Q and A: feeding pumpkins to cattle, making bread, and trimming pigs’ feet

Feeding pumpkins to cattle

How do you feed pumpkins to cattle? Do you chop it, cook it, or just throw it into feed troughs whole? I grew some mangels so how do you feed those.
 
Gail
Palisade, Colorado

With adult cattle, just toss the pumpkins in. I usually throw them down hard to crack the shells to make it easier for the cattle to get at them. I only chop the pumpkins with a machete for younger calves who might possibly choke on a chunk. With mangels, you DO chop them when feeding to stock. The old timers had beet cutters that chopped the beets (mangels) for livestock. I just rinse them and then lay them on a piece of board and chop away with my trusty machete (from the dump!). Watch your feet and shins though. A machete is an awesome…and dangerous tool. — Jackie

Making bread

I have made your rye bread and Grandma’s oatmeal bread, my husband and brother loved them. Now for the bad news, I don’t know what happen to your pumpernickel rye bread. The dough would not stiffen up after 1½ more cups of flour…

Next do I pull all the stalks off my rhubarb for the winter? This is the first year growing rhubarb and I don’t want to kill them.

Sherry
Lancaster, California

There’s a great deal of difference in flours. With any bread, if the dough seems too sticky (EXCEPT half-time spoon rolls, whose dough is very sticky!), simply add more flour until the dough is stiff enough. With the pumpernickel rye, you want quite a stiff dough, so keep adding ½ cup at a time until it gets there.

Don’t pull any of your rhubarb stalks off for winter. The leaves and stalks add valuable compost to the plant and help it overwinter. You can also help by adding about 8 inches of rotted manure right over the whole thing. I do this often and my rhubarb has stalks two inches in width or more and the leaves are huge! — Jackie

Trimming pigs’ feet

I need to trim the hooves on some of our pigs. They are not very cooperative and need some kind of sedation. The anesthetic shot has to be given by a vet which is pricey. Do you have an idea? The pigs are half Berkshire/half Potbelly.

BTW we did all of this year’s canning with your Canning Book, great recipes. We opened a jar of sweet gherkins, delicious.

Flemino Tary
Madison, Minnesota

I’ve never had to trim any of our pigs’ feet, but our pigs run outside, dig, and root. You can trim pigs’ feet and other minor procedures by having a stout pig crate on your farm. This requires a chute to get them into it, but once inside, you should be able to trim all four feet by using a soft rope to gently pull each foot up, like you would a horse. In the future, I’d suggest building a cement walkway with a rough surface so the pigs have to walk on it to reach their feed and water. This way, they’ll self-trim their own feet. Making it a slanting surface will force them to climb a bit (don’t overdo it, though!). Climbing a little and walking back downhill wears off the excess part of the feet.

I’m glad you got plenty of use out of my book. Isn’t canning fun? And tasty! — Jackie