Fall on our Farm....Part 2

Another important part of fall is moving animals around to their winter quarters.

Our watering systems, for the most part are just hoses strung across the ground all over the place.They already are freezing at night and not thawing until mid afternoon.  So we need to make sure that everything is either close enough to the barn to make watering easier, or somewhere we can haul water to with the tractor.

We also need to fence new spots or mend fence that’s in disrepair. Fencing seems to never end around here.

We also have to separate our beef cattle. The bred cows (which should give us calves in the spring) are separated from the animals that need to get a lot more feed. Those are animals that are growing or being fattened to be butchered. Their feed is all natural with no antibiotics, hormones, animal by-products, or synthetic proteins - just corn and soybeans and some vitamins and minerals. They are in a pasture with grass and they are also eating good hay.

We have finished our late summer farrowing -that’s when mama hogs (sows) have their babies (pigs).  We will keep some to feed out to butcher weight, sell a few to a neighbor who wants to raise his own pigs, and bring any extras to the sale barn.  We have to plan where all the pigs (sows, boar, and hogs) are going to spend the winter.  That means we need to move shelters, feeders, and fences around.

This all needs to get done before Deer Season starts.

I don’t know about your family, but my family has 3 hunters and between deer hunting and making firewood, weekends in November are spoken for.