We Now Have a Website & More.....

www.180degreefarm.org

Well, I know it is basic, but I think it gets the message out about what we are getting ready to do. We haven't solidified our logo yet, hence the reason it is not on the actual website, but it is coming. There will be more content to come in future weeks so stay tuned!

On another note, I was fortunate to spend some time with Tommy Searcy, of Gum Creek Farm, the other day. As I pulled up to his house, Tommy walked out to greet me and we headed off to the front part of the pasture. A lot of the initial conversation was on his fencing and how he has tried to establish his pasture with fescue and clover by drilling seed into the ground.

As we walked toward the sheep, we discussed the parasite problems that face the majority of farmers in the south and he showed me a young lamb that had parasites. She was lying on the ground not moving very much. He was concerned she might not make it, but he was going to try and deworm her to see if he could save her. I can't imagine how he was feeling because it got to me seeing how helpless she looked.

Down through the middle of the pasture, we saw a group of young pigs that had gotten out of the fence and wondered on to the pasture. They were looking for grubs and acorns and had tilled up several small areas in the process. As we walked toward them, they looked up as if they were teenagers getting caught sneaking out of the house, ears high up in the air and wide eyes. (Some of the cutest pigs I'd ever seen.) We ended up walking the pigs back to their paddock with big momma and put out some feed for them.

The run-a-way pigs led to another conversation about the little escaped artist and how hard it is to keep them fenced in when they are small. He doesn’t keep the bottom wire on his electric fence hot so they end up going right underneath. He explained the difficulty of keeping the bottom wire hot because of the bushes and grass. I've got to find a solution to that one when we start because I can't have pigs running around all over Sharpsburg.

Tommy advised on how to set up paddocks for ease of loading and unloading, which he has done. He also spent some time explaining how he transports his feed and water to the different paddocks. Tommy uses 55 gallon barrels on his front loader to transport the feed from paddock to paddock filling up the large feeders. He then gets his 300+ gallon water container and does the same thing, going paddock to paddock. I know some of this sounds boring, but it is this type of detail that is important to the day to day operation that one (me) may not consider.

Tommy separates his boars from his sows and times breeding so he has a constant group of pigs growing out to be processed. He explained that he wants to start doing artificial insemination on his sows and not keep any boars because of the cost. The boar he was huge, probably close to 1000lbs and I imagine he consumes quite a bit of food. Tommy said that besides mating, boars really don’t do much more of anything, which is why I'm sure he would rather go the AI way in his future plans. Anyway, it was a nice visit and got a little more understanding about the challenges of having pigs.

Quote:

"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no help at all."

~Dale Carnegie