A Busy, Wonderful Day

After we got Sara fixed up, halters on her and Siobhan, and acorns collected for the pigs, Herb went to work setting up our new smoker with me as his assistant.

Once it was ready, it had to be cured.  He rubbed vegetable oil all  over the inside, then plugged it in for 3 hours.

Here is the smoker getting cured, although nothing shows since you don't use wood to cure it.

The pigs heard the metal rattling on the back porch near their food bin, and they squealed excitedly, sure it was something good for them.  That was so tragically ironic, since it is FOR them, that it made us sad.

Finally the smoker was cured and cooled and ready to go.  We put foil packets of mesquite chips that had been soaked in water and a few larger pieces directly on the lava rocks.

Next, we poured a beer into the water pan and finished filling it with water.

On the top rack of the smoker we placed the brisket we had bought at Triple H Meats, the same place we will take the pigs on Nov. 7.

I kept the seasonings simple so we could taste what the smoker does to the meat:  Penzey's Sunny Spain seasoning and some salt on the meat and a beer in the water pan.

Finally, we closed the smoker, plugged it in and let it go for 2 hours.  Mouth-watering smells and wisps of smoke began wafting forth before long.  It was a long afternoon to wait . . .

So we decided to accomplish a few more things.  Herb hitched up the trailer and drove it into the pigs' pasture so we can start feeding them in it tomorrow.  They came over to investigate and greeted us.  I started scratching 4, and she sank down full length on the ground with a "smile" on her face.  Both of us starting rubbing and scratching her while she ate up the attention.  In a few minutes 8 joined us and  flopped over for her scratch just like 4.  We must have sat there for five minutes, giving the pigs a massage while they "smiled" in bliss.  They are NOT making this easy!

One last job before fixing dinner.  While Herb braced the trailer with concrete blocks, I got a light set up in the chicken coop.  It's time to start extending the girls' light to keep their egg production up over the short winter days.  As I screwed in the bulb, I looked down and said, "Stupid chicken!"

Then I looked closer at the egg lying on the floor.  Hmm, I thought I knew what color eggs all my chickens lay, and I've never seen one that color.  I wonder if it could be a duck egg?

My research says not--all duck eggs are white or creamy--but it does make me wonder who made these two little "nests" on the floor and why?  Ooh, I just love a mystery!

The unsolved mystery had to wait because it was time to fix dinner:  home-smoked brisket, garlic smashed potatoes, home-grown green beans with garlic, and home-grown salad with cucumbers and the last few ripe tomatoes.  Dessert was Crannachan, a Scottish dessert that is basically whipped cream flavored with whiskey and honey.  And for an after-dinner drink, we had a bit of the Glen Moray whiskey we bought in Scotland with Katie and Cameron.  Now that was the perfect end to a perfect day!

Holy Cow! The Head Gate Works Fine for Dexters!

When we put up our head gate in July as part of our plan to breed Sara again, a reader asked how it worked.  I posted about an attempt to breed Sara in August, an attempt which failed--not through any fault of the head gate, but because of things we didn't know.

Since then, Herb has made the pen around the head gate smaller so Sara has less room to get away.  He also fastened a 16' cattle panel to the end of the chute as a sweep gate to move her where she's supposed to go.  Our last problem was that in August's heat we were less likely to get Sara successfully in season.  October weather has taken care of that problem without us having to do a thing!

So this morning, Mitch came from Bickett Genetics.  We enticed Sara into the round pen with pears, and I led her down the chute with a pear in front of her nose.  I must confess that as soon as Herb and Mitch had a bar in place behind Sara, I scrambled up the side of the chute and left her to the pears.  That chute is too narrow and her horns too long for me to stay in there any longer than I had to!

We asked Mitch to operate the head gate since we have absolutely NO experience, and we didn't want to miss Sara and waste his time.  He opened the gate, Sara moved forward, and . . .

Voila!  The head gate worked like a charm (at least under Mitch's expert touch).  We were surprised that Sara seemed so calm, but Mitch explained that once she's caught, the head gate feels safe and secure to the cow.

We wanted this to be a pleasant experience, so I fed Sara pears at one end while Mitch did his thing at the other end and Herb took pictures.  (I bet Mitch has never had a client take pictures of him work!  I'd love to know what he was thinking!)

Mitch put a vaginal implant in Sara and gave her an injection to stimulate her estrus (heat cycle).  He will come back in a week to repeat the injection and then 24-48 hours later to actually do the AI.

Since we need Sara to be willing to go into the head gate several more times, she got lots of pears!

She also got one thing she didn't like at all:  a halter!  We found great halters that fit Dexters perfectly at Mini Cattle Supply.

Sara was very angry at having me try to put something on her head.  She tossed her horns and repeatedly tried to catch my arm against the head gate.  Unfortunately for Sara, I was more determined than I was scared of her horns (barely!).  Also, thanks to the great halters, I was able to tighten both sides behind her ears, which enabled me to put on a slightly bigger halter than she really needs.  A bigger loop to aim around a thrashing head is definitely a good thing!  Even though she didn't deserve them after her tantrum, Sara got more pears.  We're really working on the message that the head gate is a good, pear-filled place!

