After reading the article in Successful Farming about this forum for the past few issues I thought I'd give it a try. I've never blogged before but figured I'd give 'er the the old college try, LOL.
This year is was the first year I have been personally involved in production agriculture since 4-H and FFA days. WOW I knew I wanted back in but my gosh, I forgot how much fun it was to raise livestock. Such a rewarding experience it is. I have larger aspirations, but I felt that it would be prudent to start small so this year I purchased two feeder pigs from a college friend and raised them to slaughter. Things went pretty well I think over all. Although they didn't finish as big as originally hoped I'm proud of what I've done this year and hope to build upon that foundation.
The two hogs weighed in at 185 and the other 135. Their rate of gain was the biggest disappointment, my gut tells me that the hot summer we had may have discouraged them from the feed box but I'm not certain.
I'm already planning for next year and looking for buyers of home grown freezer pork. I know that this isn't large scale farming but since the family farm is out of reach I have to start small. Hopefully challenges will be comparative to the size of my operation, right? I'm excited about the future with this venture, any thoughts or advise is welcome. If FFA and 4-H taught me anything it was to commit to life long learning.
Comment by Justin Davey on October 31, 2012 at 2:33pm 
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