Anything at all to do with farming, a Blessed thread, (no literally as you will see!)

grahamg

grahamg

Old codger
Location
South of Manchester, UK
Blessed wrote:

“I would like you to start a new thread and tell us about your work life. I would love to hear about the farms you work at and the animals you care for.” 👨‍🌾👩‍🌾🧑‍🌾

Grahamg wrote:

“……., are you any kind of "cow girl" yourself?

I could tell you of the time "I roped a steer" though I'd be lying to you, as we don't tend to rope our cattle here as is done in the wild west shows, (but I have a story about being run ragged by a strong ewe, and banjaxed by a lamb!”)

Blessed wrote:

“No, not any kind of cow girl. I did grow up with a Shetland pony in the backyard. His name was Sam and he did learn how to open the back screen door with his teeth. My Mom was not happy! My sister had a horse as a teenager but it was not nice for anyone but her. I did ride horses as a child but never hers. A neighbour would sometimes buy a calf and raise it in their yard. No one got attached to them because we knew it would be headed for the butcher. We also had a few chickens at one point, they were fun.

My older sister has chickens now, they are pets, but they do enjoy the eggs. She has large dogs but they don't ever bother the chickens when they are allowed to roam outside the coop. I don't have a clue how she managed that(?).”
 

I enjoyed growing up on a farm from a child's point of view.

Yesterday, I went to the farmers market and purchased two quarts of strawberries from a local third-generation farmer with approx. 300 acres under cultivation. I gladly paid $7.00/quart and was thankful that my only investment in this year's strawberry crop was $14.00.

I can't imagine how much this fellow has invested, not to mention the risk and worry that goes along with that investment.

It makes me sad when people complain about the prices local farmers charge.

No one appreciates a successful farmer.
 
A couple of generations ago, my father's family were farmers in the Scottish borders. Pre-covid we helped our friends on their 11 acre smallholding.

farm1.jpg

Mrs. L feeding 'Oxford Sandy & Black' pigs.
Horrible creatures - bad tempered and hard to handle. We much preferred the Black Berkshire pigs that we raised in subsequent years.

farm2.jpg

Pedigree Ryeland lamb. Must check how the lambing went this year.
 
I have lived on a farm for 35 years. Where to begin. At first we had to clear the land for vegetable gardens. Hard work. We planted about 1/2 acre of a large variety and harvested it, then preserved as much as we could. Then we wanted to start raising chickens. We bought 12 chicks of various breeds to start with, and then maintained about 1 rooster per 18 hens. Roosters are a handful, but we had a great rooster for 8 years.
( the dates are not right )

chickens 4-2012 005.jpg
Then we wanted to raise a special kind of hog . The American Guinea Hog that was in danger of going extinct. So we bought a male hog first and then his female partner. Which lead to years of raising hogs.

animals 5-2-2012 001.jpg
walk 6-6-2012 023.jpg
Then we bought a male and female goat...

20160114_151041.jpg

We are down 2 2 chickens 2 goats and 2 cats. Living on a farm has been a daily adventure, plus lots of work. :)
 
Capt Lightning said:
A couple of generations ago, my father's family were farmers in the Scottish borders. Pre-covid we helped our friends on their 11 acre smallholding.

View attachment 223919

Mrs. L feeding 'Oxford Sandy & Black' pigs.
Horrible creatures - bad tempered and hard to handle. We much preferred the Black Berkshire pigs that we raised in subsequent years.

View attachment 223920

Pedigree Ryeland lamb. Must check how the lambing went this year.
Click to expand...
Those pigs are very cute, sad that they are not friendly. I have heard Berkshire pigs are very tasty. I have never seen it for purchase here. I would definitely try it. Pork does not seem to have the flavor is had in my younger years.

Who can resist a lamb or baby goat. I can't!!
 
Beautiful photos! I enjoyed all of them! But I do know that farming is hard work, especially when one has chickens, hogs, goats, etc. (feeding them, cleaning, etc). You can't really take a vacation because everything there depends on you (unless you have people working your farm!). I've never lived on a farm but have visited one (2 hours away) and know relatives who have farmed.
 
palides2021 said:
Beautiful photos! I enjoyed all of them! But I do know that farming is hard work, especially when one has chickens, hogs, goats, etc. (feeding them, cleaning, etc). You can't really take a vacation because everything there depends on you (unless you have people working your farm!). I've never lived on a farm but have visited one (2 hours away) and know relatives who have farmed.
Click to expand...
I have not had a vacation away from home in 30 years.
 
We had a farm and raised cattle, cut, baled and stacked hay in our barn, yes lots of work plus milking a cow for our milk, and butter, bottle fed some calves, raised 3 kids, kept house, cooked. Had to give that up when I was 48 due to health issues. I was raised around livestock and now just have chickens and the horses and donkey and 2 of my dogs. The other ones passed due to old age. Working on a our farm I didn't even think about paying into Social Security, prior to that I did work but not long enough to draw Social Security. And I get very irate at people who think that if you get S.S.I. you were lazy and didn't work. :rolleyes:
 
A high school friend of mine and his family owned a small family farm of about 12 acres. They had a few head of beef stock, some chickens, actually two hen houses that they sold the eggs as a side business and 4 or 5 goats.

When they would go on vacation they needed someone to tend after the farm and they asked my dad if he would be interested because I had mentioned to them one time that my dad grew up on a small farm like theirs. My dad agreed and told me that I was going to help by gathering the eggs, cleaning them, weighing them, packaging them and putting them in the huge refrigerator they had. That part wasn’t so bad.

The bad part was that for whatever reason they had hornets nests inside the henhouses and I would get stung almost everyday. When my friend got back from vacation, I told him about these wasps and he said you have to spray this chemical that they mix up in a sprayer before you collect the eggs. This chemical acts as a sedative to the hornets and they can barely fly. I asked him why didn’t he tell me about that. His answer was simple. “I forgot.” The next summer I was ready for those buggers.
 
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