Oh goodness! Our MT State Ag folks sadly have really shown their ignorance this past week. Today when we took one of our pick ups to the vet for the vet check & permit etc the vet told us that when he had called to get the permit number for a pig and the person on the other end of the phone had asked him if it was “Beef or Dairy?!”
Today was good. We got into Missouri late last night around 11pm. This morning we had to be up bright & early for the first pick up - a Red Wattle gilt who did NOT want to cooperate. Red Wattles are large pigs & although this gal is only 3-4mths old she is already over 100lbs! In the end it took three of us holding her four legs & physically lifting her into the trailer. No we do not ever like to stress the animals out intentionally BUT they do have to load. Later on we picked up 2 Red Wattle boars - one for us & another one for the folks that we traded Heidi (cow) for pigs.

The pigs are all doing well. The GOS are real characters & the larger of them are really friendly. George & Mildred (Red Wattle Boar & Large Black gilt) that we picked up yesterday are total sweethearts. The new arrivals today are a little skittish but they will soon settle down - food works wonders. Every time we stop to eat we also feed & water them so they are more than happy. Pigs sleep alot so most of the time they are lying down relaxing as we travel along.

We are now at 2800 miles & in Kansas City. Went out to dinner tonight with friends - good to have a night off. The boys (Richard & Caleb) are already sleeping but I am looking forward to reading/finishing my book. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. We have two pick ups to do in Kansas (4 pigs) & then we have to be in Casper, WY tomorrow evening before reaching home Wednesday night.

Take care,

Liz

Howdy all!

After 36 hours on the road we were SO glad to be in a hotel tonight & get a shower etc. It’s been a good trip thus far. We left Thursday evening & got to Glendive, MT. Friday morning we left there about 9:30 am & drove & drove & drove. We have done nearly 2000 miles already (50 miles short of that!) I had made a pretty tight schedule as our first pick up was supposed to be today at 1pm.  Well, going through the “lovely” toll roads of Chicago delayed us a little so we made our first pick up at 2pm.

The weather has been pretty grotty - fog & rain but it could have been worse - snow blizzards. Tonight we are in Indianapolis & tomorrow we have our first pick up an hour south of here. From there we head into Illinois for another pick up & then go to Missouri ready for pick ups there on Monday morning.

Those of you who know us know that we do our best to be upright in all our dealings. With the pigs that meant getting vet checks & travel permits for them all. Alas you would think we were trying to bring aliens into Montana. Richard spent hours last week sorting out vets & the Montana Ag folks who were clueless as to the type of pigs we were buying & refusing to issue permits! This has caused some of our vet bills to be way higher than they need to be & given us considerable hassle. For some reason the state think that we are going to let all these pigs run wild & become feral! Richard is very diplomatic in situations like this (thank goodness I haven’t been the one on the phone!) & has explained that these are registered pigs with at least four generations on their papers, very expensive & of course we are not going to let them run wild. At one point yesterday they wanted us to turn around & come home with NO pigs! Thankfully they have now consented but only if, when we get home on Wednesday, we do not let the pigs out of the trailer before the brand inspector comes & inspects all our fences! Yes, totally unbelievable & government poking their nose in where it certainly does not need to be. In fact it is totally ludicrous. All they have to do is do a little research to find that these breeds are regular pigs, albeit very endangered.

Take care,

Liz who needs to get some sleep

I feel like I am being swung around in circles. This trip is still evolving even now even though we leave shortly! Wanted to quickly touch base with you all as it will be at least another week before you hear from me. Getting all these animals sorted with the right papers etc has been a LONG job this week but we did get down to pick up Sally & three of her girls on Monday. They are settling in well & are actually quite friendly.

We named the big Hampshire sow Sally:

Here’s Penny & Sally doing their introductions:

Daniel named the other ones. So here is Lisa:

Olivia:

and Abbi:

Our count for the trip we are taking is at 12 right now but hoping to add three more before the end of the day. OK so where does the horse come into all this? Firefly is Jessie’s horse.

Yes we have not bought a horse! Firefly’s field mates were pushing her away from the food so she is a little thin. She is now here in a small front pasture & we got her a large bale of hay delivered yesterday. We feed alfalfa to our cows but that is too rich for horses - could give them colic. She is a sweet horse.

