Misfitmorgan's Journal - That Summer Dust

misfitmorgan

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Sometimes I have to laugh at @Bruce 's posts.... he takes things so literally... even more so than me:th:lol:. I must've missed or forgotten that she has also given you some good litters.... But a 450 sow doesn't have to be mostly ground.... I had a sow done up into everything normal and she dressed at over 550... chops were HUGE.... most hogs don't get "tough" with age. I can see the possibilities of a spring litter....hope she is an "easy keeper" so that it doesn't cost you an arm and a leg to feed her through your cold winter....
Normally I agree with you however her age is more so the concern she is at least 4 yrs old. The pig we butchered earlier this year was in the same boat age wise and only slightly bigger....she was tough as nails. I mean you could hardly chew the meat, DH cut a 3 pork steaks out of her and after trying to cook and eat the first one,the other two went in the grinder. The roasts were best for pulled pork and cooked for 8+hrs. I even tried pressure cooking as small roast....no, it needs time. It's really odd because our other big pigs we have butchered were not any more noticeably tougher then the 250-300lb pigs. That pig was also a york cross though and we have never had york anything. She is an easy keeper all of our breeders are, they only eat about 4lbs/day each to maintain good weight.

For what it's worth, chicken fried steak is one of my favorite meals: chicken fried steak, milk flour gravy, pan fried potatoes, hot bisquits, and sweetened tea. That is what I had for my birthday present this year.
One of my all time favorite meals as well....gotta have biscuits and gravy with it. :drool

How do you prepare round steak? It's not exactly a tender cut like a rib eye or T bone. Round steak is supposed to be tenderized and chicken fried. I have aluminum mallets that I use to beat the smack out of the steak, if I don't buy it already tenderized. When my kids were small, I stood them on chairs pulled up to the kitchen counter and gave each of them a mallet. They delightedly beat the steak, with each blow yelling POW! POW! They called it Pow Pow steak. Daughter was 11 years old when she finally asked me, "Just what kind of meat is Pow Pow steak?" :lol:

They may just have round steak as roasts? I've bought those here in the store before, in fact I'm using an eye of round roast tonight to make fajitas.....i could probly say a little off and make chicken fried steak and biscuits tomorrow:weee
 

misfitmorgan

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Also some sad news.

We lost Big Boy. I think I mentioned someplace about him getting his head wedged between a wall and a metal post in their shelter? He had been there awhile she we got him out of the shelter and put him on his feet. He was a bit wobbly for a minute but then did some stretching and walking around. He went to the hay pile and ate....seemed a little stiff but fine and not overly bloated. This was friday after work.
Saturday morning DH came inside and said come help me with Big boy, I said is he stuck again? He said no he's down. So i got out there and saw him laying flat on his side inside the shelter...never good. DH carried him to the barn and propped him up into a normal position on a pile of hay. He gave him water, food, and hay...Big Boy ate a little. He was bright and clear eyed, responsive, so we thought ok maybe he is just in shock from his experience the day before. DH checked on him all threw the day and reported Big Boy was up and walking around a bit by early afternoon. DH gave him fresh water that night which Big Boy drank. Sunday morning he went out to check and found him stone cold dead.

The only reasonable thing I can think is he got whooped by the big ram while he was stuck in the shelter and had internal injuries we couldnt see. DH asked if I wanted him to check for cause and I told him no, just didnt seem like it would help anything.

Our entire herd is/was in the best shape we have ever seen them...still losses though.

Also I think I mentioned Ivy tried to jump the fence the day after she came home, her back hoof got caught in the fence and the wire twisted around her hoof. DH found her first and cut her loose then put her in the barn. She has been limping since but started putting a bit of weight on it 3 days ago.

Been busy around here so I forget what i tell you guys and what I...well forget.
 

Baymule

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I'm sorry about big boy. Poor guy, got stuck and beat up. You do the best you can, and you still have to deal with animal behavior. It is not Big Boy's fault he got stuck, that's just one of those dumb things they do. It's not the ram's fault either, it's his nature to "ram". It doesn't make it any easier to deal with, just one of those dumb things. :barnie
 

misfitmorgan

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I'm sorry about big boy. Poor guy, got stuck and beat up. You do the best you can, and you still have to deal with animal behavior. It is not Big Boy's fault he got stuck, that's just one of those dumb things they do. It's not the ram's fault either, it's his nature to "ram". It doesn't make it any easier to deal with, just one of those dumb things. :barnie

It was definitely dumb, He is the only critter to have ever gotten stuck in the shelter. The shelter was a carport and they build a wood building around/over it, I have no idea what the logic there was because they build it like a full on wood building but sitting on the ground instead of posts into the ground. The metal carport posts are starting to buckle and the building is shifting, part of our last minute winter still is to brace it up and build a solid end wall. We are hoping to tear it down in the spring and build something else as the only really good part left is the roof which is wood and shingles.

We have had a warm up and almost all of the snow is gone. Low 40s and sunny Saturday and Sunday so we are hoping to get some things done if it doesnt change.
 

misfitmorgan

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Got Garlic planted on saturday...11 bulbs worth
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So the garlic is started :lol:

Got my first 1:48 scale model kit finished and DH insisted I ordered another when he saw how delighted I was with it. I love it because the parts are so tiny, i have a set of craft tweezers i had to use to build it all. I've been pretty depressed so I guess he was happy to see me taking joy in something like a model. I bought and started this model the end of March, when mom got really sick at the end I packed it up and put it away.
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Its not perfect but i do love it. To give you an idea of it's size that entire tin box is the size of a cell phone.
 

Baymule

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That model is pretty, I like it.

Of all places, I ordered garlic on Amazon yesterday. I was looking at something totally unrelated to garlic, when bags of garlic showed up. I bought 2 pounds for $9. I want to plant some for us and some in a pasture to see if the sheep will eat it. It's part of my diabolical plans to plant a herb garden for the sheep. LOL

I hope you do well with the garlic and that you get LOTS of it! You have some nice rich looking soil.
 

misfitmorgan

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That model is pretty, I like it.

Of all places, I ordered garlic on Amazon yesterday. I was looking at something totally unrelated to garlic, when bags of garlic showed up. I bought 2 pounds for $9. I want to plant some for us and some in a pasture to see if the sheep will eat it. It's part of my diabolical plans to plant a herb garden for the sheep. LOL

I hope you do well with the garlic and that you get LOTS of it! You have some nice rich looking soil.

I bought the garlic at walmart for $3.78/lb from the loose garlic bin and the elephant garlic was $1.98 for one bulb. :epHopefully we grow lots and have enough to plant again next year.

The soil is very sandy but it does seem to grow things well and we have put compost on it once and manure on it once.
 

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