The last few months our homestead has been growing in leaps and bounds! Back in April, we brought home seven piglets. Since then our cattle herd has grown and we acquired some kittens!
Meet the Three Amigos and Little Chocolate!
This year we purchased four cows to grow our herd. In the past, we have always had a two cattle rotation. We buy two feeder calves in the spring, raise them through the winter, and harvest them the following fall. This rotation has allowed us to have four cows in the summer months and two cows in the winter. This maximizes the use of our pasture and minimizes the use of our hay.
Since we’ve been growing our homestead, we decided to bump it up to a three cattle rotation this year to meet our demand. Because we only purchased two feeder calves last year, we purchased one heavier weight cow that will be ready this fall and then three of our typical feeder calves. All four of the new cows are beautiful Red Angus cattle! The smallest one is the darkest so we named him Little Chocolate and the remaining three red angus are the Three Amigos.
Amigo #1
Amigo #2
Little Chocolate
The day we brought them home, we loaded Tom and Hank, our two Herefords, into the back half of the trailer to deworm and fly spray the whole herd. Here are some photos of everyone unloading and meeting for the first time! Our last Amigo joined the herd a few days later.
They are all getting along well and have since been turned out on pasture for the summer.
The Pigs Had a Big Day
When we purchased our piglets all the males were still intact. While you can leave them intact as long as you butcher them by a certain age, it can make them more aggressive. To make life simple, we decided to go ahead and castrate the boys to make sure our pig drove stays happy. This also allows us to keep the boys and girls together without fear of inbreeding. Thanks to the help of a friend, we were able to learn how to castrate our own hogs!
If you want to read about the day we brought the pigs home, head over to my Piglets on the Homestead post.
Kittens!
Living out in the country, you always have to deal with field mice. Adding livestock to the property made it a nice place for all the mice from surrounding fields to come to look for a snack. Luckily, they mainly stayed out in the barn, but we’ve caught a few in the house too. Because of the mice and because I love cats, we started looking for some kittens early this spring. Their main job will be to catch mice around on our homestead.
When I bought our garden tiller this spring, the lady selling it just had a litter of surprise kittens born three days prior! Six weeks later, I was able to pay her another visit and bring home two kittens to our homestead. Mustache and Madness (named by David) are settling in on the front porch. They will stay there for a few weeks while they learn that this is their new home, get to know us, and adjust to seeing our dog Reggie. Needless to say, Shelby is absolutely in love with them! I am too!
Farmer Shelby at the Cattle Farm
Shelby is loving all of the new farm additions and enjoys spending lots of time outside with them. The day we brought home the new cattle she enjoyed her very first slushy.
Thanks for Following Along!
Thank you for following along as our family embarks on this journey. I hope you enjoy our content and brighten your day.
Recent Comments