This week I'm working on getting the rabbits bred. Just Blackberry and OMB because I was counting on a litter from each of them last week. Blackberry is going to Buddy Boy, and OMB to New Buddy Boy. On Tuesday, OMB wasn't receptive but Blackberry was. Today was opposite. I'm putting them in with their bucks every morning just to spread things out and make more certain that they'll get pregnant. I need a way to make sure my bucks stay stronger, they don't seem to have much endurance, and the girls are giving them a good run every morning. I wonder how that'd work...
Does this pic make my swine look fat?
The boys are getting some good weight on em now. Last night I subjected myself to some premium grade torture regarding the pigs. I was kinda hungry at work, and the podcast I've been listening to was all about making bacon. Home-raised, home-cured, home-smoked, hang-on-the-wall bacon. My mouth was watering for probably six hours straight, and I keep getting more excited about these pigs. Corn, acorns, and peanuts are supposedly excellent finishers for this breed of lard pig, and suddenly I'm remembering I have half a pound of non GMO homegrown corn seeds... The current plan is to finish on acorns, pecans, homegrown corn, and a bit of their peanut based feed. I'm convinced as well that I'm going to need to smoke a bacon with peach wood. Tell me that doesn't sound amazing. We'll see how it works out, I've got some heavy pruning to do on my peach trees anyways...
35 gallon barrel for scale...
I think I'm going to proposition and commission @bobydimitrov to write a book about how to harvest and prepare one of these things. Everyone tag him in comments below, I'll save up and put $100 towards the project if he's down to do it. This is something the world needs.
Due to a lack of focus and getshitdonitiveness, I'm bringing back the list!
THE LIST:
- Breed rabbits
- Prepare containers for growing trees
- Prepare containers for growing blackberries
- Plant winter squash
- Plant painted mountain corn
- Plant tomato starts
- Set mouse traps
- Set coon traps
- Clean out the freezer
- Acquire yeast for making wine
- Propagate more comfrey
That looks like a good start for now. I'll get on that in the morning when I get home. The planting shouldn't be hard to do, but finding containers to prep for growing things may prove difficult. Buckets are running low nowadays. I'd like a lot of blackberries so I can sell them this fall to folks, along with hosting a small blackberry class. The trees I want to start are peaches. Any seeds from our trees will be planted, and I may end up buying a lot of fresh peaches to feed to the pigs and harvest seeds to plant too... I like this idea.
Well, it's almost lunch time and I've rambled on for five hundred words. Not to bore. Just putting ideas out. I'll call this one a wrap.
Love from Texas
Nate 💚
Hah, a big pig book, huh? :) You have all you need in the Meatsmith videos ;)
Re: rabbits. When my mother raised rabbits, they routinely had 8-12 does with 2 bucks. When they started downscaling before shutting the whole thing down, they had 1 buck and 5 or 6 does and each year (spring) they got a new buck from a friend, while they gave him one of their new bucks. So that must have maintained enough of a genetic diversity.
The meatsmith videos AND PODCASTS TOO are really helpful. And he has a list of books he recommends too. I just need more pictures lol
Yeah, one buck will work however many does you can give him. I like the idea of trading a buck with friends, that's a good idea that I'll propose to the community. I wonder how long they can go without any inbreeding issues, how long did it work for your family?
I'm wondering about how to select good animals to continue a program. I've got one for right now that is huge and pretty, but she won't get her ass up to accept the buck, so I'm not sure about her. It might just be too late in the season, so I guess we'll see how she does this spring.
At least 10 years, but de facto many generations, as old bucks get culled and there are at least several generations between old and new. Not sure if I explained it right...
Re: selection, usually the biggest of the litter is selected for both buck and doe replacement. Also does have basically a single chance, meaning if they are bred seemingly successfully and they don't give birth, they get culled and are replaced by the biggest doe of the next generation.
And you are right, you need organization 🤣 What is working here is having a ledger with numbered cages and going down you write when the doe was bred, when it's due and how many she birthed and when she should be bred again. So it's easy to see the most important things daily. When should you breed, when is birth expected, how each doe performs in time.
I'm sure an app could help, but a notebook could help as well 😉
A notebook? What's that? Is that an app?
Homesteading is what I hope to retire to in my old age. This looks like fun
It's very very fun, but why not get started now?
We built a little smokehouse and did our bacon in it, using the cold smoke method. Our cure was maple and another was herb. Yummy!
Mmmmm, maple cured bacon. What wood did you smoke with?
Have I mentioned I'm excited for these pigs? Hahahaha
My husband had some hickory stored for that. I saved the apple prunings this year also.
I've heard mesquite is good for smoking, and we have lots of that here. Of course, I'm thinking of peach wood because I had someone tell me once that it's a real treat to have peach or plum for smoking.
Those pigs are sure looking good. It look like you have a good bit of things to do, I hope you are able to get everything done. Keep the great content coming!