Bringing home the bacon...

In April we brought home two of the cutest pigs I had ever seen. One was a gift for AmberMae who wanted a pig more than anything and the other was a gift for Aeryn. Both girls wanted to try to raise their own pigs for pork. As I promote any sort of farming activity to get kids involved and thinking about where their food comes from I was a huge advocate for this idea.

What surprised me was my sister Evelyn's take on the situation. She agreed for Amber to have a pig and to let us house Aeryn's pig with it. I was very excited. The only reason it surprised me thought is that Evelyn is not much of a farm girl. I am definitely the farm girl of the family.And that is okay. Because it helps to make us unique. The world would be boring if we were all farm kids!

The piglets were so little and adorable. Aeryn of course picked the runtiest pig out of the litter. As soon as we brought them home the kids were in love.

It was a really long Summer and Fall for AmberMae. Since the pigs were at their house this seemed the best bet. I just did my best to keep the food coming. I am going to have to get AmberMae on here within the next few days. Or have her write something for me to type. I really think that it is important to get her perspective on what raising these beasties was like.

From my perspective the biggest pain was getting them slaughtered. Who knew that the slaughtering business would be so completely booked up so far in advance? Mom called around for days trying to get our piggies a place to go. Finally we found one and there was a whole new battle. Getting them there.

Every truck that we could get in touch with fell through with very short notice. Eventually I borrowed Mary's pick up truck hoping that we could get them into the bed. I built an ingenious enclosure in the back using some pallets that I managed to snag from TSC. Unfortunately after three hours of struggling with them to get into the bed of the truck we gave up. I was cold, wet and unbelievably smelly at that point. As a matter of fact I took off my shoes at the door and put them immediately in the trash.

 The pigs were picked up Friday by the nice man who we had scheduled to slaughter them. (Apparently we should have asked if he picked up sooner) For a small fee he drove to Walpole and loaded them into his trailer  Coincidentally it only took him about fifteen minutes to have both pigs in.

On Sunday night I called the butcher and gave him the order for the cuts of meat that I was looking for and he said it would be available to pick up today. Hurray. Final hanging weight of Delicious was close to 200 lbs and the hanging weight for Sir Bacon Bottom was close to 300 lbs. Tonight we enjoyed some beautiful lean pork chops. (Evelyn is planning to have some of the breakfast sausage that we ordered so I am sure that I will be reviewing that soon)

 My biggest fear was that Aeryn would not eat her pig once we got it into the freezer. We butchered pigs in the spring and she did not have a problem eating it. (even when she was a part of the cutting and packing process) But I felt that this was a bit different. I was afraid that the pigs would become pets and that she would have a problem remembering what their purpose in life was.

 I am so proud of my girl. Even though she loved the pigs she remembered their purpose. They are food, not pets. She believes that meat will taste better if it has been loved and cared for instead of growing up on a factory farm. After tonight's dinner...I agree with her.

The simple things...

Roseanna is looking at me with that
look that says "What are you looking at?" 

 The simple things make everything so much easier. They also make things more economical and efficient. By adding a round bale feeder we have been able to cut down on the cows wasting hay. Amazingly the hay stretches farther if they are not able to lay down in it. If they do not lay down in it they are more apt to eat it.

Aeryn tries to explain to them that they should lay down in the sawdust that we put in their stall but they do not seem to be listening. 

Taking cookies to the horses.
He thinks they need the
entire container. 

We have cut them down to one stall in the barn. Since they do not appear to be bedding down in the barn we have decided to stop wasting the sawdust to keep it bedded and clean. The girls don't seem to mind and it has given us extra storage space to hold all of our "stuff". 

We have a lot of equipment in the barn. Probably more than we need. But all of our halters and buckets are there. As well as hay, grain, shovel, wheel barrow....By using the spare stall as a storage area it is easy to keep everything neat and tidy as well. I am trying to drill into Aeryn that because we are "borrowing" the barn it is extra important to keep everything clean. 

They are intently watching Aeryn
 break the ice off the water tub. They know
that as soon as she goes into the barn it's
time to eat.

It's dinner time! He come the girls.

