SAS With a Camera

We love giving the camera to the kids, they get the absolute BEST shots ever! Look at some of these from SAS.

 

Piggy Bums!

 

RB With a Camera

RB is probably one of my favorite young photographers. His eye for a great picture and his willingness to get right down in the dirt to get the perfect picture results in some of my absolute favorite results!

 

We Have a Name!

Just a quick announcement to say.... We finally have settled on a name for our baby lamb. It didn't come with the trumpeting "Her name is!" it was more of a slow process of slipping up and calling her by name and eventually it just stuck. Our little baby girl will no longer be known as Possibly... Her name is officially Izzy!

Getting in "The Piggy Way"

I remember reading an article on Pig Production and I couldn't tell you if it was in regards to farrowing, artificially inseminating, breeding age, or what honestly. But what stuck with me the most was the term the Ol' Farmer used to say the sow was pregnant. He called it being "In the Piggy Way", and that, for some odd reason, has stuck with me.

So, we bought a sow, five days later she farrowed 12 healthy, happy little pigs who have since grown to 40+ lb. healthy, happy pig whom our 4H Kids love dearly. Miss Bea, as we call our Sow, has been relocated from the farrowing barn to the Farm where she has lots of room to run and play, and our pigs are getting lots of love and care from their new 4H Buddies. But now, what's to become of Miss Bea? She served her useful purpose, giving us 12 healthy show pig, six to sell and six for the kids... Now What? 

Well, there are alot of things you learn when you become a "Pig Farmer", as HW and SC can attest to! But one of the most surprising things I have learned is that a Sow will come into heat within 4 days of weaning! WHAT?!? We found out this juicy little piece of information two days after we moved her to the Farm. So what does that mean for us? Yup, you guessed it! We had to learn how to breed a pig... AND QUICK! 

Thanks to an amazing vet, and avid hog farmer friend we were able to get the semen (I'm not asking how... I'm not quite ready to get into that yet!) and all the tools we needed and he came out to the farm and taught us how to AI our Sow. Now, I'm going to be completely honest with you here... there is a reason that I am not a Nurse! I don't do this kind of thing. I'm not even real big on observing. Castration, shots, you name it, I'd rather be hiding in the house, thank-you very much! But no, this I had to help with... Thankfully HW was around to actually do it though. And a fine job she did too! 

I apologize for the blurry pictures... 

We had 4 vials of semen, which meant that Miss Bea needed a treatment (is that even the right word! LOL) every 12 hours for the next two days following her going into heat. Now how do we know if she's in heat you might ask... or you might be smart and not ask, but I'm going to tell you anyway! You push on her hind end to see if she will stand still. If she is in heat, she will lock her hind legs and stand perfectly, beautifully still for you... or so they say...

I was laughing far too hard to get a good picture!

HW and I checked her Thursday morning. No good, for her or for HW! LOL But by Friday morning, when I pushed on her, she would stand, a little. I don't know what I'm looking for! Our vet friend came out Friday night but decided that she needed just a little more time. Saturday morning, we tried her again. She wasn't perfect, she didn't hold beautifully still, but the vet said that it would do and he proceeded to show HW how to do the dirty deed. Saturday evening, Sunday morning, and again Sunday evening... we gave her all 4 treatments. We laughed alot, threw around a few dirty jokes, mostly directed at HW, and we had alot of interesting conversations, and now... we just hope for the best! Mark your calendars, our first insemination was on March 14th and our final on the evening of March 15th. If all goes well, we will have a brand new batch of pigs on July 7th! Here's to hoping that Miss Bea is in "The Piggy Way"! 

Bottle Feeding Lambs

Our bottle babies are doing great! They have all settled in and love each other, and their kids, very much. Smiley and Possibly love their bottles, but BamBam never really took to the bottle, he has always loved drinking from a bowl.

Getting lambs this year was a little bit of a concern to me, as I know absolutely nothing about Sheep, but it's turning out to be a wonderful experience!

