What do I get with that....

We recently posted about our winter pigs being ready on our Facebook page. I was happy to see the flood of interest that comes with that because people believe buying a good product matters. There are also lots of questions about what buying a whole or a half of a pig means. Questions are about amounts, space it will take up in a freezer, will it need a fence in the backyard (joke)- It can be intimidating if you have never ordered meat this way. We do like explaining it to people because it is a new way to buy a product but we feel it is a better way that fits the more sustainable local model of agriculture while offering value to the customer. We figured this posting can explain it on a broader level. I’ll be using pork as my main example but it is across the board when buying a whole or half animal. For some info on how we raise our pigs, please click here:

http://farmer-phil.blogspot.com/2013/10/do-you-want-my-leftover-bacon-said-no.html

-Why buy a whole or a half animal:

                -You get to pick how each piece is packaged: A pound of ground makes four burgers. With two people, one eating one and one eating two, there is always the odd man out. I either have to over-eat that nite or it goes in the fridge. For two weeks. Then it gets thrown out when we can’t figure out what that thing in the zip lock bag is and why it is moving. ¾ pounds of ground makes three burgers. No overeating, no wasted food.

                -You get to choose how each cut is made: Summer calls for grilling. Winter calls for comfort food. You can get steaks for the summer and roasts for the winter that let you enjoy both. We have one customer who loves pork, but mostly in the morning. Her standing order is simple-Ham, Bacon, Sausage.

                -Ready for you on your time: No need to wait until the next market or till morning. If you want bacon, well pull it from the freezer, let thaw and you are ready for a killer midnite BLT.

                -Meal planning is a cinch: Groceries are the biggest budget buster and I would imagine that wasting groceries is the worst catalyst to that. Having a freezer stocked lets you plan your meals in advanced so when you head to the grocery store you aren't trying to pair chicken breast and canned brussel sprouts.

                -Value: Perhaps the best part is the money saved. We always talk about the value of raising food right but to go to the farmers market and buy individual cuts can add up fast. This saves money while giving you the peace of mind that you bought a humanely, well raised local product.

-What do I get?

                - It depends on a lot of things but here is my best explanation of the process and the variables.

                -A few definitions first. An animal has a few weights attached to it in the butchering process. The first is live weight, or "on the hoof" as it is often called. For a pig, the target live weight is 225 lbs. A litter is 6-14 piglets so this will vary because 12 trips to the butcher is not economical, so we try to get the average at this weight-some are bigger, some are smaller. This is why the industry standard is hanging weight to base pricing on. Hanging weight is the animals’ weight after being slaughtered, insides, head and hooves removed and blood drained. Using a cut sheet to determine how a customer wants the animal, the take home weight is called the cut weight.

                -Generally, A hanging weight will be 70-75% of the live weight.

                -Cut weight varies, depending on cuts, from 60-75% of hanging weight. As an example, if we took the breakfast pig from above, many cuts will be needed to remove the meat for the sausage. Even the best butcher will have some left on the bone. This would be the 60% example. Conversely, If someone wanted mostly roasts with the bone in, that would be the 75% example. Generally, most of our customers are in between with each person liking it a certain way. And in the end that is the point. We always do a telephone call to review the cut sheet, a list produced for the butcher to know exactly how each one is to be cut. We keep a record of each customer’s cuts, so if you liked the way it was done, we can do that again or make changes as you wish.

                -It’s not too fancy and fairly old, but it tells the options for what a half pig be made into better than anything else.

-         - How is it delivered and much room does it take up?

-Everything is vacuum sealed at the USDA facility and then cryo-frozen (subzero immersion freezing) immediately after packaging. This process all buts eliminates freezer burn associated with the old paper wrap and regular freezers. We will pick up the boxes and have them promptly available for pick up at the farm.

-The cost includes smoking of the bacon, anything other smoked cuts are an additional cost. The smoked cuts arrive generally 4-6 weeks after the fresh cuts are ready.

