Speaking of Still kicking

We've got upcoming pork and beef availability. Beef is all pasture raise, grass fed. Pork is raised on milk, garbanzo beans and beer grains (left over from fermentation). Good stuff. Let me know if you are interested.

Still kicking :)

See a few e-mail's wondering if we fell off the face of the earth...not quite yet :)

Been a busy last fall and winter. Our breeding fleet of hogs is offline for now. The Defender boar we got was (unfortunately) a failure for breeding purposes and we now have two wonderful (full blooded) BH sows (a Prudence/Majestic and a Canadian lined Matilda/Majestic) and a wonderful (but very cross) Boar.

So in the short term, we will have butcher pigs, or sires and dams for butcher herds, but out full blood stock program is on hold, probably for the forseeable future.

Those customers who want pork (or beef, we are a bit over run with cattle at the moment) can get in touch. Same e-mail, same phone.

dalan.farm@gmail.com
509-301-6207

Thanks!

Dave,

More summer pics

Heres some of the little pigs doing what they do and the "pretty boys."

New pix from the farm...it's baby time!

So here some of the new babies on the Farm. This weekend has been filled with moing the margins (and the nieghbors) weed crop. Going to throw some seed and keep watering this weekend too. Just good ole farm living ;)

Babies born 6/25 to Lilly

One of the replacement sows ("Ms Piggy"), some feeders and the runt (Skittles)

Daphne's babies, less than a week old.

My lawn mower can eat your lawn mower :-)

Still here

First hay is up, the spring piggies are on the ground (and sold!) And the old baler works like its supposed to. I might make a half decent baler mechanic after all!

Well be processing pork in October and again next march. $5.50/# includes cut and wrap, whole or half.

Next litters (including breed stock) will be march 2012. Prudence and Matty Beth sows x defender boar. By fall 2012, well be selling pairs again. Should be nice low CI, and compatible with any of the stock you may have bought from us before.

Defender x Prudence litter piglets are going to be $500 a head at weaning. Matty Beth x Defender will be $650.

Remember to check pedigrees before buying and maybe get a trial mating through the largeblackhogassociation.org registrar. Before you buy!

Dave,

Milking madness

So my eldest daughter finally broke our naughty cow. Blossom now comes to the milking stantion with relative ease. The Mrs and my eldest are separating blossom from her big baby at night and milking in the AM.

So far, so good. Looks like we'll get about a gallon a day and it delicious. The Mrs and Blossom seem have a repaired relationship. Now talking about Blossom makes my wifes eyes light up...instead of making her shoulders slump. Yeah!

On the hog front, im getting a Matty Beth sow (out of Noble Sam boar) to breed to my defender boar. Should create a pretty low CI piglet, with plenty of new blood for the west coast.

Springy 'round here

Seeded some alfalfa last weekend, yesterday i checked the field and most of the seed was opening and shooting runners in the ground!!

Grass is green and growing, kids are playing in the woods again and i'm looking forward to hay season. Seriously!

Updates!!!

OK...I think the on hand stock is all sold. Well, we have commitements for those breeding animals that are leavingt he farm. We still have a prudence sow and a defender boar. MAYBE defender piglets in the fall, but I'm not 100% that well breed again this year.

The prudence sow is bred to her half brother (he's heading out soon) and her babies will be exclusively for pork to the locals. Or a feeder pig.

Eventually I plan to add a Warbler (been looking for a while) but in the nearer term perhaps a Matty Beth (if I can wrangle one up). In short we'll have defender boars/gilts...eventually. And probably in the next year or two we'll be selling out of Defender and Majestic boys and Prudence and Matty Beth ladies. Warbler (if I cna get one) will sub in for the Prudence. Confused? Me too. And I of course reserve the right to change my mind completely :)

Farm News: Well winter cam back today, but looks like it should be gone tomorrow again (back int he 40's and 50's). Nice. We'll be seeding some alfalfa when the time is right and I managed to harrow up the over grazed pastures and the hay field.

A 6v fuel pump is on the way for the massey 36SP swather (mechanical one took a dump, and I'm not willing to toss money on a rebuild). Get in istalled, get the old opening covered with a plate and change the oil (fuel was leaking into the crank case...so the oil got real thin) and we'll be on the road again.

Oh...and we're sticking to our farm alone this year. We were haying som other folks stuff, but it just eats too much time. I'm a weekend farmer, and I like it that way. We ususally jump in feet first, and then have to draw back a little (a lot?). Let the drawing back begin.

