Turkeys For 2013

[Arielle]

Thanks Celie for answering on when to apply all the findings on separating the sexes of the poults. Now I don't have to say IDK and look so unprofessional!!

DH got old washer working. Can clean the new jars in a jiffy and get on with canning.

I was wondering if I can can summer squash without filling all the way to the top with water, more like canning meat. where it makes it's own juice. If anyone cans please fill me in.

Everything going into the freezer is dated. I do have very old lamb-- 10 years old, and honestly it doesn't taste any different. As long as it is not freezer burned. THen I toss it to the dogs.

Love having hte chest freezers-- great to have when power is out. THEy hold very well.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: Oh no offense taken! I usually get 2-3 each time now. Our first guy was a "trial" to see how well things went. My York weighed in at 330# at 7 months. We did the same on the worming, but I didnt know about the corn feeding so he was very lean. We pastured ours, fed hay also. Evenings I did pellet food, fermented. Meat was very good, my mom thought the steaks were beef at first!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: I gave them lumps of charcoal from the firepit too, they acted like it was candy. Lots of over ripe fruits and veges. My Roxy, a hereford, would stand on her hind legs and i poured lemonade into her mouth, she was comical. My DH would just stand there telling me I am nuts LOL. Roxy was still doing that before we sold them, stood taller than me. She would put her front hooves on the fence and wait for her drink. (I really could have kept her, she was like a pet) My chickens were always around them, and we never had problems. I have heard of many that won;t tolerate them also. My boar would shove them with his nose out of the trough. This is LilX (Cornish cross) riding on Bacon's back, I do still have her. She is the biggest fattest hen I have ever seen and gives me a huge brown egg everyday. I have hatched her eggs, they are huge chubby chicks.

Need a good knife for butchering-- dulled the shears, and broke the new knife.

HELP!!!!!

What do you recommend for a butchering knife??

I have a "boker" brand knife that I Will not let leave my kitchen. I would love to find another like it! Sharpens well and holds the edge a very long time. Got it as a wedding gift 14 years ago.

When you are after "fast growing, corn fed fat pigs" you are right about them rooting up and eating everything they can get in their mouth. But this is the thing---- we are raising Heritage turkeys and there are Heritage Breeds of hogs that can be raised on pasture, grass fed. These breeds are not fast growing, putrid fat animals when raised as intended. Where I live in West Texas, it would not be possible to raise such an animal as we have little graze. I was raised in Ohio where lush green pasture is the norm and Heritage hogs are raised in grass pasture not grain. I do know that there are farms in Central Texas raising 2 Breeds of Heritage hogs and selling meat. This is not your Fathers hog, it is your Great Granddads hog. Very neat, but pretty expensive too. The hogs are slower growing with a wonderful flavor and not as fat as what we are used to from store bought, of course. But like raising our own birds, isnt that the point?

Its very true. I just Had a better turnout with yorkshires. They are considered heritage also to the best I have been able to find out.. I have raised herefords and berkshire now too. Yorks fit my budget, and had better gain on weight in less time. My york was 330 at 7 months, my other 3 pigs were under 200 at a year old.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I am a little surprised and have a question, nubie turkey keeper and all. My RP hen seems to have stopped laying for the year. My RP tom has dropped his tail fan feathers (not sure what you call them) I knew the hen would stop soon, do toms normally drop the tailfeathers? I looked him over for mites etc, they all fell out in a matter of 3-4 days.

 

[Celie]

Thanks Celie for answering on when to apply all the findings on separating the sexes of the poults. Now I don't have to say IDK and look so unprofessional!!

DH got old washer working. Can clean the new jars in a jiffy and get on with canning.

I was wondering if I can can summer squash without filling all the way to the top with water, more like canning meat. where it makes it's own juice. If anyone cans please fill me in.

Everything going into the freezer is dated. I do have very old lamb-- 10 years old, and honestly it doesn't taste any different. As long as it is not freezer burned. THen I toss it to the dogs.

Love having hte chest freezers-- great to have when power is out. THEy hold very well.

I have never canned summer squash, because here in Louisiana, We can grow it in both spring and fall gardens and get pretty tired of it after 9 to 10 months. With 3 plants each of yellow and zuccini, we had more than we could eat and give away, but I did find this link for you: www.ehow.com/how_8095269_can-summer-squash.html 10 years, I didn't know it was safe to eat meat that old! Good to know! How do you wrap it to last that long? I always get way more summer squash and cucumbers than we can eat, so whay I can't give away, I feed to the rabbits, they love them!

