Farm Yard News
Farm Yard News
The last global warming period started at approximately the birth of Christ and ended in approximately 1300 a.d. when over a period of approximately 50 years the earth slipped into a period now known as “the little ice age”. Even though there has been talk of the reemergence of global warming we are still firmly in the grip of the little ice age and this year it’s telling us it will not go quietly in the night. There is nothing like hash weather to test the systems on the farm and this year everything is getting a real workout. We are learning more of the limitations and advantages of heating with wood. The boiler system that we installed is getting a real workout as it is heating the house and the barns. Next year we will need about 20 cords of wood to supply us throughout the winter. On the bright side a barn with a heated floor is proving to be a real bonus we are starting our lambing season and the little guys love lying on that floor with a little straw. One of our lambs froze to death before we could find him, one died shortly after birth, and one was trampled but the rest are doing fine. We have never had lambs before and these ones should be ready for market in July. Sophia our sheep manager, was busy finding living quarters for all the extra sheep on the farm. Our family has also had the occasional lamb in the house for bottle feeding when the lambs were born with too little energy. Kevin and Audrey Goertzen came over last fall and built a creeper for the pigs and lambs which has been used extensively thanks guys
Pig News!!
We now have 19 on the farm 15 of which are our registered large black pigs. At the end of this year we should be able to offer whole pastured pork and pork products to our customers. We had so many lambs born that we moved the pigs out of the heated insulated barn into the unheated drafty barn (very sad day to be a pig). Pam’s babies have been weaned and are living with their dad and uncle in the big barn. Odette’s babies will still be with her for another week or two and then they too will be separated and start living apart from their moms.
On the Poultry Front
We are placing our first order for baby free ranged chickens, turkeys and ducks into Horizons at the end of the month. Hyrum is planning to be very busy preparing barns and getting all the chicken equipment ready. The first batch of chickens arrives on the farm April 17 and whoever wants to see the chicks can come on down to the farm that day
Sheep’s Stories
The big news of the month is all the baby lambs that we have. Most of our ewes have given us two lambs and we will soon be getting ready to see spring lamb in the field. Our daughter Sophia is proving to be the only man on the farm as she is the one who is doing all the nasty jobs which have to be done like the castrating and tail docking. Sophia and Dawn are getting really good at bottle feeding the weak ones until they are ready to go back to their moms. The hooch isn’t so sure about sheep in the house though – cats are enough!
Best of the Beef
Our Manitoba winter is getting very long for our cattle. One word – endure!!
