Meet the Animals

The family is away, and I’m doing chores in their stead. Really, it’s just feeding the animals, so I figured I’d post some photos:

First and foremost, Goldie the farm dog. She also goes by Goldie Arf. You’re the man now, arf.

The cows are very thirsty! And very much ungulates. They nudge and moo if one cow is taking too long at the watering area. Reminds me of kindergarten. Large, hairy, hay-eating, wet-nosed kindergarten.

And now, the pigs. Also ungulates, and quite smelly. Soon they’ll have their own portable A-frame shelter for the spring/summer/fall. I’m not sure if they’ll come in for winter as they do now, but all the farm animals are pastured. For some animals, like the cows, this means they just eat the grass. The chickens get to dig around for grubs and insects, and also are supplemented with organic grain feed (seeds, corn, etc). The pigs pasture as well and get scraps from here an there. No meat though, especially not other pigs.

I don’t know their names yet, but the mother above is bred every year. Most of the resulting piglets (usually 8-10) are sold off, but they keep two or three for food. Its processed at Dayland Meats, where they cut it into chops, bacon, hams, shoulder, and other tasty morsels of piggy goodness.

There are currently three pigs, and we’re actively looking for a boar with which to breed the mother. This means either we buy the boar, or a fee is charged for breeding. If the farm does buy one, it will most likely be sold off – granted a profit is made on the sale of the resultant piglets. Enough talk. Here’s another pig photo:

And now, my favorites: the baby chicks. These little ones are about 3 weeks old. In a factory farm, that means they’ve reached middle age. Most factory farmed chickens don’t make it past the 6 week mark. Stoney Acres carefully chooses the breeds of chicken, selecting from rare breeds specialized for meat, eggs, or both. This year, the farm is producing eggs as well as chickens for meat, so we’ve got a few varieties of chickens. I’ll write a more specific chicken post in the weeks to come. For now, cute photos:

There will definitely be more to come. I will probably start blogging about farm stuff on the farm’s website, http://www.stoneyacresfarm.net. In addition to the photographed animals, there are also goats, getting honey bees shipped soon, and there’s talk of sheep for meat and wool. Lots to learn and look forward to.