of November, we will take her off to the stock sales. We are thinking about keeping Sally that long also, just to keep Nellie company. They will be 3 years old in September and have literally been together their entire lives, being litter mates. I would hate to sell Sally and then have Nellie go into a depression.
The Pure Water Hollow pig operation will continue. We will just be in a transition period for a bit of time. If we were a ball team we could say this will be a "rebuilding" year for us. I guess it is actually just routine homestead life!
We continually thank God for the lessons He is allowing us to learn about hogs and about life. We have learned much, and continue to learn that we need to learn much more!
On a side note:
We saw our first black bear in our county on the return trip home! It was a medium sized bear and it was running in the grass along the roadside! It stopped, looked around, walked a bit, turned around and ran some more. It was looking for a way to get into the forest but a fence was in it’s way.
We had time to pull off onto the shoulder along with a couple of other vehicles to watch the bear. It was just like in the Smokies! The bear finally got to a break in the fence and disappeared into the woods.
We had heard about black bear sightings ever since we moved here in 1993, but this was the first one we have seen ourselves. This one was about 10 miles from our home, but there have been folks tell us they have seen black bears as near as the hollow next to ours!
It was really neat to see a bear, and I sort of like the idea of them being around. They are fascinating animals. But when I think with my common-sense business brain I realize that they are not a healthy addition to a homestead raising chickens, geese, ducks, goats, and pigs. I guess until they open a hunting season for black bear, that expense/benefit ratio doesn’t figure too well for black bears. I’ve read that bear meat is very good!
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1 comment
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sassyfras on July 21, 2009 at 2:57 am
Was reading your post this morning, took me back to when My hubby and I had our first group of pigs. It was hard to part with them, because they were our start on the farm. He was a big pig !!!! LOL anyway thanks for taking me back to a time and feeling that I had forgotten. Oh, and as for the bear, we just got back from the smokies and saw one. I don't thank I would want one even 10 miles away…..LOL
He did not want to leave us, either, which made it even harder emotionally. He volunteered to walk up into the hog trailor on his own, since we had fed him in there several times. When I started down the hill with him, however, I did not think I would make it to the house! He had reared up on his hind legs and had his front feet and head over the back tail-gate/ramp, trying to get out. This gate is a good 4 feet and I would not have thought such a massive short-legged animal could raise up that high! We fortified the back of the trailor with some cattle fence and headed on down the road for the hour and fifteen minute drive. Rufus remained standing for almost the entire trip, making the trailor sway back and forth and from side to side as we drove down the highway. He also did a number on the rails of the trailor, but we finally made it to our destination, more or less in one piece.
I didn’t realize we would be parting with him before he even turned 3 years old. I thought I had read that they are productive breeders for 6 or 8 years! That may be true, as Rufus was still very willing this morning to get at Sally. As it turns out, it just makes good business sense to get rid of him now instead of later. Even though our sows are also huge, it seems that his weight in addition to their own, has gotten to be too hard on their back legs.
We will have to sell off his two sows, Sally and Nellie before too long, also. This last time Nellie did not get pregnant at all and Sally only had 6 piglets. 6 is a drastic drop from the 14 she had last time. Sally and Nellie have just gotten too large as they are each 700 – 800 pounds. The last time they farrowed we lost several of the piglets to getting squashed by the big mama sows. Thankfully, all 6 of this last group from Sally have survived with no problems, but we have decided it would be all around better to start with new stock.
It is a tough choice, but we must look at it somewhat from a business perspective. With decreased or non-existant litters, the expense/benefit ratio begins to outweigh heavily to the expense side in keeping 3 very large hogs. It sounds cold, but every animal we keep here must have a positive contribution to our homestead that at least equals the expense of keeping them. If not, we are being poor stewards of the resources God has entrusted us with. Lately, Rufus, Nellie, and Sally have not been carrying their weight around here. (pun intended)
Right now, Sally is still allowing those 6 piglets to nurse from time to time, and I have decided to just let them nurse for as long as Sally will let them. I figure that is free food and nourishment and will allow these piglets to grow faster and healthier. Come December at least 3 of them are going in our freezer, 1 is going to a friend, and 1 will be the replacement for Rufus. (I’m not sure what we are going to do with the sixth one yet.) We also plan on soon getting two new girl feeder pigs that are of a different bloodline from ours to eventually replace Sally and Nellie.
