Permanent Residents

One of the best parts of having a farm full of livestock are the "characters" that stand out from the herd or flock and bring a smile to your face every day.  Sometimes they standout because they are intelligent or funny or even a bit annoying.  They can make you laugh, cry and curse, often all in the same day.  So, I will introduce you to a few of the farm's permanent residents, starting with Rufus.

 

Rufus is a mini potbelly pig.  He is unusual in that he appears to be staying quite small and he is "blue" and white as opposed to the more common solid black color.  Pigs are intelligent and stubborn and hardheaded.  Rufus knows exactly what he wants (food, a warm place to sleep, companionship, food) and he spends a great deal of his day working out exactly how he is going to get what he wants.

I decided to add a miniature pig to the farm in order that visiting children could see and touch a real live pig.  Most kids think of pigs as being those fat, pink things with a curly tail.  They don't know that pigs do not have hair, but bristles, that they come in an assortment of colors and they get cold easily or that their noses are like plow blades for rooting up grubs and plants. Someone once said that pigs come with a plow on one end and a fertilizer spreader on the other!  Rufus surprises kids by coming when he is called, sitting for treats and then hanging out with the group as we tour the farm. 

Rufus spends part of the time in the house and part outside.  He likes to go out and visit with all of the "outdoor" livestock and do a little rooting around.  He runs to his fenced pen every morning and waits to for me to catch up and to give him his reward.  By nightfall, he is cold and squealing to be let back into the house.  I laugh every night as I release him and watch him scurry to the back door, grunting and talking the whole way.  He is very fast-so much for fat, waddling pigs!  Once inside he goes up to all of the dogs and has a little pig conversation and greeting with each one.  Pigs are very social and have a large vocabulary of sounds-grunts, whines and even barks-to express themselves.  After inspecting every corner of the house for fallen crumbs, and having his dinner in the kitchen with the dogs, he is ready to get warm and snuggle for the night.  He spends a lot of time trying to convince the dogs to let him snuggle with them on the dog beds.  He  eventually wears them down and ends up sleeping with one of them either on top of the dog bed or more often underneath it!

In the morning, he is always happy to see everyone stirring and moving around and he runs through the house squealing and whining to see that all of his friends are awake (and that extra bonus- breakfast may appear soon).  Sometimes he gets into things and makes me shake my head and say words that should not appear in print, but mostly he makes me smile and laugh and that is not a bad way to start, or end, the day.

Thoughts for the New Year and AWA Certification

I have played around with this blog a little bit but never really done it justice but I find that I really do like to start the day with a little writing and a cup of coffee! So, I am going to endeavor to indulge two of my passions (writing), which always gets put on the back burner and good coffee (a necessity of life!).

The middle and end of 2010 found lots of changes happening on the farm and 2011 will bring even more changes as we grow and diversify even more. I have added pasture hogs, meat rabbits, show rabbits, ducks, more geese, more heritage chickens, more meat chickens, changed to Dorper sheep, bred for more meat goats and am slowly getting started in beef. The end goal of all of these changes is simple:

(1)To produce the safest, cleanest, most flavorful food that money can buy.

(2) To produce this food with the highest standard of natural animal care and respect for the animals that provide these products.

(3) To protect and be good stewards of the land, water and wildlife of the farm

In keeping with those goals, I decided to pursue having the farm Animal Welfare Approved certified. AWA is a third party certifying group with very strict standards of animal care for livestock raised for their meat, milk, eggs and fiber. Each species has a very detailed set of standards that are to be met in order to certify the products from that type of animal. The standards require that all species are raised humanely on pasture, allowing the animals to express their natural behaviors and treating them as humanely as possible. Breeds used should be those, like heritage chickens and breeds of hogs, that flourish on pasture, not breeds bred for industrial (confinement) agriculture. Even the processors that we use have to be AWA certified. I liked the idea of having the farm AWA certified because I found that their standards were in line with how I wanted to raise my livestock. Now my customers get the added benefit of knowing that the farm has been "vetted" by a third party, and will continue to be visited by AWA on a regular basis. As always, anyone is invited to visit the farm, but this gives peace of mind that the animals are well cared for to those who might not be able to visit.

The New Year started out with a nice surprise-an email from AWA letting me know that the farm had been Animal Welfare Approved Certified-yeah!

Time to Write Again and New ND Babies

My writing and posting always fall by the wayside among the many chores that have to be done everyday-feeding, milking, watering, fixing fence, loading for market, unloading from market, cleaning, paperwork-well, you get the picture! I am hoping to use the blog as a way to give those interested a little insight into the daily workings of the farm. What goes on everyday, what products are available that week, what is coming up and where we are headed.

Today was spent on some farm planning-the what direction we are going in part. Taking stock of where things stand now, where we want to go from here and how to get there. In the middle of the planning and note taking and organizing, I decided to take a break and walk the pastures and check the grass growth and types. ALL of the animals came along-12 goats, 16 sheep, 2 horses, 2 pigs and 1 donkey!

Well, the extra excercise then induced Sally Jo ( one of the Nigerian Dwarf goats) to go into labor. So back to the barn we all headed! I fixed her up a private stall with a thick bed of straw and she got right to work. A half hour later there were two gorgeous bucks. One shot out like a rocket while she was still standing up-funniest thing I have ever seen. The other came out and landed on his back with all four feet in the air-and just laid there. When he finally decided to try and turn over, he just curled up and took a nap. Most babies cry and try and stand to nurse. Not, him, he took a half hour power nap THEN got up and nursed. So we now have Rocket and Sleeper!

Fresh, grassfed meats delivered

We have started a co-op of farmers in the western North Carolina mountains who raise grassfed meats without hormones or antibiotics. High Country Grassfed delivers fresh, flavorful meat, eggs and cheese every 6 weeks to Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Charlotte, Raleigh, Durham, Boone and West Jefferson. Our farmers produce pasture raised beef, pork, poultry, lamb and goat , eggs from free range hens, goat cheese and goat milk soaps and lotions.
Please go to www.highcountrygrassfed.com for a list of products and pricing.