Where There Is a Cow......So Must There Be a Pig!

Wherever there is cow "stuff", then there must also be pig "stuff".  That is simply the way it goes in our house.  The car has both Pork & Dairy window clings.  Last Christmas, my parents got us both cow & pig lighted blow-up displays (you'll see those on this blog once the snow flies!).  We have enough pig & cow ornaments to adorn a Christmas tree by themselves.  I remember when we got married; a friend of mine said, "You're going to have pigs on your farm, right?".  When I said "no", he was in complete shock...."But, you're Carrie, you have to have pigs.  It just won't be right if you don't have pigs!"

I moved a lot of my pig stuff to work, but I still keep a few pieces.  I found these in a catalog last week, and gave in (they were only $6, which probably means they are going to bust in the first good wind, but until then I'll enjoy them)!

Cow & Pig Hanging Flower Baskets.....it even has a curly tail!

After we finished the bunker at noon on Saturday,

Nearly done!!

I spent the rest of the weekend playing with my flowers.  This is strange as in my high school Horticulture class, I couldn't even keep marigolds alive!  As long as it is outside, and Mother Nature takes care of most of the watering, I seem to be ok.  I keep working on trying to keep the weeds down.  The "pasture" dirt that I steal from the cow's pasture is great stuff for growing plants (as it has a little of that great cow fertilizer mixed in), but the weeds also love it too!

"Hostaville"  

 We'll stay busy in the next few weeks, as we are expecting several new calves, the wind storm is going to require a new roof on the parlor, and we continue to prep & get ready for the teardown, followed by the construction of a new freestall barn for our cows, which they desperately need!

Finally.....Down to 145!

Today the USDA finally, after months & years of research & waiting for them to do so, lowered the recommended cooking temperature for pork.  Until today, USDA still recommended that pork be cooked to an internal temperature of 160 degrees.  This usually resulted in overcooked pork that tastes more like rubber than pork.  USDA revised their cooking guidelines after much research that proved that pork can still be safe when cooked to an internal temperature of 145.  I've been doing this with for years, and it results in a slightly pink center, and the pork is tender & juicy!  The trick is to let the meat rest for a few minutes after you take it out of the oven.  Thicker pieces of meat, like chops, loins & tenderloins, will continue to heat even after you take it out of the oven.  If you wait until the internal temperature is 160, it will continue to cook another 5-10 degrees, causing the pork to be extremely chewy.  Removing loins at 145 will result in pork that is slightly pink in the center.  Don't worry....it is still safe to eat, and you'll enjoy the improved eating quality that you'll get with a more juicy, tender pork meal.
So, try out the new guidelines this Memorial Day weekend on the grill!  Recipes are available at www.porkbeinspired.com
I highly recommend pre-marinated center cut loins from Hormel.  I enjoy the parmesan-crusted version, but most any variety is good.  Here's to happy grilling!

                                                    

Rain, Rain, Go Away.....

....it did.....we got LOTS done.....and now it's back!
Ok, so the last time I sat down to start writing a post was 3 weeks ago, and it had this title.  I never actually finished it, because that was the last time we really got serious rain until today.
 In that 3 weeks, Warren got all of the corn & beans planted, Brent sowed alfalfa, which will make hay for our cows in the future, and we made over 30 acres of haylage (or chopped hay)....whew!  All while milking cows twice a day, and making sure they are cared for while we get busy in the fields.
You have to "Make Hay While the Sun Shines", and no truer was that than this week.  Brent mowed hay on Tuesday, and then it took nearly 2 days for it to dry enough that we could run it through our chopping equipment.  Thursday afternoon we started, just in time for Gail & I to milk while Brent & Warren got the beginning of the year bugs worked out of the equipment.  Friday we made good progress, finishing all of the hay we had mowed, and then we finished up the last 5 loads today.  We've still got some equipment kinks to work out, but it looks like we've got a week of on & off rain ahead to get caught up on those projects.

