Colonel's Blog, Earthdate 8 March 2023...
Hey Y'all! Good morning and happy Wednesday! The overnight rains were gone by sunrise so we were able to complete morning rounds without raincoats. The pic is Shelley and I right after milking the Jerseys wishing you an awesome day! The milk calves are established in the evening routine of going into the loafing side of the barn to get their feed and spend the night. They quickly decided they didn't like the sweet feed and preferred the GMO-free feed that Happy and Betty get, much to our surprise. That makes it way easier as we don't have to buy and store different kinds of feed and we prefer to feed it to them. The GMO-free feed is considerably more expensive than the sweet feed but we are happy to provide it. The day before yesterday, the hogs let us know they were hungry by working together to toss their feed trough over their poly-wire. We increased their GMO-free feed from 66 pounds per day to 100 pounds, 10 pounds per hog. That satiated them and this morning when we went down to feed them, 3 of them didn't even get up to meet us. They eventually stood, stretched, yawned, and sauntered over to the troughs so we knew they weren't hungry. The first group of 5 will go to the processor in less than 2 weeks and we want to make sure they stay very happy. The beef cows are enjoying their new pasture and are picking at the green grass as well as eating their hay. We plan to reintroduce grass more slowly this year. Last year, we were so excited that the grass was growing that we moved the cows and sheep into paddocks full of fresh green spring grass and stopped feeding them hay. Almost immediately, everyone had scours and we spent a few weeks trying to recover condition they immediately lost due to the rapid change in diet. This year we are going to continue to give them hay as the grass begins to grow to ease their rumen into the forage change. We went to town yesterday and got a new fuel pump for the Kawasaki Mule. We're not quite NASCAR-level mechanics but it doesn't take us very long to change the fuel pump these days. We also got pine shavings for the brooders and GMO-free starter crumble feed for the meat chickens that should be arriving today or tomorrow but will be shipping today. Today we are going to work inside on a couple of YouTube videos, finish rendering lard, and do things with milk.
Back to my food freedom soapbox. I have posed a few questions lately in an attempt to stimulate your thinking about food and the government's role in it of which you may not be aware. A standard response to my questions could be: "Of course I have food freedom and choice, I go to the grocery store and there are isles upon isles of food from which I can choose!" While true, I am asking you to broaden your scope a bit to consider the other possible avenues from which you may want to choose to get your food. Let's pretend for a moment that I am your neighbor and am the best butcher around. I'm not, by the way, the best butcher around, I'm ok, but let's just pretend. You have watched me raise my hogs and even helped out sometimes. As they approach butcher size, you mention that since I am the best butcher around and you would really like to put some of that pork into your freezer, why don't I just butcher one and sell it to you? You want to buy it, I want to sell it--two willing parties to the transaction. That, my friend, is illegal. I can butcher my own hog. I can invite you over to my house and serve you an amazing pork rib chop from that very hog--my hog. So, it's not illegal for you to eat it...meaning the government isn't actually concerned for your health or safety. It's just illegal for me to sell it to you, meaning it is more about the producer's market access than the consumer's health and safety. If a government official found that same meat in your freezer, there are no repercussions to you, the possessor of the 'illegal' pork. They would demand to know from whom you got the product and I, the supplier, would face punishment. Contrast that to illegal drugs, where it is punishable to both supply and possess; the government is at least coherent in its assertion that it is concerned for your wellbeing, not just controlling access. Is it actually your choice to decide what you eat? As long as you choose from the government-provided options, yes. If, on the other hand, you would like to actually exercise true freedom and choose for yourself from outside the government's system, the answer is a resounding NO. You cannot make that choice. "But I have Constitutional Rights!!" Well...more to come.
Shelley's YouTube Short today is: New Holland lifting round bale of hay.
Local Farm Report for 7 March 2023:
Harvest:
36 Chicken eggs
9 Duck eggs
1 Goose egg
6 Gallons of milk
Sales:
N/A
Cheers! Psycho & Shelley
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