Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[jvls1942]

I sure wish I had done meat birds this year. I've never raised them but a friend gave me one he butchered from his 50 and let me tell you. Nothing like the grocery store chicken. I just finished up work at 6 am and now have a 2 hour window until I work at the locker plant. Butchering season is upon us once again

I don't know if you have been following my posts,,
but with this batch of meaties, I veered away from the crumble type feed and put them on natural oats and corn at a very young age,, this takes the home grown flavor up a few notches..
I figure it cost about $7.5o/per bird .. just including the feed, and cost of the baby chicks..

 

[corewassen87]

That's pretty awesome. I've only been following the thread about 4 days so far. It's pretty cool to see and hear about people in your own neck of the woods. $7.50 a bird is pretty darn reasonable. They go about 4 pounds I assume?

 

[jvls1942]

That's pretty awesome. I've only been following the thread about 4 days so far. It's pretty cool to see and hear about people in your own neck of the woods. $7.50 a bird is pretty darn reasonable. They go about 4 pounds I assume?

we started butchering about 3 weeks ago.. at that time they were about 15 weeks old and averaged about 3 1/2 pounds.. we do about a dozen each week.. the first ones we did, we caught all of the smallest ones first.. one of the large ones at that time was 5 pounds..

the ones we did last week were all 4 pounds and up..

I expect to get a few 6 pounders by the last time we butcher..

It is stormy here right now, so I am going to go buy a new sump pump that got zapped by the lightning on Monday,,

by this afternoon we should get an hour of clear sky,, that is all we need to do a batch..

........jiminwisc............

 

[corewassen87]

I'm in antigo and it's pouring here as well. We got 5 inches over the weekend. Unbelievable amount of rain. Makes the bear baits a touch unnavigable but that's all part of it. An hour to do a dozen birds is pretty quick id say. I wish beef went that fast. Just finished up 5 beef and 2 pigs in 2 hours. Now some sleep to do it all over again at 10 pm

 

[bigzio]

Wet Afternoon for sure.... core...you really want to be careful not to use too much salt....2 Tablespoons to 5lbs of shredded kraut is plenty.....we use a 5 gallon pail lined with clear plastic bags for our crock....we only fill the pail to 3/4 full or less....tie the bag tight and place a 2 gallon bag filled with water on top for the seal, plus the cover left partly open....if kept in a cool spot your kraut will be more crisp, than if you ferment in the warm house...once you have the heat on in later fall.....level Tablespoons of salt, or it will be too salty....good luck.

Bought the bow license today....fresh venzun on my mind today.

Nice neighbor Irish...I'll be heading to pond hill in a couple weeks.

Nice job Stacy....and grass is over rated Jim...way too much work keeping it cut...although it's nice for a short time till it needs cut again...

Canning more V8 today....it sure looks pretty....

bigz

 

[jvls1942]

Wet Afternoon for sure.... core...you really want to be careful not to use too much salt....2 Tablespoons to 5lbs of shredded kraut is plenty.....we use a 5 gallon pail lined with clear plastic bags for our crock....we only fill the pail to 3/4 full or less....tie the bag tight and place a 2 gallon bag filled with water on top for the seal, plus the cover left partly open....if kept in a cool spot your kraut will be more crisp, than if you ferment in the warm house...once you have the heat on in later fall.....level Tablespoons of salt, or it will be too salty....good luck.

Bought the bow license today....fresh venzun on my mind today.

Nice neighbor Irish...I'll be heading to pond hill in a couple weeks.

Nice job Stacy....and grass is over rated Jim...way too much work keeping it cut...although it's nice for a short time till it needs cut again...

Canning more V8 today....it sure looks pretty....

bigz

with a rider mower, cutting grass is not a bad job.. I find it relaxing when the mower is working good.

did not butcher today as planned.. had to fix two sump pumps.. One was just plugged,, Whew !!

I bought a new one on sale at Menards for the other one.. It might be plugged, too, but we need that one working asap .. I will check out the pump later.. I am guessing some sand got into the fins..

If it is OK, we will have a spare in case we have another crisis ..

I always had the personal thought that sour kraut should be rinsed good before cooking it..
It is too salty for my taste buds..

...........jiminwisc.........

 

[bigzio]

It should taste perfect without rinsing it....that's why I always stress to watch how much salt you use. Nothing better than crunchy, not to salty kraut.

When you look at all the grass being cut here in Wi....most people don't mind cutting grass...a lot of folks that don't have to worry about chickens on the yard, fertilize it so they can cut it even more often. It's not my idea of relaxation though....comfortable chair and a long tall cool one is more fun...

to me...

bigz

 

[jvls1942]

It should taste perfect without rinsing it....that's why I always stress to watch how much salt you use. Nothing better than crunchy, not to salty kraut.

When you look at all the grass being cut here in Wi....most people don't mind cutting grass...a lot of folks that don't have to worry about chickens on the yard, fertilize it so they can cut it even more often. It's not my idea of relaxation though....comfortable chair and a long tall cool one is more fun...

to me...

bigz

my fertilizer spreaders work overtime so I need to mow once in awhile.. when I had 25 geese running around here, then I only had to mow the tall weeds they wouldn't eat.. but it still took as many passes with the mower,, but I could go at a very high speed ..

My thought with rinsing the Kraut is that maybe then it would taste more like cooked cabbage..?
somebody try it and let me know..

All both of the sump pumps are up and running again,, this new one will kick on more often since the float has a shorter travel distance.. I don't care,, as long as it pumps..
I raised it from the bottom of the pit with a cement block.. now it shouldn't pick up any sand like the other one must have done.

.........jiminwisc.........

 

[irishrovr]

Hi All!

Wow Irish...sounds like you'll be busy! Hope you sell off all you need to.

My 2nd son picked up 50 dozen ears of just picked corn. $1 a dozen. He's selling some to his sister. Hope he throws a few bags my way!

I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to the humidity going down! I am going so stir crazy being hid away in my room with the A/C! I venture out, but not for very long at a time before I feel like I'm breathing through a wet sponge. I need to look at George's feet too, it looks like he's been limping. So much to do, so far behind.

Did I miss Jim?

Night All!

At $1 a dozen they are giving it away - I haven't seen corn that low for a long time!

 

[irishrovr]

Spent the day putting the top in position and depending on the rain, I will start framing in the dormer. Also decided I want to add a copula to the top so will have to get those plans drawn out and built too. It looks like a huge mess right now but I'm sure it will start coming together.

Lines show where the new fence will go, which would be up but some troll apparently stole my post pounder. I sure wish he'd kindly bring it back as the next solution will be to back up my truck and pound them in with the sledge hammer.

I think this is going to be fantastic! If you lived closer I would lend you my post-pounder!