Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[RaZ]

I brought home this load of wood from the township transfer station on Wednesday after working all day. I had today off so I've been cutting it up and unloading the trailer. I ran the chainsaw out of gas so I came it to let it cool down before going back out to finish unloading. I need the trailer free to gather the last of the felled trees on Sunday when the station is open again. I figure that I earned this beer before I go back out to finish up.

 

[troyer]

Years ago our neighbors had a pig farm and the sows had the piglets out in the field in those half round quanzet huts. This quanzet happened to be beside a 12" in diameter tree with low hanging branches. As the sows had their piglets the farmers would go out there, to dock the tail and trim their teeth. They had four people doing it to make sure none of the piglets got away while they worked on them. One person watched the sows to give an alert if they got a bit huffy. Of course the piglets would squeal while they handled them. There was the one sow that had had her piglets and left them at the quanzet and was eating at the feeder when she heard one of her piglets squealing. She gave a GRUNT and came running at "mach one" speed, grunting/huffing the whole way to the quanzet, the lookout guy says, here she comes you better run!
One of the guys, instead of letting go of the sqealing piglet, he just hopped onto the quanzet thinking he'd be safe there.
Boy was he wrong! The mama pig went right after him, running him in several circles around the quanzet. By then he had dropped the piglet, but the sow wasn't done with him yet. She pushed him so hard he thought his life was seriously in danger. She ended up treeing him in that 12" tree right beside the quanzet. When she realized she couldn't get him, she turned her attention to the other guys. One by one she put all four guys into their own trees. She kept all four guys "treed" for two and a half hours! One of the neighbors drove by and saw what was going on and brought his tractor to "rescue" them.

 

[Sally PB]

Well, that was a story to pass on to the kids/grandkids, for sure!

 

[aart]

She pushed him so hard he thought his life was seriously in danger.

Visited a local pig breeding farm once, I was flabbergasted at how big the breeder sows were. Scary for sure.

 

[BakersBluffFarm]

How far are you from Marquette? https://www.facebook.com/ShadyGroveFarmUP is run by Randy Buchler. Randy is a co-founder of Michigan Small Farm Council. I think he is pretty well versed on the MDARD procedures. Go to the MSFC website and contact Wendy Banka. Wendy is another co-founder who is currently setting up a processing operation near Ann Arbor. Sadly, neither Randy nor Wendy post here.

Thanks so much for this, I'll see if I can get in contact with them.
Marquette is 2 and a half hours away from me.

 

[Folly's place]

Pigs are smart, and large, and messing with a sow's piglets sounds dangerous to me!
More AI found, this time in Lapere county. Again, too close to home.
Mary

 

[1muttsfan]

Ironwood is actually closer to Duluth than it is to Marquette. Even in the UP it's pretty far out in the sticks.
https://www.nichemeatprocessing.org/beginners-guide-to-local-meat-processing/

 

[BakersBluffFarm]

Ironwood is actually closer to Duluth than it is to Marquette. Even in the UP it's pretty far out in the sticks.
https://www.nichemeatprocessing.org/beginners-guide-to-local-meat-processing/

Good resources, thanks. I'll be reading through all of this.

 

[MIchickenlady]

Happy Sunday!

 

[chickflick]

Its a beautiful day!!