Farm Friday

As you might have been able to tell, I haven't been blogging as much as I typically like too here lately.  We finished planting our corn and soybean crops the last week in May.  Since then we've been busy with field work such as spraying and side-dressing our corn.  I thought on this beautiful, and hopefully not scary, Friday the 13th, I would give an update on everything we raise on our farm:

Corn:
Like I mentioned, we have been busy spraying our corn and also side-dressing it.  Side-dressing is a special machine that spoon-feeds nutrients to the corn crop during this key vegetative growth stage of its life.  As you can see our corn is growing quite nicely.

Spraying our corn
(I'm afraid all of my side-dressing photos didn't turn out too well)

'Beans:

Almost all of our soybeans were planted the last week of May and have also grown very nicely so far.  On our farm we rotate our corn and soybeans so we have about 2/3 of our acres in corn and 1/3 of our acres in soybeans.  Rotating our crops helps with disease and insect control, as well as spreading out our work load in the spring and fall.  Plus rotating crops can help with higher yields.

Pigs:

On our farm we usually have a couple different age groups of pigs at all times that way we can spread out the work load throughout the year.  We recently just got in a group feeder pigs, who all weigh about 40 pounds, and we will finish them to about 270 pounds, hence our pig farm is called a feeder to finish hog farm.  We received around 1,200 feeder hogs a week ago today.

and Kids;

Just like our corn, soybeans and pigs, our kids are busy growing too and keeping us busy!  LP is Mr. Independent and loves being outside.  If I would let him, he'd stay outside all day long.  MP is busy working on walking.  She hasn't let go yet or tried walking alone, but I imagine she'll be taking her first steps soon.  Here are a couple photos of the kids from this past week's Iowa Ice Cream Trip to Hansen's Dairy Farm outside of Hudson.  I'll be posting about our trip soon so stay tuned!

LP petting a baby calf at Hansen's Dairy Farm

MP getting kissed by a kangaroo at Hansen's Dairy Farm

I hope you enjoyed today's Farm Friday update!  Do you have any questions about our farm where we raise Corn, 'Beans, Pigs and Kids?  Remember to Comment for a Cause!

A Look Inside Our Pig Barns

Yesterday morning this guy:

and 1,144 of his closest family and friends arrived on our farm!

My farmer and I have two feeder to finish pig barns where we bring in pigs around 40 pounds and feed them to a finishing weight of around 270 pounds.  Each barn can hold up to 1,250 hogs, so in the case of this group it will hold 1,145 pigs.  We buy our hogs on the open market, as we do not raise pigs for any specific pork company.  This group of hogs came from a sow operation in Atlantic, Iowa (around 170 miles away) that our family is part owners of.  Our other barn has pigs in it from Minnesota.  We also commonly get pigs from Canada to fill our barns.

Usually just My Farmer takes care of the hogs but yesterday LP, MP and I got to participate in the unloading of the new hogs.

My Farmer and LP counting the pigs as they come off the truck

LP really enjoyed helping his Dad count the pigs as they came off the truck (good thing My Farmer was there to help him though since LP can only count to three...), checking the waters and the feeders, and in general just checking out all of the pigs.

LP making sure the first truck of pigs (first half)
were all settled and comfortable before the second truck arrived

The second semi-truck is here with a little more than 550 feeder pigs on it

Three Generations checking pigs as they come off the truck

The barn is full!

If you are interested in learning more about our hogs on our farm check out these other posts:

• Auto-Sort Finishing System
• The Perfect Environment

Happy National Pork Month!

October in National Pork Month!

In honor of National Pork Month I'll be reinstating my Tuesday Tasty Pork Recipes this month!  So stay tuned tomorrow for my first delicious Pork Recipe.

Farm Friday

This week on the farm we have been busy hauling corn to the ethanol plant.  We also have been busy making sure our hogs stay cool during these high temperatures and triple digit heat indexes.  The pigs in our building currently are around 100 pounds, this means we like to keep their houses at 68 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit.  When the outside temperature is higher than our ideal conditions we have misters or sprinklers automatically turn on to help keep the pigs comfortable.  When hogs are at market weight between 260 and 280 pounds, we like to keep their houses between 60 and 65 degrees Fahrenheit.

Wouldn't you like to be in 60 and 70 degree temperatures your entire life???

As for "my backyard" this week, at the beginning of the week the corn started tasseling, which is the last stage in the vegetative growth cycle known as VT.

Corn Tassel

And now by the end of the week, the corn has begun silking, which is the first stage in the reproductive growth cycle known as R1.  At this stage pollination begins when pollen grains from the tassels contact the new and moist silks.  When scouting this field I came out with pollen grains all over me.  I'm happy that temperatures are forecasted to be cooler and that we have a chance of rain next week, because the largest yield reduction due to stress happens at this stage.

