Awww, Nuts!

This morning Dad and I worked on a non-farm project.  We tried to diagnose the refrigerator that I pulled out of a rental property.  I have had two repairmen come out, spent over $300, and still have a broken fridge on my hands.  It's maddening.

Well, I tracked it down to the control board (I think and hope).  I bought a new one, so we'll see if it if fixes the problem.  If it does, I will try to get $500-600 out of the fridge.  That will slightly soften the $2000+ hit I had with this thing.

After lunch, we headed out to the farm with one goal in mind:  castrate two pigs.  We slightly knew what we were doing (Dad did it 50 years ago), and I watched several YouTube videos.  Doesn't that sound like a recipe for disaster?!

The videos made it look simple.  Catch pig, hold pig, make incision, pull out testicle, cut, repeat.  Done!

Our day was anything but!  We had the hardest time trying to even catch the first pig!  We decided to start with the smallest one first (still around 50 pounds).  But once he knew we were trying to catch him, he always stayed one step ahead.  We finally got him corralled in the barn, and we sequestered him into a confined area.

I wish I could say the rest of the process went smoothly, but it was just a mess.  We tried to turn him upside down, and he was none too pleased with that.  We tied up his legs, and he didn't like that, either.  Dad was in charge of holding the little monster (a 50-pound pig is no joke), and he wanted out...bad.  He just squealed and squealed and squealed.

Well, finally, I made my first incision.  He hated it.  I pulled the testicle out.  He hated it even more.  Dad was doing everything in his power to keep the pig down.  I cut the testicle.  One more to go.  We re-grouped and went for cut number two.  I found the ball, pulled it out, and cut it.  Done.

The whole process once in the small pen was maybe 10-15 minutes, but that's a long time trying to hold a pig down.  The professionals do it in 30 seconds, but we are not that, either!

But we had a castrated pig.  My first one ever.

We were resolute and went after pig number two.  Pig Two actually happens to be my favorite pig.  He goes by Blackie, Midnight, Pig, whatever dark color you can come up with.  But he is the most friendly pig of the bunch.  He LOVES to be pet.

Well, unfortunately, today was not going to be his day of loving us.  For this one, we had to strap him down.  He is probably 80 pounds of solid muscle.  We turned him upside down in the feed trough and strapped him in with ratchet straps.  He hated every bit of it.

His nuts were nut next to each other, but rather, one was above the other.  It's like one never fully dropped.  But I made the incision, pulled out the large testicle, then made the next incision and pulled out the other.

Job complete.

It was about what I expected.  A wild mess of loud squealing, awkward handling, and "I don't know what I'm doing, but let's do this" focus.

Both pigs were pretty lame afterwards.  They both walked, but they definitely laid down soon thereafter.  They are in pain, for sure.

Lots of laying around today.  Poor pig.

It's hard to watch.  But it had to be done.  The pig doesn't enjoy it.  The farmer doesn't enjoy it.  But it's a necessity, for sure.

But if you are reading this, do yourself a favor, and castrate pigs before they are a few weeks old!!!  I would imagine I have 2 1/2 month old pigs here.  And that is a chore.  I am thankful I only had to do two.

In other news, I found a clutch of eggs in the barn today!  One of the chickens has found a new place to lay!  So fun.

A surprise find in the barn!

For an "easy" project after that rough one, I decided to cut down the small mess of trees next to the machine shed.  Mom and Dad had cut the majority of the growth down there a few weeks ago, but it's time to clear them all out so that grass can grow.  I originally planned to use a chainsaw, but we noticed that the roots would come up fairly easily on some of the trunks.  So we decided to get ALL of the roots up.

I had just planned on cutting them with a chain saw.  But nope, we worked to get the roots up, too!

We used shovels, legs, muscles, leverage, and even the four-wheeler.  Slowly but surely they came up.

The pile is starting to grow.

In the middle of this work, a gentleman pulled up to check out the grain bin.  He was interested in taking it off my hands.  After checking it out, he says he wants it.  Hey, man, it's all yours!  What is more, he says he will give me $100 for it.  That's crazy, because I had listed it for free!

The grain bin I am getting rid of.  It serves no purpose for me.

But I spent probably an hour showing these guys the farm.  They loved it.  They were mesmerized with the old barn, wanted to tour the house, and even found out that Callie had had kittens!  Yes, as we were telling him that Callie was pregnant, he said, "Not anymore!"  He saw two kittens with her!  I was surprised at the tiny litter size, but sure enough, two tan kittens were sucking teat from that little girl.  I would later learn that cats can have litters from 1-10!  For a first-time mom, three or under is not uncommon.

The area is dark, so the picture isn't the greatest!  But here is your new mom!

Crazy!  But congratulations, Callie!  You'll be a great mom!  She had them in a pretty odd area of the barn floor, so I moved them, but like good Moms do, she instantly moved them right back to where she wanted them.  She has determined that that is the safest place for them...and she should know!  She lives there.

I guess I need to trust her.  So that is fun.

Tonight Mom came by to help my tired body finish the rest of the trees.  Dad had left for Bible study.  I broke my own shovel trying to get them up, so she brought theirs.  It was TOUGH work getting some of those bushes out, but wouldn't you know it, that hard work paid off.

The hard work is coming to fruition.

So many root balls to get out!

With darkness soon approaching, we had a clear area!  We spread grass seed over that area and called it a day.

The area as I bought the property (minus the fence that went through here, too).

Before we started today after Mom and Dad had cut the majority down a few weeks ago.

All cleared out!

A smooth yard ready for grass!

So another day of success.  Two pigs castrated and a mess of trees gone.

You know, while I like these projects, I am realizing that's it's time to start focusing all my efforts on the inside.  The outside is functional, mostly clean, and doing its job of raising pigs.

It's time to start tackling that massive project of a house.