Meet Tia and her cousin BobbyT3. Tia is the daughter of a major star in the Holstein Show Circuit. And her father is an acclaimed Angus bull. She is very calm, and friendly. Docile. Her cousin the steer is also a gentle fellow. They are both a good size too. Almost three months old. Nice looking animals.
When they are settled and doing ok they will join the black and white beef herd. Though I will definitely breed Tia to Carlos next year – her temperament is perfect.
The hog prices have taken a dangerous dive in the last few months. Only two months ago these pigs were worth $40 dollars at auction, now they are getting between 10 and 15 dollars.
This is the reason for them not selling so well this year. None of my reading tells me this is a long term trend so I am going to hold tight. But there is serious panic running through the smaller hog farmers now. The big producers are smashing the little guys to bits.
It means that these two litters will be sold at a loss and I have decided to take the ones I am raising for meat into the abbatoir earlier: at 100 pounds instead of my usual 200+. This will cut costs considerably and is actually more attractive to the average family. I am calling it the Mini Roast program and I have quite a few people interested. I have also decided to bite the bullet and continue breeding. I know of a number of small producers who are getting shaky – feed is still expensive – the losses are huge. You cannot breed let alone feed an animal for this return. There is no money in it this fall. The massive mega producers, with newly developed, high tech, mammoth farrow to market companies, big even by American standards, have come on line and are producing huge amounts of cheap pork. More than ever in the history of this country. Production has spiked. But demand is the same – exports have not increased but supply has leaped ahead. Late summer is also the months when hogs go to market so with these two things combined prices have crashed causing a slide into ruin for many.
As long as my girls don’t have too many huge litters and I can still pass off a few pigs for my friends to raise for themselves and raise a little meat for myself and some for Jake we will continue. But I still want to stay small. Small is best for me.
But I am making no money at all – in fact the pig budget is most unhealthy and I will be borrowing from my vacation fund for pig feed this winter to get us through to the spring when they will start to sell again. I am not ready to quit.
The cows are doing OK though. The cows have paid for themselves this year. Not a huge profit but enough to invest in these two.
And feed them all until next summer.
I have some sad news. Yesterday morning Lurch died. (For those who are new to the Fellowship: Lurch she was one of a litter of piglets rejected by their mother – many of them died young but wee Lurch was a fighter and even though her legs would not work properly she refused to give up). Lurch’s adopted mother Lori had a wheelchair made for her and Lurch would run about the house on this with her useless back legs laid above the wheels.) Lori told me this morning that Lurch – who she had renamed Maggie – was fine yesterday morning, ate, went outside in her chariot for her exercise then Lori laid her on her bean bag for a rest and when she looked at her only minutes later Maggie had stopped breathing. Her heart just stopped.
Lurch whose name was Maggie has died.
Some lives are not long but this does not diminish their importance. Just like relationships. Sometimes a little is long enough. Wee Lurch will always be embedded in this summers memory.
Much love
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
57 responses to “Meet Tia and Sad News”
There’s such a lot of controversy about pork production Down Under. Most pork here is mass produced: inside, tightly packed, on concrete floors. It’s a growing trend for people to choose sow-stall free pork, to the extent that supermarkets are actively marketing pork produced this way. The best option, free range, ethically produced meat is more expensive, but as the life and processes of the Farmy demonstrate, it’s for a very good reason. Fingers tightly crossed that your new marketing plan works, that you’ll be able to feed everyone this winter without forfeiting your travels, and that your piggy girls have small and easy to manage litters. And your new Tia and Bobby T3 are gorgeous 🙂
Lovely shot, by the way, of Tima with Boo.
Very sad post in deed – financially and sweet little Lurch. She had an extremely good life however and we can all be proud that we helped make it that way. Hugs and to you and Pat as I know she was quite attached to the baby too.
Sad news about lurch/Maggie. But as other people have said a short but happy life. Your two new cows look lovely.
I think we are quite lucky in the uk that we can buy pork from farms that sign up to a certain practice, eg outdoor reared in our supermarkets. I do prefer to get my pork when possible from a farm though.
