Visit to the VA Pork Conference and Warmer Weather!

Dad and I made our way to Franklin, Virginia last Friday to go to the Virginia Pork Conference that is held every year.  There were quite a few very good speakers there this year, and Dad and I learned a lot!  The first speaker was talking on moving pigs and what kind of stress it had on them and how to help with it, and then the second speaker was the best.  He talked about nursery care for pigs, or the wean-to-finish plan.  That is where the pigs go in one pen at the time that they are moved, and stay there until they are finished, or ready for market.  We don't have the facilities for that, and we use the different rooms for our nurseries to move our pigs throughout as they grow.  But, he did have some great information that I wasn't as familiar with about some new techniques that can be used with the pigs after they have been weaned and go into the nurseries.  We are going to buy some new creep feeders, and give our weaned pigs a special mash- just feed mixed with some warm water- to help them better adapt to new feed when they are weaned.

The last two speakers talked about the Chesapeake Bay initiative, and what it's impact is going to be on farmers, and the possibility for many more regulations that will have to be followed.  It was pretty scary to think about what is possibly coming for farmers throughout the United States! 

We certainly enjoyed the warmer weather that was here over the weekend!  It is always nice to have 50 degree temperatures in January- until the next day when all the mud has thawed out, and red mud makes a big mess when you are trying to get around to the barns, or to feed hay.  There is still snow on the ground, and I will be very glad when all of that goes away, and the mud starts to dry up, so the probability of me getting stuck goes down!  I think the warm weather is gone for a while though, with the rain coming in and probably going to stay for a while. 

Are you ready for the snow?

I think the snow is coming! Around the farm, we are going to spend the rest of the day doing jobs inside.  According to the weather, the snow is supposed to start around 3 this afternoon.  Dad just got back not too long ago from his trip to DC this morning, and I had to go deliver pork loins to a CSA type of business in Albemarle this morning.  Dad told me to go ahead and get up so that I could be out and back and off the roads before the snow starts.  I have been busy on the farm recently with my pigs!  The babies that were born two weeks ago are getting really big!  Some of them are going to be ready to be weaned at the end of this week/beginning of this week.  I have already started them on feed so that they will be ready to go in the hot nursery.
Dad is out feeding hay and feeding the big pigs on the barn.  I have to head down and get the fire going and feed all my other pigs.  I have been busy after delivering loins, and then making phone calls and working on invoicing to help my dad out some. 
Even if we get the 4-6 inches of snow tonight, it won't slow us down much!  All the pigs and the cows are still going to need to be fed tomorrow.  Dad and I are heading down to Franklin, Virginia to the Virginia Pork Conference tomorrow night through Friday.  I like to go down and see people that I know from throughout the state, and it is always interesting to see what new speakers will be there, and get updates on the state pork industry and also on a more national level.  It helps us to predict what will be coming in the future for pig farmers and what we should prepare ourselves for.  We always get updates about the animal welfare groups, and what sorts of legislation is going to be passed or has been proposed that might affect us.
Stay safe and warm in the snow that is coming!

It's Cold, but at least it's sunny!

It's cold out there!  That wind just makes everything that much colder, but I was super happy to see the sun when I woke up this morning.  All the clouds and gray don't make the cold much fun when you have to be outside all the time.  Everyone has been staying busy on the farm.  Matt is getting ready to head back to Blacksburg this weekend, so starting next week it's just going to be me and Dad on the farm taking care of everything.  My brother is the one that always grinds all the feed, and I have been informed that I am going to take over that job starting next week.  Today I'm supposed to be getting some "training" on how to do everything.  It takes a long time to grind and mix all the batches of feed that we have for all of our pigs!  We have a breeding barn mix, a hot nursery mix, a cold nursery mix, and then a grower mix.  The pigs at all those stages need different levels of protein in their diets so that they can continue to grow big and strong, so they need different amounts of soybean meal in their diets.  The little pigs also get some special mixtures that taste like molasses so that they eat their feed better, because it can be a shock to go from drinking all milk to just feed!  That why we try to start feeding them some feed before they are weaned so that they are more used to it when they go in the hot nursery.
We have had a bunch of baby pigs born this week!  Mostly white ones, but we also have 11 red and black polka dotted ones!  They are super cute.  On weeks like this, I am very glad that we have barns to put our pigs in.  The baby pigs like it about 80 degrees on them so that they stay warm, and the sows need it about 65-70 degrees in the barn.  It would be very hard to get it that warm if they were outside pigs!  We have the wood stove going, the propane heat on, and heat lamps on the baby pigs so that they can stay the temperature they need to be.  It's pretty warm in there for me- I have to take my jacket off if I'm in there for very long and I still get hot!  But, the baby pigs love it.  They are growing and playing with each other and doing a lot of eating and sleeping under the heat lamp.  
Dad is on his way home from all of his deliveries in Northern Virginia and Fredericksburg, and then around Orange, and as soon as he gets home I am headed out to make more deliveries!  I have to go to Albemarle to make a delivery to Arganica, and then drop some sides off at Kite's Hams so that they can cure our bacon for us so that in about six weeks that bacon will be ready for everyone to buy and eat!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  Even through the busy holiday season, I haven't had much time to blog, but things on the farm haven't slowed down.  For the first time since April, we don't have anything that needs to go in the ground and we have one thing left to come out of the ground!  Dad finally finished shelling corn last week, and the combine is back in the barn until one day this week when he has to spend a couple of hours finishing up with the soybeans, which luckily shouldn't take long.  I am super glad that it has finally warmed up some, all that wind and cold air gets tiring after a while when you're outside in it all day!
Things on the farm change a little from January until April when things have to start being planted again.  Winter is our "catch up" time on the farm.  We do a lot of wood splitting, fixing tractors, making general repairs, and getting everything ready for April when it all starts up again.
We also work on bigger projects in the winter.  For example, we are going to work on building a lot for our cows that are in the field around our house to catch them.  When we do take cows to other farms or we take calves to market, it's much easier to have them in an open lot with fences and a chute to put them on a trailer than it is to ride out in the field and attempt to get them on the trailer on their own.  Doesn't work.  It is also nice to have the lot if any of the cows need some special attention, or they need their yearly vaccines.  We build "guard-rail lots."  Dad has some of the guardrail that goes on the side of the road, and we use it to go around our lots.  It works great.  We already have two other lots that are made out of guardrail.  The cows can't get out once they get in, and it holds up great in the weather conditions. 
The pigs are doing well in this weather.  Dad and I took one of our boars, Hokie Man, over to a neighbors house because he has two sows that need to be bred.  I want to go in the show pig business, selling show pigs to 4-Hers, so hopefully there will be some good gilts that I can use to start my show pig herd.
I was down at the barn this morning feeding and had quite the problem with the feed tank that we use to hold the feed for our breeding barn.  The metal around the opening at the bottom of the tank that we use to get in the tank to get clumps of feed out that get stuck, or to help clean the feed tank out, has broken.  Now the cover will not stay on!  It is very aggravating trying to keep it on long enough to get enough feed out so that I can finish feeding.  Dad doesn't know it yet, but that's going to be one of his jobs this afternoon to fix it!