We are planning on keeping Nellie until we are reasonably sure that she is not bred. She has been with Rufus continually and we have seen them breeding, but the earlier times this year have not taken. Maybe she is pregnant now? The gestation period is about 3 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days, so if she is not showing any signs of being pregnant by the first of November, we will take her off to the stock sales. We are thinking about keeping Sally that long also, just to keep Nellie company. They will be 3 years old in September and have literally been together their entire lives, being litter mates. I would hate to sell Sally and then have Nellie go into a depression.
The Pure Water Hollow pig operation will continue. We will just be in a transition period for a bit of time. If we were a ball team we could say this will be a "rebuilding" year for us. I guess it is actually just routine homestead life!
We continually thank God for the lessons He is allowing us to learn about hogs and about life. We have learned much, and continue to learn that we need to learn much more!
On a side note:
We saw our first black bear in our county on the return trip home! It was a medium sized bear and it was running in the grass along the roadside! It stopped, looked around, walked a bit, turned around and ran some more. It was looking for a way to get into the forest but a fence was in it’s way.
We had time to pull off onto the shoulder along with a couple of other vehicles to watch the bear. It was just like in the Smokies! The bear finally got to a break in the fence and disappeared into the woods.
We had heard about black bear sightings ever since we moved here in 1993, but this was the first one we have seen ourselves. This one was about 10 miles from our home, but there have been folks tell us they have seen black bears as near as the hollow next to ours!
It was really neat to see a bear, and I sort of like the idea of them being around. They are fascinating animals. But when I think with my common-sense business brain I realize that they are not a healthy addition to a homestead raising chickens, geese, ducks, goats, and pigs. I guess until they open a hunting season for black bear, that expense/benefit ratio doesn’t figure too well for black bears. I’ve read that bear meat is very good!
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1 comment
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sassyfras on July 21, 2009 at 2:57 am
Was reading your post this morning, took me back to when My hubby and I had our first group of pigs. It was hard to part with them, because they were our start on the farm. He was a big pig !!!! LOL anyway thanks for taking me back to a time and feeling that I had forgotten. Oh, and as for the bear, we just got back from the smokies and saw one. I don't thank I would want one even 10 miles away…..LOL
Friday, July 17, 2009
First Home Piglet Castration
Our most recent batch of piglets are 6 weeks old today. Sally only had 6 this time around and 5 of them were males! Since we are raising most of these piglets for meat, castrating the males is a common practice.
I have seen many castrations done with our previous litters at our local high school via the ag department. It is a relatively simple operation and the ag teacher has even let some of his animal science high school students take a try at it. Several of them have performed the procedure with no problems.
It is one thing to watch, but a whole ‘nother thing to do it yourself! We have recognized for some time the benefit it would be to have the knowledge to perform this operation "in house". If we are going to continue in the hog operation business for the long haul, it will not always be practical to have to rely on someone else. We are all about learning, here at our homestead, and the best way of learning is by doing. Yesterday, the ag teachers came over to Pure Water Hollow to help us out with the castrations. (They perform various services like this to the community all the time, usually bringing students with them.) What makes this a red letter day for our homestead, is that I "cut" a piglet for the first time. Since he is still living today, I want to say that I have performed my first successful pig castration!
Of the 5 male piglets, we decided to keep one in tact to replace Rufus as our daddy boar. (Rufus has just gotten too big, and the piglet production has greatly decreased, so we are going to go with new, younger pigs for future breeding.) So that left 4 piglets to cut. At 6 weeks old, they are getting a bit large, but they are still small enough to castrate easily. (The big pig operations usually do this before they are two weeks old, sometimes even at just one day old! I think that I prefer to wait until they are closer to being weaned, between 3 and 6 weeks old.)
