Pigs 'N Chicks

I realize its been a while since my last post, but there has been a whirlwind of activity around here. It all started last Monday when I and a coworker where talking about raising pigs, before I knew it I was taking ownership of two feeder pigs on Friday. The thought occurred to me "Where am I going to put them?" I did have a small catch pen to house them for a little while, but no permanent pig housing. Panic began setting in, I began work on a small pole barn for the pigs right away, Tuesday I spent all afternoon and evening clearing a wooded area for the barn and dry lot, and cutting and setting cedar posts, Wednesday I finished setting the posts, and started putting sides on the barn, it was about 6:30 pm Wednesday evening when I realized I wasn't going to make it, there was just too much work to be done and the forecast was for rain Thursday, so Thursday was spent in my raincoat setting up the catch pen to hold two rambunctious piggies which meant running two strands of electric fence wire around the perimeter to keep them from rooting out.

         Friday Michelle brought the pigs to their new home, they are Yorkshire and Landrace crosses. We made the decision to get two gilts (that's female in pig language) because we have read that they make for a milder tasting finished product. So, without further a do introducing Ham and Bacon

Ham and Bacon





As most of you know about 23 days ago I loaded up the incubator with 17 fertilized chicken eggs, (we wont mention the first time we attempted it) Well I have been attempting to candle them after day seven without any conclusive results, finally Friday I candled them one more time and concluded that they where all duds, but decided to leave them be for the full 21 days thinking that was Monday.(we won't mention my poor math skills here) Well, when we got home from church Sunday we heard a faint tweet, as we looked at each other thinking some small bird had managed to get into our home, I thought "Surely those eggs didn't hatch? They are not supposed to hatch utill Monday (Again, I stink at math) I ran over to the incubator and.......

When it was all said and done we had 10 brand new babies! Now if you remember we incubated these to have some fresh meat this winter, with that in mind I have told Michelle not to get attached, but I forgot to tell myself. Its going to be hard after watching them being born, but we have to realize that it is all a part of life, even that chicken you buy in the grocery store began as a cute baby chick just like these. We as a society have gotten too far away from our food sources, we see the nice packaging without conceiving that an animal gave it's life for you to eat chicken, in fact, lots of children and an alarming number of adults believe their meat is made in the back of the supermarket. When the day comes, I can say that I will not take it lightly, but with a solemn reminder of the sacrifice of each animal to provide us with a meal.