I want to pull back the curtain on hog farming in the US for a moment. Most of the time, I like to keep our newsletters focused on how we farm versus putting down other practices. After all, farming is a difficult livelihood no matter the type or scale of operation. But sometimes it’s helpful to peak into the industrial food system to remember just how removed our country has become from good animal husbandry and small-scale farming.
Is it just me or is this summer flying by? I’ve been thinking about how to live in the moment amidst the busyness of the summer. We have been running and gunning — moving pigs until 10pm after a day of nonstop rain, leasing two new properties, integrating a bull with the herd for the first time, having a surprise calf, hosting on-farm events and converting a soybean field to perennial pasture. It may take me a lifetime to master the art of mindfulness, but here are some recent moments that captured my full and present attention…
On Tuesday, I drove to Columbus to speak with state legislators about the importance of soil health. Why? Because I want our state to better support farmers in adopting conservation practices that will benefit us all. Through my involvement with the Ohio Soil Health Initiative, I had the opportunity to share about how we build soils at MoSo Farm.
There are 45 piglets getting the zoomies right now in the field across from our house. We like watching them from the front porch as they roughhouse, run around, and snuggle down in the hay together. The other day as CJ and I watched them playing and then went to move the cattle, two of whom were playfully headbutting each other, we were struck by how most mammals play. What’s the purpose of this playfulness?
I’m writing this as CJ and I drive to the Dayton area to pick up 8 head of cattle. Today is gorgeous, so it’s a little heartbreaking to be in the truck most of the day. But we are eager to expand our herd, as it has been difficult to keep up with beef demand lately. Hang in with us, we’re catching up.
What is animal welfare? In 1986, Dr. Donald Broom defined animal welfare as the ability of an animal to cope with its environment and living conditions. Animal welfare is about how the animal is doing and perceiving its environment. An animal’s welfare is ever-changing and can shift over time or from moment to moment.
Hint: you do.
A baby calf that is. On Monday, Feb 24th we welcomed our first birth on the farm. We didn’t know mama cow was giving birth until CJ checked on her in the late morning and found a little bull calf cuddled up in the bedding and mama still shedding her afterbirth. You may wonder how this can be our first calf when we’ve been raising cattle for 5 years. We have always been a “stocker operation” which means we buy calves from other farms once they’re weaned and raise them for 18-20 months for beef. We made this choice very consciously.
What an honor. We were awarded the Beginning Farmer Award from the Ohio Ecological Food & Farm Association at their annual farm conference this weekend. Thank you Lauren Hirtle for nominating us and for bringing us into the policy world to share our farm story with legislators!
We are first-generation farmers, neither of us growing up in farming families — though CJ grew up doing 4H and raising show pigs in the backyard and I grew up driving down to Athens from Columbus to visit her uncle and aunt, ride horses, and fix fences. Many people ask how we took the leap into running a farm. We certainly don’t have all of the answers, but every year we learn so much about the risks and rewards of farming. And given that only 3% of Americans are farmers, we want to share our experience in order to connect more people to the realities of running a small farm in the US.
If you’ve been following us for a time, you know that we’ve been hauling water with the tractor to the cattle herd for four years. Four years of filling a huge tank on a trailer with the garden hose for 75 minutes, then hauling it to wherever the herd is grazing and filling 5 or 6 stock tanks. Then doing it again the next day. And the next day. This is why we are SO STOKED to share that our water system is complete!
As I write this, slow and steady rain is falling from overcast skies upon our thirsty pastures. We are thrilled! Our part of Athens County is still experiencing the highest category of drought according to the US Drought Monitor. Much of Ohio has been in varying degrees of drought since late June — making this year the 16th driest on record in Athens County.
