Top 5 Posts of 2015

Hello all!  As we are reaching the end of 2015, I am looking over my year in blogging.  After reviewing the numbers, here are your favorite posts and events in the last year, maybe some that you may have missed the first time around.

5. Founding Farmer In April, we celebrated Grandpa's birthday on the farm, as well as looked back over how we got to where we are today.

4. Good Production Practices: Working with your Vet Part of a series, this post goes into how we interact with our vets on a daily basis when making animal treatment and care decisions.

3. 5 Things I learned from Michigan Young Farmer Leaders Conference  Mike and I attended a Farm Bureau Conference in Traverse City, and spent two days learning... plus a little bit of time skiing.

2. #MathieuStrong This is my only top 5 post that isn't directly about the farm, but more about our free time, training and as a family.  I also give an update about our paddling friend Mathieu after his logging accident.

1. Good Production Practices: Managing Herd Health The most popular post of 2015, this post goes into detail as to what we do on the farm to keep our pigs healthy, and how we treat them when they do get sick.


Since it's the end of the year, and my birthday, I am also posting a good memory from 2015.   This picture is from the hike Mike and I took on our anniversary in Kauai.  I am excited about the adventures we have planned for the year ahead.  

(Hiking the Napali Coast)

Christmas Cookies

 (Grandma Kathy filling the Kolachky)

For the last few years before Christmas, my grandmothers, mom, and sister have met up for an evening to make my mother's favorite treat: Kolachky.  This is a traditional Bohemian cookie with a fruit filling.  The recipe my mom remembers as a kid involved a yeast dough, and the process of making the cookies took a day or two, and neither of my grandmothers are confident in making them, so we use a shortcut version that still tastes similar to the original.  We also have used a canned filling, but next year we are going to try making our own.

(Samantha and Grandma June adding the butter)

Original Recipe Here

KOLACHKY

2 eggs

6 tablespoons sugar

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 lb butter, softened

4 1⁄2 cups flour

1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda

1⁄8 teaspoon salt

24 ounces apricot (or raspberry, poppy seed, cream cheese, cherry, prune, pineapple, etc.) filling

powdered sugar, for dusting

DIRECTIONS

Beat cream cheese and butter.

Add sugar and eggs; beat until light and smooth.

Mix in salt and baking soda.

Add flour a little at a time while mixing; blend well. Dough should be soft but not sticky.

Roll out as for pie crust.

Cut into 2 inch squares.

Fill with apricot filling (or your choice of filling).

Fold 2 opposite corners together and pinch closed.

Bake in 350° oven 15-20 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar.

Makes about 6 dozen cookies (or 3 dozen if you make them jumbo, like we do)

Merry Christmas to all!

Farm Christmas

Merry Christmas from the farm!  We recently had our Christmas party, with all of the farm employees, contract growers, and other people in the area that work with the farm.  All in all, we served 140 people a home-cooked meal. Everything is put together by Mom, Marcia, Samantha (my sister), Leslie, and myself.  Instead of buying Poinsettias, we made Mason Jar Centerpieces for all of the tables this year.

(Mason Jar Centerpieces)

We try to have something special just for the kids.  This year we made these cute hot cocoa reindeer favors.  We also make sure to have some type of entertainment.  We had a face-painter/balloon artist that did some really cool work.  By the end of the night, we had quite a few superheroes, cats, and butterflies running around. 

(Hot Cocoa Reindeer-for instructions on how to make these cute favors, click here)

Each guest gets to take home a gift from the party.  This year we had water bottles, coffee mugs, lunch coolers, and LED Maglite flashlights, among other items. 

(Christmas Gifts for all of the attendees)

Christmas on the farm isn't anything fancy, it's just in our shop.  The guys who work in the shop become the decorating committee and put up all of the lights, tables, and chairs.  It is a good excuse to give the space a thorough cleaning before starting in on the winter maintenance program.  I think everybody enjoys a laid-back and casual evening.  

(Party started!)

My Favorite Things

Each year we make our Christmas lists, and think of gifts for others.  I am definitely a gifter, I love to give people things that they will use.  I am not big on just having stuff to look at, it should have a function.  All of my favorite things I use all of the time, and I love them.

5. My planner.  My sister always rolls her eyes at this one, but have to have a paper planner.  I am always jotting notes, making to-do lists, and editing my schedule.  I am active in so many different things that I need a place to keep it all straight.  The planner I use right now is the 24-Hour Home & Work Planner.  It gives me three different lists to organize my tasks, a 24 hour schedule ( I need a schedule that starts early enough to work on farm time), and enough space to log my workouts and write my meal plans.

4. The Original Buff.  If you have never used a buff, you don't know how versatile they can be.  I use mine as a hat, head band, or to cover my neck.  I like how lightweight and breathable they are, and how they still keep my warm even when wet.  You can put them under your hat, both around your neck and ears when it is really cold.  If it's an in-between day for running, I start out with it as a headband, and then take it off and wear it as a bracelet if I get too hot.

3. Wool Underwear.  If you have wool socks, then you know that wool is wonderfully warm and comfortable.  My wool long underwear are a must for winter paddling and skiing, they layer so well under my ski suit, and I don't get cold when they get wet.  Even beyond that, I have wool boy shorts that are great for running and paddling, too.  I layer then under regular shorts to stop chafing, as they are basically seem free. This Stoic Boy Boxer is my favorite kind.

