Hey, that rhymes! Just me? OK...
I can't really say that 2022 was a remarkable or unremarkable. It was a year. It feels like a year that we finally got our feet back underneath us.
Let's see 2022 by the numbers
We had 50 lambs born, our most prolific ewe, Persephone, gave birth to triplets again, bringing her to 23 total lambs born on the farm.
We Raised 16 pigs in the first half of the year, and have been pig free since, but are looking for piglets for the spring
We raised 2 beef steers for beef, and have 2 bottle calves on the farm for next year
We raised 450 meat chickens (and are completely sold out!)
We hatched only 55 laying hens this year (we need to do better next year!)
We hatched 31 quails - that we tracked, we did lose track of the spreadsheet at some point
We hatched 11 ducklings, which also was not enough!
We hatched 135 turkeys and butchered 90 for Thanksgiving.
We lost our Dirac kitty, bringing our kitty family to 6.
We brought Banshee and Dwight over, bringing our puppy family up to 6.
We also had 4 flat tires on our trailers, the big tractor was broken most of the year (but we finally got it fixed)
And I think this year, I finally got my hay order right the first time around and we won't have to order extra to get through the winter
The manure spreader is still broken and hasn't been used in a full year.
Dwight and Banshee, with Skadi's paws and Odin sleeping in the background.
We also kicked off our online ordering website for the farm, which has been super helpful. We built our new processing space for poultry processing and on farm lamb butchering. We just need to hook up the plumbing, run a french drain around it and bring in some more gravel and we will be good to go!
Some plans for 2023 include
Swapping our duck breed from Welsh Harlequins and Pekins to Silver Appleyard. They are the size of Pekins, the appearance of Welsh Harlequins, and are calmer and better layers than both breeds!
Hopefully, now that we have a sprinkler system in the yard, I can plant some trees, including fruit trees
Planting more veggies for the humans and the animals, I am hoping to grow more pumpkins for the sheep and the pigs
Finally getting our solar hot water hooked up to the house - so we can get our fencing done and keep the dogs out back
I have new cameras for the barn that have flood lights, so we can see what we are doing at night sometimes! This will allow me to repurpose a couple of my outdoor cameras to inside the barn, so I can see the whole barn from the cameras
Installing our new brooder in the barn, for raising baby chicks and quails out in the barn.
Fixing the manure spreader and actually using it this year!!
Starting up a monthly subscription box pick up program
It's January, and I spent ALL of December waiting for baby lambs. There are some very very very pregnant ewes out there, so it could be any day now! But until then, here are some cute lamb pictures to tide us over until then!
Happy 2023!! We hope it's a great year on the farm!