I’m pretty sure Lurch/Maggie picked the two very best homes in the USA. She sure showed everyone how to persevere through adversity with great courage.
The big guys may be flooding the market with quantity and be cheaper initially, but surely more and more people will want non-GM fed, happy, well treated animals/meat. Ultimately it is affecting our health too. In time, word of mouth will put you on the map I am sure. Welcome to the new sweet calves. Laura
Lurch was a fighter for life. I’m glad to have seen her example. Sad news indeed.
Your determination and perseverance are an inspiration, C. Sorry to hear of the loss of Lurch.
Lurch/Maggie will always be in our hearts. Such a lovely little pig. Your story about the big pork producers just further underlines the importance of supporting our local growers. Be it vegetables, fruit or meat- it is so very important. Not everyone can or has access to local growers, but if you are able to please buy from them. Otherwise we will all be forced to eat poorly grown and not healthy food. We cannot depend on our government to protect us from poorly produced food- that is for sure. They are in bed with the corporate growers.
Fly hig beautiful Lurch ❤
I was looking at November's pinups, Tima and Tane on the Farmy calendar this morning and wondering if you were going to put out another for 2017 Celi? – Would it be enough of a boost in the feed coffers to help out? I would absolutely buy one again 🙂
Such sad news about Maggie. I don’t know if I could handle the sadness incumbent with farm animals. Even knowing your cute little piglets are destined for chops makes me teary despite the fact that I love eating pork. Hypocritical of me. I am glad these animals have you, though, making their brief existences the best they can be.
Celia, you raise your pigs so differently from the giant and atrocious hog factory system (which is so cruel to the animals and I believe very toxic to them). So much of what you do for your pigs like pasturing them, feeding them milk and eggs, and healthy delicious other goodies from the garden, and keeping them where they are not breathing ammonia saturated air like in the hog factories, should make for a different market. Joel Saladin sells his pork meat at a completely different rate than the commodities market. Perhaps you could contact him and get some tips to make your operation profitable. By promoting to a different market and not selling thru the standard system, I think you can do much better. http://www.polyfacefarms.com/speaking-protocol/joels-bio/ http://www.polyfacefarms.com/ People who raise real food like you do should not have to compete with these inhumane operations because your product is night and day different. Some of the people I know here in NE Georgia who are homesteaders and small livestock producers sell their meat directly to customers at a much higher rate and people surprisingly are willing to pay that because the food is so much different and they know it isn’t toxic. They freeze it and sell it vacuum packed at farmers markets, and thru direct sales. I hope this helps. We need farmers like you to keep the food safe and real. Love, Di
Bless her. She gave it all she had.
My daughter Kate loves her Lurch shirt and the story behind it. She is 13 and has Aspergers Syndrome, so the shirt has extra meaning for her. She has remarked that she herself often ‘lurches’ along. So little Lurch also left an impression on the next generation. 🙂
You have strengthened our resolve to buy meat only from local farmers. We try to do this anyway, but reading your story has made it even more important for us to do so. Have you seen the new documentary on National Geographic called ‘Before the Flood?’ They talk a lot about how beef cows add to the climate change problem; I kept wanting to yell at the TV, “But if folks ate grass fed beef from well-managed grazing lands, the carbon sink from the land would offset the methane from the cows!” They didn’t talk at all about that.
RIP little Lurch. Loved that piggie from afar.
She had a well-loved life. In one of those huge grower houses she would have never made it past the first few hours, for this short life we are all grateful.
Linda
Very few realize how hard farming is, especially for the small farmer. It can be a matter of hours that makes the difference in prices you get and you are at the bottom of the food chain. If I could find someone like you here locally, I’d never set foot in a grocery store again. I’m still checking and have looked at our local farmers market. I’ll work harder at it now. So sorry to hear Lurch didn’t make it. He had more love than most pigs especially those raised on big commercial farms. Your new cows are lovely. Best of luck with them.