Geography for Farmers

Here are some fascinating maps, the kind of geography farmers love!  Even if you aren't a farmer, if you simply eat and enjoy food, there is a lot of scope for reflexion in these maps.

40 Maps that explain food in America

The first one includes a bit of history, too.

Where the world's cattle, chickens and pigs live

In case you were wondering, there are apparently 980 million pigs in the world, 1.4 billion cows, and 19.6 billion chickens.  To put that in perspective, there are 7 billion humans.

According to evolutionists, chickens are the closest living relative to Tyrannosaurus Rex.  Considering that chickens outnumber humans by 2.8 times, it might behoove you to check the second map and see if there are any chickens living near you!  If there are, you should be afraid.  Be very afraid!

The Freshest Sausage Ever!

 This is dedicated to all the meat-eaters out there who think it's horrible to butcher an animal we knew.

Fresh Sausage

Even thought it's got English subtitles (I think it's in Portuguese), be sure to turn up the volume.

R.I.P., Ping

We adopted Ping in May, 2011 when her owner couldn't keep her.  We called her Ping because she made a little noise that sounded like sonar, "Ping, ping, ping, ping."

In June she joined the older Muscovy ducks in the barnyard.  THEY were the ugly ducklings (although they got uglier with age).

They were fascinated with poor Ping who often found herself the center of attention.

Then in late 2011 our remaining female Muscovy duck, Jemima Puddleduck, was killed, and Ping was the lonely petunia in the onion patch--the sole female among five males.  Her life became miserable until Herb managed to catch her in May 2012, and we moved her to the Home Pasture.

In this safe refuge Ping was able to grow back her feathers and live a peaceful life.

Now Ping had a swimming pool all to herself, and she often took luxurious morning baths, preening and combing her feathers.

She still got out of the way when the pigs wanted a bath, but she found them to be good pasture mates.  She learned that such sloppy eaters tended to scatter bits that she could enjoy, and when she saw us coming with food, she would greet us with excited, loud squawking quacks.

After the pigs left, Ping's next pasture mates were Rambo and Obaama.  They weren't such good buddies when they got bigger because they tended to run right over her trying to get to their food.  But Ping stuck with them, quacking gamely for her share.  She was the mascot for a succession of animals from pigs to sheep to cattle and turkeys.

We think the drakes had injured Ping's legs because she always walked funny, even for a duck, and being run over by the sheep a couple of times didn't help.  Yesterday evening Herb found poor Ping lying dead by the pasture gate when he went out to take Misty to bed.  Our best guess is that one of the cows or sheep stepped on her and fatally injured her.

We will miss you, Ping.  We'll miss hearing your loud quack, announcing supper time to everyone; watching your graceful morning baths; and smiling at your funny waddle.  The pasture will be a much more lonely place without your presence.  Rest in peace, Ping.

The Cost of Raising a Pig: How Much Does Our Pork Cost Us?

I've finally done the calculations on how much it cost us to raise this year's pig from the day we fetched her from Jim Gifford's farm to the day we packed the pork into our freezer.

We brought Spamela Anderson and her sister, Hammy Faye Bakker, home on June 3.  Jim estimated that they weighed 100 lbs, and said they were a bargain at $80 each.  (Since we knew we'd be butchering a steer and didn't have room in our freezers for two pigs, but felt it would be cruel to raise one pig alone, some friends bought Hammy Faye and reimbursed us for her food.  They got a pig at cost without paying for our labor while we got to have a pig.)

By Sept. 14, the pigs were each eating 1 lb. of chicken crumble twice a day.  They ate a total of 950 lbs. of feed between June 3 and Nov. 13, for a cost of $278.03.  They also got copious scraps from house and garden (mostly vegetables).  For the last six weeks or so, they got a pound or more of acorns a day.
 

On Nov. 3 at approximately 35 weeks of age, we checked their string weights.  Spamela weighed about 301 lbs. while Hammy Faye weighed 319 lbs.   To determine how to divide the feed costs, we calculated the pigs' weights as percentages.  Spamela was 48.55% and Hammy Faye, 51.45%.  So our share of the feed cost was $134.98 (48.55% of $278.03).

