Farrowing in Hoop Building in January

January 22, 2012

Splitting up farming with my parents means I needed to find a different way to farrow.  We used a combination of crates and pens in a heated farrowing barn on my parents’ farm.  It worked well.  Last year we average 10 piglets born alive and 9 piglets weaned per litter.

I was excited to try farrowing in pens, because it’s a new challenge, and because I don’t like crates.  Crates do save piglets from crushing, however, so the question is, can I raise enough piglets this way to be economically viable?

Pictured above, I built ten farrowing pens in one of my hoop buildings so each sow and litter could farrow in privacy.  I used a combination of round bales of bedding and wire panels.  I used the bedding bales to make the pens larger, and to have dry bedding accessible at all times.

I didn’t think it would work very well to farrow in an unheated barn in January.  But I didn’t have many due to farrow, so I thought I would try it, so I could learn.

The first gilt farrowed two weeks ago when the temperature was in the 20′s.  The air temperature in the hoop building is about ten degrees warmer than outside.  She and the piglets did fine.  She had eleven born alive and one stillborn.  You can see the dead stillborn piglet mixed in with the placenta in the picture below.  The gilt laid on four piglets during the first 48 hours.  The younger the piglets are, the more vulnerable they are to crushing.  The remaining seven piglets are doing well.

The next two gilts farrowed during an extremely cold time.  Temps were around zero F with below zero wind chills.  Those piglets didn’t do well.  18 out of 20 piglets froze or were crushed in the first few days.

Two more gilts farrowed last night.  Temps are in the 30′s.  They are doing well.

Pictured below is a behavioral trait I want to select for genetically.  Instead of just flopping down and crushing piglets, the gilt scoops out a bowl in the straw with her snout, kneels on her front legs, thereby extending her udder all the way down into the straw, then lies down.  Very few piglets will be crushed this way.

4 Comments | Curious farmer, Curious hogs, Curious livestock costs | Permalink
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Reality Review

January 1, 2012

Country Outfitter, a retailer of Dickies, sent me this Dickies premium insulated bib overall to review.

Adam from Country Outfitter asked if I would like to review a pair of boots.  I checked out their site and regretted to inform them I don’t wear cowboy boots.

“How about something else?”

I found these insulated Bibs.  So far I love them.  They are super warm.  I normally wear uninsulated Dickies with long underwear, but wanted to try something different  when the weather is brutal.

I’m going to wait and wear them for a winter season before I give my final review. 

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Brotherhood of the Combover Men

December 18, 2011

I’ve started the “combover.”  I wanted to document this moment in time and let you know that, speaking for all “combover men”, ‘yes, we know we are leaving our hair longer and combing it over thinner areas.’  We just want everyone to pretend it’s not happening.  We think of ourselves as thick-haired studs, and would appreciate it if you would pretend to think that as well.

A woman was cutting my hair about ten years ago.  I asked her if my hair was thinning.  She said no, but too emphatically.  I knew she was lying, and I think she knew I knew she was lying, but I realized the delicate dance which had just started for me and would not be finished until I was dead or shaved my head.

The last couple of years my barber has started leaving my hair longer in certain places, and it’s funny how it just falls into place across the thinner areas.  And by ‘fall into place’ I mean, incessant stroking with my right hand in a diagonal, back-to-front motion.  My barber never acknowledged he was doing this, and I never brought it up.  I had joined the “brotherhood of the combover men.”

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Sow and Calves, Getting Acquainted

December 12, 2011

The steer calves, with one adventurous sow.

You can see the two-strand electric fence.  In the industry we refer to this as a psychological fence.  Hogs and cattle are easily trained to electric fence.  The fence around the other lot is a physical fence, with five-foot high cattle panels and two boards, attached to wooden posts.

While I hate to anthropomorphize and say they’re  friends, I will say they’ve gotten acquainted.