-As with everything it varies, but a whole pig is generally three 1’x1’x1’ boxes and can fit in the freezer above a standard refrigerator. However, it is generally best to have a stand-alone freezer because the cuts can be a bit of a puzzle to fit in that space.

- It can be a bit intimidating at first but we really do enjoy explaining it to each customer and taking the time to make sure that everything is how you want it to be. Please feel free to call or email with any questions.

Water, Water

"Water, water, every where,

And all the boards did shrink;

Water, water, every where,

Nor any drop to drink"

 

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner - Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1798


Most people have heard the last two lines in some form or fashion, generally referring to a lack of intoxicating spirits. The poem itself refers to a ship that becomes stranded off of Antarctica and the crew is nearly driven mad by thirst despite water as far as the eye can see. This poem is certainly prophetic for the sailor and the farmer around this time of year. As a foot of snow surrounds the farm, with ice everywhere you step, the irony the sailors must have felt rings true.

I'll be the first to admit that winter snuck up on me this year. There was an early cold snap and it really hasn't released it's grip since, with exception of a quick thaw that teases as the ground is still hard as stone. One of the hardest parts of raising livestock through the winter is getting water in it's liquid form to the critters. Getting the water is the first issue. The hose bib out side has long since frozen so we have an inside spigot to draw water from. This was last years big upgrade from filling buckets in the second floor bathroom tub. there was a genius idea to mount a hand pump on a dug well we have in the fields so that the water would be right near the animals and it wouldn't freeze up. A great plan until the pump we got was defective and the month to get it exchanged had transformed the farm into a winter wonderland.

I like the weather-I blend in.

The second task is keep the water as a liquid once you bring it to the animals. The barn is the easiest, with outlets galore as we use heated buckets in the stalls. We have also put most of the animals close enough to the out buildings so that they too can have heated bowls to drink from. The one trick is that there is only so much space within range of the outlets and someone invariably gets literally left out in the cold. This year was Erica Jean our cow and the breeding pigs. A few factors determine this. They are the larger animals and there isn't much predator threat to them based on their size. While sheep require whole bales of hay, Erica only needs a few flakes and the sows only need two buckets of grain so it isn't as hard to feed them on foot. We then try to put the bowls in the sun so that even if they do freeze, we can just break the ice and there will be water once the sun hits it. They also realize that they better drink up right after the water is delivered so that also helps. In fact, most of the animals adapt very well to the cold. They move with the sun to keep warm and have their little spots away from their shelters that shield them from the wind. People are no different as we go through our routines to keep the winter blues away. My optimistic moment of the day is to look to the evening sky as it stays light just a few minutes longer each day and while I am enjoying the solitude of winter, I look forward to the explosion of growth that spring will bring- trees to tap, seeds to order and lambs on the way. Hey wait-weather just said it may warm up!

"Do you want my leftover bacon?" -Said no one ever.

What happened to Farmer Phil? Well, if I thought summer was bad for blogging, at least it was a good time to get out of the heat for a little while. Suddenly it is the middle of September and you realize you have barely any hay in the barn and no firewood for the house or the sugar shack. And many of the animals need to have some major life changes coming their way- breeding, weaning, processing, moving. So begins the fall sprint. When the days are nice enough to work on all of the things you blew off all summer. It is my favorite season though and with a little luck and help from good friends and family, it somehow comes together enough to make it through to another year. Anyway, here is some info on our piggies and how we raise them. Thanks for reading!

Pastured Pork: Our definition.

Pasture Raised Pork is a name that really has no definition. Similar to Free-range and organic at one point, the name can be applied to a wide variety of methods of raising pork and as such, can be misused. At Coombs Farm, we have a method we have been refining since we started raising pigs and we wanted to explain it.

