Week Two: Simon
Monday morning six rabbits were butchered - luckily I was busy while this was going on. Rabbits are the only animals we butcher at the farm; the pigs, sheep, and goats all go to a USDA approved processing facility. Whew. Unfortunately I wasn't saved from dealing with dead animals that morning. One of our farm dogs, Joy, killed seven chickens. Those seven plus the other two I found (that seemed to have died from natural chicken causes) make it a total of nine dead chickens. I buried them in the compost after lecturing Joy and saying a little chicken prayer.
There have been a couple litters of piglets born since I got here and when they're about a week old it's time to vaccinate, castrate, and notch their ears. If they're any older they're too strong and it's nearly impossible to keep them still. Tuesday morning we rounded up the piglets and Kent, one of the farm owners, trained me to vaccinate, castrate, and notch their little ears. The ear notching is used to tell the pigs apart. There's a numbering system: one ear is the litter number and the other ear is the pig number. They don't seem to mind it much - I guess it's like our ears, lots of cartilage and not many nerves. The vaccination was the easiest part. The needle is small and as long as they're still it goes pretty quickly. Castration has to be done before the pig hits puberty - his male hormones ruin the meat - makes it smelly. Who knew. Whitmore farm is one of the few farms that uses a local anesthetic - the little pigs didn't seem to feel a thing, they were quiet, for piglets who can be pretty chatty, and went right back to playing once they were in the pasture with mom.
One of the little piglets who had been castrated the week before herniated. Kent explained that with pigs it's genetic, even if we had left him alone and let him keep his testicles he would have herniated later in life. His intestines were falling out of his wound - he had to be put down. Kent demonstrated how to kill a piglet.
Earlier in the week one of our pig moms accidentally sat on her piglet (because they are so fat this is apparently quite common) and broke his little leg. We pulled him out, made him a nice little bed, and started bottle feeding. I became his self-appointed care giver. After a week of coddling and spoiling, Simon (yes I named him) is back with all his piglet siblings.
Unlike pigs who scatter chaotically, goats and sheep are easy to herd. This week we checked all the goats and sheep for intestinal worms and medicated the ones who looked a bit sickly. Don't worry, no poop is involved, we check for worms by looking under their eye lids (I was relieved). I totally understand why farmers wear steel toed boots now. After wrestling dozens of goats my feet are covered in bruises.
fun facts:
The smelliness in pork caused by male hormones (not castrating before puberty) is called "boar taint".
When a pig is too fat it's called being "over conditioned"
Fresh farm eggs can last up the three months in the refrigerator.
There have been a couple litters of piglets born since I got here and when they're about a week old it's time to vaccinate, castrate, and notch their ears. If they're any older they're too strong and it's nearly impossible to keep them still. Tuesday morning we rounded up the piglets and Kent, one of the farm owners, trained me to vaccinate, castrate, and notch their little ears. The ear notching is used to tell the pigs apart. There's a numbering system: one ear is the litter number and the other ear is the pig number. They don't seem to mind it much - I guess it's like our ears, lots of cartilage and not many nerves. The vaccination was the easiest part. The needle is small and as long as they're still it goes pretty quickly. Castration has to be done before the pig hits puberty - his male hormones ruin the meat - makes it smelly. Who knew. Whitmore farm is one of the few farms that uses a local anesthetic - the little pigs didn't seem to feel a thing, they were quiet, for piglets who can be pretty chatty, and went right back to playing once they were in the pasture with mom.
One of the little piglets who had been castrated the week before herniated. Kent explained that with pigs it's genetic, even if we had left him alone and let him keep his testicles he would have herniated later in life. His intestines were falling out of his wound - he had to be put down. Kent demonstrated how to kill a piglet.
Earlier in the week one of our pig moms accidentally sat on her piglet (because they are so fat this is apparently quite common) and broke his little leg. We pulled him out, made him a nice little bed, and started bottle feeding. I became his self-appointed care giver. After a week of coddling and spoiling, Simon (yes I named him) is back with all his piglet siblings.
Unlike pigs who scatter chaotically, goats and sheep are easy to herd. This week we checked all the goats and sheep for intestinal worms and medicated the ones who looked a bit sickly. Don't worry, no poop is involved, we check for worms by looking under their eye lids (I was relieved). I totally understand why farmers wear steel toed boots now. After wrestling dozens of goats my feet are covered in bruises.
fun facts:
The smelliness in pork caused by male hormones (not castrating before puberty) is called "boar taint".
When a pig is too fat it's called being "over conditioned"
Fresh farm eggs can last up the three months in the refrigerator.
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