Hope you all have a fantastic week - we’ll be back with our travel adventures at a later date.

Take care,

Liz

OK so I lied about fencing if the temps were below freezing! Saturday morning the sun was shining but there was a nasty east wind out there & we have not seen temps above freezing since. In fact for the first part of the week we had freezing fog - just lovely. Whoever does the weather forecast for Chinook obviously does not live here as it was supposed to be in the 40’s all week! Yeah right! Every day I am the “eternal optimist” as Richard calls me saying that surely today the snow will start to really melt.

SO what have we been up to this week? Well……….

When we purchased Bella 4 years ago we paid top brass for her & shipped her in from OH. She was from show stock & we always intended to breed  her. Being northern Montana of course, we never found her a “friend.” Until now! Two weekends ago when Richard was at his ambulance training they started talking about dogs and guess what? Someone there had a registered male Irish Setter that they had never been able to find a female for. Meet Jake:

I just went & snapped these pics & as you can see he was not at all interested in being photographed. He is in Richard’s office sleeping beside a computer that Richard is mending. He is not as hyper as Bella & they are the same age. If I had gone out to photograph Bella she would have been up in an instant.

Jake is a total sweetheart. He’s a man’s dog so loves to be with Richard. He is not at all interested in Bella at this time but if Michelle’s memory is accurate, which it most times is, then Bella should come into heat here mid March. Time will tell. Daniel is very excited about the thought of having puppies.

Other news - I’ve been doing me some trading this week! LOL! Michelle thinks we are totally nuts but that is nothing new. Heidi, the Angus/Jersey heifer needed to find a new home. In fact Dolly (white faced heifer) is also up for sale & I hope to find her a new home really soon. With all these pigs coming we decided to sell/trade these two calves. So I put an ad on Craigslist & this really neat lady called who was interested in a heifer that had some milk cow in her & wanted to trade for pigs! Yes, can you believe it, more pigs!

Logic behind this? Not everyone wants to spend big bucks on the Heritage Pigs - yes they are not cheap. We are going to have at least 8 boars here who we will need to keep happy & earning their keep So we need some sows that will produce good crosses that we can sell as “meat” pigs. If all works according to plan we will take Heidi to her new home on Saturday & pick up a sow & several gilts. Also these folks wanted a Red Wattle boar & so we will pick one up from one of the farms we are visiting on our trip & bring it back for them. It really is perfect timing & pretty unusual to find someone else so close who is interested in pasture raising their animals.
As you can see life continues to be interesting here on the farm. Hopefully I’ll have new pig pics for you next week.
Liz

That has got to be a record for me & a very sad one. Y’all know that I am a person that loves to be outside & down by the river etc but the last time I took a walk was the day we brought Buddy home. Last winter was cold & snowy but I think this one has it beat. Anyways yesterday the temps finally rose above freezing & the sun was shining so the kids, dogs & I headed out. Even the poor dogs have had cabin fever & are definitely not as fit as they should be.

The snow is still deep in places but we were able to follow some deer tracks down to the river which helped. Once we reached the river we were surprised to see that a truck had been driving down there! Shows how thick that ice is. It actually had done us a favor as we could walk in the tracks making things easier.

Only got to take one pic as the battery died but here you go:

Is spring on its way? I REALLY hope so. The turkeys think it is spring. They are already strutting for the girls & yesterday one of them was trying to have his way with a goose who of course was not at all interested! LOL! Michelle did find a chicken’s egg a couple days ago so that was a good sign. We don’t have many chickens left but with it being so cold they have not laid in a LONG time.

Hope you all have a fun weekend planned. We have to start to get ready for these pigs & there is some cow fence to mend so as long as tomorrow is above freezing that is what we will be doing.

Take care,

Liz

When I went out to feed the cows one night last weekend I noticed these incredible curls on the sides of the two barns. Of course I did not have my camera with me but I knew they would still be there the next morning! Aren’t they incredible?!

Of course Tulip wondered why I wasn’t going straight to the barn to give her her treats.