Our mothers have been raised outside from the day they came to us at about 8 weeks old. From this day, we began to look for ones who were independent, yet social enough to work together. From this, we have raised our breeding stock of three sows. We have a Berkshire boar that is on pasture with the girls for two months when breeding time comes, otherwise, he gets his own pasture, which we think he prefers!

Our girls Wendy, Michelle, and Pinky.

They all give birth to their piglets on pasture in individual huts. As the time nears, they begin to choose a hut and separate from each other. They will make a “nest” of hay and shavings that we provide and pregnancy begins. This is the harder part and why many don’t pasture birth, or farrow. If you took a sow and put her in a field and just waited, it would end badly. Through the careful selection process, our mothers are attentive to their litter on the pasture from day one. We rarely have to assist in the process but we do stand by and watch closely. We also take the time to clip the piglets needle teeth if they have them so they don’t hurt the sow.

About a half hour after the last piglet-all nursing away!

 

Often within a few days, she will bring the piglets outside and nurse in the sun and play in the dirt. Eventually, they merge into one big ball of piglets that run around the pasture like 6 year olds playing soccer for the first time. They will nurse for six weeks while they learn to eat and drink on their own. After they are fully weaned, they get a pasture of their own until they reach market weight. While our method is more labor intensive initially, the result is stronger piglets more resistant to disease, weaned earlier and overall more adjusted to pasture life than other pigs. They can grow quickly but with less fat and more muscle, making for superior pork. As we like to say, “A happy pig is a tasty pig” and ours are ecstatic!

“Why does this matter?”

To some people it doesn’t. We began farming to raise better food and in doing so we believe that giving an animal the best life possible while it is on earth is the best food.

 

Three days later, Wendy began taking the litter out and enjoying the sunshine!

What our pigs don’t have:

Iron Shots: Iron occurs naturally in the earth which is part of the reason why pigs root in the ground. In a normal operation, a shot must be given because the piglets can’t root. This can damage the meat long term at the injection site and some can taste a tin like flavor.

Growth Hormones: We feed grain, grass and water, (Also our goat’s milk when the seasons allow). There is no reason to cheat with a drug that no one can say is safe and we don’t need!

 Antibiotics: Other piglets are born sickly and need medicated feed or anti-biotic preventative shots. While we would treat a sick animal if needed, we don’t do it as a precaution because our method keeps the animals healthy naturally.

 Junk: Ever see the farmer with loads of bread or day old donuts in the back of his truck? Guess what he is raising? Fat, gross, pigs. We pride ourselves on the end product being lean and delicious. Not something you get from stale hot dog rolls and moldy cookies. Garbage In, Garbage Out.

Guest Blogger : Kanning Karen

As some of you may have noticed or pointed out, Farmer Phil has not made any recent blog posts.  I would love to say this is because he has been off enjoying his summer, lounging at the beach, building campfires or taking me on a fancy vacation.  Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately depending on how you look at it, we have had a very busy summer.  Besides continually rotating the sheep to fresh pastures, keeping the barn and house standing, catching whoever is loose, fixing whatever is broke and feeding whoever is hungry we have added some new critters to the farm.  We have eight new goat kids, who combined with the four born this year are providing high quality brush clearing services.  Farmer Phil has recently built a prototype chicken tractor (it’s smaller scale version of the ones Joel Salatin uses at Polyface farms, who is a big inspiration for some of our crazier ideas) which we are using to move 25 broiler chickens around the front yard, and finally we have our first batch of turkeys getting ready for their big day in November. 

Since Farmer Phil is undoubtedly outside doing something necessary to prepare for winter, like stacking wood or hay, I figured I would lend a hand with the blog. 

Circa: Not Recently

It is really hard to believe that it is already September, but with the cooler breezes and the sun setting earlier every day it is clear summer is behind us.  As with every year we seemed to have some successes and failures with our gardens.  We have beets, Swiss chard, herbs, cucumbers, peaches and tomatoes by the bushel load.  Our peppers seem to be late but are coming in now and the beans had a good run early in the summer and we have been successful with the carrots.  The onions, garlic and potatoes did well until the weeds started to overtake them (lesson learned, use mulch).  Our lettuce and broccoli seemed to spend more time flowering and bolting than being productive and the squash beetles found my pumpkins.  Finally there are the peas, I love peas, I am determined to have peas, they grow, they wither, I replant, and Farmer Phil laughs, but I will have peas.