We have moved the lambs outside into the pen, now that the temperatures are staying above 40° at nights. They really seem to enjoy having the room to run and play. They are nibbling leaves off the tree branches, the ones that the goats haven't completely nibbled bare anyway, and munching grass. We are giving them hay and creep feed along with their milk and BamBam loves it, while Smiley and Possibly aren't so sure! 

They are learning to come when called and BamBam is learning to work on his harness. Smiley, is coming along nicely on her harness as well, but she seems to have learned that if she throws a fit and lies down, AJ will get her a branch to munch while she walks with him. This is one habit we'll need to break quickly! 

Holy Food Batman!

Well, the barrels were cleaned, prepped and laid into place. All we needed now was to go get the food! I drove the farm truck to work that day, so I could head out right after work, before they closed. Unfortunately we also had visitors in the office that day, so here I am, all dressed up in my slacks and high heels, driving a farm truck to work, then driving to the feed store and stepping out in said high heels. Man did I get alot of comments today! Come on people! A lady can wear high heels and run a farm too ya' know!

First I grabbed a few large bags of sawdust from a local sawmill for the piglets, then I headed over to the feed store where I happily purchased an 1800+ lb. tote of feed. I'll tell you this... that sounds big, but you have no idea just how big it actually is until you see it come out on the forklift and watch as it squats the struts on a full size, one ton, truck! Have some pig feed! Wow!

I, very gingerly, drove my gigantic load out to the farm, where it took another four hours, six kids, and two trips for more barrels, to unload the feed tote giant! Six barrels full of feed later, I was so impressed with how well the kids all pitched in to carry buckets, shovel feed, and get all dusty, dirty, and exhausted to get the job done. I've said it so many times, but I'll say it again... These Kids Just Amaze Me!

Working on The Farm

We spent a long, tiring day working out on the farm today. DH, AJ, SAS & RV worked hard getting our new feed barrels cleaned out and ready for the tote of feed that we would be picking up tomorrow. TABS and T did the "heavy labor", lifting 50lb. bags of grain out of the old freezer and moving the old freezer to the scrap pile, chasing and killing all the mice that lived in it all along the way! RB helped me level the ground and set the Idaho yard bricks in place for the barrels. JP even got the backhoe out and filled in a huge mud puddle that Miss Bea had created!  All in all, we all worked hard but we got alot done and left feeling very accomplished!

DH Cleaning out the barrels

TABS and T moving the freezer

The cows... because I like them. 

Using the 4-wheeler to dump the junk from the old freezer.

Three of the ultimately SIX barrels

Taking a much needed break. Look at how dirty these gals are!

Even Little L is pitching in, helping to move the dirt that the backhoe brought in!

Our Newest Baby

Just when we thought we were done with bottlefeeding, we would like to introduce the newest little member of our 4H family. She doesn't have a name yet, so I'm calling her "possibly", because each time I ask T what he's going to name her his answer is always, "possibly Splotches, Izzy, or Iggy".

She's such a sweet natured little lady and has the most beautiful coloring. I think she will get along great with BamBam & Smiley and I'm sure that they will be super excited to get to stay on their milk for just a little longer! 

T was able to get this little bottlebaby at s great price from a farmer in Coleville, UT. He was very generous in making sure that T was able to afford this little girl and went overall the in's and out's of a bottle baby. T is super excited to get to working with his little girl. Isn't she just the cutest!?! We happily welcome her and her adorableness to our 4H Farm! 

4H Kids and Cameras

Give a kid a camera and you would be absolutely amazed at what you end up with! Yes, you will get the occasional blurry undecipherable animal running by, a shot of someone's boots, or the dreaded butt shot, but over all, they have such a unique perspective and aren't afraid to lay down in the grass and get a little dirty to get that perfect shot. I couldn't tell you which kid took which picture, but they all had a hand on the camera at one point or another, from my oldest teen to my little 6 year old Cloverbud and I just love the pictures they produced!