Especially when I went around the corner to take these:

Enjoy,

Liz

Ol’ Man Winter is really keeping a tight grip on things this year. It has snowed 3 days here this week, albeit lightly & now we are getting more. Of course it looks pretty:

Thank goodness it is not too cold. Now of course that statement is only relative to us here in the frozen north. With temps between 15 & 20 we are calling that “not too cold!” LOL! Took these pics at 8am this morning:

3 weeks today we should be on the road picking up pigs. There are a few things we want to do to our fences before we leave but with all this snow on the ground that is not possible. Hoping the temps will warm up for all these southern hogs coming this way.

Richard is on ambulance training this week. Thankfully it is only 20 miles away so he is coming home at night. Not much else going on. Hannah seems to be going through a stage of insomnia meaning that I also get to suffer because once she wakes me up my brain starts a rollin’ about all these pigs etc & it will just not shut off. AAGH! Hope you’re all having a nice weekend wherever you are.

Liz

As I mentioned last week it was Michelle’s 21st birthday on Tuesday. We are not big on parties here BUT Richard & I decided to plan a surprise birthday party for Michelle on Saturday. You don’t know Michelle but let me tell you she is one of the most nosiest persons in the world & doesn’t miss much of what is going on around here. Anyways she was clueless until Saturday morning. Thankfully she was at work on Friday so I was able to bake all day & have it all cleaned up before she came home.

Couldn’t believe it when one of her friend’s Charlie called on Saturday morning to ask if I had my guitar. As it happened I didn’t because Michael borrowed it some time back & I have never seen it again. Of course that spiked Michelle’s curiosity. Why did Charlie call? What does he want with your guitar? I just had to tell her, “Ask no questions, tell no lies.” Got on with the morning. One family are not normally early but Saturday they were so I yelled down the stairs & told Michelle she had better put something smart on. Of course she was clueless wondering what was going on. Several other folks came & we had a really good time.

After lunch we had an incredible game of Spoons. It was very competitive & close. Eventually it came down to Richard, myself & Janelle. Janelle & I were both at SPOON & Richard was a SPOO. I was dealing & happened to pick up 4 of a kind so Janelle lost but it was very close. Then we headed downstairs & the kids got out their instruments etc so that was nice.

Richard & I are still getting our heads around this pig trip. Still more to organize but we are up to 15 pigs at this time. Of course they all have to have names & so to make is easier we have kept it to the initial of the Color Group for the GOS & initial of the line for the Large Blacks. Ready?

Chet, Charlie, Claire, Christy, Stitches, Sean, Molly, Maria, Becky, Belinda, Beatrice, George, Gracie, Gina & Gillian.

It will be like the old woman who lived in the shoe, she had so many children she didn’t know what to do!

Actually have some pic of some of our GOS piglets so enjoy.

This is Gracie:

Gina & Gillian are sisters so not sure which one will get which name but here’s one of them:

As you can see she has more spots than Gracie.

Hope you’re having a great week,

Liz

LOL! So what is my excuse this week for not being in touch?! It’s a good one, I promise you Richard & I have had our heads in Pig Genealogies! Yes you read that absolutely right - Pig Genealogies! It all started last Saturday as we began the search for a new “friend” for Penny & Polly. We soon discovered that to get what we needed we were going to have to go to Texas. As you may, or may not know, the Large Blacks are a Heritage Breed & they are on the “critically endangered” list. That means that breeders are few & the gene pool is tight. To get a good match for Penny that produces low CI percentages we have to find a line that is as far away from hers as possible.

What is CI you ask? Good question & one we have learned more about this week than we ever thought possible. CI stands for Co-Inefficiency i.e. the percentage of inbreeding on a particular animal. Obviously in regular animals like dogs it is best to have that percentage at 0 but in rare breeds that is nearly impossible unless a new line is brought in so the experts recommend a percentage of no more than 10%. Penny is actually 29% but she was born before all this new breeding info was around & as she is such a fantastic mother, not to mention a sweetheart, we are keeping her.

SO we have found her a new boar friend who together with Penny will bear offspring that are at 10%. Having to go all the way to Texas for one pig would have been a little expensive & made for one rather costly boar so we started shopping for more to make the trip worth while. That caused our heads to spin & talk about major insomnia - I kept waking up in the night & all I could think about was PIGS! In fact by Tuesday we were so totally lost as to who was good bred to whom we bought a Breeding program & typed in all the genealogies. Most of the pigs have a history going back 4 generations so there are good records.