That's all for now.

Dave,

Sales and stuff

The only pigs (that we're parting with) that are not in some form or another spoken for are Maggie rose and a couple of unregistered boars (we're not going to register them).

We actually have a 2 piglet breeding pairs as well...almost forgot. THESE WILL BE THE LAST BREEDIN PAIRS WE WILL BE SELLING. We'll have pureblood stock, but with other NW producers coming online, there is no need in us providing both halfs of your breeding operation. If you need refrecnes for additional stock, we'll gladly provide you with them. There are breeders in CA, OR, WA that we've sold stock to who are producing piglets.

If all the plans of the many come to fruition, everyone but Daphne, Toughskins and Bart are heading down the road. We'll have registerable Defender/Prudence piglets about once a year (in the summer) and some crosses in the fall.

We've got a bundle of goats for sale. Some good for milking, some for eating or any of them could be used to tame unruly pastures or brushy areas. Whatever floats your boat :)

Here is the link, http://kpr.craigslist.org/grd/2161941123.html

Large black hog association

I've come to realize that some folks don't know about the new website.

Www.largeblackhogassociation.org is the new website for the LBHA.

ENJOY!

Sales update!

I have pending sales on all of my registered boars, and only three bred sows left. No feeders. I do have a couple of breeding pairs left. Check out the listings....dalanfarm.com!

Meet Rupert

So momma cow (blossom) finally popped. No fusss, no muss, heck we we're not there at all. Just came down to find a new farm resident in the morning. Sweet!

SALE MADNESS!!!

Gotta reorganize the herd. To many bodies for the old man to chase. Check out the DalanFarm Sale Barn for the Hogs I have for sale. Boars, Sows, Bred Sows, Weaners...all kinds of stuff.

Well, another reason to pay your bills off and retire early....

So you can stop sitting around all day. Looks like training in your off time cannot completly offset the damange done from a Cubicle lifestyle...sigh.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39523298/ns/health-mens_health/

What's new, Scoobey Doo?

Marge lost a few piglets to traumatic injury, but she has 7 of the 12 she farrowed and they are MONSTERS. For LB pigs they are growing fast (I suspect due to the ample milk supply, she has 12 teats).

Olivia did lose two of the really tiny ones. She has 13, including a small boy now named "Bud." Bud is WAY to small to be used for breeding (ever, he's a textbook runt) and is becoming something of a family member. He's even been to church with us (Sunday School lesson...)

Anyhow, we have reservations on a couple of breeding pairs, and (assuming my genders match up) we should have 4 to 6 pairs out of this farrowing. Just got to make sure all the pair candidates look nice and well formed. And I have to notch so I can tell them apart. And I need to vaccinate. And do that "boar to barrow" thing. And...

Oh (not that this is a big deal to anyone but me) two of my boars are off farm visiting other "ladies." I don't rent boars as a matter of course (or offer stud), but I know these farms, these pigs and it's nice to lower the head count for a couple of months.

Some of thegoats have gone down the road, mostly as pets or companions for does. Turkeys (midget white) and chickens are EVERYWHERE :)

It's been cool and crisp in the mornings, and my last hay cutting (what I'm feeding right now) has proven to be beautiful, sweet smelling and well recived by Goats and Hogs alike.

Dave,

Olivia is the Queen piglet maker.

I'm not sure if this is some kind of record for the Large Black Hog in North America, but I'm sure it should be.

Olivia farrowed 15 piglets yesterday. I made sure everyone ogt a pass at a teat and got some colostrum, so I'm hopeful most (if not all) of them will make it throught the first few days. Though I am a dreamer some times. Anyway...check out the video and my terrible, stereotyped redneck imitation.

Why Walla Walla is better than where I grew up (Renton)

Here is where I live today...

Here is where I came from (today). 

Hmm...posted with lots of love to my Wet Side relatives and comrades.

Marge is the champion

There are at least 13 live piglets. No dead ones discovered as of yet, and there is quite a crowd around the teats, so there could be 14:

Go Marge!

Here we go again...

Marges milk is in and her hind end is leaking...dem babies is on the way!

Love them midgets (turkeys)

Momma turkey just hatched 13 more babies (in addition to the two chickens hatched last week). Boy those little white ladies make some babies. I bet if the magpies would quit stealing eggs, our two hens would have reared 40 or more chicks this year.