Where Have I Been...

For about a month I have been mostly gone when it comes to the blogging world, in fact I'm not sure if there will be anyone left out there to read this. But, I am back ... well, at least I think I'm back and I'm going to try to be back. I guess after 600 plus posts here and over 100 posts on the Epi-Log I kind of caught a bit of the writers block bug and slowly fizzled out. First I started posting later in the day, then I started missing a few days, and then I just quit posting altogether. But, today ... maybe ... I'm back. At least I'm going to try to be back because I miss the interaction and the exchange of knowledge!

So, what has been going on? I don't really know where to begin because I'm not exactly sure where I left off, but I will share a few updates today and over the next few days.

• As you know from previous posts (at least I think this has been covered), the perimeter fence is completely up now and working wonderfully. I still have to put up four 12 foot gates (two openings) on the outside by the woods, but other than that we are just using it and it is working great. Out on the line we get about 9.6 kV, which I think is pretty good (and I can say from first hand experience it provides quite a shock!). The next chore is to put up the fence around the house, it will run at half voltage and have a cut-off switch.
• Last week five pigs took a trip to the locker. Loading was quite a chore, but I feel like I was a little more prepared this time even though it still took a while. One of these days I will build the perfect system, for now less than perfect will have to do. In other pork related news we now have two state certified freezers that we can sell meat out of. This allows us to sell by the package or by bundles of cuts. I'm looking forward to this because I know we have quite a few customers interested in 10-20 pounds instead of a half or a whole. The inspection process was pretty easy. We just had to pay the money, have them come out, show a label from the locker (we can put a "raised by" label on it), and put up a "No Smoking" sign by the freezer. If you are insterested in pork send us an e-mail and we will let you know what is available when it is available.
• The shed ... ahh ... the shed. It needs steel on the sides, I haven't gotten that done yet...
• Our new bull Sundance is adjusting well to the farm and being kind of loud! He is doing great, but we have him seperated from the herd still so he likes to call out and make his presence known to the ladies and the other boys in the herd. I find that he likes to talk the loudest at the times when I like to sleep the most. But, other than that we are still super glad that he is here and I absolutely love his temperment ... and he loves his treats!
• Winter hay is still and ongoing issue for me, but I think we are starting to get this squared away. In fact I didn't mean that to be a play on words, but I think will will actually be feeding mostly small square bales this year (from our farm and my dad's). I think this will work out the best, because it will make it much easier to feed inside the shed with deep bedding for the animals. Now, I just need to line up some corn stalk bales for bedding (I have no idea how many I will need).

So, I'm back ... and ... that is just a taste of what has been going on while I have been away from the blog. As some of you may have figured out I haven't been getting back to all my e-mails either with all that has been going on, but I'm slowly making my way through those as well. Thanks again for all the insight and discussion all you readers have added! All that help has really come in handy as we begin to make some visible progress on the farm.