053 Pig on the lamb, snow and portable farming, annual farm meeting (part 1)

Updates around the snowy and cold farm:

• Snow and drifting on the farm and the implications to portable fencing
• Pigs on the loose
• Electric netting - upright again
• Chickens in the wind
• Greenhouse - salad for new years eve, peas, Swiss chard and a warm refuge

The Annual Farm Meeting Farm Meeting for 2013 - Part 1

• We discussed if we will be doing a CSA this year and the size,
• The Pig plan and AI,
• Laying chickens (more on this one next week)
• The plan for broiler chickens this summer
• General “farming burnout” that we are trying to avoid

050 Winter and farm fresh eggs, listeners favorite farming things, hybrid or heritage laying chicken

Updates from around the farm:

• Chickens - they love the round bales in their area for winter
• Lower egg production - no heat lamp
• Pigs- not in winter paddock yet- no real snowfall
• Cat in a hoop house
• Snow fence is up- why do we hate doing that so much?

In the CoopCast Community

• Gaertagang Farm- Bogs boots
• Maple View Farm- Overalls
• Nicole- favorite podcasts and online tools
• Homemade gift idea- seeds or help starting a garden

This week’s Farmers Choice is a discussion on different egg layer breeds

• What we like and don’t about: Barred Rock, Speckled Sussex, Buff Rock, California, Golden Comet, Rhode Island Red, and Tetra Tint

038 Farming updates, garden raised potatoes (above ground), chicken and poultry processing

This weeks farm updates include:

• A discussion about pork cut sheets and pig preparations
• Turkey processing starting next weekend
• Egg layers- who’s laying? Dealing with  older chickens and refreshing our flock
• Last week of CSA
• Greenhouse - looking good

In the Veggie Patch:

• Our potato results!
• Do it yourself- note pesticide levels in store bought potatoes

Farm U: Chicken Processing

This is the first part in a series of Farm U’s talking about chicken processing.

• Equipment and set up, what do you need as the basics to start processing chickens
• What to buy vs not buy in a basic setup

032 Successfully moving our sow to pasture, storm damage on the farm, antibiotics in livestock and their meat

This weeks updates include:

• Hermione’s move to the pasture reuniting her with her piglets,
• Club station cool (what is it)… a shade cloth shelter for pigs when there is no other shade around,
• We are sold out of pork and share some lessons on ordering / selling pork halves,
• Chicken processing coming up next weekend,
• Weather has been hot and dry and the rain has come with a price,
• Shattered window and shredded turkey shelter.

A new segment called The Veggie Patch focuses on the vegetable gardens and gardening techniques we use (because you, the listeners asked for it!)

• Tomato planting, labels and harvesting,
• Basil planting techniques in northern climates

Farm U inspired by a listener comment on the use of antibiotics on the farm.

• Is the meat tainted?
• Why don’t you want antibiotics used in livestock
• What constitutes safe or good use of antibiotics on a farm?

CoopCast 029 - Chicken processing day, endless heat and no rain

This weeks Farm Updates:

• Endless heat and no rain at all,
  • What’s the impact of this weather on our gardens, our animals and the nations food supply.
• Pigs and turkeys,
• Kelli loves the greenhouse (and all the garden spiders)
• We had one of our big chicken processing days

Questions, Conversations and Ruminations

• Although it’s one of the days of hardest work on the farm we find chicken processing days very rewarding.  In this segment we share some of our thoughts as we reflect back on the first chicken processing day of 2012

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