Commando Farming 101

This is the new area Matt put together for the gilts a couple of weeks ago. Sometimes the things we do around here in order to raise animals get to be very survivalist. This picture shows several strategies that I’ve dubbed “commando farming”:

1. (Very) used port-a-huts. I can’t believe we’re going to farrow in these things in March. It’s going to be interesting. The upside though, we didn’t take on debt to put up a farrowing barn or hoophouse instead.

2. Situate the port-a-huts on the south side of the corncrib for protection from the wicked winds of the north.

3. We had cornstalk bales made last week, and some of these have been stacked two high on the west side of the port-a-huts to block those cold westerly winds this winter.

4. Matt constructed these pens with old livestock panels found for us (free) by our junker friend. (Well, we repay him in hot meals and desserts 🙂

5. The tank off to the left was another freebie find. We don’t have automatic waters, or heated waters, so in the winter water has to be carried by hand twice a day. This tank has been a lifesaver, freeing Matt from hauling water in 5-gallon pails.

Way in the back is Madeline (in the pink coat). She’s been giving Matt a hand with pig chores every day, morning and evening, which has been a real help to him. She can take care of them by herself when necessary. She really doesn’t care for the cows, or the chickens, but pigs (and flowers) seem to be her niche on the farm.

The other cute thing in this picture is 2 of the 3 little black piglets hanging out beside their mother’s pen. They were weaned a couple of weeks ago, but up until this week we let them free range and they spent a lot of their time near Sarah. It seemed to help ease the separation process a bit.