Looks like a little more pork then initially planned!

Well, planning for the homestead is slowly moving forward.  I was able to exchange a few emails with Walter Jeffries from Sugar Mountain Farm, up in Vermont http://SugarMtnFarm.com.  It was a few posts on Walters blog that helped me initially work out what I wanted to do.  95% of the articles I have read about raising hogs on pasture were still predominantly using commercial feed for a majority of their feed.  The program Walter uses relies mostly on pasture with some supplementation of cast of dairy products such as whey from a local dairy or spent barley from a local brewery in addition to vegetables or fruit that they grew (hence why I planted all those fruit trees last year).  Walter is managing this for a herd of 200-400 pigs.  

Initially I was looking at raising big black pigs, and I still might eventually but I think I will start off with some selected weaners from Walter first as his pigs have been bred with the ability to excel with forage/pasture in mind as well as his stock has been raised in a cold weather environment.  Not to mention Walter also breeds for at least 14 teats which is a pretty good indication of the ability to produce large litters and be able to provide for them.    Also, truth be known I would prefer to pay a premium and trust in Walter’s eye picking out my herd stock then my own inexperienced one.  We decided to start off with four gilts and two weaner boars along with a feeder pig to start.  It is a slightly bigger start then I was initially planning but would just as soon make the costs of the trip to Vermont (and the vet bill for heath certificates) worth the trip as well as build in a little redundancy. 

I also spoke a little with the USDA Farm Service Agency in Crookston over the phone this week to ask about establishing a USDA Farm number.  At lot of my plans include a number of USDA Natural Resources Conservation Services (NCRS) programs, in order to qualify for the programs (such as cost sharing for fencing due to a rotational grazing plan) you need to have a farm number, and now I know in order to have a farm number you must have some type of crops in the ground.  It does make me wonder how livestock operations could qualify but I digress!  What that means to me is that next year I will take one of my 3 acre or so pastures and turn it over (till it) in order to get an alfalfa/clover/grass mix planted.  This will qualify as a Ag crop.  Guess this is why they say raising animals on pasture actually just makes you a grass farmer!   That mix should also work well to give me the hay required to get through the winter as well as a good food source for the bees. This is the pasture I will likely plant it in, issue is I will have to work around the trees as I would just as soon keep them to provide shade!

The northern pasture

On a non-homestead note I scheduled by second bazaar at the Embassy in order to sell some of my pens for mid-November.  I would have liked to go for early November but those slots were already taken.  I was delayed a little in that they are now requiring Embassy employees to put in an application in order to run a home based business.  I guess I can understand that because when you run a home-based business from your Gov’t home you do eat up a little more of the resources that are limited.  In my case it was not an issue as we typically use less electricity than most families here do and my pen supplies do not take up a whole lot of mail space.  The last sale generated about $1000 in sales and about $1000 or so in follow on orders, with some luck we will get about the same maybe a little better this time around.  If all goes well by the time we leave here all of the equipment and raw materials in inventory will be paid for.

Terri has gone ahead and applied for a couple jobs in Crookston, she received notice she qualified for one but has not heard anything else about it yet, she is going to go back in December to take a practical test for a second one so we will see where it leads.  We are not in a hurry to be separated but at the same time it would be nice for her to already be there and have a steady job when I do get out, besides it would then put someone in our house there!  Terri and my sister in law Valerie have already been trying to decide on the paint to use on the walls as well as different floor options, I told Terri I was going to leave the interior of the house to her!  She has agreed however that she does not mind starting to raise the chickens if she does get a job and goes back early since she said she does like Chickens. Below is a picture of the house since I do not think I have posted one before.

Our new house!

If she does go back early we are hoping it would at least be sometimes after the start of the year, hopefully in the early spring time frame so we will be separated for less than a year at least!  And even that is not as bad as it sounds since I am planning trips back in June for about three weeks and again in November for another two to three weeks.  Then I leave here in January, still so much to do in that time frame! 

The renters in the house in Colorado should be moving out this next week sometimes, we just had the master bathroom redone in that house hoping it would make the house more retail ready.  We still need to replace the roof that was damaged in a pretty bad hail storm a few months back but we are still waiting to get a check back that we had to get endorsed by the mortgage company.  The delay with the check is not to bad since the roofers have been so far behind with back to back hail storms in Colorado Springs they may not have gotten to it until now anyway.  Out main issue is we want it done before the winter storms hit and before we put the house on the market early next month!  Well that is it for now, let me know your thoughts!