This is what the bunker looks like before we start....we put plastic down the sides & secure it at the bottom (that way water can't weep down the sides when it rains & spoil the hay next to the sides.  

Then, slowly, but surely, we keep adding to the pile.  This wagon is nice, as it allows us to use the hydraulics on the tractor to open up the rear door, and the silage falls out the back.  Brent then uses the skidsteer (with metal tracks for added traction) to pack the hay that will be the feed for the cows next year.

Our bunker is about 150' long & 30' wide & 6' tall, and we will nearly fill it with just the 1st cutting of hay (there are usually 4 "cuttings"), assuming we can get to the last big field in good time.

Once the pile is full, we take the plastic & cover the pile, and let the haylage "ferment" a little bit, and then we'll start incorporating it into the cow's ration.
This is only the 2nd year since Brent & I have been married that we have made hay before Memorial Day (hopefully, the weather will break later this week, and I can say we got all the hay done, and not just some of it).  Making hay is serious business.  You have to guess what the weather is going to do, and this time of year, you never know when showers will pop up.  Hay can make really good feed for the cows, that they will then turn into milk....the "better" (more nutrients, energy) the feed, the more milk they will make, and the better off we will all be.  The better our hay is, the less we have to supplement the cows diets with corn to make up the missing energy.
I'll have some pictures of the rainstorm damage tommorrow.....it really did a number on the trees in the yard, and the cows were NOT happy when a big "red cell" went over us at about 7 pm tonite, but all is well!

The Last Ones....

I got a chance to go home this weekend to the Bertelsen Farm for Easter.  It was a little bittersweet when I had to open all 3 doors to the farrowing rooms before I finally found the one that still had pigs in it.  The Bertelsen's are getting out of the pig business.  My Mom & Dad have worked a long time to build their farm, and they have earned some much-needed and much-deserved R&R.  Therefore, they chose to voluntarily exit the business.  This is pretty sad for me, as I spend my days surrounded by pigs, and the reason I have become such a "pig person" is because of what I learned while growing up in the hog barns, especially with my Mom.  The last sow farrowed this week, and so once all these little pigs grow up and go to market (about 5-6 months from now), there will be no more pigs on the farm at all.

These are some of the last pigs to be born at the Bertelsen Farm

One of the main reasons why the pigs are leaving is because we have had a particularly difficult time finding someone to replace our long-time, full-time employee who was injured in a motorcycle accident last summer. This is why farmers tend to specialize, and "Go Big, or Go Home!".  Working on farms isn't easy work, and at times, it is not especially enjoyable.  (I personally think that the good times outnumber the bad, but that is just me!)  It is much easier to find someone to work on the farm who can specialize in one area, such as crop production, machinery, or livestock production.  Therefore, farms many times need to jump from 50 sows or cows (or a size when most work can be done with family labor) to 500 sows or cows (or a size when the farm can hire 4-5 workers that can specialize in the different areas around the farm).

The Bertelsen's are not nearly done farming though....there are still nearly 1000 acres of corn and beans to fertilize, plant, spray & harvest, as well as several years worth of projects that have been put off because we have been too busy taking care of all of those pigs for all of those years.

The Three Most Wonderful Words....

The three most wonderful words that Brent could have said to me on Tuesday...........

"IT'S A GIRL!"

I'd been planning a blog post about being on "Baby Watch", but it was over before it barely began.  One of our heifers, Team Mardi Gras, (a very nice, potential to be shown & sold in the future, has her own special pen, heifer) started acting uncomfortable Sunday, so I've been on the every 4 to 6 hour checks to make sure that everything goes smoothly.  However, this "uncomfortable-ness" was a good sign, as she wasn't actually due until April 22nd.  Early babies tend to be heifers, and we were really hoping for a heifer.  Tuesday morning, she didn't eat her grain (she ALWAYS eats her grain, and in fact, we kind of had her on a diet), so Brent stepped it up to hourly checks.  At 4 pm, he helped our new baby girl into the world.  Both mom & baby are doing great!  It absolutely made my day.  Even better, I got to feed the new heifer, and she sucked down her colostrum I gave her wonderfully with no problems.  Welcome to the farm, Po-Cop Shottle Madison!