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Sow Housing

December 10, 2011

Wednesday was a big day for my new farm.  We moved 17 sows and 2 boars to my farm.  The sows have always been housed on my parents’ farm, but since we are splitting up our farms, I needed to figure out sow housing on my farm.

I could have used the hoop barns, as I have used them for sows with litters and gestating sows, from time to time when I had room.  But I figured I would need all three hoop barns for growing pigs, so I brainstormed and decided to use the former dairy barn which is the bottom of  my big old red barn.

A carpenter friend helped me shore up the old barn door and build the sliding door you see pictured below.  I came up with that so I could lock the sows in or out securely, and I didn’t want a door which swung, because the bedding could pile up next to the door and make it difficult to operate.

The sows exit the barn into the cattle lot.  This is where the steer calves eat their hay and drink their water.  This lot is fenced securely, but I also built another lot to give the calves more room, which is fenced with a two-strand electric fence.

So the time had come to make the move, but I had no idea how it would work.  The variables I was unsure of included:

1.Would the sows find and go in the barn?

2. Would the cattle and sows get along, or would they scare each other through the fence?

3. Would the sows see the electric fence, get shocked, then back away instead of going through and destroying it?

This is how I managed the situation.  I kept the calves and sows separated during the morning.  I fed some grain in the entrance of the barn to lure sows in.

How did it work?  The sows found the barn and all but one were sleeping in it by night.  I couldn’t get the one to go in, so I left the door open all night.  The calves were scared of the sows, but in a curious way with no stampeding.  A few sows were shocked by the electric fence and retreated without destroying it.

What didn’t work?  The sows enjoyed lounging by the calves’ hay, so the calves wouldn’t eat their hay.  I moved the hay further away so the calves could eat.

An unanticipated problem was the automatic waterer was frozen.  I put in a new Ritchie so the sows could drink, which I’ll post about later. I panicked for a moment, but all I had to do was turn the thermostat up.

The photo above shows a boar I call “Able” breeding.  Standing at the front of the sow is “Bewilder”, my other herd boar I wrote about earlier in the year.

2 Comments | Curious cattle, Curious farmer, Curious hogs | Permalink
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Wood Cutting Season

December 3, 2011

It’s wood cutting season.  I’ve written before about windows on the farm.  The wood cutting window is after harvest is finished, and bedding bales are made, and calves are weaned, and cows are pregnancy checked, and all the livestock is secure in their wintering grounds, but before the snow.

Wood cut in this window is a pleasure.  I’m sure its just mental gymnastics, because cutting wood is hard work anytime, but wood cut at this time almost seems easy, because we know how difficult it will be when the snow is deep.

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Looking Out For Me

November 9, 2011

The hind end of our old Massey 750 combine, kicking out cobs.

You ever notice people driving down the road with a dent in their car, and then the driver does the maneuver, (tailgating, veering into the other lane, etc.), which probably caused the previous dent?

The dents on this combine tell a similar story, except we have an excuse, it’s impossible to see directly behind.  If you ever find yourself behind a combine, look out.

–

I have several people looking out for me, and it’s nice.  When they find an article they think may be of interest to me, they tweet or email.  Thank you.  I appreciate it.

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Jude Becker’s Philosophy

September 25, 2011

I cut the spring garden peas.  They regrew and flowered.  I don’t recall the flowers being this pretty in the spring.

—-

“Do you ever see piles of junk around a winery?” Jude Becker asked.

“No.”

“And why not?  Because the wine people decided that a visit to their farm would be a wonderful part of the wine experience.  That’s what I want to do here.”

We stood in the loft of his remodeled barn, surrounded by his Dad’s beautiful wood projects, including a depiction of the twelve apostles, commissioned by a church but never paid for.  We leaned against the bar.

“Why can’t pork be the same as wine?  This is where I want to have tastings.”

I thought about what Jude said, and I realize he’s right.  Pork should have more prestige than wine.  Somehow we’ve commoditized this animal, and took away anything special, anything which could enrich our life rather than just sustain it.  And in so doing, we’ve commoditized the farmer.

