Learned a lesson with the pigs yesterday. They can't stand heat. They had tore up their pen, and it needed to be fixed, so I put them in the dog kennel. They had shade and water, but they knocked both over and when I checked on them they looked bad. All three were lying down, and panting HARD. I couldn't get them to budge and to go out of the pen into the barn for shade.
I spent an hour pouring buckets of water on them, until they recovered enough to move on their own. I will still lock them up at night to keep the coyotes at bay, but they will be out "free ranging" during the day. They spent today in the pond, tearing up trash I left out (bad mama), and knocking over a full bucket of laundry soap I had just made. I "almost" regretted reviving them yesterday.
The cute stage has passed.
Showing posts with label pigs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pigs. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
Another Sick Pig, More Goat Babies and Such
Went out this morning to feed our ZOO and Charlotte (one of our pigs) was obviously sick. Tell tale signs: #1 most important symptom is NOT EATING. If a pig refuses food you KNOW something is wrong. She was standing against the side of the barn, leaning on it. She was kind of wobbly, like she was going to pass out. The other two were eating away. #2 sign - droopy head and droopy tail. Overall "I don't feel good look". I came back inside to get 2ccs of penicillin to give her an injection. She wasn't so sick that she didn't struggle with that! The first attempt the syringe and needle came apart, with the needle still in her backside. I had to catch her to get it out, and go back and get another 2ccs. This time I had PD#1 help me. We grabbed her back legs, and she SQUEALED like we were butchering her alive. I managed to give her the injection.
I finally remembered to give all the animals DE (diatomaceous earth) this morning. I haven't noticed any signs of parasitical infection, but I gave some to each, and will leave it out free choice for the goats to "snack on". I need to order a large bag so that I can dose the horses. (If you decide to use DE, please use FOOD GRADE.)
**More later, I have to go into town, unfortunately.
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Okay, I am back. We had to run pick up eggs from a friend. She is selling them for $2 a dozen, which is a good price. I cannot wait until our hens start laying. We only get one every other day from 14 hens. They are just now old enough to lay, so we will have to wait for more daylight hours. At our other house we had a light in the coop in the Winter, but here we don't have electricity at the barn, too expensive to run, so we are without eggs. Then a trip to the feed store to pick up a saddle cover they had ordered for us, then dropping PD#1 off at her friend's for their birthday party. Her friends are twins ;-)
Yesterday was a good day, we spent the afternoon at the barn cleaning it out, the coop too and I put the chicken manure and old hay in a pile in the garden. I'll work on it this weekend getting it ready to plant in a few weeks.
We worked with the horses, and PD#1 cleaned their hooves. She is interested in attending farrier school, so she works with the horses, as much as possible, to get the experience. She may go this summer, if not, then next. It is away from home, so her dad or I will have to attend the 2 week session with her to get her certification to clean and trim hooves as part of her business. We have three horses. One is a rescue and is difficult, the other two we work with, and PD#1 alternates riding. We are working on getting them in shape to be transportation locally. A small general store is about 1 mile away in a town of about 80, and the larger town of 4,000 is about 6 miles away. Our closest MAJOR city is about 50 miles away, so way too far for the horse. (We only go into the major city once a week for church.) I'd love to have a family buggy or wagon to take into town for shopping, but that will have to wait until after the house is finished.
Today we arrived home to find that another doe, Hera, had two little boys. I named them Poseidon and Ares. (I keep the names of the goats in a "family" related so I know who belongs to who. They are all boys so will more than likely be going in the freezer. Here are a few pictures:
We'll be starting out seeds in egg cartons, before planting in the garden. We will be planting, hopefully, 75 tomato plants this year. We only planted 30 last year, and just wasn't enough, though I was overflowing with Romas. We will also be planting cucumbers, onions, green beans, jalapenos, Mesculun, Corn, green peppers, watermelon ( 2 kinds), cantelope, cilantro, a few other herbs, pumpkin and squash (later in the year).
I finally remembered to give all the animals DE (diatomaceous earth) this morning. I haven't noticed any signs of parasitical infection, but I gave some to each, and will leave it out free choice for the goats to "snack on". I need to order a large bag so that I can dose the horses. (If you decide to use DE, please use FOOD GRADE.)
