What do you weigh?

Good record keeping with livestock includes the weight of the new born - just like in humans. We put them on the scale and check out their weight.  Weighing at various times in their life will tell us how well they are growing and if their mama is feeding them well.

Mom

Nice Tattoo!

Yup - all our calve are tattooed.  In one ear it is our farm id - 4 letters - which is registered with the National Red Angus Association and the other tattoo is the animals number.  We also put a tag in - for general use.  The tattoos are the official identification. We use green tattoo ink - because it will show up well in the ear.

Isaac

New calves are here!

The newest calf needed a little help warming up in this really cold weather.  My brother Andrew put the calf in this blue box that has a false floor - underneath the grate there is a heater that blows warm air to warm and dry the calf.  Her mama is on the other side of the fence and was watching the whole time.  It is important to get colostrum (mothers first milk) in them right away and then dry.  The mom did lick her to clean her and start the drying, but with it this cold the mama need a bit of help.  We want to save the ears and nose from frostbite.  The barn is also a lot warmer than outside.  We keep them in for a few days to get a good start.

Hannah

Getting Outside!

It has warmed up and were able to let the pigs outside.  Some got to go to the outside pen.  They had fun exploring the pen. Maggie, our dog, watched from the outside - not sure what to think of them.  Soon they will be finding a mud hole to play in. (When it warms up for real.)

Hannah

Ducklings are here!

Yup the duckies are here.  Because of the cold we had to keep them in the house for a week. Now it warmed up but are still in the pen with the heat lamp.  Because ducks are seasonal for setting eggs, the farmer we got them from didn't have a lot to sell, so we only could get 10 ducklings this year. It was fun to watch them and they have already grown a lot.

Hannah

Done Pig Shopping

Good news - we are done Pig shopping for 2013.  We don't have pigs on the farm all year on our farm but we have a lot of fun with them for the fair.  To be able to show them at the county fair and state fair we have to have all our pigs purchased by May 15 and have all the paper work in.  So the last couple of weeks we have been using our weekends to pig shop.  Andrew has been looking online at a lot of pigs and learning about the different sires.  He talks to several "real" pig farmers to learn.  This was our last sale, as we have enough pigs now, and here we are in the background watching the auctioneer (in black hat) take bids.  This is the one pig we bought at this sale.

Isaac

More pigs...

I wonder what he is thinking?  Could it be that he is looking for supper?  Or is he listening for his brother's squeal?  Or is he wondering what in the world is that thing she keeps putting up to her face?  How about  - so glad I got cleaned up before I hopped on the trailer -this could have been embarrassing.