You know, I keep forgetting to bring the camera out to the property. Today, I finally brought it and took some pictures of some of the projects that we have been doing to prepare for this first season. One of our major hurdles in planning for this year is the fact that we live 40 minutes from the farm, and I work a 12 hour day shift a half hour in the other direction. Obviously we have our challenges, and the way that we choose to raise our animals makes these challenges a little more difficult.
Our Dog Blaze - hopefully she will not get a taste for chicken!
None of our animals will be stationary on the farm, everything will move to fresh ground regularly.
After a brief stay in the "swine meets electric" training facility, our pigs will be moving through a field this summer to help us get rid of some thistle that has gotten out of hand. This fall they will move into the woods when we re-seed the pasture that they have destroyed all summer. In the woods they will work again to clear some overgrown areas into future pasture.
Pig Training Facility
Semi-portable pig shade
Our laying hens will be towed around the farm on our Coop de wagon, which currently looks like a wagon and not much of a coop. We have just built the floor so far. They will be given an area large enough for 3-4 days so that moving them does not have to be a daily chore
One of the things that will be a daily chore is moving our pastured broilers. For those of you who don't know, not only will we be moving chickens everyday this summer, we are also expecting our third child near the end of July. The hoop coops need to be heavy enough not to blow away, and light enough that even Alison @ 9 months pregnant could move them on the days that I work. The wheels below are on a pivot; when forward, the coop is down on the ground and when back, it is about 2-3 inches off the ground. Instead of having the wheels in the back of the coop, where the whole weight of the coop would have to be lifted, we put them at 2/3's of the way back, giving more leverage and making the coop lighter to pull.
Forward Position
Back Position
The hoop coop in the field, it will be covered with a tarp eventually
This is the completed shed....can you imagine what my car looked like before we finished this?