**More later, I have to go into town, unfortunately.
**************************
Okay, I am back. We had to run pick up eggs from a friend. She is selling them for $2 a dozen, which is a good price. I cannot wait until our hens start laying. We only get one every other day from 14 hens. They are just now old enough to lay, so we will have to wait for more daylight hours. At our other house we had a light in the coop in the Winter, but here we don't have electricity at the barn, too expensive to run, so we are without eggs. Then a trip to the feed store to pick up a saddle cover they had ordered for us, then dropping PD#1 off at her friend's for their birthday party. Her friends are twins ;-)
Yesterday was a good day, we spent the afternoon at the barn cleaning it out, the coop too and I put the chicken manure and old hay in a pile in the garden. I'll work on it this weekend getting it ready to plant in a few weeks.
We worked with the horses, and PD#1 cleaned their hooves. She is interested in attending farrier school, so she works with the horses, as much as possible, to get the experience. She may go this summer, if not, then next. It is away from home, so her dad or I will have to attend the 2 week session with her to get her certification to clean and trim hooves as part of her business. We have three horses. One is a rescue and is difficult, the other two we work with, and PD#1 alternates riding. We are working on getting them in shape to be transportation locally. A small general store is about 1 mile away in a town of about 80, and the larger town of 4,000 is about 6 miles away. Our closest MAJOR city is about 50 miles away, so way too far for the horse. (We only go into the major city once a week for church.) I'd love to have a family buggy or wagon to take into town for shopping, but that will have to wait until after the house is finished.
Today we arrived home to find that another doe, Hera, had two little boys. I named them Poseidon and Ares. (I keep the names of the goats in a "family" related so I know who belongs to who. They are all boys so will more than likely be going in the freezer. Here are a few pictures:
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| Poseidon (he was next to the water) |
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| Ares |
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| Hera and her boys |
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| Poseidon |
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| My seeds came in, yeah! |
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| PD#2 - Waiting for Daddy |
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| The view down the driveway, you can barely see the top of the house we are building |
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| PS#2 helping daddy fix the coop door |
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Making Dog Food
This isn't something I ever expected to do, but I've read about it a couple of places, and thought I'd try it...someday. Well, I was cleaning out my freezer (the one in the fridge) and wedged in the back behind bags of flour and cornmeal was a package of 2 pork loins that were TWO YEARS OLD. I thought they would be okay for us to eat, they weren't freezer burned at all, but PH suggested I give it to the dogs. After reading online about making dog food, I used what I had on hand. I boiled the pork loins on low for a couple of hours, then added 1 lb of white rice, and a half bag of carrots that were starting to go soft. Cooked it on low for another couple of hours, turned off the heat, and let it cool. I then put it all in the food processor, took two batches to get it done. I was then able to put it in canning jars. It made 1 quart and 4 pints. I used the jars I had washed today, so I didn't have to make too much noise in the pantry (it was already after 10 p.m. here). When we butcher the Freedom Ranger chicks in a couple of weeks, I plan to keep all the organs and make more dog food, and will pressure can it in pint jars for storage, so when I am out of store bought food, I'll have something on hand. Here is the final product:
It looks and smells like tuna fish to me. The reason I was prompted to do this, is that we were out of dog food. Pet food is one area I don't stock up on. I have limited funds and my family is more important to me than my pets. Currently, we have five dogs (A Rott, Pyr, cow dog, rat terrier and a chihuahua). They all serve a function. The Rottweiler is a trained security dog and professional chicken killer (the last not something we advocate). The Pyr, our livestock guardian dog, the cow dog, herds the goats where we want them to go, and sometimes where we don't. The terrier is good at killing gophers and rats, and the chihuahua is our security alarm. Yaps at anything, makes you get up and look to see what is going on.
We also have four cats (down 2 this week, the coyotoes are relentless). With the exception of Lily, our house Diva, they hunt primarily for themselves, keeping the barn and area free of rodents. I do give them a little cat food, but....if TMHTF I'd stop feeding them in a heart beat. The hold outs would be the dogs. Realistically, I could probably feed two dogs on scraps, the others would have to go. I'm not the type to let one starve, so in an emergency situation, we would have to put them down, which is sad, but those are the hard choices I'd have to make in a rough world.
