The Barnyard Life
What would barnyard life be without the baryard animals? Our list of animals we’ve had is growing every year. We started out with a few chickens from our local feed store. We bought 6 Buff Orpingtons and 6 Silver Laced Wyandottes. They were all good layers in their prime but as they are reaching 4 years old, egg production is on the decline. The next year we bought 2 Ameraucana hens and a rooster. Henry the Ameraucana rooster has turned out to be quite a handfull and his days are numbered. For some reason that crazy rooster likes to attack me. I am the alpha male around here but come on, I don’t harass the chickens. That’s Henry’s job. I got a little sidetracked there. With all those chickens comes plenty of farm fresh eggs. We had so many eggs that we were giving them away. Yes that’s right, we actually gave them away to our family and friends. It may sound crazy that we would do such a thing, but hey, that’s who we are. The first and second year the hens were little egg making machines. Not that egg production has stopped we have purchased 12 Black Star hens and 1 Black Star rooster.
Now we will just reproduce our own hens for a couple years. These Black Star chickens are really beautiful and the best part is that anyone can sex them when they hatch. The females are solid black when hatched and the males will have a white dot on their head. How cool is that. Since i’m not the Chinese guy at McMurray’s, I need all the help I can get when it comes to sexing chicks.
We also purchased a steer in our second year. Wait, it wasn’t a steer when we bought, no, not that easy for me. Poor Fido arrived at the farm a bull. Although not a large bull, (very small at the time) a bull he was. Needless to say, I learned how to castrate a bull. It sounds horrible, I know, But it’s not that bad. Our neighbors helped to hold the little guy down,( it takes more than one person for this) and within minutes we had him banded and back on his feet. Fido is now gracing our dinner table with some of the best beef i’ve ever had. We will most definately purchase another cow or bull. If you have never raised your own, you don’t know what you are missing. Give it a shot sometime or maybe even split it with a family member or close neighbor. You will have an enormous amount of beef so be prepared.
sow that was bread by artificial insemination. She was beautiful and also very freindly. So you can’t just have a sow, no no no. That is cruel and unusuall punishment! You must have a boar if you have a sow. You see where this is going? Nothing can be simple. Anyway, along comes Beast. He ,for some reason that I won’t explain here, could not get the job done. So we sent Belle, the sow, off to get a new boyfreind. That didn’t work either. Apparently, one of the side effects of artificial insemination is infertility. Not all was lost, we filled a freezer with fantasic pork products. Well, Beast wasn’t alone for long. Within a few weeks we found 4 new sows that were only a few months old. Here comes another no brainer right! Beast weighed in at over 700 lbs, new sows are a few months old. No problem we’ll just get a younger boar. Along comes Marshall. So Beast must go. I am going to pause here and thank God for sending us the best butcher EVER. Brooks at The Country Smokehouse in Spring Hill, Fl, You are the man. He was a massive pig and Brooks not only got him to load up in the trailer but did it with a cracked rib that Beast gave him. ( Do Not stand between a 700lb pig and a fence post. You may get a cracked rib) So now we have lots of sausage, bacon, ribs, and chops and we are working with a brand new set of breeders.
Marshall is a good boar. So far the sows have produced 17 piglets. Anyone want to buy a pig?
Hello,
I am interested in purchasing 2-4 fertilized eggs for my daughter’s science project. She is wanting to observe the hatching process… no experiments. After hatched, I would donate the chicks back to your farm (if you are interested). Please let me know as soon as possible if this is something you would consider doing. Thank you so much.
Sincerely,
Jaime
Hi Jamie, We would love to help your daughter out. Give us a call. 352-503-5027
Hi !
your experiences look similar to some we’ve had in our backyard farm.I have currently had a pot-bellied sow and boar which has had 3 litters.we tried eating the extra piglets, but they were not as good as regular pigs. We also have been buying in 4-5 piglets at a time and raising them for meat. I am considering getting rid of the pot-bellys and keeping a proper pig as a sow and getting her bred. Do you recommend artificial insemination, or is a boar managable-
Any input is welcome
Barney
Good question Barney. I know that pot-bellies are a food source in other countries, but I also prefer domestic hogs for table fare. As far as breeding a boar to your sows go there are a few options. Artificial is one, but you will want to recruit some help for your first time. You can buy a boar( I recommend getting one as a piglet) or you can check the online classifieds for someone who has a boar they want to breed. Sometimes you can just offer pick of the litter and others may want a fee for stud service.