Planning for Spring in the Dead of Winter

Sep 7

Happy New Year from the farm!

With the onset of winter weather and so much that had to happen to get the first flock of turkeys processed and delivered, I've taken a bit of a rest from updating all of you on how things are going here at Pasture Expectations.

This first year of raising birds on pasture was the best learning experience I've ever had. I made so many mistakes,and the fact that I can embrace that and learn from them is a HUGE step for me as a person and as a new farmer. I truly feel that I gave the birds a fabulous quality of life and a humane, peaceful death, and that I delivered a quality product — but I'm certainly hoping to make some improvements in the new year.

The pigs were also a super fun experience that I plan to continue. For those of you that followed the adventure out here last year, you'll recall that I raised kune kune pigs and absolutely loved them. They were sweet, easy to contain, and the meat was absolutely delicious.

This year I was really hoping to raise another heritage breed pig called the Red Wattle, but finding a source for weaner pigs (young pigs recently separated from the sow) in Washington or Oregon has been nearly impossible. I've emailed every farmer I could find with ANY history of Red Wattle sales or breeding and while all of them were kind and supportive and spoke extremely highly of the breed, none of them are raising or selling for various reasons.

I'm still hoping to find a source, but may have to delay raising Red Wattles for another year. I'll definitely be raising pigs, but will need to choose another heritage breed that is more available. Red Wattles will come to Pasture Expectations though, and I can't wait for that to happen. They are the breed I've been planning to raise and breed since before I knew what a pto (that means “power take off” for you non-tractor folks) was, so I’m not giving up.

One of the most important changes I'll be sharing with you you this year is the construction of a brand new turkey poult brooder! Last year I had to make do with an existing structure on the farm that was drafty and not suited to the number of poults I raised. I was debating how to improve this structure and trying to make it work with materials I already had on the farm, when in a fit of disgust I just knocked the whole thing down. A lot of this new farming venture involves making giant and often scary leaps, and I knew without a brooder, I wouldn’t be able to raise another flock of birds, so the destruction of the very old and unsafe building I'd used last year would force me to figure out how to create a structure that would be healthier and safer for the birds in this new year.

The brooder is where day-old poults are raised, fed, kept warm, and nurtured until they are about 8 weeks old and able to spend time out on pasture. They spend their first few weeks under heat lamps sleeping, but they grow so fast that space in the brooder is important to avoid over-crowding as they grow older. The birds are too young to be exposed to the outdoors due to their still developing and fragile immune systems. The brooder needs to be draft free, have a power source, roosts, and easy access to pasture to allow afternoons of grass grazing as the birds get older. All of this will require funds for the materials, the tools to build, and the know how — none of which I currently have, and poults will arrive in March. Feeling the pressure yet? Me, too! Stay tuned and I'll keep you posted on my progress.

I'm also really hoping that by some miracle, this new year will bring a tractor to Pasture Expectations. I spend a TON of time hand hauling, digging, and dragging things that would take me minutes with a tractor. When I was still in the planning stages of farm buying, I used to dream about what color my tractor would be. Now I just dream about something that will start and that has a pto. Rust color would be fine.