The pigs were butchered on Nov. 13.  The butcher guessed their weights as:
Spamela - 378.81 lbs.
Hammy Faye - 391.18 lbs.
(Clearly, our string weights under-estimated their actual weight.)

Their hanging weights were 190 lbs and 198 lbs., respectively.

Our pig's butchering and processing fee, based on her weight, was $158.50.  This included the cost of curing and smoking the bacon (over 20 lbs.) and hams (over 40 lbs.).  We came home with 151.02 lbs of pork, including about 3 lbs. of fat, but excluding the weight of bones.

Here's the final break-down:

Production Cost for Our Pig

Purchase of 1 pig                                                      $  80.

48.55% of feed cost                                                  $134.98

Butchering Fee for our pig                                       $158.50

Total Production Cost for our pig                    $373.48

That's a Net Price of $2.47 per pound.  

We're thrilled with that price for delicious pasture-raised, acorn-finished pork.  And that doesn't begin to calculate the enjoyment we got from raising Spamela and Hammy Faye! 

Farewell, T-Bone

Today was the day scheduled for T-Bone's trip to Triple H Meat Farms in preparation for his final journey tomorrow morning.

With Sara and Siobhan ahead of him in the pecking order, there was no question of parking the trailer in the field and waiting till he went in to eat.  This was more of a Black Ops kind of operation--separate T-Bone from the black girls.  The herd watched the trailer's approach with interest.

Their main interest, of course, was the truck and--more specifically--us in the truck almost certain to be bearing food.  When I opened the electric gate, they headed through in front of the truck, waiting to see what would happen.

Once it became clear we were heading for the round pen, the race was on!  I was so glad to see T-Bone enjoying one last run with his buddy, Siobhan--even if it did mean a few pounds lost.

Everyone, even the pregnant girls, enjoyed a run.

Siobhan won!

While she and Sara were busy checking out the trailer, T-Bone followed me right into the round pen.  I think he couldn't believe his good fortune at being the first one at the food bowl!

A swish of the sweep gate, and he moved right into the chute.  Jean-Marc and I put a couple of logs behind him in case he did an about face, but they weren't needed.  T-Bone just stood there calmly.  Siobhan came over, and I thought, "Aww, she's checking on her buddy."

No, actually, she was trying to get to his food!  Sara tried, too--on her knees, sticking her horns under the bottom rail!

Jean-Marc  blocked the open side of the trailer, but T-Bone just walked through the open head gate onto the trailer like a pro.

He looked out at us as we shut the gate.  I think he was trying to say, "See, I'd make a great show steer!"

A short 20 minutes later we arrived at Triple H.

When we opened the gate, T-Bone was looking out, quite calmly.

As soon as the way was clear, he walked right up the ramp . . .

. . .and into his stall, where he proceeded to look curiously around.  We stayed and visited for a few minutes,

Herb made friends with a breeding sow one pen over,

and we got a look at the weanling piglets, including the runt sibling.  It looked like a miniature pig, but that's its litter mate in the bowl with it!

We went back to check on T-Bone, content with his food and water, to tell him goodbye and what a good steer he'd been.

Goodbye, T-Bone, we'll miss your big eyes and pretty face.  Siobhan has been calling for you all afternoon.  Cory promises he'll make it easy.  Sleep tight, little guy.  Good night.

Bye-Bye, Piggie Girls

Yesterday it poured rain and was really cold.  Not the best weather, but suitably gloomy for saying goodbye to Spamela Anderson and Hammy Faye Bakker.

Herb had a bag of apple and orange quarters along with some acorns.  The girls followed him readily into the trailer.  In fact, I don't think he would have even needed the bag of food--they'd follow him anywhere.  And they had already adopted the trailer; he found them sheltering in it that morning.  At least it felt comfortable to them.

