Thinking back to Laura Ingalls Wilder’s book, The Long Winter, we looked outside to five inches of new snow and nighttime temperatures in the low teens. And it’s not Halloween yet. Yuck! We still have a lot we want to get done before the real winter. Hopefully, the snow may melt and we will have a few nice days to get ‘er done yet. I hope, I hope.

The barn’s ready for its sheet metal roofing and we’ve ordered it and crossed our fingers for nice weather. But we don’t always get what we want, so if it doesn’t get nicer, that sheet metal will lay in the barn and wait till spring. That’s the way it goes. Sort of like our “wedding” cow, Lace. We’ve still not been able to get her bred back. We had the vet out and she passed her health bill clean. And we’ve had the inseminator out a dozen times. Tried hormone shots several times and finally ran her with the bull all summer. I don’t think she’s bred. But we had her blood tested last night and in a few days we’ll know if we can keep her (she’s pregnant) or not (no dice). We love our milk cow; she’s the best cow we’ve ever had. But we can’t afford to keep a “pet” cow, so we may have to ship her. Neither of us could eat Lace, no matter how hardcore homestead we are. Are we disappointed? Sad? You’ve got that right. But we’re still praying for Lace…and us. I’ll let you know when we find out.

Right now grain prices are so high because of the drought that corn belt hog farmers are gassing baby pigs by the thousand because they can’t afford to raise them. It seems that pig farmers aren’t getting enough at market to be able to afford to feed them. How sad. We ended up keeping three gilts from our two litters because the prices were so low. We hate to butcher gilts, but I’d rather do that than take a beating at the sales barn. Farming, even on a homestead scale, is tough sometimes. But we keep plugging along because we love the life. Like the old-timers say “the meal ain’t all gravy!”

9 COMMENTS

  3. Rebekah,

    Tried that; she just doesn’t come into heat after nearly two years of trying just about everything. Hey, some women don’t get pregnant, either. Sad fact of life sometimes.

    Jackie

  4. I just read an article last night about the 30’s Depression Era, concerning the slaughter of cattle, pork, and sheep during that time. In the West, ranchers were killing animals left and right because they couldn’t afford to feed them and didn’t want to see them starve to death; yet there were people all over the U.S. starving that could have benefited from that meat.

    The parallel to what is happening in this country now is disturbing, to say the least. The cost of food will continue to rise here and the shortage of food worldwide should concern everyone.

    Your advice, your expertise that you share, and your encouragement, Jackie, is a blessing to everyone. Thank you.

  5. I’m looking out at much the same scenery Jackie – a foot of snow tonight, and it’s not even Halloween yet! We usually get our first “good” snow on Halloween night. Kids here design their costumes to fit over a snowsuit.

    Sorry to hear the cow isn’t catching. That’s a tough break.

  6. We had a Jersey when I was in high school. She gave 4 gallons a day and 1 of that was cream. Wow, the butter and cheeses were awesome. She failed to become pregnant also. My mother kept the meat. I did not eat beef for a long time!!! Poor Bessey.

  7. Hi Jackie,Tell the hog farmers to ship their piglets out east .Here in Central NY state,we had a good harvest or maybe we could ship grain out to you all..There is still a lot of corn in the fields that need to be harvested..Also about your cow…There is an old book that was written by a Dr from Vermont…He did experiments using vinegar and kelp on farm animals and then used it on humans with great sucess..I will try to find the title for you..I’m praying for you all..Remember us on the East coast with this big storm…it just started here in NY…

  8. Look into mineral deficiencies…that has been known to cause infertility in dairy cows. It can usually clear up rather quickly, a couple months at longest. You local vet may be able to offer suggestions or hopefully the blood tests will reveal results.

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