Our second recent investment is a 10 foot bunk feeder. Not something that you would think would be a big life changed. But one that makes things run a little more smoothly. No more feeding each animal individually without a bucket. It just makes things a little bit quicker. The cows are great and they walk into the barn as soon as they see a car pull up. And then they stand there, as pretty as you please, until you throw their food into the bunk. There is no more pushing or shoving. No buckets being tossed around and stepped in. It is a pretty amazing sight. And yes I know that most people would think it odd for me to believe that watching cows eat is a sight to behold. 

When asked why I stand and watch them as they lay into their food at night my answer is simple. This is one of the best times to see if there is anything wrong with any of the animals. When an animal is "off feed", it is a sure sign that something is wrong and one of the first indicators that I look for. It is a great time to see if they are acting any differently than usual. It is also a very peaceful time. 

I look at our cows, very content in their way of life and I think about that commercial that ran on TV forever. You know the one. The one that says that "Happy cows come from California". Well whoever made those commercials never saw the cows from southern New Hampshire because at Long View Farm we have very happy cows. 

Winter is coming...

I will not jump on a horse and ride up and down the road with these words shouted from my lips. Instead I will be farm more productive and plan for the hardest months of the year to come. And I say hardest lightly. It is not that they are overly hard. They are just a bit more difficult than the spring and summer months. I have to plan ahead and make sure everything is set regaurding feed and bad weather. What's a little more planning right?

Our first obsticle to overcome was housing for our lovely girls. Jay overcame that obsticle for us.  Our barn is perfect for what we need it for and the cows are amazingly happy. There is now a round bale feeder in our little pasture and we have started bringing in round bales for them to eat. (By we I would really like to say Jay)

What would Aeryn, Alex and I have done had we not met such an amazing friend? Without his help and tireless effort we would never have been able to embark on this adventure. He has been a huge help feeding on the evenings when I work and have not had a car. He hauls hay and grain for us and given us  the ability to have a better solution for winter forage. His friendship, and hard work have been an invaluable resource.

We have past the six month mark of cow ownership. November was the start of our seventh month. Roseanna is now weighing in at 1330 lbs, Lola is 1050, Rachel is 590 lbs and Rose is 604 lbs.  Everyone has grown up so much! It is kind of like watching our children grow up. The animals have also become increasingly more friendly. Since bringing them to the barn, where they have to come to get grain, there is much more close contact which is enabling them to get better used to daily handling. (probably something that should have been thought out before this endeavor started)

Alex is able to go in and out of the stalls and the barn without us having to worry about him being trampled unknowingly. The cows are much more aware of his presence and will back away from them. Though Roseanna is still a little pushy if you try to step between her and her food.

Jay has arranged with another grain supplier to get our grain and corn broght from a supplier in Northfield. We will be buying it in bulk instead of by the bag which will enable us to reduce grain costs. The cost of feeding over the winter is often a crippling expense and we are planning ahead for that.

When the world goes to crap...

While driving in the car the other day my lovely daughter says "Mom, I would like to learn to hunt". Now for any of you who have seen me, I do not in any way resemble a mom who goes hunting. I respect hunters and I respect the sport it is just not something that I have gotten into in the past. Nor do I think that it is something that I will do a lot of un the future. However I have made it a vow to make sure that my children are able to learn whatever skill it is that they want to aquire. So I guess I should start looking for someone to teach her how to hunt.

My mother then turned to me and said "You know, when the world falls apart. Aeryn is going to be okay"

I have been thinking about this statement for a few days now. And you know what? She was right. Aeryn is going to be okay. For the most part she is a very level headed child. She wants to learn how to farm and how to live off the land even though she knows that it is much easier to just go to the grocery store. She knows the importance of eating well. Which includes eating foods that are not loaded with preservative and other additives. She would rather eat meat that she knows has been treated humanely throughout its life even if it means saying goodbye to a friend in order to fill our freezer. (Not something that we have had to deal with yet. But we know it is coming and she is looking at it with an open mind) She understands that within a couple of weeks Delicious will be turned into bacon. And she realizes that without the sacrifice of Delicious's life, we would not have bacon.

This has gotten me to talking more with my child about other things she would like to learn. She wants to  hunt and fish. To have a garden and be able to can vegetables for the winter. She would also like a cider press.

On her list of animals to learn about she would like chickens and sheep. Chickens for their eggs and meet and sheep for it's fleece. Apparently she thinks that if she owns a sheep than she will get more warm, knitted wool items from mom and grammy once they have knitted said fleece.