Siobhan, bless her heart, doesn't have a horn complex!  She also remembers being handled, even though she's been out in the pasture all spring and summer.  When we let her into the round pen, she willingly came up behind Sara and let me approach her.  I was able to remove her old foal halter that was half off
and put on a new one with no trouble.  She even stood still for some hugging and scratching.

After we let Sara loose, she and Siobhan put their heads together to see what they thought of each others' halters.

Siobhan came over to me for some chin scratching.  She rolled her eye in ecstasy while I snapped a one-handed picture.

Everyone settled down for a snack.

Herb and I decided to pick up acorns for the pigs from the abundance under the big oak tree.  Finding these violets was an unexpected delight.

Sara and Siobhan came to see what we had in the bucket.  Sara decided the guy wire has potential as a scratching post/halter-remover.  And she reminded us that she really hates dogs when she suddenly lunged at poor little Zephyr and pinned her to the ground with a horn.  Fortunately, Zephyr's thick fur protected her.

Siobhan showed her mama what nice behavior looks like by coming up for another good chin scratch.

We sure do love this little heifer!

Out in the Pasture

Yesterday was a busy day for my Nikon.  After our frosty morning sortie, Herb and I headed out to the pasture after church because Mitch from Bickett Genetics is coming tomorrow to set Sara up for AI.  We needed to get the cattle into the end of the Lower Pasture where the head gate is set up so that we can easily entice Sara in with some pears.

We took the easy way down, past the barnyard and down the road instead of plunging straight down the hill through the trees near the house.  Jemima Puddleduck watched us go by, wondering if we were going to shoo her into the barnyard.  I'm sure as soon as we were out of sight, she flew down outside where she's been spending a lot of time lately.  Foolish Jemima, daring the fox to get her!

The pigs followed, galloping along the fence all the way down, sure there was a treat in store for them.  No treat for them, but a nice view of the giant oak behind the house for me.

The horses very cooperatively let us keep them out of the nice new pasture when we let the cows in.  T-bone has sort of gotten used to the routine, although he never just simply follows Sara and Siobhan.  He always has to dodge around the open gate and be herded a bit.  But he posed very nicely for this photo to show how he's growing.  He's not nearly as stocky as Siobhan, but I think he's filled out a bit under that winter coat.

The head gate is in the round pen (which doesn't show up) connected to the shed in the background.  Sara will (should?) follow us in there willingly when she sees a bucket of pears.  That's the plan . . .

On the way back up the hill, Brandy and Angel followed right beside us.  Brandy had a funny gleam in her eye, and I understood why when she suddenly wheeled and exploded into a mad gallop up the hill.  Angel, Hero and Zephyr exploded right behind her into a kicking, bucking race over the hill and out of sight where the echo of pounding hooves said the race was still on.

Misty is still afraid of the horses, so she is always a distant "also ran."  When I called the dogs back (it's tricky for them to get to the house from this pasture), she was the first to reappear, her lolloping gallop limned by the afternoon sun.  Good come, Misty!

Jack Frost Was Here

We went out to feed yesterday morning and found that Jack Frost had visited us overnight.   We've found a misty, frosty-looking film over the ground a few mornings in the past two weeks, but it wasn't frost--just a Jack-Wannabe.

Jack is such an artist!  I love looking around and seeing what he's chosen to touch with his brush.

Fortunately, we've been covering the garden every night that's been predicted to be in the 30°s since it's always a bit colder here than the low predicted for Chattanooga.  The first time temperatures got down in the 30°s, the beans, peppers, and cucumbers got frost-bitten (even though there wasn't a real frost.)  We started covering them then and have been able to extend their harvest almost two weeks longer.  But I think the message from Jack last night was that it's time to tell our summer veggies goodbye and tuck the winter ones in nice and warm.
 

This time of year it's not hard to be up before sunrise!  I got to stand and watch the sky grow brighter and then watch the glowing copper sun spring up from behind the mountains almost as fast as a balloon released from a child's hand springs into the sky.

The sun still hadn't touched the trees across the back of the property (see the previous post), but I was ready for some hot oatmeal, so I didn't wait to see it.  After all, this story is about Jack Frost, anyway.  Thank you for this beautiful morning, Jack!

Glorious October Colors

From fiery sunsets . . .

. . . to gilded mornings . . .

. . . we have glowing colors all around.  I wish we could get October twice and skip November!

Soooo Big!

Today we followed Walter's very thorough (and very humorous!) directions for weighing a pig with a string.

First, we made friends.  That means we gave the pigs some acorns as an appetizer.

Next, we tied a string around 4's middle, then Herb picked her up by the string and stepped on a bathroom scale.

Just kidding!  But we really did give the pigs acorns and some friendly scratches to get them warmed up to our "date," as Walter calls it.

Next we measured from the base of 4's tail to her crown between her ears. We made a knot in the string to mark the length.

Then we wrapped the string around 4's middle to measure her girth.  A second knot marked that measurement.

