Friday, March 1, 2013

March Follies

Some folks check the the Weather channel, we just check the status of the old M
This day: cold and icy.

Yes, it is March 1 and we are bogged down with rain, snow, mud, ice and general slop. Winter on the farm is generally ugly and we are no exception. Well Keith isn't ugly, the vote is still out on me since I decided to grow my hair out. Long grey hair on the post menopausal woman? Not so sure. But is is cheaper than being coiffed all the time.




Anyway, the last week has been a challenge just walking about let alone actually getting work done. Of course we needed to castrate piglets as the longer you wait the bigger the gonads the harder the process is on everyone concerned...mostly the piglet.

The secret garden


Earlier this week we had an intern working with us a couple of days. I forgot to ask him if OK to post his name and pics so I won't but I will say how grand it was to have an extra set of hands when trying to corral 11 little piglets through the muck and  to get them somewhere clean enough for minor surgery.

Keith talking nice to Miss Debbie  hiding deep in her hutch with her litter
"No, I won't hurt your babbies, but Donna here will"

Went through a good amount of iodine that day scrubbing down the nether regions of the little guys. When it's wet and muddy bedding gets sucked up pretty quick but we do...what we can do. Another group needed to be castrated in another field so trudged our way out there, loaded up mama (who refused to go in the trailer 3 days ago when we had the extra help !) and did her litter.

Here mommy....Once secured in the livestock trailer. The farmers get to work

Fortunately only one boar  in that litter.

Well, fortunate for us, I'm sure he didn't exactly feel like he'd won the lottery. When it's muddy like this we are extra tired at the end of the day. It takes work to walk through all that gunk. Keith is outside so much more than I which is why he generally falls asleep standing in the shower.



Raw milk update? Starting Monday I will be designating that day as Raw Milk Monday. Things are getting hot here in Illinois. And it's only March...

8 comments:

  1. Does the tractor still go? I can almost feel it's designer's mind working away. 'We'll put this here, and that there...'

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  2. Sorry, what does raw milk monday mean. New reader missing some vital knowledge it seems.

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  3. Looking forward to reading the Monday Post!

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  5. Cro, it was our first tractor, bought 18 years ago. It was almost 50 itself back then. Used it for many years and parked it out front about 4 years ago. Keith and boys still talk about getting it running again but for now, it's just farm art.

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  6. Linda, Raw Milk Monday will be a new feature. On Mondays I will blog about raw milk issues in Illinois.

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  7. Donna, when you and Keith decide you are not in need of the red tractor lawn decoration we are very interested in hauling down to my house where it can become....lawn art ;-)

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  8. Martha, I will keep that in mind but I expect even if we sell this farm it will come with us (via a trailer) to the next farm.

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