BACONFEST 2011...

So, this weekend we ventured into downtown Chicago for Baconfest Chicago 2011!  This is a unique event that caters to everything Bacon!  It reminded me of a type of "Taste of _______ " event, featuring high-end restaurants & eateries from throughout Chicagoland.

Bacon Bloody Mary's, Chocolate Bacon, Bacon Lollipops......even Bacon Ice Cream!  (Yes, I said Bacon ice cream!)  It was a wonderful opportunity to not only focus on Bacon, which is actually classified now as a lean meat, due to the fact that pork is much leaner than it was in the past; but for us, as producers, to share a little bit about what we do, and where that glorious bacon comes from.

You'll need to pay attention early if you want to get into Baconfest 2012.  This year's event sold out 2,000 tickets in under four MINUTES when they went on sale! Brent & I had big plans to go out to eat at a "Diner, Drive-in & Dive" (we are Food Network fans), but there was so much food available at the event, that we were stuffed.  I have to say my favorite dessert was the bacon canoli, with a shell made of bacon fat, and a cheese & bacon filling, while I had several good sandwiches including an awesome porkburger slider, and a tijuana pork dog.

I apologize for the fuzziness of the pictures.....my digital camera is on the fritz, so I've just got the cell phone cam.

The Baconfest logo screen & the crowd

Thanks to this woman for being willing to pose for a picture with the two most awesome food products put together by an awesome chef....smoked ice cream & bacon!

More of the crowd at Baconfest, brought to you by the Illinois Pork Producers!

Bob & Darrell - two of the "Official Bacon-Makers" 

The aprons were the envy of the event - but you have to have sorted pigs in your life to get one!

We also sold many "Peace, Love, Bacon" T-shirts, with all of the proceeds going to the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

Attendees could bring in non-perishable food items, and pork producers would match that donation, pound for pound with ground pork!  Looks like we'll need to be coming up with a lot of pork to match this pile!

Pam teaches attendees about "All Things Bacon" using the Wheel of Trivia.

Oh, and by the way, the "Monty" was out again this morning...... :-)

The Full Monty....

First, let me thank everyone who gave us encouragement last week after "The Ugly".  But, life will go on, and it was a very busy week.  Warren & Gail were at a dairy meeting in Arizona this week, and so Brent & I were on our own to take care of the farm.  Things went overall pretty well, with a new baby boy on Sunday, and a new baby girl on Monday - both were 2 weeks early!  The sun was shining all week until today (Friday), and so we cleaned lots, barns, and did a lot of moving & shaking to get everything caught up before spring fieldwork begins in earnest.

However, on the farm, sometimes, you just need a good giggle!  We got a good giggle on Tuesday, when we found some anonymous pictures in our mailbox.  They looked like they were taken with a cell phone; we guess by our mail carrier, based on the angles.  She must have been very amused at the scene she came upon one day.

The "Monty" was interested in our front door

Let me give you some background on our dearly beloved "Monty" (#7033).  She is a crossbred cow, being out of a Holstein cow (the typically black & white dairy cows), and a Montbeliarde bull.  Montbeliearde's are a breed of cow, mainly in Europe, that are more of a dual-breed, meaning they work for both milk & meat.  Dairy producers utilize crossbreeding to improve the hybrid vigor of their animals.  Well, "vigor" this cow has.....she has yet to find a fence that she couldn't get through.  This winter, she was out wondering around the farm daily.  Brent got in the habit of just waiting until milking before he put her back in the barn, or she would just get out & they would have to repeat the process.  She never went very far, but seemed to enjoy our yard!  We are guessing that the mail carrier saw her looking in our front door, took the picture, and then the Monty turned around to look at the commotion.  

Here's hoping you enjoyed the giggle too!  It's off to bed, so that we can get chores going in good time in the morning, as we are going to downtown Chicago on Saturday to help work at Baconfest to promote the world's greatest pork product!