Winter at the Farm!

 A heavy 18 inches of snow before Christmas put us right into winter in Northern Michigan. The steers and goats don't seem to mind the cold or the snow but the chickens are not too happy to be "cooped" up all day.

Chickens are locked up tight for the winter. We let them run around the farm until the snow was too much. Chicken feet don't do well in the cold snow.

Just as beautiful in the winter as it is in the spring, summer and fall.
 

Fall at the Farm!

Could not ask for a more perfect fall day. The farm is surrounded by brilliant fall colors. The garden is mostly tilled and ready. Canning is done. Seeds are drying out for next spring planting.

Dexter update

Our dexters have been fattening up nicely. We are planning on having one processed in November or December. We're planning to get one up to about 800 lbs live weight by then with the hope for 350 to 400 lbs of beef.

There is still plenty of green pasture grass to feed on and we are supplementing with hay and grains.

Meet Lucy

Lucy the Great Dane

Meet Lucy, one of the newest additions to the farm this year.
Lucy is 1year old and was in need of a new "forever" home. She came to live with us this summer and has fit in perfectly.
She did have to learn a few things, like we don't chase the chickens and it's not wise to put your nose next to the cat's face.

Tomatoes are just about ready. Still need to ripen and are a little smaller than usual.

We will can most of the tomatoes to last through the winter.

August Turkey Update

Turkey ready for butchering

A total of 13 Turkey went to the butcher. We lost one early on and one was born blind and had trouble gaining weight.

We fed the turkey a high protein diet and it paid off with little loss and healthy/heavy turkey.

15 turkey were very messy and required weekly changing of the sawdust in the pen. We are considering raising 6 at a time next year.

Broiler and Turkey update

Broiler Chickens at 5 weeks old.

Turkeys at 5 weeks old.

The Meat chickens and turkeys are now at 5 weeks old. We will start to make plans to have the broilers butchered at about 8 or 9 weeks and the turkeys in November.

We had one blind turkey that was having trouble putting on weight and only made it through 4 weeks. The remaining turkeys are looking healthy. They are beginning to make a lot of noise and flapping wings every so often. The fence on the turkey pen is about 6 foot high and so far has been keeping them in.