I could easily picture her living her own life without being forced to interact with so many negative parts of society. Now it is a struggle to get her to interact with the positive parts. She would much rather be outside learning what she needs to learn in a hands on manner than being locked in a classroom. I don't blame her but stress the importance of having both classroom learning as well as hands on learning. She realized a benefit of this recently when they were reading a story about a man who was logging with horses and was able to give her the input of actually doing it. It gave her so much more incite into the matter to know what it was life first hand.

She also enjoys being able to share her experiences when she is around groups of people. Aeryn understands that what she is doing is not a normal thing for chilren in our day and age. Not that there are not a lot of other children having the same types of experiences, it is just not the norm. She loves to answer questions and talk about the things that we do. I am pretty sure that I am going to encourage her to go into some of the public speaking events that the 4-H program offers. Aeryn would be an amazing advocate for farm children everywhere. And she is prood that you do not need to live on the farm to get the farm kid experience.

So my mom was right. When the world goes to the crapper, my kid is going to be just fine.

Shadows of a dream remembered

There is a price to pay for every luxury that we want in life. I am learning that hard and fast these days. And yes before you question it, owning large animals is a luxury. Having our cows is part of a life choice that I have made for my children and myself. One that I will not regret no matter what happens.

I have wanted to own cows and horses for as long as I can remember. I had an amazing brother, Elmer, who got me into farming when I was a young girl. He worked at a local dairy farm in our small town in the Southwest corner of New Hampshire. Often we would go to visit him and he would take me walking out in the free stall where all of the big milking cows just lounged around waiting until it was time to be brought into the barn and milked. I loved those cows. I loved him and the time that we spent together.

When I was 8 years old Elmer brought me to my first 4-H meeting. The wife of the farms owner was the local leader and meetings were held at the farm. I was terrified. I was not a very outgoing child and being put in the middle of the kitchen with all of these kids that seemed so my bigger than I was at the time was a bit frightening. But Brenda was amazing. She treated me like one of her own children and soon I realized that being in this group was like having a bunch of brothers and sisters.

The older kids had so much to teach me. And I sucked it all up like a sponge. It did not take me very long to decided that farming was something that I wanted to do when I got older. I loved every minute of it. And most of all I enjoyed the time that I got to spend with my brother as he helped me train my first heifer. A big black and white girl named Alli.

After my first show season I was addicted. I started spending free time at the barn doing work in exchange for leasing Alli. This eventually turned into a summer job. I worked for Brenda, cleaning and feeding calves and whatever other chores she had to do. To a nine year old this was an amazing opportunity. I learned so much about farming and animals. I also learned a lot about myself.

Elmer and I got into the habit of talking about the kind of farm I wanted to have when I got older. There was an old red barn that we would look at whenever we drove into Keene. Secretly we had wished that someday that would be our barn. I had vivid dreams about what it would be like restoring the broken down building to the grandeur that it had once possessed. I knew Elmer had thoughts like this was well.

I lost my brother one cold November day when I was 15. And along with him my dreams of owning my own farm died as well. I continued to work for Brenda for a couple more years. After my 18th birthday I got completely out of 4-H and away from farming. It brought back to many regrets and memories that I had thought were better buried away. It took me a really long time to come to terms with Elmer's death. But eventually it happened.

It happened when Aeryn begged me to let her join a 4-H group. She had been around cows since birth as one of her baby sitters used to also work at the farm. She knew all about 4-H and could not wait to be old enough to join. Through her I have once again found that love that I once had. There are days that I can not help looking at her and seeing the shadow of my brother following closely at her heals. I know that he would be proud of her. Proud of the amazing young girl that she has become and her ability to take the bull by the horns and come out on her feet. What an amazing child she is.

I tell her about him. The funny, loving stories that we made together. The memories of a time long gone by. Deep inside I believe he is watching her as she succeeds in the goals that she has set for herself. I also believe that he is smiling down on me. If anyone would support the fact that I have made a wise choice it would have been him.

Headstrong children = headstrong cows...

Aeryn is teaching Alex how to make duck
noises to call to the ducks in the pond.
At this point Alex is almost able to
mimic the sounds his sister makes.

