Tucked in...

The storm earlier this week drove us to make some moves on animal winter housing.  For whatever numerous reasons there were several things that weren't done.  After several years of mistakes in winterizing the animals we have learned alot...and we still have plenty to learn. 
One thing I had to get used to was the idea that animals (like us) live in more confined ways in the winter. 
We like to support our animals living in a manner that suits their natural tendencies.  We put our hens and meat birds on pasture in the summer.  Our pigs have a large range of woods and pasture three seasons a year.  We use our goats to clear woodland so they always have over an acre of brushy undergrowth they are working on.   The reality is that snow and electric fencing don't really mix too well and animals like the pony require careful turnout in the winter so they don't hurt themselves on icy patches.  Everyone has a decent enough coat (or thick enough skin..and fat) to endure the cold but they also require some decent shelter from stiff winds and wet precipitation.  Basically, being cold is OK, but being wet and cold and drafty is not.  I can relate!  After discussing the whole winter "confinement" matter with several other farmers--who also pasture their meat and dairy critters-- over time, I became more comfy with the  idea of cozying everyone up for the winter.   Plus, by the end of winter, we have a nice huge pile of manure that can go on the gardens!!!
Slowly we worked up to a small list of winter residents that forced us to learn a whole new set of skills and practices.  Right now we are housing:

3 Alpine Dairy Goats
2 Large Black Hogs (sow possibly expecting)
1 medium pony
1 6 month old Dexter heifer
8 laying hens

So there are surely many ways to care for your animals in the winter but I thought I might share how we do it...which is forever changing...in the spirit of the ol' Grange Hall.  The way that farmers have been learning, and doing and sharing since the early days of farming.
The hens, per my last post, are living in the lap of luxury in their solar heated hoop house accomodation.

To winterize the goats we use sheep fence (wire 5 inch square mesh) and make a smaller sized corral around their house.  This fence is not electrified and they stay in no problem.  We throw in  evergreen boughs all winter for browse.  They get straw bedding which is deep packed (we dont change it til spring) and they get hay and a little extra grain.

The pigs got moved into a large stall in the barn which they lovingly share.  That gets mucked twice daily and they get some hay bedding which they also munch on. 

The calf is in the next stall over.  She gets tons of hay...mucked daily and ideally brushed daily---trying to make her super tame for milking...thats my goal anyway.  It seems to be going well.

The pony wears a blanket and lives mostly in his stall although he gets walks and turnout into the snowy pasture--which he loves to roll in.  He also gets dengi to supplement his forage diet and help him enjoy eating a little more in the face of declining dental health---oh getting old is tough.

We keep a little NPR or some such on the barn radio to keep everyone company -- and well informed -- and we, so far, have been pretty happy with how everyone is faring this winter.  We finally feel like we have the beginnings of a "system" down.  And we can reasonably afford our grain bill (ahem).

Of course--just when things are getting familiar--your sheep farmer friend calls to lure you with her 12 prospective blue liecester X lambs...just a couple wethers...beauuuuutiful fiber.....easy keepers....OH DEAR!  Are things about to change...again??

Saving...Part 2 Do it yourself

You may have noticed, I'm a bit obsessed with cost analysis.  Part of that stems from a desire to save save save, and the other part from the fact that I just went from a nearly full time, classroom situation, to working one day a week at my job.  We made this change as a family in order to homeschool and allow for me to spend more time with the kiddos. So here are some ways we save money by doing it ourselves.

1) Laundry soap.  It takes almost the same amount of time to make as it does to take it off the shelf and at a savings of /load, it's a real bargain.  It even takes paint out of clothing!
2) Baking and Cooking.  We make our own everything here, bread, pie, cookies...we eat homemade dinners, pack lunches, cook breakfast.  I have even started making yogurt (more on that another day.)  We try to keep it simple, healthy, and nutritious.  At times we don't succeed at this, but we try to keep it good for us at least 80% of the time.
3) Canning, Freezing, Dehydrating.  You've seen about many of the different things I've done here from the Rose Hip Jelly to the Applesauce and many others in between
4) Fixing.  Mend what needs to be mended, maintain things to make them last longer.
5) Don't be afraid to ask questions, ask for help, and ask opinions.  Others have done this before me and I often ask what they think about what I should do.  We've saved ourselves lots of problems this way.  We are also always open to helping hands!
6) Raising chickens (Country sister does this and more! check out each word) for eggs and occasionally meat.
7) Our garden...our connection to the land, food sources, and lots of tomatoes

date is wrong!

Sorry about the lack of pictures in this one, I gave you links to the archives instead of lots of picts of all this stuff!

What are some other ways we could do things ourselves to save?

What are you doing?

Country Homestead Tour #4: Large Black Hogs

Meet Henry and Henrietta! 

We eat meat.  And we're picky about it.  So for several years we have raised our own pork and chicken.  Its easy enough.  Buy a few piglets (usually 5) in the spring, feed them and treat them really well until fall and then into the freezer they go.  We go through almost 2 a year ourselves and we would sell the remainder as CSA shares. It was just fine.  Until....the year that everyone in our county decided they wanted to raise their own pork...and there was a bit of a piglet shortage...and the piglets we got were, let us just say, not choice.  So after one annoying year of piglet sourcing we decided to go whole hog (i couldnt resist that pun opportunity--really).   We decided to get a breeding pair of pigs that would become permanent residents at our farm and produce piglets, for meat and for live sale.

We went with the Large Black because they produce an excellent meat and are gentle and easy to handle.  We were able to acquire a breeding pair as piglets and since then have farrowed one great litter of piglets.  The other wonderful thing about this breed is that they are in demand so we have had no trouble selling our piglets and they go for a premium price. In fact, we ended up selling out the last litter and not even keeping one for our own freezer! This is nice as it offsets the cost of feeding these piggies all year round.  The other nice thing about them is that they are "pasture pigs".  They are inclined to, and do, munch on grass--cutting their grain needs slightly.  They do, however, root in areas where the pasture quality is low or there are grubs to be found. This is a con if you dont want your pasture torn up--on the other hand--we have found it to be a plus since those areas of poor pasture are now tilled and fertilized and can re-seed and grow properly.  The pigs, just two, have been a great help in renovating and fertilizing our small pasture areas and we also used them to turn under one of our gardens this year.  Just a little moveable electric fence--and you have an automated tilling machine at your service.

Henry now weighs in at close to 700 pounds and the Sow is close to 500 pounds as best we can measure.   They are so docile that our kids can go in their pasture with them with no trouble.  Its really quite amazing. 

I wasn't so sure at first about having year round pigs on our property.  I was concerned about smell, and the hassle of doing extra chores in the winter (lugging buckets of water across knee deep snow fields).  But, they have definitely earned their keep, are not smelly at all, and we are looking forward to another litter in November if all goes well.   We are very thankful to know where our meat comes from, from day one.  And for the opportunity to share our space with two very sweet, very special pigs that will likely be with us for a very long time.

For more information on the Large Black and other Heritage Livestock Breeds check out the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy http://www.albc-usa.org/cpl/largeblack.html