Simon and Matthew caught the piglets for us, and Matthew and I took turns holding the piglets up by the hind legs while the castrations were being performed. We watched and listened as Mr. K, the ag teacher, did the first three. They were fighting us and squealing more than previous litters. I think it was because we have not spent as much time with these piglets petting them and playing with them, so they were not as comfortable with people as some of the other litters have been. The piglets were drawing their testicles up close to their stomach, which made it more dificult. Mr. K said another reason it is easier to do this when they are younger is that those muscles are not as strong so they can’t pull them in as much.
After observing the first three, it was my turn to try. The hardest part was finding the testicle, since this one was drawing his in, too. You have to press your thumb and finger in his groin area pretty hard and feel around and get behind the testicle. I wasn’t pressing hard enough for fear of hurting him. (I don’t know what I was thinking. This was a castration!) Mr. K found it, got his finger behind it, and this was the place to make the incision. The scalple easily sliced through the outer skin and the first testicle was exposed. Next, I sliced right into the testicle which makes it expand and "pop" out. Then you can grab hold of it and gently pull it out until the cords and tissues attached to it are exposed. These get scraped with the scalple until they break and the testicle is loose. If you make a clean cut here, they can bleed too much and end up dying. Using the same initial incision, I tried to push the other testicle up to the slit. Again, Mr. K had to press on the piglet to manuever the testicle in position. With it in place, I cut into this one and repeated the procedure just like the first. I then washed the incision with a betadine solution, and gave it a shot of 3cc of an antibiotic Mr. K brought. I thought I had depressed the syringe plunger all the way, but Mr. K saw that there was still some medicine in it. The plunger had stopped, and I’m not sure why I could not press it in anymore. Mr. K got the rest of the medicine to go in, and I guess I could have done it if I hadn’t been scared of breaking it.
The 4 patients just laid in the stall for a while at first. Later that night, they were up and walking around, and today they seemed to be as normal as before their operation! We let them out of their stall and they ran arround in circles and wrestled with each other and played! They seem to be as good as new, and they can now enjoy their next 4 1/2 months of life, eating to their heart’s content and growing to be over 200 pounds of pork flesh. I guess that sounds sort of cold, but it is their purpose in life. We will give them as happy and healthy of a life as possible and then we will thank them, and the Lord, for providing meat for our family. We plan on butchering them the first or second week in December, when they are 6 months old.
There really is not much to cutting a piglet, and it is no big deal to many folks. For us, however, it was a significant step toward becoming more self-sufficient, which is a goal of ours here at Pure Water Hollow. I am thankful to God (and to my ag teachers) for the experience.
I have seen many castrations done with our previous litters at our local high school via the ag department. It is a relatively simple operation and the ag teacher has even let some of his animal science high school students take a try at it. Several of them have performed the procedure with no problems.
It is one thing to watch, but a whole ‘nother thing to do it yourself! We have recognized for some time the benefit it would be to have the knowledge to perform this operation "in house". If we are going to continue in the hog operation business for the long haul, it will not always be practical to have to rely on someone else. We are all about learning, here at our homestead, and the best way of learning is by doing. Yesterday, the ag teachers came over to Pure Water Hollow to help us out with the castrations. (They perform various services like this to the community all the time, usually bringing students with them.) What makes this a red letter day for our homestead, is that I "cut" a piglet for the first time. Since he is still living today, I want to say that I have performed my first successful pig castration!
Of the 5 male piglets, we decided to keep one in tact to replace Rufus as our daddy boar. (Rufus has just gotten too big, and the piglet production has greatly decreased, so we are going to go with new, younger pigs for future breeding.) So that left 4 piglets to cut. At 6 weeks old, they are getting a bit large, but they are still small enough to castrate easily. (The big pig operations usually do this before they are two weeks old, sometimes even at just one day old! I think that I prefer to wait until they are closer to being weaned, between 3 and 6 weeks old.)
