Summer

All is well. Very busy. Please check out our Facebook page for weekly updates. All of first cut hay is done. Sold one cow; soon to sell one heifer (8-28); 2 beef steers for sale. Firewood is in progess; winter will be here soon. Barn completed soon I hope. Barn pics to come soon.

April Update

Above was this mornings calf. Spring actually here. Green grass and all. Barn building is in progress and hay season will be upon us soon.

Spring is here!

Spring is here and the weather is warming. Hogs were processed and sold, thank you. We have 2 new calves on the farm with one cow yet to calve. Plans are brewing fast for the new barn, I hope to order lumber this week. We recently bought a hay rake. And were planning the spring garden. We dont get to blog as much as we wish, with work changes (Stations and shift). But we'll try to keep this updated as much as possible.

October Update

October is going well, after a week of cold/ flu sickness everyone is up and back to normal. We have been cutting and splitting more firewood, we are actively using the wood stove nearly 24/7. Below is a view of cows in pasture during fall color.
The hogs are doing very well, growing well. Below is a photo me building their new hog house which is on skids so it can be pulled by a tractor to rotation graze.

Here is a photo of the new house in the pig pen (1/2 of our garden) where the pigs are harvesting the garden leftovers. And turning the soil. Below Jay watching his pigs (they're names are "Bacon"- that what he calls them).

Here is one of the calves which are being weaned in the barn and is currently for sale.

Farm Goals 2009 Update

This is a 2009 Farm Goals Update. In January we made a farm goals list, link is at bottom of page for review purposes, if needed. Below is the list with marks beside.
KEY:
U- Undone- May no get done...
I-In Progress
X- Done

I 1. Have fun, enjoy family and seasons more- In progress, we have had quality family time. We purchased a pop-up camper, and hope to spend more time together and enjoy this fall season!

I 2. Firewood Shed & Firewood & Firewood Wagon- Shed done, Roughly 1/2 winters firewood in, Wagon in progress but delayed.

I 3. Cow Shed on Barn- New roof for old section first, then maybe new cow shed?

U 4. Expand Cow Herd- Maybe not this year. We had 2 heifer calves born and hope to buy a couple of beef steers to raise and sell.

X 5. Fence- Mostly complete. See past posts.

I 6. Pig House & Pens- Pen done- though will be expanding very soon. Pig house in progress. Pig herd= 10 to feed out this fall. That's a lot of mouths to feed.

U 7. Chickens- Completed, then dissolved. Due to Raccoons and other farm projects chickens are on hold.

X 8. Flooring for sun room- Hardwood complete.

U 9. Garage Door- Probably not getting done, unless I find a good deal on a door.

X 10. Garden & Canning- Complete, I think. Garden fared well. Lots of canned goods: green beans, tomato juice and beets. Frozen corn, tomato juice, bell peppers. Potatoes in storage.

X 11. Water lines- waterer- Complete. Water line in. Frost-Free Spigot-- works great.

I 12. 220 electric to garage- Electric line in, not connected on either end yet.

Unlisted are the daily chores that go along with raising a family and expanding a farm. Two big events not planned on were the purchase of a Haybine and Tractor. There will be a year end review in a few more months. For now that hay season is mostly over- Firewood is the name of my game!

http://concordmeadowsfarm.blogspot.com/2009/01/goals-for-2009.html

July

Summer is coming right along. First cut hay is done. Fence is in progress. Next to do: firewood and barn roof. We have canned some, and will be canning alot more as more tomatos ripen.

Jay playing on his toy "trac-sher" wearing my old work hat. He has so much fun on that tractor, it has seen and will see many more miles.

Here my wife worked on brush hogging the pasture which has been grazed early on in season, but before weeds go to seed and spread, we mow, to stop the seed spread and help pasture growth. What a great job she did!

Fence is an ongoing project. This will keep our bull Travis from wandering to the neighboring farm when their cows are in heat. The light weight electric that shocks @ 4,500 volts did nothing to stop him 4 times this week, thankfully they're understanding and very helpful. We have finally finished the east side of the perimeter fence; it has been built in stages. It consisits of 4 strand barb wire and cow panels for gates. Big thanks to Kyle for his help!!!

This is our newest family investment: a pop-up camper. We are so excited to use it, we have planned to camp the first weekend of August.

Summer Update

Times are busy as always! Since we are both working off them farm jobs and around the farm, days are long. Good news: all puppies have new homes; the garden is filling with fresh veggies (above picture) and we are late yet again splitting firewood but we have some done. There has been massive amounts of hay baled, stored and sold this season- possibly one for the record books. Everyone is doing well. Jay is growing by the day, its unbelievable; he got a pet Ki-Cat (kitten) for the garage/ barn/ outdoors... Mouse catcher... would be great for the feed storage area. Both calves are doing well putting on weight. adapting the pasture life.

Another Calf

Yesterday Big Momma gave birth to a red heifer "Chloey" (Above). She had no difficulty and let me carry it to the barn. We are now at 5 head of cattle: 1 Bull- Travis, 2 Cows- Sally, Big Momma, 2 Calves- Abby, Chloe.

Above is Sally and her calf Abby, in the pature this morning.
This is an older picture of our bull Travis of Hollifield.