I gave them lumps of charcoal from the firepit too, they acted like it was candy. Lots of over ripe fruits and veges. My Roxy, a hereford, would stand on her hind legs and i poured lemonade into her mouth, she was comical. My DH would just stand there telling me I am nuts LOL. Roxy was still doing that before we sold them, stood taller than me. She would put her front hooves on the fence and wait for her drink. (I really could have kept her, she was like a pet) My chickens were always around them, and we never had problems. I have heard of many that won;t tolerate them also. My boar would shove them with his nose out of the trough. This is LilX (Cornish cross) riding on Bacon's back, I do still have her. She is the biggest fattest hen I have ever seen and gives me a huge brown egg everyday. I have hatched her eggs, they are huge chubby chicks.




I have a "boker" brand knife that I Will not let leave my kitchen. I would love to find another like it! Sharpens well and holds the edge a very long time. Got it as a wedding gift 14 years ago.

Its very true. I just Had a better turnout with yorkshires. They are considered heritage also to the best I have been able to find out.. I have raised herefords and berkshire now too. Yorks fit my budget, and had better gain on weight in less time. My york was 330 at 7 months, my other 3 pigs were under 200 at a year old.

Boker Knives are more known for their pocket knives. They are a high end knife from Germany. I did find them on the Internet www.bizrate.com/cutlery/boker-cutlery/ I buy chef's knives from a local restaurant supply house and bought some from through my butcher, back in 1969, that still dis a great job till I lost it with Hurricane Katrina. Germany and Switzerland make the best knives, but expect to pay $35 to $60 for a good one and do not wash in the DW. Immediately after using, hand wash and dry. Keep the knife very sharp and processing will be much easier.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: I gave them lumps of charcoal from the firepit too, they acted like it was candy. Lots of over ripe fruits and veges. My Roxy, a hereford, would stand on her hind legs and i poured lemonade into her mouth, she was comical. My DH would just stand there telling me I am nuts LOL. Roxy was still doing that before we sold them, stood taller than me. She would put her front hooves on the fence and wait for her drink. (I really could have kept her, she was like a pet) My chickens were always around them, and we never had problems. I have heard of many that won;t tolerate them also. My boar would shove them with his nose out of the trough. This is LilX (Cornish cross) riding on Bacon's back, I do still have her. She is the biggest fattest hen I have ever seen and gives me a huge brown egg everyday. I have hatched her eggs, they are huge chubby chicks.

Precious.

Need a good knife for butchering-- dulled the shears, and broke the new knife.

HELP!!!!!

What do you recommend for a butchering knife??

I have a "boker" brand knife that I Will not let leave my kitchen. I would love to find another like it! Sharpens well and holds the edge a very long time. Got it as a wedding gift 14 years ago.THank you for the input. Will google for more info!!

When you are after "fast growing, corn fed fat pigs" you are right about them rooting up and eating everything they can get in their mouth. But this is the thing---- we are raising Heritage turkeys and there are Heritage Breeds of hogs that can be raised on pasture, grass fed. These breeds are not fast growing, putrid fat animals when raised as intended. Where I live in West Texas, it would not be possible to raise such an animal as we have little graze. I was raised in Ohio where lush green pasture is the norm and Heritage hogs are raised in grass pasture not grain. I do know that there are farms in Central Texas raising 2 Breeds of Heritage hogs and selling meat. This is not your Fathers hog, it is your Great Granddads hog. Very neat, but pretty expensive too. The hogs are slower growing with a wonderful flavor and not as fat as what we are used to from store bought, of course. But like raising our own birds, isnt that the point?

Its very true. I just Had a better turnout with yorkshires. They are considered heritage also to the best I have been able to find out.. I have raised herefords and berkshire now too. Yorks fit my budget, and had better gain on weight in less time. My york was 330 at 7 months, my other 3 pigs were under 200 at a year old.

The producer in VT mentions the value of carefully selected stock to best thrive on pasture vs. all grain fed. A different method that requires a different ability.

I stoped looking for heritage hogs when time after time the prices were horrendously high. Wrote to a prez and of course that person supported the pricing. Seems to me it just reduces the acility for more people to have them economically and keep them rare. TOo bad. I would rather have a smaller hog to deal with.

 

[Arielle]

Quote:

 

[chicken pickin]

We got a pull thru knife sharpener from walmart last year for processing. We sharpened the knife after every 2-3 birds we did, it went very well. My knife set is a hunters Processing/butcher kit bought off amazon.

 

[Arielle]

We got a pull thru knife sharpener from walmart last year for processing. We sharpened the knife after every 2-3 birds we did, it went very well. My knife set is a hunters Processing/butcher kit bought off amazon.

Do you remember the brand name of the sharpener?? THEy change products so very quickly at Walmart-- I've tried one of theirs and it doesn't seem to be effective on the knife I tried. SO perhaps, probably, you have another model.

 

[chicken pickin]

It is just a small little hand held one made by Smith's I think it cost around $10. I don't have experiences with knife sharpeners This is my only one at the moment but it does get the job done.