Simon and Matthew caught the piglets for us, and Matthew and I took turns holding the piglets up by the hind legs while the castrations were being performed. We watched and listened as Mr. K, the ag teacher, did the first three. They were fighting us and squealing more than previous litters. I think it was because we have not spent as much time with these piglets petting them and playing with them, so they were not as comfortable with people as some of the other litters have been. The piglets were drawing their testicles up close to their stomach, which made it more dificult. Mr. K said another reason it is easier to do this when they are younger is that those muscles are not as strong so they can’t pull them in as much.
After observing the first three, it was my turn to try. The hardest part was finding the testicle, since this one was drawing his in, too. You have to press your thumb and finger in his groin area pretty hard and feel around and get behind the testicle. I wasn’t pressing hard enough for fear of hurting him. (I don’t know what I was thinking. This was a castration!) Mr. K found it, got his finger behind it, and this was the place to make the incision. The scalple easily sliced through the outer skin and the first testicle was exposed. Next, I sliced right into the testicle which makes it expand and "pop" out. Then you can grab hold of it and gently pull it out until the cords and tissues attached to it are exposed. These get scraped with the scalple until they break and the testicle is loose. If you make a clean cut here, they can bleed too much and end up dying. Using the same initial incision, I tried to push the other testicle up to the slit. Again, Mr. K had to press on the piglet to manuever the testicle in position. With it in place, I cut into this one and repeated the procedure just like the first. I then washed the incision with a betadine solution, and gave it a shot of 3cc of an antibiotic Mr. K brought. I thought I had depressed the syringe plunger all the way, but Mr. K saw that there was still some medicine in it. The plunger had stopped, and I’m not sure why I could not press it in anymore. Mr. K got the rest of the medicine to go in, and I guess I could have done it if I hadn’t been scared of breaking it.
The 4 patients just laid in the stall for a while at first. Later that night, they were up and walking around, and today they seemed to be as normal as before their operation! We let them out of their stall and they ran arround in circles and wrestled with each other and played! They seem to be as good as new, and they can now enjoy their next 4 1/2 months of life, eating to their heart’s content and growing to be over 200 pounds of pork flesh. I guess that sounds sort of cold, but it is their purpose in life. We will give them as happy and healthy of a life as possible and then we will thank them, and the Lord, for providing meat for our family. We plan on butchering them the first or second week in December, when they are 6 months old.
There really is not much to cutting a piglet, and it is no big deal to many folks. For us, however, it was a significant step toward becoming more self-sufficient, which is a goal of ours here at Pure Water Hollow. I am thankful to God (and to my ag teachers) for the experience.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Goodbye Champ; Farewell Mammoo
Well, we finally did it. Our homestead now has two fewer dogs.
After asking around for quite a while trying to find someone who might give Champ or Mammoo a new home, we finally decided that the animal shelter would be our best option. We hauled them off this afternoon to the holding facility in our county for dogs and cats. They will be taken to a shelter up the river a few counties away on Friday. Perhaps they will be able to find a new home for the dogs.
They were both good dogs in their own ways, but they each had some problems that we were no longer willing to live with. The aggrevations had finally become more than we could bare, and none of us were enjoying them as pets anymore, either.
Champ, the chocolate lab, eats more than all of our other dogs and he never has been a guardian dog. His insistance to "play" with anyone who went outside 100% of the time drove us crazy! He would never give us break, always dropping a ball or stick in front of our feet for us to trip over. He also had serious odor problems. How he could always smell so badly was a mystery. And also he was a prime suspect in both a duck and a goat kid murder. He used to go crazy when the ducks were splashing in the pond and we actually caught him with a wing of one of the Rouens in his mouth! If he killed the kid, I think he was just playing with it and killed it by accident. The final mark against him was that he was showing some aggressive signs toward some people. He has never bared his teeth and growled toward us, but several times he has toward our visitors with no reason; even after we had told him they were ok. I have been afraid several times that he was going to attack. He is a purebred chocolate lab, so maybe someone will take him.
Mamoo was one of our Great Pyrenees. She was a good guardian dog when she was not obsessed with the cars in front of our house. But most of the time, she was not concerned with anything going on in our hollow. She just wanted to chase nearly every car that passed by our home and she was constantly in the road! It has gotten so bad that we think some people are purposely speeding up or honking their horns before they get to our driveway to lure her out, just trying to hit her! We don’t want to cause a wreck, but we don’t like our other animals being in danger from angry drivers either.