I asked him why he'd dumped a pile of hay under Ping's awning.  Guess what?  He didn't.  Well, somebody did--or somebodies.  I'm going out on a limb here and saying it wasn't Ping.  It would have taken her a month to carry that much hay waddling back and forth from the trailer.  So it must have been Spammy and Hammy.  Our minds were quite boggled as we wondered, "Why?"

Ping came out to say goodbye.  I feel sorry for her living in solitary splendor in the Home Pasture now.  I really do believe she'll miss her piggy friends--and she'll definitely miss picking through their food!

The space at Triple H Farms & Meat Co. is a bit tricky for backing a trailer, especially a horse trailer with a tack room in front, but Herb did a great job.

You can see the pelting rain in this photo.  I was pretty sick, but I wanted to come along to say goodbye to the girls and be sure they were okay.

When Herb opened the trailer, there they were, curiously looking out with their ears perked up.  THAT was an answer to prayer!

While Herb and Cory (Jeff's employee who was manning the shop that day) blocked the gaps at the side of the ramp, I enticed the girls off the trailer.  There was just a tiny gap which they jumped easily to follow me through the chute.

Cory warned me about the "crazy" steer in the next pen, and he was right.  As I came through the gate, the steer careened all over its pen with a wild expression on its face.  Hammy, the braver pig, wanted to touch noses with it, and amazingly, the steer calmed down and responded.  I hope some of the girls' calmness and happy nature was able to reassure him.

They moved right into the pen, happily investigating the food, including the last few acorns Herb had been able to find as a treat for them.

Cory pointed out, "Look at that one--her tail's curling.  That's a sign she's content."  Herb and I patted them goodbye and shut the gate behind us.  By that time both of their tails were curling up and they were making friends with the steer next door.   Nice piggies!  We're going to miss you!  We'll miss your happy grunting as you come trotting to see anyone who walks by your pasture.  We'll miss the flat-out way you relax in the sun.  We'll miss the way you sleep with your heads pillowed on each other.  We'll miss your happy personalities.

And Misty will miss you, too.  Her charges are gradually disappearing despite her faithful guarding, but that's what a farm is all about.  Maybe she understands that it doesn't matter because she's done her job and the rest is up to us.

2 Pigs + 1 Trailer = ????

Wednesday Herb moved the horse trailer into the Home Pasture with the pigs.  They need to get used to being fed in it so we can get them in there easily on Monday.  Last year it took 4 and 8 several days to warm up to the trailer so we knew we couldn't delay any longer if the pigs were to keep their date with Jeff.

Step One:  Feed pigs to keep them away from the gate.  Hero and the girls greet each other.

The girls are ALWAYS ready for food.  They grunt excitedly and start salivating as soon as they see signs of food coming.

Step Two:  Drive the trailer into the field while the pigs are busy eating.

Ping has gotten quite used to the pigs and they to her.  She figures she might find something good.

Feather butt, lard butt, lard butt.

Step Three:  Unhitch the trailer and drive the truck out of the pasture while the pigs are busy eating.

Step Four:  Reassure the pigs that there's nothing scary about the trailer.

Haven't you heard the old adage, girl?

Curiosity killed the pig!

Spamela Anderson gets a good scratch behind the ears.

Hammy Faye Bakker gets a back rub.

Step Five:  Go get food to put in the trailer to tempt the girls to go in.  Wait a minute!  They're not even waiting for food!

Maybe it's a good thing that Herb forgot he said he was going to clean the trailer after bringing Siobhan home.  The girls seem quite interested in the empty food bowl, leftover hay and cow manure.  Ewww!

I think these clever piggies have a plan of their own.  It's called "I'm too cute to kill."  Hammy Faye Bakker demonstrates the steps . . .

Step One:  Smile!

Step Two:  Kissy-poo.

Step Three:  Grin!

Step Four:  Say Ahhh!

Step Five:  How about a profile?

I hate to say it, girls, but I think our plan is working better than yours.  We admit you are darn cute and very nice, but--  Enjoy that nice, fresh hay while you can!