After that, we came inside and compared our string lengths against a measuring tape.  Here's what we got:

L = 50"
G = 42.5 "

Then we used Walter's formula:

L x G x G divided by 400 = lbs.

Using that formula, 4 weighs 225 lbs.  We're amazed that she could be so big (8 seems to be a bit smaller).  That would mean the pigs are butchering weight now, although it will be at least the end of November before there's another appointment available.  So I guess they will be a lot bigger when we finally get them butchered.  At least we know we should take the first available date.

And I should start the mental process of saying farewell, getting used to the idea that in a short month, we will no longer have the amusing antics of 4 and 8 nor the daily satisfaction of bringing food to animals that squeal with joy to see us.  :(

CONTEST: How Big Are These Pigs?

We are novices at raising pigs and haven't got a clue how big the girls are.  Why does it matter?  Because we need to make an appointment for, um, "Death Row," but we have to be sure they reach butchering weight before they go.  (The earliest available date right now is Nov. 29, so we need to pick a date soon).

Herb with 8 (left) and 4.  Herb is 5'8".  If you want to know how much he weighs, sorry, you'll have to guess!

Jim, who sold us the pigs, butchers his around 220-250 lbs.  He told me today that his biggest pigs are 220 lbs. now and will be going soon.  I'm assuming those are males.  His smallest one is about 190 lbs. and will be going in Dec. with the rest spread out in between.

Herb with 4 and 8 (rear).

We almost certainly haven't fed our pigs as much as Jim did because he makes his own custom feed and controls what goes into it.  His pigs get pasture plus as much feed as they want.

When we realized that the only commercial pig feed we could get contained pork products--WHAT???--we decided two things:

1)  We preferred to do mostly pastured pork, using feed as a supplement to make sure the pigs grew optimally.  (Two of our "pig muses" are Nature's Harmony Farm and Sugar Mountain Farm.)

2)  The only local animal feed we could get without pork products in it was Layer Crumble, a high-protein food for laying chickens that most resembled the texture of Jim's custom feed.  The pigs didn't like it much at first until Herb realized there was no sweetener in it and started adding a half-cup of sugar to every 2 lbs. of feed.

At first, 2 lbs. every morning and night was plenty for the pigs, but when the drought hit the grass this summer, they seemed much bigger and hungrier, so we increased the feed to 4 lbs. twice a day.  Of course, they have been getting table scraps all along, mostly copious amounts of vegetable peelings along with occasional French fries or Mexican rice left over after a restaurant dinner--proudly brought home in a "Piggy Bag."  So for some time now, each pig has been getting 2 lbs of feed a day with the recent addition of acorns. 

The question we have now is, how much do the pigs weigh?  And when might they be ready for butchering?

Jim offered to have me email him a picture to give us his advice, and he's going to measure the height and girth of his pigs for us to compare ours to.  (Isn't it interesting that these are such nice pigs--and the man who raised them is so nice, too?)

After I took pictures, I made some measurements.  The 8th wire up (the one just covered by the pig's back) is 29 1/2" off the ground.  Depending on how they hump or straighten their backs, they both reach this mark.

So, let's make a contest out of it!  Tell me how much you think the pigs weigh (they're quite close in size, so just make one guess).  Don't look at anyone else's guess before you make yours.  When we actually take them to be butchered and find out the exact weight, we'll see who won.  The prize?

A home-made meal of Zephyr Hill Farm pork, of course!  The winner can come collect it any time.

Sumo Wrestling

 When we got home from Europe, we looked at Misty and asked, "Who are you and what have you done to Misty?"  We said goodbye to a big, gangly puppy and came home to a small horse.

Although completely dwarfed by her, Zephyr loves to play with Misty.  What results is something like Mutt and Jeff sumo wrestling.  Here are a few of Misty's moves:

The Face-Off--as in, we try to bite each other's face off!

The Sit-Stay.  This is one of Misty's signature moves.  I think it has interesting applications in the barnyard if the fox should ever return; Misty can sit on it and squash it, thus leaving its pelt intact.

Here is Zephyr extricating herself from the Sit-Stay.  Until Misty gets bigger, she can't seem to keep Zephyr down for more than half a minute--although on several occasions during this photo shoot, I nearly intervened to save Zephyr from being smothered.

The Boa Constrictor.  I think this one is self-explanatory!

Here is Zephyr escaping from the Boa Constrictor.  Her expression speaks for itself.  Before you report me to PETA, remember:  She keeps coming back for more.

The Boxer.  Lai-lai-lai!

Here is a close-up of Zephyr's usual expression while wrestling with Misty.  (See above note about PETA.)

The Hairy Eyeball.  This does not in any way indicate desperation on Misty's part.  She practically throws herself down for Zephyr--like a judo instructor helping her student accomplish a throw.  There seems to be some attraction to getting back on top from a supposed "underdog" position.

The Face-Off again, from a different angle.

And finally, The Gremlins-in-a-Blender.  Two dogs puréed into one big, indistinguishable ball of Furry Fun!