Animals Working The Land Together!

Added: 2026-05-11

[00:00:00]Good morning, guys. Welcome back to the farm. It is the third day after we have moved the cows. So, now we need to move the chickens in behind them to break up that pest cycle. And also, the piglets are over 3 days and we also talk about how after day three, you're pretty much out of the woods with any issues with the piglets. Let's go get the chickens moved, check out the cows' new area, check out the piglets. But first, before I get started, we need to grab some strawberries.

[00:00:29]Check this out.

[00:00:31]The beds are booming right now and they are delicious.

[00:00:40]But, we've got strawberries everywhere.

[00:00:43]We're going to be taking a few to market. This weekend is the first market.

[00:00:48]Mhm.

[00:00:50]And we've got strawberries everywhere.

[00:00:55]As you can see up in here. We started with one bed and Jamie's just been replanting the runners and they are going crazy everywhere and we have eaten a ton of strawberries already this year and these are ever- Look at these monsters.

[00:01:13]These are everbearing strawberries.

[00:01:16]Holy cow.

[00:01:18]And uh we'll have them all season. Trying to get this one off. All season long.

[00:01:24]That's a monster.

[00:01:27]Mhm.

[00:01:29]Perfect.

[00:01:32]While we're in here and I'm filling my face, couple other things we got sugar snap peas.

[00:01:39]Uh seeing some pods. There's some pods right there.

[00:01:42]Sugar snap peas are growing well.

[00:01:45]Lettuce growing awesome.

[00:01:48]Got the garlic still, more lettuce. We did four potato towers now. Here's the first one going like crazy, second, then the third one. And this one we just did the other day. Nothing's popping out yet, but the garden is delicious and doing very well, so really happy with that. Got some blueberries down there, more lettuce growing and also some carrots, but they're a little ways off. You can see the carrots right here.

[00:02:24]Starting to pop up. Going to be a while, but Jamie has done great, so I'm going to constantly keep you updated on the garden, plus I need snacks throughout the day, so let's get in here and get these chickens moved. They'll scratch through the manure and break up the fly cycle, hopefully, and uh help improve the pastures. All right, so chickens are right here. On this side, we had the cows up in here and since you want to wait 3 days, it gives those patties a chance to firm up. A lot of people will throw chicken feed on top of the patties and it'll attract the chickens to them.

[00:02:58]They'll scratch through, they'll eat that fly larva and break up that chicken cycle.

[00:03:03]So, we're just going to open up.

[00:03:05]Normally, the chickens go where I want them. I'm not too worried if they run away cuz they'll come to where their food is, but I did need to tell you this.

[00:03:14]Um we had the cows here. We moved them down there. We'll check that out once we get the chickens moved. But they did break out and here's how they broke out.

[00:03:21]I was sitting in the front yard or in the house and I see the cows in the front yard. I'm like, "Oh my gosh, what in the world?" Well, they had come through here and I didn't have electric up here because I was like, "Ah, it's just a solid fence." Electric was all around this area. Well, they pushed through this. It was just held on by a couple clips. You can see the clips are off of the T-posts.

[00:03:41]These clips right here. Well, they pushed through. I didn't have the gate shut and they got out, but newsflash, we got them all back in. We are good. Um we did get um a cattle shoot here.

[00:03:56]We talked about some of the cows, they do have um tattoos in their ears, but we can't see them cuz we can't get close enough, but we bought a shoot the other day. We'll be able to run the cows through here, do whatever we need to do, check them. We're thinking about doing ear tags for flies. We don't want them.

[00:04:12]We're learning about pinkeye in cattle and uh we definitely don't want that to happen, but we also want to check out which cow is which and uh figure out who they are cuz most of them are registered except one, which possibly can be registered. It's a whole different thing than the pigs, so anyway, let's get these chickens over, then we'll go check out the cows.

[00:04:34]Chicken fences are definitely the hardest to move. They're the tallest, a lot more wire, and the heaviest because of all those things, so a lot more difficult moving these fences than the pig fences. We'll see if the chickens go right across or not.

[00:04:57]Well, that wasn't too bad.

[00:05:01]Got my first fence. Some are checking out the old coop that I got to fix a door on, but most of them came right up here to where their feed is. So, now we'll just try to wrap them up a little bit.

[00:05:17]There's a couple laying eggs in here.

[00:05:20]It's going to make for a shaky delivery of eggs, but they'll be fine.