My brother got new tires on his Jeep and had to try them out. After a long day of fence building ( Thanks guys) he got to try them out on trails. Fun, fun.

Yesterday Andrew, Cayla and I baled hay and hauled it to the barn. The new sqaure baler worked great.

New life on the farm

The garden is doing well so far, Jay has been a big help, LOL. So far we have 4 kinds of tomatos, potatos, bell peppers, banana peppers, bush beans cuccumber, cantelope and corn, and a rash of herbs which will be in our new raised bed. (Later Post)

Morgan and Jake just had their final litter of puppies before the fix. (Yes they're getting fixed.) She gave birth to: 8 total= 6 live, 2 still born......... 4 male, 2 female.......... 4 black, 2 white with black. Everyone is fine and dandy and eating well. Taking requests on pups.

Sally finally had her calf!!!!! Yesterday Morning!!! Easy birth she pushed for a few minutes calf emerged, and fell right out. she immediately began cleaning it, etc... The normal mom stuff I guess. Its a heifer (female) and appears to be a red/dun color. The first calving I have witnessed!

With the weather cool and rainy we decided to pin them up in the barn for a day or so. Sally is not happy about being in the barn, as you may know she has been our trouble cow.... she is plain nuts! Below she is playing guard, no human contact allowed on her watch.

The dates dont line up, I know, but these pictures were all taken yesterday June 3.

Sunny days

Jay is absolutely loving this weather! Easter was a big hit also with the egg decorating and throwing ( hahaha- lol- Jay). He also loves to feed his Chi-Chi s (Chickens). He got a sand box for Easter and plays in it alot. Below is his Easter picture, sorry its late.

We have planted our seeds, they are growing fast and will be put into the ground soon.

The haybine project is coming right along a little at a time. I bought some parts a week ago and will replace them soon, hopefully. Yesterday I painted it, pictures below. We sold the heifer calf tat we bought in January so that we can re-roof the barn (the roof leaks- alot!). We also hauled in 2 beef steers to the butcher on Wedsnesday- All beef (1/2's & 1/4's) are sold. To purchase pigs to raise for pork this week?? I havent decided yet.

We hope that everyone is enjoying spring as much as we are!

Goals for 2009

Goals in 2008: Cows, Barn, Clear fence rows, Wood Stove, Larger garden, More canning. As you may know from my posts some of these were completed and others went by the way side. Farm Goals for 2009 Include:

1. Have fun, enjoy family and seasons more!- I want to spend more time with Cayla and Jay enjoying our farm the outdoors (camping, fishing, bon fires, hiking) and mother natures seasons. I will hopefully be back down to one job; one or the other, 2 is too much, as working two at between 64 and 90 hours per week is alot to be gone: 3 out of 6 nights; even if some of those hours are night time with a chance at sleep; I'm still away from home.

2. Firewood Shed & Firewood- Tarps over firewood suck, they leak, they're a hassle, not to mention the wood shed will be multi-purpose, used for storing misc. including our lawn mower which will make more room in the garage. The shed will be 20 feet wide and 12 feet deep, a lean to off the back of our current garage. We have the lumber and metal to complete the shed when the weather breaks. We had to buy some firewood this year, we learned our lesson and will be more prepared for next winter, HAHAHA!

3. Cow Shed on Barn- The shed we currently use, was not intended for cows but instead hay. Our "Barn"- originally a 24ft x 6ft corn crib, now with a 12 ft deep x 24 ft long lean-to off the North West side making it 24 ft x 18 ft, and soon to be a South East facing- south sloping shed- intended for cows, size to be figured out still.

4. Expand Cow Herd- We want to buy at least a single registered Dexter cow to breed to our bull so we can possibly sell registered calves.

5. Fence- We have cleared most of the pasture and fence rows of brush and old debris, we have also started our permanent fencing. This fencing needs to be completed, some is barbed wire- 4 strand at perimeter and 3 strand in the woods, rest is woven wire. Hopefully electric fence wont have to be moved as much to rotational graze our cows this year with some permanent fence in place.

6. Pig House & Pens- I want to set up a movable pig pen, with a permanent shelter on skids that can be moved with a tractor.

7. Chickens- Keep a small flock for eggs, hopefully the raccoons wont get this flock we are better guarded now, with a closing and locking coop. We just got a dozen or so Rhode Island Red laying hens last month, they lay great brown eggs. Picture of one above.

8. Flooring for sun room- As my wife would tell you we need a solution, some type of easy clean flooring for our sun room, which for now has carpet. It is constantly dirty, being our main entrance into the house, this is where we hang our coats and take boots off. The dogs also stay in here when were gone, so dog hair is also a problem but only secondary to mud.

9. Garage Door- Our garage door was damaged prior to our ownership then fixed, a horrible wind storm then re damaged it beyond fixing. It is functional but only by hand, and its a timely process. I would like for Cayla to be able to park inside during in climate weather.

10. Garden & Canning- Larger than last year and hopefully better tended, as last year we had a moderate production garden due to ground conditions, mainly ground not prepared we enough, this ground had not been garden before and our tiller was no match, it will be bottom plowed then tilled this year. We want to can alot more off this garden, to store for winter, as we canned very little last year.

Have fun. Please leave comments or ideas, thanks.