Bearded H Farm And Ranch

Here they are, the happy crew!

The laying hens took the last year off due to the drought conditions I suppose, I can’t say as I blame them much. The old hens have come back in full force this year, laying about two dozen eggs a day for the last week or so.

We run a mixed flock , mostly Rhone Island Reds, a few Americaunas, a Barred Rock or two and even one lone White Leghorn. Heck there are even a few home grown chickens in there. But the one thing they all have in common, delicious eggs. brown ones , green ones, tan ones …even a lone white one, from the leghorn of course!

There they are, all the cackleberries you can eat!

So if your around this way stop by and get you a dozen or two, or three!  Please!!

We had another Jersey bull calf born here on the farm last week, I think that will conclude the spring birthing around here, at least for now. This particular calf is a grandson to Ruby, the sweetest cow ever! Too bad it wasn’t a heifer, either way we don’t keep jersey bulls around here.

In case you’ve never heard Jersey bulls are notoriously crazy, I’m not gonna take a chance with a crazy bull! But look at him he’s so cute!

Jersey Bull calf

So if someone ever tells you a Jersey bull calf will make a good pet, run away from them…run fast.

Anyway, this fella is gonna end up in the freezer before he gets to snarly. As usual , we’ll keep you posted on the happenings!

Have a great week!

It really raining outside right now, not exactly what I had in mind, but after last year I’ll take it!

Cats and Dogs!

I guess I’ll let you know if we float away!

Stay dry ya’ll!

Since all the rain has been falling around here lately, And I ain’t complaining Mind you!!  Just not alot you can do outside in the rain and cold, thought I would show ya’ll some pix I took.

Everyone gathered arounf the Hay Buffet! All you can eat.

Still eating!

I was taking the kid to school one day last week and we saw the best looking sunrise I have seen around here in a long while!

So that’s it for now I have other some in the works, so til then Have a great one!

We had another diary girl drop a calf sometime last night, lo and behold another dairy heifer !

Look at the white blotchy wonder!

This is a third generation calf for us, her mother and grandmother are still on our farm, and they are quite the milk producers!

The bull that bred her was a Beefmaster/Jersey cross, that may explain the vibrant color pattern. no matter , we look forward to another mama cow no matter what color they are.

Camilla and the new girl.

The normal standard colored jersey in the side shot is Camilla, I thought I put up a post about her when she was born but i guess I was slack that day, please forgive.

She was born in October to the new calf’s grandmother Lucille, she makes some good lookers don’t she?

Camilla

And here is the proud mama, Sweetpea.

Would ya look at the bag on here, should be enough milk to go round for a while.

Anyway , as always I’ll keep you updated on the latest news from around here , if ya wanna hear it!

Take it easy, and go see where your food comes from!

As I head out to the shed to get the pigs fed, something in the goat barn catches my eye, It’s three little goats kids born a few hours ago!

The Three New Kids

The dark one in front is female, the other two light colored are males, Call me if you need a buck these two make four in the last month!

Momma and the new kids.

Momma enjoying some feed.

Thinking back , I can’t remember if this is a first time kidder or not… oh well, threes a charm.

Tanner just loves to be in with the kids!

Here is Tanner, our Great Pyrenees,  he takes his job seriously, except when the kids start coming towards him, it freaks him out!  As long as he can go to them its ok, but don’t let a kid stare him down…. it’s too funny!

Julie feeding the other two bucklings

These two were born last week, their momma died shortly after, bottle feeding is the way this goes for now!

So stay tuned, I’m sure the other goats will be moving along any time now, also on the calendar …another litter of piglets.

Don’t miss a single minute of the fun!

Well the rains have been good here the last few months, better than the whole year before that’s for sure!  The pond we had dug out last fall has really come along way!

It has come up along way, here is the before post!  Bring on the fish!!

It’s December and that means another Dexter calf .  We have a Dexter cow that has calved in the first week of December going on four years in a row.  This week is no exception, I walked out and looked to the back pasture and there he was , a day old baby bull.

The Newest Edition

Take Two

He’s a stocky lookin little guy, we’ll feed him out for a year or so then it’s freezer time!  …shhhh don’t tell him!

Feeding Time

As you can see from the pics, the pasture is in rotten shape, we are having to feed range cubes and hay, looks like its going to be a long stretch till spring!

Feeding the cubes, it's like a cow soup kitchen!

So we await Spring for some greener pastures, and maybe we can get the garden rolling again, only time will tell.

We decided to roast a whole pig for Thanksgiving this year, It was quite an endeavor!

We started on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving with the slaughter, lets just say all went well!

Then early on Thursday morning we began constructing the pit! I got this idea from Cowgirl’s County Life , she really knows her business when it comes to smoking and really cooking in general…check her out!

Anyway, we had a big stack of concrete block to work with so I started building.

First Course

I laid two courses like this, with the opening on the end to keep the fire working.

Firebox on this end!

Main section done.

The top row was pushed out about 1 inch to make room for the grate, the wings on the firebox are flat concrete pads 1ft x1ft x 2inches.

Then we lit a big fire to get the whole thing warmed up, it was about 47 degrees with a good wind blowing this morning, brisk to say the least.

The main player young hog, split and ready!

We then put a little dry rub on the pig, and when the fire was ready we laid him out on the grate on some foil and let the goodness begin!

Here's the pig goin on the heat!

We put two pieces of corrugated tin over the whole shebang and let the smoke and heat do the work!

Pit in Smoke!!

Folks waiting for some pig!

We let this one smoke for about three hours, this was a smaller pig so it didn’t take all that long to cook.  We started him skin side down and turned him after about two hours.

After three hours, perfection.