FARM LIFE FROM A FARM WIFE: Cows, pigs help to bring farm to life

Farm animals bring life to the place.

“Good morning, R&B. Want some breakfast?” I cheerfully sing-song to our two white-faced Herefords called Rona and Buttercup, watching as they literally run to me.

They so enjoy their morning pail of grain, divided out squarely between the two of them. They also munch on a big round bale of dry hay, harvested last season. When they get low, my husband hauls another one out of our barn with the skid steer.

In May 2016, we sold our herd of dairy cows. Before that, our breeder guy artificially inseminated all our cows with a Black Angus bull and then, after giving birth, re-bred them with a Holstein bull so we were able to get the best possible price for our herd of girls. This was a two-year process.

Raising Black Angus cattle, we discovered, was just not in our DNA. They got feisty and ornery when time came to corner and then trailer them out. Once one 400-pounder sent me to the ER, returning with seven staples and six stitches in my skull. Not a fond memory. So when my brother and his two sons approached us with the proposition of raising their bred cows and heifers, we jumped at the chance, selling our herd of Black Angus.

Looking out my office window, I see our transient herd of black and white Holsteins milling around their feed bunk. I’ve found I’d missed Holsteins. Not the milking part, but I just love watching them on the farm. Walking up, they stretch their necks to sniff at me, friendly and approachable. Not like our Black Angus herd.

After the Angus left, we realized there went our own beef supply. So we purchased a white-faced Hereford from a friend and stuck her all by herself in our heifer barn. She looked too lonely, so we ended up buying another. This one was dubbed Rona, for she was born with a white marking around her snout, looking for all the world like a mask. Short for Corona, she was named Rona. They get along like two peas in a pod, extremely compliant and even-keeled. A relief from the temper tantrums of our Black Angus.

To their defense, our herd of Black Angus had been basically left to their own devices. My husband ran a load of feed out to them daily, and they had an automatic water refill tank. We bought a jumper bull, and they calved on their own with the mothers taking over as nature intended. So human interaction was at a minimum. They were in their own pasture next to our woods, far from any activity on the farm, with no traffic. Due to all of this independence, human interaction was limited. So when it was time for moving, it caused much anxiety. Anxious, strong, large animals can be challenging.

The other day, on a chilly, rainy spring day, we brought yet more animals to the farm, purchasing four piglets to raise in the pen adjacent to Rona and Buttercup. We’ve raised pigs before, and using the first one of three pens in our heifer barn works out extremely well. In the back, there’s a good area of dirt to rut and dig in with a front platform of cement, making cleaning easy. We feed and water them right past the headlocks on top of this cement base.

Before the pigs came, we got their area ready. Hauling a load of clean, dry sawdust, my husband stuck a calf hutch over that, with room enough inside for four 50-pound piglets to snuggle. Sticking it under the lean-to part of the barn, it is sheltered from the rain and wind. We caulked a large water bucket, fixing a leak from last year, and stuck a pail of grain on the side. Later, my husband built a feed trough so they’d all have room to eat.

We buy a mix of shelled corn, soybean meal and swine mineral from MaGee Feeds in Embarrass. Calling in the order, they have 500 pounds ready for my husband in feed bags of 50 pounds each, tied at the top. As the pigs progress, the feed mill changes the mix to accommodate their growth.

Rona and Buttercup get a different sort of feed mix. Theirs is shelled corn, soybean meal, beef mineral and liquid molasses. When I scoop that mix into a pail and inhale the scent, it smells good enough to eat. We order 500 pounds of that mix, in feed bags of 50 pounds each, just like the pigs. It’s easy to distinguish the difference in feed, as the pigs have more of a ground feed, where the Herefords’ feed is a cracked corn consistency.

R&B came right over to sniff and explore these mini beings with their stocky little bodies who live on the other side of their fence. And the pigs sniffed right back.

Holsteins, Herefords and swine, all bring life to the farm!

(“For every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.” Psalms 50:10)

Kay Reminger was born and raised on a dairy farm, and she married her high school sweetheart, who happened to farm for a living in Leopolis. Writing for quite a few years, she remains focused on the blessings of living the ups and downs of rural life from a farm wife’s perspective.