Dill Cucumber Relish

With all this overabundance of some things and a desire to enjoy the benefits of the garden throughout the year I have begun canning.  I started a few years ago with a dear friend and have been trying to branch out into various recipes.  I still have not managed the science of determining how many jars of what we will use until spring and then backward planning my garden to ensure we will have enough to make the recipes.  I have found canning to be part art, part science and a big part luck.  This year I have made peach salsa, peach jam, maple bourbon peach sauce, dilly beans, cucumber dill relish, cherry tomato salsa, garlic basil tomato sauce, mint simple syrup and lemon balm simple syrup with plenty more left to do.  Canning tends to be a late night activity after dinner is made and cleaned up, then the kitchen is free for canning and somewhere around midnight when even the dog is snoring I am done.  Farmer Phil compares my canning season to his maple season.  Despite all the hard work of harvesting, prepping and late hours there is nothing more satisfying to hear the lid pop on that last jar in the bunch.  If you haven’t given it a try I highly recommend it.  Feel free to send any recipes this way too (especially ones that deal with giant cucumbers that seem to hide in the garden until they have grown to the size of baseball bats!)

(Farmer Phil is allowed to select all art work for guest bloggers)

 

Well I think I just heard the first apple drop.  It looks like I better wrap up all this canning and get ready to make cider!

Hay Now!

Ahh, the dog days of summer. When the mercury spikes at 97 and the humidity makes it feel like you are breathing through a wet blanket. Best to heed the advice of the radio dj's in their nice air conditioned studios as they advise you to stay inside and drink plenty of water. Good call buddy.


But then the call comes:
"Baling at noon"
"How many?"
"600"
" I'll take 250"

And hay season has begun. Hay is made when the sun shines....for at least three days....with no rain...and lots of heat. We used to bale our own hay but are  buying hay out of the field now. The old adage says "you lose money buying hay and you lose money making hay". Some day we'll find the right mix.

Away I go to gather bales. Hay is often sold one of four ways- in the field, off the wagon, out of the barn, and delivered (those are in order from cheapest to most expensive). Frugality being my faith, we get it from the field. When I am lucky I have help to drive the truck and we stack them on our flatbed trailer. When I am really lucky, the hay guy says he has some off the wagon for field prices. Park by the wagon and throw it on. Sweetness.

The fun isn't over yet though. You now need to put it into the hay mow. I'm not sure where the "mow" word came from but I have a suspicion that it is a combination of pained moaning and the word "OWW". While it is a frigid 97 outside, it is quite possibly 137 in the hay loft. Today Karen is feeding bales from the trailer to the hay elevator and as she suffers in the sun, I wonder if all the sweat pouring off of me like Niagara Falls would suffice as mineral for the sheep. The trailer has a pretty specific pattern I stack on. The hay mow is irregular in every way, and as such, starts with a great weave making the most of the space and sturdy all the way up till the second row when the flow of bales becomes faster than my cooked brain and they just get wadded into the voids, like a giant Jenga tower. Meanwhile, I am aware that farmers are much tougher than any coal miner Black Lung is nothing compared to Hay Lung.

Despite my complaints, I love haying. I've been doing it since I was 12 and any year I haven't done it I have missed it. There is no better smell than a barn full of fresh hay. And the satisfaction of knowing that no matter how bad the winter is, our animals will be fat and happy. Besides that, the health benefits are immense. I quit smoking the year that I was convinced I was the youngest person to ever have a heart attack while tossing bales. I drink plenty of fluids and the toning my body gets is better than any gym can offer. Always looking for a helper so feel free to let me know if you want that same great feeling.......