The livestock pretty much fends for themselves. We do supplement with hay in the winter (we get this free), if the grass has stopped growing. So far, we have been blessed with rain this winter, then warm days so there is grazing for everyone. We do put out a flake of hay for each horse and the calf in the evening. The goats don't care for the hay often. The pigs graze, and get all of our vegetable scraps, and the chickens free range for what they can find. They are pretty fat and sassy, so I think they are getting enough. The chickens did get a special treat tonight. PH was leveling the "cabin" (AKA shipping container) and found these HUGE grub worms eating away at the large wooden beams he had used previously to level the place. The chickens were beside themselves fighting over them. It was pretty gross! Oh, we do also gather wild melons that grow along the road sides here. The past few years, I've gotten a couple of rubber maid totes for the goats, but this year we took the small tractor and wagon and filled it up, and stored them in the barn. Each night we cut open several and toss into the pigs. They really LOVE them, and it's free food.
I made bread for last night's spaghetti meal, it was supposed to be a normal french bread round, but I left it a little too long in the heat of the wood stove, and it blew up HUGE, filling the entire pan. We only ate 1/4 of it last night.
We had SEVERE storms last night. A small tornado was reported to have touched down in the small town 5 miles north of us, and ripped off several roofs and destroyed carports. Also, the closest major city of San Antonio had a tornado touch down on the West Side and caused damage. I am thankful the Lord spared us, we had started praying when the storm hit for the Lord to put a hedge of protection around our homestead, and He did! We received a hair under 3 inches of rain (according to the rain gauge), and while I worry about the house construction, I am thankful the pond was filled. The dry creek bed on our property funnels the rain that drains from the rest of the property into the pond. I had noticed yesterday, it was quite low, and the horses had been walking into the pond to eat the cat tails. Now, it's up quite a bit, though not overflowing.
It was overcast and chilly this afternoon when PH arrived home from work. PS#2 feels it is his duty to help daddy out every day, even if daddy doesn't need help. They were out for quite a bit when PH opened the door and placed PS#2 in the door. He was really cold looking. In no time I had him stripped and in nice warm fleece pajama bottoms, wrapped in a small afghan watching Scooby Doo. I had water already on the wood stove hot, so he had hot cocoa and chocolate chip cookies. He was very happy to be warm ;-)
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| Homemade dog food |
We also have four cats (down 2 this week, the coyotoes are relentless). With the exception of Lily, our house Diva, they hunt primarily for themselves, keeping the barn and area free of rodents. I do give them a little cat food, but....if TMHTF I'd stop feeding them in a heart beat. The hold outs would be the dogs. Realistically, I could probably feed two dogs on scraps, the others would have to go. I'm not the type to let one starve, so in an emergency situation, we would have to put them down, which is sad, but those are the hard choices I'd have to make in a rough world.
The livestock pretty much fends for themselves. We do supplement with hay in the winter (we get this free), if the grass has stopped growing. So far, we have been blessed with rain this winter, then warm days so there is grazing for everyone. We do put out a flake of hay for each horse and the calf in the evening. The goats don't care for the hay often. The pigs graze, and get all of our vegetable scraps, and the chickens free range for what they can find. They are pretty fat and sassy, so I think they are getting enough. The chickens did get a special treat tonight. PH was leveling the "cabin" (AKA shipping container) and found these HUGE grub worms eating away at the large wooden beams he had used previously to level the place. The chickens were beside themselves fighting over them. It was pretty gross! Oh, we do also gather wild melons that grow along the road sides here. The past few years, I've gotten a couple of rubber maid totes for the goats, but this year we took the small tractor and wagon and filled it up, and stored them in the barn. Each night we cut open several and toss into the pigs. They really LOVE them, and it's free food.
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| Grub worms and PH finger |
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| Huge French Bread Loaf |
We had SEVERE storms last night. A small tornado was reported to have touched down in the small town 5 miles north of us, and ripped off several roofs and destroyed carports. Also, the closest major city of San Antonio had a tornado touch down on the West Side and caused damage. I am thankful the Lord spared us, we had started praying when the storm hit for the Lord to put a hedge of protection around our homestead, and He did! We received a hair under 3 inches of rain (according to the rain gauge), and while I worry about the house construction, I am thankful the pond was filled. The dry creek bed on our property funnels the rain that drains from the rest of the property into the pond. I had noticed yesterday, it was quite low, and the horses had been walking into the pond to eat the cat tails. Now, it's up quite a bit, though not overflowing.
