Litter Lottery

This is Little Debbie. All five hundred plus pound of her. Our Red Wattle mama-to-be. If our records are correct, and they rarely are, she was impregnated by Fritz (God rest his soul) in the back of our livestock trailer on the trip home from Rockford when she and Fritz and Lady Anne were first purchased. That would make her a member of the "Tire-High" Club. The livestock trailer is too low to enable her to be  a member of the Mile-High Club. (Thanks to J.M. for that idea)

The gestation period for hogs is 3 months, 3 weeks, 3 days and some say 3 hours and 3 minutes.( One thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three.) This means Debbie is due to farrow...soon, in about 12 days on February 24, give or take a minute. Red Wattles are known for having large litters of between 10-16 adorable piglets. So here is the contest. Send me your guess for the date of birth and number of piglets, to my email, opies99@gmail.com. Whoever is closest on both  accounts will receive a wonderful prize which I will announce in a day or two. I'll take some more pictures of Debbie and her belly as we get closer to the expected due date to help you with your guestimation. In the event of a tie, the winner will be the person with the earliest entry. You may enter as often as you wish. Ready, set GO!

You've got a friend

 Today our neighbor Neil got up early, went out into the cold and drove his tractor over to our farm, so he could plow our drive, so Keith could take our hogs to the locker, so the locker could kill and chill them, so we could pick them up tomorrow, so we could deliver them to Old Town Social and The Bristol, so the chefs could create wonderful SLOOOOOW food with them, so the customers could be very happy and make Chicago a more cheerful place.

All because Neil got up out of his warm bed.

Thank you Neil

Edgar Allen Snow

Two nights ago it snowed. It's winter. It happens. My drive home from work Sunday AM was slower than normal , slippery but not terrible. My drive up our lane was more tricky. Our house is perched nicely on top of a small hill. Very convenient when it rains as water drains nicely away from our home. In the winter however, we are the bullseyes every snowstorm aims for. My fault entirely as I am the one who decided on a red roof.

Surrounded by fields on all sides, the wind usually whips up from the south west ( as the raven flies) and blows snow into the the most annoying drifts all around our house and up and down the drive. Keith works hard to keep our nearly 1/4 mile lane clear for the milk truck, milk customers and the irritable wife coming home after a 12 hr night shift. Some times though our Kubota tractor can't do all that needs to be done and we end up driving through the yard in order to make it to the house.

Family and neighbors are surprised too see the snow drifts on our place still in place two days post storm. After all, the highway is clear, but then again we've always been a bit different.

Tonight, more snow is predicted and winds are expected to kick up again tomorrow.  Keith and son Kyle spent a huge part of the day "getting ready." For town folk this might mean stocking the shelves with extra peanut butter and bread but for us it entailed adding lots more bedding to the pig palace, cow chalet, horse mahal and goat cottages. In addition they moved several piles of snow trying to plan which way the snow might drift and thus avoiding (hopefully) our getting trapped on the farm. We have 3 deliveries to Chicago on Thursday which means taking pigs to the locker Wed. so the livestock trailer had to obtained tonight, since the roads are expected to be quite bad tomorrow which if you are still keeping track would be Tuesday.

In addition I made plans with my daughter regarding the grand kids whom I babysit on Mondays and Tuesdays. In the event of bad weather they will not be returned to Pontiac tomorrow night, they will just stay with us...until spring.

In about an hour when I head out to feed calves and pigs, I will double up on hay and water thus hopefully reducing the amount of time we have to be out in the elements tomorrow am. After all this preparation I fully expect the storm and its predicted 7 inches of snow will float innocently by. And THAT will really tick me off.

Sally's last supper

They say "three heads are better than on." or is it just two ? Maybe it was four. All I know is when I pulled our truck and borrowed livestock trailer into the horse pasture my horses were ALL OVER that truck. I pulled the trailer in to remind Sally how to properly load in order to prepare her for the ride to her new home. Before the truck came to a stop my three stooges had their heads buried in the truck bed. Seems when son Kyle was hauling grain the day before (for our pigs) some spilled in the truck bed. That truck bed was licked clean by the major lip action of those horses. A nice treat for Sally since a few hours later her new owner showed up to take her to a new barn. Filled with oats and in a generally very happy mood she loaded on and off our trailer like a dream. This was not her regular behavior. I believe she knew this new beginning for her was going to be a good one.

Owning Sally has been a huge learning experience for me. (She is the middle head in the picture above.) When I bought her 7 years ago I already knew "everything " about horses. After all I had been riding since I was 8, and I already owned my trusty mount Johnny. But Johnny was the kind of horse anyone could ride. No buck, no kick, always willing to please. An old trail horse from a kids camp.You could've set a flaming Chritmas Tree on his back and he would've behaved. But not Sally. Green broke at four which really meant she had been haltered twice, I had my hands full. It took us 3 hours to load her that first day. Should've been a clear sign then there was trouble ahead, but I wanted her and ignored the signs. She was pretty you know. I struggled on my own for a couple years and then starting reading and attending clinics. The longer I had Sally the less I knew about horses.