Jude strives to differentiate his pork from commodity pork.  Why shouldn’t his pork be different from mine also?  We could celebrate the terroir of pork.  We could celebrate the seasons.  We could celebrate the in-season feeds.

Citygirlfriend grew celery this year.  It was dense, dark-green, and full of flavor.  I raved, “This is nutrient-dense celery.  I never want to eat store-bought celery again.”

I know all of this sounds artisanal, and it is.  I’m going further down the artisanal road, and probably won’t be able to ever return to commodity food  production.  So be it, I’m not a commodity, why should my food be?

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A Visit to Becker Lane Organic Farm

September 20, 2011

Jude Becker, of Becker Lane Organic Farm.  Jude is an Iowa State graduate, and probably the largest outdoor pig producer in the US.  He supplies fresh, organic pork, year- around, to many discerning customers, including Whole Foods.  Jude even has a quote from Michael Pollan, raving about his pork.

I knew I was close to the right farm when I saw farrowing huts stretching over the horizon.  Jude has three full-time employees.  Production is intensive and extensive.  Each of these huts is individually fenced, with one sow and litter in each pen.  Two sows share a water, and each is fed individually, once a day.  The shelters in the right of the photo are turned on their side, and being disinfected before being used for another litter.

Sow with litter, in farrowing hut.  Jude has tried cheaper huts, but finally settled on the cadillac of farrowing huts, John Booth, imported from the UK.  Huts are insulated, so Jude is able to farrow in the heat of summer, and the cold of winter.

Piglet crushing is still a problem.  Jude is still searching for the best genetics for outdoor pig production.  His current philosophy is to have a super-maternal sow, bred to an excellent meat-quality boar.  Jude uses artificial insemination to breed his sows.

Pig drinking.  One well supplies water to all his pigs.  Most of his equipment has been imported from Europe, as they are years ahead of the US with outdoor pig production.


Good news, bad news.  I’m heartened to see pigs consistently kept in with a two-strand electric fence.  I’m disheartened to see the destruction of Jude’s pastures from the pigs’ incessant rooting.  Jude admits this is a major hurdle for outdoor pig production.

Going to Jude’s farm, I hoped to find a protocol which I could copy.  But, like most things in life, I realize I’m still going to have to find my own way.

Thank you Jude, for being a gracious host, giving me many ideas, and hopefully saving me some troubles.

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Midwestern Bio-Ag

September 1, 2011

I enjoyed attending a Midwestern Bio-Ag field day.  Fertilizer is their main business, but they also deal in feed and seed.  Pictured is a large truck which is used to spread fertilizer, and a red buggy which a farmer can pull behind a tractor to spread fertilizer.

Gary Zimmer is the founder of Midwestern Bio-Ag.  I picked up a copy of his new book, “Advancing Biological Farming.”  He sold me in his introduction, when he wrote:

“So please, when you read this book don’t be too quick to judge.  Don’t read between the lines.  I’m sure you can find some details you won’t or can’t agree with, but remember, these are my thoughts, observations, ideas, and experiences up to this point in time.  Show me a better way and I’m ready to make changes and take on new ideas after they have been tested and their success demonstrated on the farm.  I want to know when it works, how it works, why it works or doesn’t work.  If a new idea makes sense, improves quality and/or yield, and is profitable, then let’s go with it.”

I always listen to a person who admits he doesn’t know everything.

I have a difficult time knowing if a fertilizer is real, or “foo-foo dust”.  There are so many variables in farming, it’s nearly impossible to know if a little something we spread on the fields has an effect.  Unless I correct a visible deficiency, fertilizer is almost faith-based.

That being said, I’m thinking about working with Midwestern Bio-Ag for my fertilizer wants and needs.  I plan to figure ways to test the effectiveness of their products.

6 Comments | Curious crops, Curious farmer, Curious fertilizer | Permalink
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