It was overcast and chilly this afternoon when PH arrived home from work. PS#2 feels it is his duty to help daddy out every day, even if daddy doesn't need help. They were out for quite a bit when PH opened the door and placed PS#2 in the door. He was really cold looking. In no time I had him stripped and in nice warm fleece pajama bottoms, wrapped in a small afghan watching Scooby Doo. I had water already on the wood stove hot, so he had hot cocoa and chocolate chip cookies. He was very happy to be warm ;-)
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| PS#2 and his dirty little face enjoying cookies and cocoa by the fire |
Friday, November 4, 2011
Chickens, Pigs and Cows - Oh My!
We had three of our chicks killed by our dog. I was so sad! They made it to 2 months old without casualty, but I let them out to free range in front of the barn a little, and they went into the dog kennel - dumb birds!
We lost 2 Americaunas, and 1 Buff Orpington. We are now down to 19 birds ( 8 Americaunas, 9 Buffs, and the 2 chicks we hatched from the incubator, and they are 10 weeks old and MEAN! They are part Buff and part Banty, and did I mention MEAN! They will rush the fence and try to fight and peck. They must be roosters!
I'll be working on cleaning out the coop this weekend, and hopefully getting the wire fencing up for the new chicken yard. Once that is done, the "plan" is to order 25 Freedom Ranger (meat birds). These will be in a brooder for a couple of weeks, and out in the tractor during the nice part of the day. I'd love a chick room, like a friend of mine has...basically a permanent chicken nursery. Some day (sigh).
We pick up our calf next Saturday. He will be 6 weeks old by then. I believe we will still have to bottle feed him. I am not looking forward to that task.
We will also be getting our piglet soon. I must work on the pen for it. Not sure if it is a boy or girl yet.
This week has been busy. We have been in a flurry of activity from schoolwork to errands to stacking wood. We had really cold temperatures this week from 35-41. We used the wood stove each evening so far, and had to use the kerosene heater last night as it dipped into the 30's. Wow! It's only early November. This does not bode well for the Winter.
I managed to can my chicken stock this week. I will have more to do because my anniversary gift (beautiful Americauna rooster) went to chicken hell this week, and his carcass is in the freezer. He attacked my 2 year old one too many times and PH had to blast him one. PS#2 was very shaken, and is still wary of walking in the yard. He hightails it for the nearest person when he sees the hens. I've given him the job of tossing feed to the hens, so maybe he'll get over the trauma.
House progress is still ongoing, and I am getting very excited. I can hardly stand myself!
We lost 2 Americaunas, and 1 Buff Orpington. We are now down to 19 birds ( 8 Americaunas, 9 Buffs, and the 2 chicks we hatched from the incubator, and they are 10 weeks old and MEAN! They are part Buff and part Banty, and did I mention MEAN! They will rush the fence and try to fight and peck. They must be roosters!
I'll be working on cleaning out the coop this weekend, and hopefully getting the wire fencing up for the new chicken yard. Once that is done, the "plan" is to order 25 Freedom Ranger (meat birds). These will be in a brooder for a couple of weeks, and out in the tractor during the nice part of the day. I'd love a chick room, like a friend of mine has...basically a permanent chicken nursery. Some day (sigh).
We pick up our calf next Saturday. He will be 6 weeks old by then. I believe we will still have to bottle feed him. I am not looking forward to that task.
We will also be getting our piglet soon. I must work on the pen for it. Not sure if it is a boy or girl yet.
This week has been busy. We have been in a flurry of activity from schoolwork to errands to stacking wood. We had really cold temperatures this week from 35-41. We used the wood stove each evening so far, and had to use the kerosene heater last night as it dipped into the 30's. Wow! It's only early November. This does not bode well for the Winter.
I managed to can my chicken stock this week. I will have more to do because my anniversary gift (beautiful Americauna rooster) went to chicken hell this week, and his carcass is in the freezer. He attacked my 2 year old one too many times and PH had to blast him one. PS#2 was very shaken, and is still wary of walking in the yard. He hightails it for the nearest person when he sees the hens. I've given him the job of tossing feed to the hens, so maybe he'll get over the trauma.
House progress is still ongoing, and I am getting very excited. I can hardly stand myself!
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