Each year starts with a bevy of lambs being born. And it's not just a joke that ewes love to give birth in the worst storms. So we wait for heavy snow, driving wind and the worst conditions, and we know we'll have lambs. As I write this, I am waiting on most of my ewes to give birth again soon. Just need that winter weather to show up! Last year we had 15 lambs born in January alone. By the end of the year, we had 46 lambs born on the farm.
We welcomed two new cows to the farm in spring. Gurtie gave birth to Yolanda, which was fun! We've never had a calf born before. We also brough home Shannon's Catch a Calf steer, Ferrix.
We also purchased Bandit, a potential market steer, but eventually purchased Heimdall to be her market steer for 2025. Bandit and Yolanda are the same age and same size, and they'll be raised here for meat. Brisket left us at fair in 2024, as did Magnolia. So for all the extra mooeys on the farm this year, our wonderful neighbors lent us their 12 acres to use for the cattle. With most of them either being halter trained or very very food motivated, we were able to separate the cattle and send them over to the neighbors, leaving our pasture for the sheep.
We ran 3 batches of meat birds, which is pretty standard. I wasn't able to hatch as many ducks, chickens or turkeys as I usually do, so we brought in some broad breasted turkeys for Thanksgiving. Shannon and I decided to settle on Pekins as our duck breed, and worked to move the Welsh's off the farm.
We really are working to make the farm a bit smaller. So even though the Welsh's were good laying hens, and we could sell ducklings easily, we are still moving away from them to focus on Pekins, being the larger meat breed. Eggs are just not going to be our focus in the coming years.
We butchered our home grown oops piglets in January. My pig breeder was unable to get her sow to take this year, so we have been pig-less for an entire year. We didn't mind taking a break this winter from that extra set of chores. We'll likely find piglets in the spring.
We did attend the Berthoud Farmer's market this summer - as they did move it back to Saturdays. it's great to see folks at the market! They are keeping it on Saturdays this coming year, but moving it to Town Park, so we are still contemplating attending.
August is for the fair! Shannon took sheep, goats, cattle and all types of Poultry to the fair. It was nuts. This was her first time doing that many market animals! She learned the tough lesson of saying goodbye to her market steer. Brisket was a lovely boy.
We did have a tough Thanksgiving turkey harvest. I was not able to hatch very many poults, which meant I needed to buy some. I had issues with almost every batch - either being delayed in shipping, being mishandled, or the hatchery delaying the order due to not having enough poults to send me. I did purchase extra turkeys from the kids at the fair, which was great! We'll likely do it again, but many of them grew just TOO big and were 35-42 pounds after processing! I plan on butchering them earlier and selling them frozen next year! That's almost too much turkey!
As we look towards the end of the year, we continue to find ways to make the farm life easier, less chores, and less clutter. We emptied out the chicken truck this year and consolidated all our hens to one pen. Larry wants to use the truck for our turkeys, which we might try to do. We converted the turkey shed into a turkey brooder, which worked really well for us. We'll be selling the bachelor pen, and moving that coop over with the hens. We have less quails than usual and I'm not sure Shannon wants to build those numbers back up. She's getting busier and busier and it makes it harder for us to be available on the farm.
As we finish the year, we start 2025 exactly where we started 2024 - at the National Western Stock Show. But this time, instead of trying to catch a calf in the arena, Shannon will be showing Ferrix. And tears will be flowing because our precious boy will not be coming home with us. We hope she shows well, and that he does great at the Stock Show. If anyone wants to come visit him all dolled up for show, the Catch a Calf show is on January 11 down in Denver. I'm trying not to think about it, but we have to finish up a project book, pack all our gear and his gear and make the trek down to the show!
Goodbye, 2024. Here's to seeing what 2025 has in store...
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