Harp Turkey Ranch

 Well the Boer goats are getting ready to have their kids. They are due between Feb & March. Got them moved to their new area where they are not going to be bugged by the buck and the other goats not ready to give birth. We usually move them about a month before kidding, so they get use to their new home and we can watch over them and start them on a grain diet with a better quality hay so their kids get nice and healthy in their bellies. About the day before they kid we try and get them into a kidding pen built in their pen so they can give birth and not be bugged by the other expecting does. We can also keep alot better eye and control of them this way. After about 2-3 days we will let the doe and her new kid(s) out back into the regular pasture that the other expecting does are in. Will post the pictures of the kids when they are here.

 

 

 

 

 Meanwhile on the rest of the farm everything is starting to get busy. At the end of this week we are expecting our first shipment of Freedom Ranger broiler chicks.They will be ready for market the first week of April '09. April is sure to be a busy Month.

 Will be starting to build the Turkey breeding pens hopefully this week. These will be temporary. We were going to build them else where but time is of value and will not be able to build there temporary one till later. They will be let out of there pens once a day after lunch time. This will ensure that they have laid all their eggs before getting out and laying somewhere else.They will be out for 1-2 hours to eat grass and stuff. They will be only let out 1 breeding set at a time, so there will be no fighting.

Just wanted to say Happy Holidays to everyone. And thanks for the great year of support. After the holidays it will be a frantic rush to get the farm ready for the new year coming in 6 days. We have got a lot of work to do to get the farm ready for the new turkeys. Our hens should be laying eggs in late February or early March. We have a couple Boer goat does that are due right around that same time. In April Max the pig has a date with the meat market and Pinky the gilt should be ready to get bred at about the same time. With all this and the new kids,new poults,the kids (human) and everything else it will be hectic. Just sounds like spring to us :)

  With our nice  winter weather that blew in on Friday night can not do much on the outside of the farm. The snow finally stopped falling last night and we wound up with 6-7". Suppose to get another dose of snow on Wednesday. Now the temps are in the high teens. So after an hour in the mornings and after noons of refilling frozen water with warm water and feeding animals I have nothing but time to plan for this next year. We are going to grow out some Freedom Ranger chickens this year. They are a meat bird that is used in France for their Label Rouge program. You can click on the link to learn more. I have read alot on this program and we are going to raise our meat chickens to this program this year. Even though we raise our birds pretty much the same as the program with just a few differences. After alot of searching I have found a hatchery to buy these chicks at. I don't understand why we in the United States don't have something like this program ?? 

   We will also offer hatching eggs from our Heritage Turkeys this year and our Heritage Delaware chickens in the late spring/summer. This will be the first year that we have offered our eggs in a mail order before.Should be an exciting year !! Stay tuned for more details !!

 Winter Tree Scene

We usually don't get much snow in these parts. But a bad winter storm is coming through the Pacific Northwest  and bringing temps to a low of 12 deg. and a high of 30 deg. Around here that is COLD !! I went out feeding the animals and letting the turkeys out for the day and got some pics of them investigating the snow. This will be their first snow they have ever seen or been in. Except for my two old Narragansett hens. All the rest of my breeding stock is from this last springs hatch or last years spring hatch.

A Few Turkeys Checking out the Snow

 

Today was the day to get the pigs moved to their new pen, as they are done in their first pen. The new one is a little bit bigger with more brush. I guess you can say we are really putting them to the test now. LOL First I strung the new polytape on the poles to get the perimeter of the their pen. Now it was time to move 'em. It's not easy moving a pig if they don't want to go. Max (male) I showed him the food in the dish and raised the polytape up high  and after a little hesitation he went through. Pinky (female) she didn't want to go for nothing.I chased her around the old pen and finally caught her, and had to actually drag and push her as she was screaming bloody murder once I had her on the other side she ran straight to the food dish and everything was okay and it was like nothing ever happened. Their new pen is 40'x40', the old one was 24'x48'. They are already busy at work starting to get it pig clean.

NEW PEN 1

 

 NEW PEN 2

 

 

Sunset at the Harp Turkey Ranch

Went out today to rake the pig pen out and they are ready to move on. Here is what they have done in about 3 weeks, and they are now about 80lbs. Amazing how fast and good they work. Raising them like this there has been no smell so far. And I have not had to start the tractor since they have been here. Next weekend we'll be trying to move them over to their new pen. It is about the same size maybe bigger but alot more brush and debris for them to turn to mulch.

BEFORE

 

 3 WEEKS LATER

 

 

Wow what a feast we had this Thanksgiving. I just could not stop eating every time I said to myself I'm full I would be making another roll filled with turkey,stuffing & mashed potatoes. This combo after the initial dinner is great to me ?? We had a 20lb standard Bronze turkey,stuffing,sweet potatoes,candied yams,mashed potatoes and gravy,green bean casserole, rolls,etc. This year everybody brought a dish or two to the dinner so of course their was plenty and it was all great. Hard today to go out and do any work around the farm. 

You can reserve your bird for next year by going here.

Thanks again to everybody for their support and localharvest for putting a site like this together !!

We got all of our Heritage Turkeys back from the butcher and most of them into our customers hands this weekend. Can't wait till Thanksgiving Day - Food,Family & Football. Wednesday night and Thursday morning will be hectic around here as we will be trying to get ready for the holiday feast with food preparations. 