She was always one hoof in front of me. When I first taught her to lead she yanked me off my feet, with just a flip of her big strong Quarterhorse head. When I first taught her to lounge she sent me flying and I mean FLYING through the air in front of witnesses no less. Once my nieces saw that I was breathing they laughed hilariously. Special girls those two. Sally taught me then...I needed a round pen. We bought one and her training accelerated. When we began transitioning from jogs into lopes she transitioned into bucking. I never fell during those times due more to my hefty statue than to my skills. Big girls are harder to buck off. Its just physics. The one time I did fall off  it was all my fault. My husband had just dumped lots of new sand into the round pen, the weather was grand, so with him in full sight  she and I went from jog to lope to jog when she slipped in the too deep sand. She fell forward and so did I. Up and not quite over the saddle, I slammed my thigh into the saddle horn. My head hit the ground hard enough to crack my helmet. Note the word HELMET. Always a good thing when riding. I sported  a cantaloupe- sized bruise inside my thigh for weeks

I recovered, but my husband who was right there, did not. He doesn't watch me ride much anymore. He does always make sure I have my cell phone and helmet on me when I do. About that time my trusty mount Johnny, the one I would always ride when I was not in the mood for more Sally work, needed to be put down. At 27 it was time. His demise was short and sweet as we have the most excellent vet. I missed him terribly. After that I rode Sally less and less and less. I bought two new horses last year hoping to get my riding Mojo back but then the farm got very busy. Sooooooo

I gave her to my niece who was also a horse nut. Sally proved too much for her skill level and she came back home. Then I posted an ad for a FREE horse to a good home. Experienced riders only. I interviewed several people. I picked one. The gal already owns four horses, has a 20 stall barn and 7 acres. I spent two hours with Sally yesterday reminiscing about our trials together, explaining how much we learned from each other and how much more riding life we both had left in us. She understood. When her new owner came she could not have been more cooperative. She pretty much leapt into their trailer. I waved goodbye and before she was down the lane I had a bridle on Nora , my 6 year old mare ,and she and I rode bareback awhile. With my helmet on and a couple tears in my eyes. Thanks Sally for a good ride.You taught me well.

Hello Mr President

Its not often a simple farm in Central Illinois is graced by a visit from The President but yesterday was our lucky day. Brian Jordan, President of the  Red Wattle Hog Association or RWHA  as well as the associations secretary, Dot Jordan, came to visit us. Dot just also happens to be Brians' wife and farm partner so we had no worries about whom to sit then next to whom at our presidential luncheon. Of course I understand all of this is a little unbelievable since I failed to take a picture of the two of them while they were in our presence. You'll just have to take my word for it until the article Dot is writing about us is published in the RWHA  newsletter.
    Dot was specifically asking us questions about how we have been marketing our hogs to the Chicago area restaurants. We had a great time sharing information back and forth. Dot and Brian have been raising the Red Wattles longer than us and had many helpful tips about animal management. They also brought us five more BEAUTIFUL, HEALTHY feeder pigs to raise as our restaurants are asking for the meat as fast (faster) than we can grow it. While here, they checked up on the breeder family they sold us a couple months ago, Mad Max, Cagney and Lacey. We all agreed Mad Max is growing fast and is going to be one big boar. Yawwnn

Be sure to check out Dot and Brians farm at .http://www.kissmygrassfarm.net/

Girls just want to have fun.

I read that pigs need toys since pigs  are bright, imaginative and love to play. So I went to Kmart, which by the way, does NOT suck, and bought a big rubber ball. When the grand kids were visiting last Friday we let them introduce the Big Blue Ball. The pigs were only mildly interested. I suspect they are just smart enough not to make fools of themselves in public. If only I had that kind of reserve.

The farmer takes a wife...

on a mini vacation. When you own a dairy farm, time off is rare. It is very difficult to find "relief milkers" in the Central Illinois area. In Wisconsin , where dairy is still quite large, there are groups that do nothing but relief milk for farmers.In our area dairy farmers get very little relief unless they have family involved in the business and fortunately for us, we do. Son Jason did 3 chore rotations for us which gave us almost 36 hrs off the farm.

We traveled a short distance, about two hours, down to Petersburg, Illinois. There we met two of my sisters and their husbands for an overnight stay at the Branson House Bed and Breakfast. http://www.bransonhousebnb.com/  A magnificent Victorian home which was warm, cozy and most importantly, did not have a single pig, cow or goat inside of it. The 6 of us ate supper together and then stayed up WAY past our bedtimes catching up on some hilarious movies. Death at a Funeral is a must see. What those people do with an unconscious,  gravitationally challenged man...oh my.

The best deal was the gut filling breakfast of blueberry pancakes and for the men, assorted MEATS, fresh fruit, and strong coffee. As the owner John told us, "We don't make wussy coffee here." The rooms were so cozy and the beds so comfortable, next time we go for more than one night.And speaking of night. Saturday night there was this eerie full moon draped in several layers of wafting clouds. Take one such moon and add it to 150 year old Victorian home and this is what you get.

On Sunday morning we  visited several antique stores which I love, yet they sadden me sometimes.

How did all those old family pictures get away from the families who once loved them ? The Aunt Bertha's, the Uncle Clydes, looking at me through stern expressions behind glass framed cages. They once hung in stately homes overlooking grand staircases made of oak and now they are hung from a stores' paneled walls looking down on a collection of red and white enamel ware pots and pans.Which made me wonder , what about the 7000 photos on my computer ? Where will they end up ? Who will love them like I do ?

Its time to collect a few more gesso and gilt frames and get those pics out of their cyber prison and onto some walls of our own. I'll do that on my next mini-vacation.