We have tried everything we know to break her of this, even using a shock collar for several weeks until she had burn sores on her neck! We tried tying her up each evening, but she would bark all night and chase the cars as soon as she got off. She used to mainly have this problem at night, but for the past many months it hasn’t mattered what time of the day it was. If she wasn’t sleeping, she was likely in the road jumping up at and chasing the cars. It is sad that she had made herself such a nuisance. She is such a beautiful dog that maybe someone will take her.
I think the family will be able to enjoy our other two dogs a bit more, now. We still have our other Pyr, Chief, and also Luna, which was the surviving puppy of Mammoo. Mammoo taught Luna to chase cars, also, but she isn’t as bad. I don’t know if she will chase any cars at all if Mammoo is not around. They are both good dogs and they do pay attention to our hollow. They earn their keep by patrolling the hills at night and keeping the deer out of our gardens, as well as guarding our house.
We do love dogs, but sometimes too many dogs can be a problem. When they start causing trouble and getting on everyone’s nerves, action must be taken for the good of all. I just hate making those tough decisions!
After asking around for quite a while trying to find someone who might give Champ or Mammoo a new home, we finally decided that the animal shelter would be our best option. We hauled them off this afternoon to the holding facility in our county for dogs and cats. They will be taken to a shelter up the river a few counties away on Friday. Perhaps they will be able to find a new home for the dogs.
They were both good dogs in their own ways, but they each had some problems that we were no longer willing to live with. The aggrevations had finally become more than we could bare, and none of us were enjoying them as pets anymore, either.
Champ, the chocolate lab, eats more than all of our other dogs and he never has been a guardian dog. His insistance to "play" with anyone who went outside 100% of the time drove us crazy! He would never give us break, always dropping a ball or stick in front of our feet for us to trip over. He also had serious odor problems. How he could always smell so badly was a mystery. And also he was a prime suspect in both a duck and a goat kid murder. He used to go crazy when the ducks were splashing in the pond and we actually caught him with a wing of one of the Rouens in his mouth! If he killed the kid, I think he was just playing with it and killed it by accident. The final mark against him was that he was showing some aggressive signs toward some people. He has never bared his teeth and growled toward us, but several times he has toward our visitors with no reason; even after we had told him they were ok. I have been afraid several times that he was going to attack. He is a purebred chocolate lab, so maybe someone will take him.
Mamoo was one of our Great Pyrenees. She was a good guardian dog when she was not obsessed with the cars in front of our house. But most of the time, she was not concerned with anything going on in our hollow. She just wanted to chase nearly every car that passed by our home and she was constantly in the road! It has gotten so bad that we think some people are purposely speeding up or honking their horns before they get to our driveway to lure her out, just trying to hit her! We don’t want to cause a wreck, but we don’t like our other animals being in danger from angry drivers either.
We have tried everything we know to break her of this, even using a shock collar for several weeks until she had burn sores on her neck! We tried tying her up each evening, but she would bark all night and chase the cars as soon as she got off. She used to mainly have this problem at night, but for the past many months it hasn’t mattered what time of the day it was. If she wasn’t sleeping, she was likely in the road jumping up at and chasing the cars. It is sad that she had made herself such a nuisance. She is such a beautiful dog that maybe someone will take her.
I think the family will be able to enjoy our other two dogs a bit more, now. We still have our other Pyr, Chief, and also Luna, which was the surviving puppy of Mammoo. Mammoo taught Luna to chase cars, also, but she isn’t as bad. I don’t know if she will chase any cars at all if Mammoo is not around. They are both good dogs and they do pay attention to our hollow. They earn their keep by patrolling the hills at night and keeping the deer out of our gardens, as well as guarding our house.
We do love dogs, but sometimes too many dogs can be a problem. When they start causing trouble and getting on everyone’s nerves, action must be taken for the good of all. I just hate making those tough decisions!
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