Getting the flock out of here - a diary of a crazy chicken man

[ozexpat]

ok pig experts

based on the availability below, what would your choices be for the boars for my 3 landrace gilts.

I will be keeing 3 gilts as replacements for production sows and 2 gilts to cross to of terminal boars.

I was thinking 1 landrace,1 duroc and 1 pietrans. but maybe the cross breds may be better than pure pietrans

The goal is develop sows with great litters and breed boars thats going to produce awesome piglets

 

[5 Acre Rooster]

Oz wife works in hog industry but even in company they guard genetic as bad as CX producers. I'll have her take a look after work if she's up to it. But like I said she may not have much idea on the genetics since they change everything a lot in her company.

Sending some luck you way on the quail, I have 4 ducks hatched and more pipped so maybe the bad luck streak with quail will follow mine with ducks and just go away.

 

[Tomtommom]

That soil sticks to a shovel like nobody's business. The first few feet were not too bad though, it was just the right moisture level... not too dry (concrete!) and not too wet (sticky!). He's getting there.. 2/3rd of the pit is at 4 foot deep now, which is what we need. We've got the permit in hand.. So a week, two at most I think before the whole thing is done.

In my coop this soil compacts down to be like concrete. I can sweep the top with a broom!

Just when it rains... ugh, mess, mess, mess. It's nice fertile stuff though, shame most plants have trouble growing in it because of the 'terracotta pot' effect. It limits the root systems badly. I had to make raised beds for my garden...

 

[Leftcoastnative]

Oz,
I've noticed an interesting phenomenon is the countryside around here lately. I've observed pigs temporarily out in the open, usually in an oak grove (pigs just love acorns) - but they're contained only by one or two wires held up by somewhat flimsy looking fenceposts. That intrigued me - I learned young that containing pigs required a structure somewhat analogous to a fortress.

Turns out that when pigs are exposed to an electric fence (particularly when young) they learn well, and never forget. I'm not sure that the farmers even bother to "charge" the wire when they turn loose their pigs in those oakgroves.

Might be something to ponder......

Re; your "little red trailer".....
I've never understood our obsession with pickup trucks! Back in another lifetime, I had two trailers - probably the handiest tools I ever owned. No oil changes, no licenses. Just use 'em then park 'em. And they're always ready for use. Just sayin"..........

 

[ozexpat]

Oz,
I've noticed an interesting phenomenon is the countryside around here lately. I've observed pigs temporarily out in the open, usually in an oak grove (pigs just love acorns) - but they're contained only by one or two wires held up by somewhat flimsy looking fenceposts. That intrigued me - I learned young that containing pigs required a structure somewhat analogous to a fortress.

Turns out that when pigs are exposed to an electric fence (particularly when young) they learn well, and never forget. I'm not sure that the farmers even bother to "charge" the wire when they turn loose their pigs in those oakgroves.

Might be something to ponder......

Re; your "little red trailer".....
I've never understood our obsession with pickup trucks! Back in another lifetime, I had two trailers - probably the handiest tools I ever owned. No oil changes, no licenses. Just use 'em then park 'em. And they're always ready for use. Just sayin"..........

We have 60+ very young fruit trees and a hundred trees that will be used for feed spread throughout the property. I dont have an area to free range the pigs. There is also not much nutrition in the tropical grasses. The grass we do have is devoured by the goats and water bufallo. Motza wont eat grain feed. If i had 10 hectares I would love to give them a good patch to dig around in..

When I was a kid there was an ad for a Chrysler Sigma that showed this 2L engine car hauling a travel trailer (caravan in oz). That really stuck with me. You dont need a large vehicle to haul stuff. Our Asian Utility Vehicle - as the class is known - is a 2.5L diesel 5 speed that seats 7 Asians comfortably. Its built on a chassis the size of a small pick-up. It was $17000 new and will be paid off in September. We easily haul anything we can put on the trailer with it. The diesel engine is economical though fuel is $5.20 a gallon (Unleaded is $6.60). The trailer has springs for a 2500 lb capacity but I have told everyone that its 2000lbs. Thats still a lot more than I would want to put in a small truck. We have carried 2000lb of copra on it and pulled it over the mountain range to the other side of the island on many occaisions.