 

 This weekend was able to fence off another 100' x 175' section for the goats to knock down. They should be done right about the perfect time to plant with grasses and grains for the summer and fall next year. The winter rye is growing good where they where just at so hopefully that will turn out to be a good crop this spring and early summer for the turkeys to be eating. Our native grass around here seems to grow fast and anywhere I clear out seems in a month or two it is thick with new grasses and no seeds where ever spread.

 THANKS TO EVERYONE THIS YEAR FOR THE SUPPORT

 

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We got our new puppy about a month ago, but she is not much of a puppy now. Took some training to get her to not chase the turkeys but to guard them and not let anything chase them. After two weeks thinking that it was going to be impossible to get her not to chase them, I think I did it. This weekend I just happened to be outside with the camera and look at what I got. She is doing soooo much better. About two times a week she has a moment but other then that she is doing great. They are out side all day with her and nothing bad has happened. When anything messes with the turkeys she starts barking and is protecting too. 

 

Cassey Watching the Turkeys

 

Our 2 new pigs are about the funniest thing to watch. I can watch them for over an hour and just lose track of time while they entertain me. The kids just absolutely love 'em. The pigs have gotten really use to my voice and seeing me. When they first arrived at the ranch they where kinda skiddish and not fond of people. Just after two days they have changed 100%. When they see or hear me they come running as fast as they can to where I'm at. Every time they see me in their pen they expect me to pet them.They look very happy in their new home.24'x48' seems to be just right for the two pigs for now. They run from one end to the other playing in between. The female has not stopped rutting with her nose since she got here. She has made their pen look like I took a rototiller through it before I put them in there. The turkeys have not figuered out what to think of them yet. The turkeys go in their pen to try and steal some of their grain and the pigs come to check them out and the turkeys get scared and run and fly away like they where getting attacked. The turkeys really love going in their pen though and picking through all over the freshly over turned ground looking for bugs and worms that the pigs left behind. They also seem to like to eat all the fresh roots and stuff under the dirt that the pigs turn up for them. I think in the long run they will make a perfect match and they will help each other. 

 Close up of the two piggies - Pinky & Maxx

 

Finally the rains have stopped after about 48 hrs of pure rainfall. Yesterday I woke up to a lake/swamp farm again. This morning all back to semi normal, my drainage ditches must have worked in normal conditions. The pigs didn't seem to mind. But the Turkeys and the Goats just didn't want come out of their homes, only to get a bite of food and right back in.

 We have a new website, you can now go to the website and reserve your bird with pay pal for 2009 Holidays, don't be caught next year with out a bird. Reserving a bird now is the only way to guarantee you a holiday bird. You can also go there to find out about poults (baby turkeys) & heritage chicks for sale. I'll be updating it often as needed. Please feel free to visit and reserve your bird when ever you want. Here is a link to the site.  www.harpturkeyranch.synthasite.com

Last night our 2 new pigs made it to the farm. They arrived to a wet rainy farm but never the less they started rutting around in the soft dirt all night. They finally bedded down around 11pm. My daughters have wanted pigs for a while now so we decided to get them two one for each girl. Their names are Pinky & Maxx. I'm starting them out in a 24'x48' pen for now. I have plans for them on helping around the farm, using their snouts. And boy did they start last night !! I plan on moving their pen around about every other week or so, see how they do in the next couple weeks. After they clear one spot on to another spot fresh full of weeds and stuff for them to eat. I will re seed grain behind them for the turkeys to eat. So now my plan is goats in an area first then the pigs after the pigs re seed and let the turkeys and chickens go. Like to improve my land the natural way first, but if things don't work out, well I do have a tractor that can get the job done.

The two new pigs in there pen the next morning

 

We are expecting a second storm like we just went through tonight and all day tomorrow.  So I decided today to get a early start on the pens. I started by cutting down 4 alder trees. I hate to cut these trees down but I need to to make sure there was going to by sunlight on the ground in the pens to grow grass for my turkeys to eat. I think that has to be the hardest part of all. I cut all of it up in to firewood lenghts to sell later on, to help pay for some of the exspenes on the building of the pens. I also had to remove about 6 small trees about 4"-6" in diameter. I cut these up into pole lenghts to use later for buildings or ??

Well the rains have stopped for now. What a relief. Yesterday I was out planning and measuring ground for the turkey breeding pens. Since when we moved here there was nothing. I came up with an area that measures 75' wide x 160' length. When I divide that up in to the 4 breeding pens that we need, I came up with 4 - 40' wide x 75' length pens. So now that the planning part is over, now comes the hard part. We figured to fence off the the two sides that are not fenced now as we will be using the outer perimeter fence for the other two sides. After the fence is built, time to release the Boer goats to concur the brush. Planning on giving 2-3 goats till about February '09 to get the area all cleaned up. After the goats are done then I'll start cleaning up the big branches etc. and build the cross fence to make up the pens. I want the pens to be as natural as possible. They are set in amongst the trees.  This first year I will probably have to supplement the grass with hay and grass clippings from our yard. After the breeding season is over I will then be planting grasses after most of all the weeds and brush are gone, so that way next year they will have their own grasses to eat during the days.

 

Here is a few pictures of what the area looks like now.