Corn Ears Silking

Here is an ear of corn that I shucked.  You can see the kernels beginning to form and the silks. 

Now onto my "hog's backyard":

The soybeans started their reproductive stages last week by beginning to flower.  This week they are at R2, which means they are at full bloom and have flowers within the top two nodules of the plant.

Do you have any questions about corn or soybean development?  Be sure to leave comments and/or questions in the comment section below.

Speak-up and Support Agriculture Today!

This weekend there are two events happening where you can get involved to show your support for agriculture - Food Revolution Day and Ag Pizza Party.

Food Revolution Day.  Jamie Oliver, host of the TV show "Food Revolution" and catalyst of the "pink slime" situation, has named today, Saturday, May 19th, as "Food Revolution Day."  If you go to the event's website you'll notice that the motto behind the day is "Stand Up For Real Food."  Real food.  This simple word make me want to get involved and I hope it does you too!  If you look more on the website it looks like they define real food as locally sourced, fresh food.  They also make a bold statement that everyone needs to "get back to basics and start thinking about where our food comes from."

I believe one of the best parts of living in America is that we have choices.  We have the privilege of having lots of healthy choices when it comes to our food.  I know that my family and other farm families across the nation do their best job to raise affordable, healthy and quality food for me and everyone.

So why stand up today.  Well, I think farmers should talk about what we do on our farms everyday, but especially today, I challenge everyone to share their story of how we all play an important role in raising the safest food supply in the World.  I'm doing this by writing this blog, as well as tweeting and facebooking about all the good work farmers are doing to create those food choices that I talked about before.  If you tweet, please use the hashtag #FoodRevolution in your tweets about the good work farmers do to feed people. You can also follow the @FoodRev Twitter handle to monitor messaging and even chime in.  On Facebook, you can visit the Food Revolution Community page and post your feedback and information there. You can also use your own personal pages to share information and insight. 


To get you started, I thought I'd share a couple tweets I have scheduled for today:

• Today's American #farmer produces enough food in a year to feed 155 people, compared to just 46 in 1960. #FoodRevolution
• In 2012, 97% of US #farms are family owned and operated. #Food Revolution
• In less than a generation, world’s population will need 100% more food than grown today. #FoodRevolution
• Livestock get antibiotics, med  treatment 2 prevent, treat disease, just like u & ur family. #FoodRevolution
• When the weather cooperates, #Iowa #farmers can plant over 1 million acres of #corn in 1 day. #FoodRevolution
• I’m an #IA #farmer & proudly eat the meat I raise on my farm. Mmm #Pork. #FoodRevolution
• I'm an #IA #farmer & am proud to raise #corn, #soybeans, #pigs and #kids. #FoodRevolution

Ag Pizza Party.  The second event that you can get involved in is happening all weekend, it is the Ag Pizza Party.  About a month ago, Domino's Pizza shareholders rejected a request to study ending the use of pork from suppliers who use gestation creates.  Other fast-food companies like Burger Kind, Wendy's and McDonald's have pledged to phase out the use of pork from such suppliers, but Domino's said hold on, lets talk to experts in animal care and behavior to see where we should be getting our food from.

My Farmer and I just finish hogs, so we are not apart of the phase of growth that involves gestation crates, but I was raised on a farrow to finish hog farm that did use gestation crates.  Gestation stalls are a benefit to both the mother sow and baby piglets.  The major benefit is that it creates a safe environment for both the sows and piglets.

So how can you get involved?  Go to your local Domino's Pizza (which I am going to have to travel 33 miles to get to mine) and order a pizza for you and your family this weekend, May 18th-20th.  When you pick-up your pizza, hand them a thank you note.  If you are a farmer use this thank you note and if you are an ag supporter use this thank you note.

So enjoy some great pizza and say thank you to a company that supports agriculture and farm families!

Farm Friday

I have decided to start a new regular posting - Farm Friday!  On Fridays I will show different things that My Farmer and I are up to on the farm.

For my first Farm Friday post I figured I'd explain our hog operation.  My Farmer and I have a 2400 head finishing site.

Photo obviously taken during the summer, way too cold to take a photo today...

As you can see the site has two buildings and an office on it.  Our buildings have an auto-sort system in them where the hogs walk through a scale to get to the "food court" area.

My Farmer checking the feeders in the "Food Court"

When they are done in the food court they can leave and hang out in a "lounge" area.

Lots of space for the pigs to explore

When the hogs are near a market weight of 270 pounds we turn on the scales a couple days before they are scheduled to go to market.  The scales will sort out the hogs that are ready to go to market into a separate lounge area than the ones that still need some time.  This reduces some of our sorting labor in preparation to bring pigs to market.

Our dog Bailey helping with chores