Gawkers

I was on the computer the other morning minding my own, when I heard someone lock up their brakes on our road. As a concerned citizen, I looked out the window to see a man jumping from his pick up to look at my neighbors cows. He then proceeded to take pictures of them. So I took a picture of him.

 

I'm curious what will become of those pictures. Does he get them printed up and hang them on his wall and dream of that great day when he saw cows in a  field? Now that the warm weather has returned, this is a common occurrence. We often have the motorcyclists who feel it necessary to yell "BAAAAA" at the top of their lungs as they drive past our sheep. Or the woman who pulled into our driveway and got into the pen with the lambs because they looked so cute-lucky for her the electric wasn't on, despite the sign saying it was. Part of me wished the ram had been in the pen and he would have shown her how cute he could be. I imagine this year will probably have more gawkers than usual.

 

  Hay is not cheap, and previously the rams have spent the summer lounging in the barn dining on it in excess quantities. I resolved last fall that we would be going with a low mow approach this year. The rams don't need large  areas, but do well on smaller plots that the ewes would have gone in hours. So, we have one ram who is working a rotation in the front lawn in three sections. and the other will be cleaning up in the area behind the barn and in front of the sugar shack. Keeping them out of visual distance of each other is also key because a battle could erupt were one able to get near the other. Initial experiments have been good on the front lawn although I have to put aside my dream manicured golf green in favor of a less uniform look as he grazes randomly from place to place, however the end result is not too bad and two hours not spent mowing each week sucking in exhaust fumes is okay with me.

We're Lambin', and I hope you like lambin' too

Well, It is 12:11 AM on a Friday nite and my wild time consists of making sure that some newborn lambs find their mothers teat for their first lifesaving meal. Karen finds it amusing that I stress out about lambing so much. In my defense, I am most concerned about the first time ewes, who like irresponsible teenage moms, step over their children to go see what is new with their friends. I worry about every stumbled step the newborn takes and why the mom isn't getting up right away and oh god please do not let her have twins because that means a whole Pandora's box of problems for me. Tonite is Holly, who (hopefully only) just had a lamb and looks like another is on the way. She is part of the new problem as the oldest ewe who now we have to worry about her having triplets again and will she make it through the whole process. She is a strong girl though and I think there is one more breeding season in her future. As always, she is laid back and ready for what comes her way.

Holly

It is a huge time of year though. It determines how much hay we need, what kind of pasture rotation we should plan, how many boys or girls, and most importantly, what color are the lambs! Icelandics are always a surprise as to what color may come out. We have bred black rams with black ewes and had white lambs and vice versa. Sometimes you get black and white, like our ewe Bessy who looks more like a Holstein cow than an Icelandic sheep-always a surprise.

We lamb late. Unfortunately this year it was very late. Some breeders have lambs in January-February so that by time the grass is gone, so are the lambs. Icelandics are a smaller heritage breed so they grow slow and they don't get very big. We would rather wait until April (or May in this case) when it is warmer and we can turn the lambs right on to fresh green grass with mom, because regardless, we will need to keep them over the winter and feed hay so they can get big enough to sell for the boys. The girls will get one year off to get bigger and then they will become moms too.

Ewes have a five month gestation period. We move the girls into the barn five months the day we turned the rams out with them. This is actually the most crowded time of year for inside space. The ewes are put into lambing jugs. These are small pens, most recommend 4'x4', but we usually make them larger and odd shaped to fit the space we have available. These give ewes no choice but to love on their babies. You can see from the pictures that pretty much every scrap piece of anything gets used as fence/barrier material for the jugs.

Let me out!

Well, Holly has had twins. A black girl and a white boy. Both have nursed from mom and she seems to be doing fine, despite Noel knocking over her water and flooding the jug. Hay and shaving added for bedding so she (and I) can go get some sleep.

Notice the obligatory bailing twine holding it all together.