Mrs Oz is very comfortable hauling it and is careful where she parks.

Its the best thing I have ever built.

 

[Penny Hen]

ok pig experts

based on the availability below, what would your choices be for the boars for my 3 landrace gilts.

I will be keeing 3 gilts as replacements for production sows and 2 gilts to cross to of terminal boars.

I was thinking 1 landrace,1 duroc and 1 pietrans. but maybe the cross breds may be better than pure pietrans

The goal is develop sows with great litters and breed boars thats going to produce awesome piglets

I am no expert on pigs though my dad was a butcher and my maternal grandpa had raised them. I know what they knew about them. But I found an interesting site that talks about the Pietrans and the Durocs that might give you some informed opinion. From a quick overview I would say go with a Duroc/peitran cross boar. But that is a gut reaction from some quick reading.

http://windmillwebworks.sytes.net/donaldsoninternational/articles.html

 

[Penny Hen]

you got that right

i saw the one little girl every couple days wearing the same pair of shorts

i'm going to make a guess & say she only had a couple pair of shorts to her name (she was about 8)

she is some how related to me wife

so i'm guessing she now has more clothes than that

because we have sent about 8 large boxes of clothes over there

through a forwarding company in the last couple years

my mother inlaw figures out who gets what

most of the clothes ended up being name brands

which do seem to hold up better than the cheep ones

but Wally World stuff is still much better than nothing at all








pig

Oz how do you need things sent? I have WWWWAAAYY too many clothes and I am going to be downsizing. At least I can send you the summer stuff. I don't reckon there is a need for anything real cold weather. And I have many jeans that have blown knees and need patches or mending. Most are Wranglers and probably a little large for most Phillipinos. Would anyone be interested in reworking these? If they are I have a whole box of those too. Many could be cut off and be turned into shorts and use the pant legs to mend the tears.

 

[Leftcoastnative]

I love that picture. So utterly consistent with my memories of the Philippines. People doin' the best they can with what they got. Somehow, I can't escape this little feeling that the world has only scratched the surface of the many uses of bamboo. It astounds me that the stuff is actually a grass.

 

[ozexpat]

Oz how do you need things sent? I have WWWWAAAYY too many clothes and I am going to be downsizing. At least I can send you the summer stuff. I don't reckon there is a need for anything real cold weather. And I have many jeans that have blown knees and need patches or mending. Most are Wranglers and probably a little large for most Phillipinos. Would anyone be interested in reworking these? If they are I have a whole box of those too. Many could be cut off and be turned into shorts and use the pant legs to mend the tears.

Thank you but I would not ask you to send from tenessee. Its too expensive and I can get loads of stuff here in SoCal.

If you were to come on a chicken mission, thats another story...

It costs me $70 to send an 18x18x24 box with unlimited weight door to door from here. USPS would kill you getting stuff to LA.

 

[Penny Hen]

Thank you but I would not ask you to send from tenessee. Its too expensive and I can get loads of stuff here in SoCal.

If you were to come on a chicken mission, that's another story...

It costs me $70 to send an 18x18x24 box with unlimited weight door to door from here. USPS would kill you getting stuff to LA.

Well I have a daughter who lives in LA. If she comes to visit I may send a suitcase of clothes your way sometime. I would love to come on one of the chicken missions but I have to catch up some debt first. I would love to send my mom first though. She visited the Philippines in the late '80's as part of a church mission. She loved the people. She even had a tailor made dress made that was shipped back when done. She still has it. It is most beautiful. She lost the name of the tailor though. If you know of a good one there I would love to surprise her one day with another dress like the one she bought on her visit. I think the dress cost her $60-80 including shipping at the time. Being tailored to her specifically and not off a rack would have been $300 here in the '80's. Not ever in her budget.