September 25, 2010

Well, the joke's on me. I posted on 9/9 that Sugar was likely bred. She came into heat the next day, September 10th. If she's not bred this time, she'll come back in heat around 10/1. After that we'll be butchering the bull. If she ends up not bred, we'll try again next summer. I don't want to keep trying and end up with a calf in late July or August. She's been lactating for 20 months and since the calf is taking all the milk, we have no idea how much she's producing. I'm sure it's low since we didn't get enough rain in September and are having to feed hay already. Fortunately, we were able to buy our herdshares back so we're still getting good milk. So much for natural breeding being more reliable that AI. I don't know if our bull is infertile or just inexperienced.

The butcher is coming on 10/1 for the lambs. We still have one available. If anyone local is interested, email me at joe [at] realfoodfreedom [dot] com. The price is $3.00 per pound (carcass weight) plus butchering (around $200 total cost for a 45 lb. carcass).




We've decided not to raise any more meat chickens this year since our freezers will soon be full of beef. We would like to sell half the beef which can be split into quarters. The price for that will be $2.25 per pound plus butchering. I expect Porter is in the neighborhood of 1000 lbs which probably equates to somewhere around a 600 lbs carcass. I'm just WAGging (wild-ass guess) it so if you're interested don't count on these weights. Email me at the above address and I'll let you know when the butcher's appt. is and the actual weights as soon as I find out. I expect this beef to be leaner than I would like since he's a bull and not a steer. He's not 100% grass-fed but has had organic corn and spelt (no soy!).

We arrived home last Monday from our annual trip to the coast. It was great! Our animals all thrived under the care of Jennifer's brother. Now we are ready for all the work of autumn.

September 9, 2010

All is well at Liberty Farm. Lambs are growing, calf is growing (like mad) and Sugar appears to be bred!

Sugar came into heat for the first time after Porterhouse went in with her on July 31st. He didn't get the job done and she came back into heat on August 19th. It's been 21 days and she hasn't come back in heat so we assume that she's bred. She's due in mid-May. Her heats were mostly uneventful before we introduced the bull but the two times she came in while he was with her were very obvious. She was trying to mount the calf, the bull and the rams. That probably seems odd to folks unfamiliar with cows, but the cows will mount other cows to get the bull's attention. We're really excited to have another calf b0rn here!

The pullets really look good and we haven't lost a single one. We ended up with one rooster which isn't bad out of twenty birds. He recently started crowing. It's kind of annoying at 4:00 in the morning but I love that sound.

Lamb butchering is scheduled for October 1st and we might have one left. If anyone is interested, email me at joe [at] realfoodfreedom [dot] com. I think we'll butcher Porter in late October. We'll have half a beef available then (can split into 2 quarters).

Be well.