This really helped us so now we have 8 pigs/piglets waiting to be picked up. AND that’s not all, whilst talking to folks & doing more research we came across some other rare breeds that we just HAD to have! LOL! One of them is the Gloucestershire Old Spots. You all know what a dalmatian puppy looks like, right? Well imagine a pig like that. This pigs are SO stinking cute but we were soon to discover that they are even more rare than the Large Blacks so our work was cut out for us. BUT we got confirmation last night that we have 2 gilts & 2 boar piglets ready for us. Picking up these pigs is not so bad if you do not want a breeding pair but when you do, like us, it makes a little more complicated & most times that means getting the boars & gilts from different breeders. I took this pic from the British website as they have more info than on the US one plus of course Britain is where they originate from. Sorry the pic is a little grainy but I wanted to make you smile at how adorable they are.

In all this searching we were also looking for breeds that are very docile. We do not like aggressive animals & want our kids (& us) to be always to be able to handle them without fear of being attached. The GOS are VERY gentle.

A little story - this morning our pigs were waiting for us at the back door. As we went out & talked to them Richard is saying, “Come on!” as he led them down to the barn to be fed. Penny was dawdling behind thinking that maybe I had some food & it was only when he called her by name that she came. She truly does know her name, Penny.

Not finished yet, we then discovered another breed - Red Wattles. These are a reddish brown pig with wattles on each side of their face. Another rare breed that is docile but is supposed to have the most incredible meat - having won several big taste awards.

All these pigs are raised on pasture - no confinement. They are happy eating grass & a little grain but do not like to be shut away in small places. They have been left to develop the way all animals were created to be. This also makes them more disease resistant & overall much more hardier. The sows all have excellent mothering skills & normally large litters. Here is a picture of a Red Wattle Boar from the ALBC website. As you can see they are VERY large animals.

That brings the total up to 16 pigs for our trip so far. We have also put a deposit on some Large Blacks that aren’t even born yet. Another breeder has been able to import/find some new & really old LB bloodlines so that will really help to expand the gene pool. It will certainly help us in our project here to be able to sell breeding pairs with low CI’s. These new piggies will not be born until May so not ready to go until June.

You probably think Richard & I have gone totally nuts but we are having a blast. Of course I’m not sure either of us is looking forward to the long road trip. It is going to be intensive driving for several days as we are nearly as far north as you can get - 30 more miles & you hit Canada & some of the piglets are nearly as far south as you can get in Texas so 2000 miles not to mention that we have detour east into Kansas, Illinois & Missouri! Planning the trip for mid March when hopefully the snow pack will have gone & the temps will have risen some.
Hope you all have a great weekend.

Liz

Hey folks! Been art deadline week here this week hence no blog post from me. That’s all done so now I get to breathe again! LOL! Hope you’ve had a great week. Still cold here & in fact we had another hoar frost again last night.

Started Hannah’s quilt last Friday night & of course I got more fancy than I had intended so ended up with just enough fabric to do the front. Went back to the store yesterday & they had 5 1/2 yards left of the same fabric! Just enough for the back. Phew! I hope to get more done this weekend.
Tulip  seems to be back in good health but her being sick actually did us all a favor as we had wanted to get her down to once a day milking but couldn’t BUT now she is. Giving us 2 1/2 gallons each morning which is plenty & it eases the pressure on her too not to mention giving me few more minutes in my day. Made fresh Coconut Ice Cream & Raspberry Sauce yesterday. Yummy, yummy.
The last of the piglets died They were fine one night, dead the next morning. Oh well part of life in the cold on a farm.

Daniel had his second violin lesson yesterday. Of course I told him to go the bathroom before we left & then asked him if he needed to go before the lesson & you know the answer - NO! When we came to pick him up they were not there - the teacher had had to take him to the bathroom. That was an expensive trip to the toilet! And yes Daniel got a good talking to & that will not happen again.

Daniel is 7 tomorrow so we are taking him to Havre to the Chinese for lunch. We are not big on parties here so it will just be family & I will bake him a cake.

Caleb is sleeping through the night now. He is enjoying his banana, carrots & rice - not altogether of course! He goes to bed about 8pm & wakes up between 7 & 8 am so can’t complain about that
Not much else going on. Hope you all enjoy your weekend.

Liz