The quality of stubbornness is not in short supply in my life. I face it daily with both my children and my cows. Cows are often just like children. At least we treat ours like children...Maybe we are doing it wrong. Nah I don't think so . 

Last night Aeryn tried to take Rachel for a walk. The girls have not been on a halter much since we came home from Cheshire fair due to time constraints on our part. Needless to say it was a bit of an interesting experience. 

A few of the ducks in
the pond.

They are getting much better about the barn. They come right in now when it is time to eat with no hesitation. Before, the small ones were a bit scared. Now they associate the barn with getting food so its all good.Having them in an enclosed space makes it a whole lot easier to catch them. We have no problems getting their halters on and off any more. 

So last nights task was to get them all in the barn, get their halters on them, and get them out walking on show halters. In my mind it sounded like a really good plan and it sounded super easy. We started with Rachel who walked really well out of the barn for me. However when Aeryn took the halter Rachel seemed to remember that she was over four hundred lbs heavier than Aeryn and managed to get away. So there she was running around on the lawn with her show halter on. 

She wanted nothing to do with coming to a bucket of grain and even went so far as to jump over the electric fence to get away. (I am now thinking that the electric fence may not be so productive after all if my heifer is able to clear it like a horse. Maybe I should look into show jumping cows?) It took a little patience (and a lot of Aeryn running around the field) but we finally managed to catch her. 

One thing that I have learned in all of my years of working with cows is that when they break away like that it is NOT time to stop the training session. If we had let her go and just do her own thing it would have taught her that she could do it every time and get away with pushing Aeryn around. So after we caught her I am the one that took her for a walk. The made the evening not as productive as I had wanted it to be because I had wanted to be able to take more than one animal out. But I would rather put a kink in my original plan and change it up a little than to risk one of my children getting seriously injured.

Alex wanted to walk down the road with us and Aeryn managed to get a few pictures of him walking along holding Rachel's lead. He is quite the little farm boy.

Our friend Dan...

For a couple of weeks we took care of a horse. A big Belgian draft horse named Dan. He belonged to the people who owned one of the pastures that we are going to be using for the Fall and Winter. When they moved to Virginia they started looking for a family to adopt him.

Dan is 23 years old. Pretty old for a horse. He limps when he walks and take a little extra time to get from point A to point B. But that did not make him any less likable. He was friendly and strong and proud. Over the course of the time that he shared the pasture with the cows he and I would stand at the top of the hill and watch the kids, dog, and cows run around in the field. He was like a sentinel standing over the younger generations. 

Aeryn fell in love with him immediately. She has wanted a horse for as long as I can remember and this was kind of like her getting one. For a brief time. We spoke with Jay and told him that if the owners did not find someone to adopt him than we would feed him and love him right along with our cows. As Aeryn says "Old horses need love just as much as old people." Smart little girl. 

Dan has moved on now. To a new life. He was adopted by what appears to be a wonderful family and is now sharing a pasture with a couple of other horses. He seems to be very happy in his new location. This knowledge softens the heartache Aeryn felt when I told her he was leaving. 

But Aeryn made me think. She is right when she says that old horses are like old people. Just as old cows are like old people. Animals have thoughts and feelings too even if we can not always tell what they are at a given time. My observant little girl is able to tell when her cows are happy, sad or scared. She knows when they are getting nervous or a bit stressed out. And the same applies to horses. Which makes me wonder are they really that much different than humans?

For the majority of my life I have preferred the company of horses and cows to humans. They are farm more pleasant to be around. Animals are also not deceitful. They are truthful and honest in their actions and mannerisms. 

Alex also seems to have a connection with animals. He could sit and watch Jay and Lilly's chickens for hours. Yesterday he and Aeryn got the joy of feeding them some bread under Lilly's watchful eye. I hope within the coming days to catch a picture of Alex crouching down with a big red chicken in front of him as he tries to get her to come over for him to pat. As a mother I have a horrible fear of the chicken just pecking his eye out. But my innocent boy has no fear. 

So I would like to give a thank you and a shout out to our friend Dan. He has made me think about the wonders of having animals in our lives. For us it happens to be being surrounded by horses and cows. For others it may be goats, sheep or chickens. And then there are people who have cats, dogs, birds....Animals are a blessing. Our lives would be empty without them.