2. KitchenAid Food Chopper.  This is hands down my favorite kitchen gadget.  I use it to chop nuts, make salsa, fruit toppings, pesto, and even blend cheeses for lasagna.  It's small, simple to use, easy to clean, and it can do so many things.  Plus it comes in all sorts of colors!

1. LL Bean Boots.  Without a doubt, my absolute favorite item is my LL Bean Boots.  To be honest, I have 3 pairs, and I could easily see myself buying 3 or 4 more.  I wear them as my go-to boots for paddling, walking, working and comfort all fall-winter-spring.  They are durable, comfortable, and not very big or bulky.  I can fit them in the canoe they are waterproof, and the gortex/thinsulate ones keep my feet toasty warm. An added bonus is that they are easy to clean. I have only worn out the soles in one pair, and that is after I wore them 200+ days a year for 5 years- and I can send them back and have  the soles replaced.  If I had to pick one favorite, it would have to be my original Maine Hunting Boots.  They fit me so well and are the perfect height.

(Photo courtesy of LL Bean)

PRRS update: Through the Worst?

(Sunset over the harvest crew  in the end of November)

Since I last wrote about our fight with PRRS, quite a bit has happened.  We have lost a lot of pigs, either to stillbirth, late-terms abortions (read miscarriage),  or just non-viable piglets that only live a few hours, or maybe a day or two.  Once the pigs have made it to our nurseries, we are still seeing high death losses, which we can't really do anything about.  It has been hard on everybody, especially seeing the whole system suffer.  Two weeks about we only had 40% of our normal number of piglets sent into the nursery for the week.  We know that in 6 weeks, we will have to leave some of our finisher building unfilled for awhile, which we very rarely do, and that is emotionally and financially hard.  During the times when the barns go unfilled, we continue to pay rent on the space.   

Since my last post, we have also worked with our vets and have made some changes on how we are handling our breeding animals. We had a serum made from the blood of some sick pigs to infect all of our breeding animals that are between 50-250 lbs.  so they will have an immune response when they get to the farrowing farms.  We also changed our vaccine we give to our breeding animals that includes a booster for PRRS, along with other pig diseases.  We discontinued a water antibiotic and have told our people to only treat a pig once, and if there is no response to stop treatments, since PRRS can look like a lot of other things, and we don't want to treat something with an antibiotic when it won't be effective.  It is hard to stop treatment on animals, but sometimes it is the responsible thing to do.  

We are starting to have some hope that we have made it through the worst part of the disease.  The new litters of pigs born are looking bigger, better, and more healthy.  The sows aren't showing signs of being sick.  The farm that broke with PRRS first is starting to put out baby pigs that are negative for the disease, which is important in being able to beat it long term.  It will be encouraging to say we are over the hump, but there is still a long way to go.  Other farms that have had this strain of the virus have had a hard time shaking it, so we are expecting that it will be the same on our farm.  Only time will tell.  

3 Things Shared with Rep Justin Amash

(From L to R: Me, Rep Justin Amash, Jordan Bush, Dad (Bruce), Brian, & Kallie)

Since I last wrote, we have been moving forward battling the PRRS, but in happier and more exciting news we had a special visitor- Congressman Justin Amash and his staff-person,  Jordan Bush.  Justin is in the US House of Representatives representing the district where I live.  He came out to the farm while touring around the state before heading back to Washington.  We were able to sit down and talk about his voting record, our concerns in the agriculture sector, and look at the farm while answering any questions he had about agriculture.  It was an informative visit for both sides, and we enjoyed hosting them.

During the visit we were able to talk about Country of Origin Labeling (COOL), Antibiotic use and regulation, nutrition, community impact, Animal Care, Federal Road Funding, the continuation of agriculture as an industry in the USA, and Depreciation on new buildings.  All of these things are being handled in Federal legislation right now, and we were able to learn about how each of these issues are addressed by committees. Justin and Jordan were so excited about the farm that we showed them all around, even going in the hog barns (most tours do go in the barn, but when a Representative's next stop is a college campus, he usually doesn't want to be smelling of farm).   This isn't something that happens everyday, so we took the opportunity and tried to use it well by really sharing with each other.

The top 3 things we shared with Justin Amash:

1.  COOL has a lot of unintended consequences.  Specifically, when Canadians raise hogs or other livestock, they become less valuable, since slaughter plants in the US have to have separate kills for each country.  Many US farms have Canadian branches, and now have a hard time getting their hogs sold in the US, and at less value.  Just today Canada and Mexico are supporting a tariff on US goods in retaliation.  
2. Federal Funding has to be "real."  Representative Amash hasn't always voted the way that Farm Bureau, or some farmers would like, but he doesn't like to vote for things that don't have realistic funding.  For example, the Federal Road work was slated to be funded by "better tax collection" in the bill, so he voted no.   The money simply wouldn't be there, so the bill would be unsupported.
3. Nutrition is huge.  Both Justin and Jordan were surprised at how much nutrition played into the farm.  With 70% of production costs being feed, we put a lot of time and effort into making sure we are feeding pigs the right things at the right time to minimize costs and promote healthy growth.  We have a full time nutritionist who just worries about how we can make our feed better for the pigs, which is a good thing for the farm's bottom line.

These visits are so important for us and for our representatives, and have over an hour of one-on-one time with somebody who makes our country's decisions is a rare treat.  Any opportunity we have at the farm to talk to government officials we try to make as valuable as possible.  It's important to be open to having a conversation, and not just lodging complaints; both sides will get more value.