[00:05:34]All right, perfect. That went better than expected. We've got this area filled in. They're going to be able to spread this hay, spread this manure, pick out any of the fly larva in here, and uh it's just amazing how these animals work together, but anyway, a lot of people say, "Why don't you let them free range?" Well, that probably not a bad idea because there's obviously some cow patties that I wasn't able to get in this fence, but the biggest reason we don't free range is because I don't want to Easter egg hunt.

[00:06:06]And when we were in the woods, we had chickens laying eggs in the crotches of trees and all things like that. So, I don't want to hunt for their eggs, but maybe in the future. We call it safe ranging. Um so we want to kind of contain them and have them do work on a certain area and that is what these birds are doing right now. We may have to come in and spread some scratch on these manure patties, so they'll scratch them up and get that fly larva, but it's it's just amazing how these animals work together. Now that we have cows, I feel like it's a it's a full circle, so just like the chickens were up in the woods there, that's the next spot these pigs are going. So, they've been in there clearing out ticks and everything and the pigs can move up in there and I'm sure there still be ticks, but it will definitely take down some of the ticks.

[00:06:55]The pigs have been working in here clearing the woods.

[00:06:58]The chickens are coming behind the cows now cleaning up the eggs for the the fly egg larva and it's just a it's just an amazing feeling. It's a lot of work.

[00:07:09]It's a lot of work continuing to move these animals weekly, but it pays off in the end. And we moved the cows from right over there to right here just the other day and we've got a little bit of hay. They haven't really been eating much hay. They cleared this little pasture out, which I'm not shocked at all. It wasn't that big, but it was tall. It was about 6 in tall.

[00:07:30]They ate all the good stuff and then they came back and cleaned all the weeds up and this is pretty much clear, but the good part is they are in here tearing up the uh leaves and all the low brush and all that kind of stuff. So, they spent the majority of the first day in the woods actually cleaning up these leaves, so the cows are definitely doing some work in here for us and I haven't even told you some of the names. I mean, some of the females we don't know the names, but uh like our bull, that's an obvious one. We know which one he is. His name is Craig.

[00:08:08]I've been able to feed Craig out of my hands and it has been pretty sweet, so Craig, you going to let me pet you? Are you going to get up and go? We do have a little bit of fly pressure. Not bad, but we are going to work on that. How you doing, bud?

[00:08:24]Look at that.

[00:08:25]Look at that.

[00:08:28]So, here's Craig. He's a pretty friendly guy.

[00:08:32]And uh we have definitely enjoyed him.

[00:08:35]Now, he's going to get up. I'm getting too close to his head, but anyway, we're working with them, spending some time out here daily, and [snorts] uh they are they are fun. It's been fun learning these guys. Help with these. We are going to get some like I was talking about some ear tags, some fly ear tags.

[00:08:54]Um I've tried I had a natural spray. I tried that, but most of them I can't get as close to as you can see as I'm walking towards these ones, these guys are moving away, so we want to be able [snorts] to run them through that shoot and like I talked about, sometimes you get the cart before the horse. We didn't have the shoot. We don't have the uh the corral panels. We're going to get some of those as well, so we can work with these guys and get them taken care of, so that's coming here shortly. But they have been going through the woods here and just eating all of this stuff. They were lifting, they were getting leaves off the trees. And honestly, I know that this is not totally what they need. They need some more stuff. That's why we have the hay in there. I put a little bit of hay in there and it's lasted four or five days and uh because they're eating all this other stuff. I think this is Faye here.

[00:09:42]How you doing, Faye? She's the one with the ear tag we know about. That is Faye.

[00:09:47]But, we're going to work on getting taken taken care of some of these flies, getting them off the cows, and uh that is the next step for them. They'll be in here maybe one or two more days. I might as well show you the little calves.

[00:10:02]I think they have been fully castrated now. We had them banded and I noticed that there are no more testicles, so that has gone well and uh happy that procedure is over, but the cows are doing awesome out here.

[00:10:16]Plus they get the shade and uh we'll continue There's a cow getting those leaves off those top branches.

[00:10:27]But after we move the cows out of here, we'll move these chickens right in behind them and do the same thing, so everyone's doing good and we are happy to keep these guys moving. How you doing, Craig? Huh?

[00:10:44]Can I help you with some of these? There you go.

[00:10:47]There you go.

[00:10:48]So, they're warming up to us and that has been That has been pretty fun. There There he is.

[00:10:55]How you doing, bud?

[00:10:57]How you doing?

[00:10:59]You camera shy?

[00:11:02]Anyway, guys, chickens have been moved, cows are moved.

[00:11:06]It's been kind of chilly here. It was in the 50s this morning and uh which I'm sure the animals don't mind.

[00:11:12]It's kind of a relief.

[00:11:14]Here's the meat pen. We did take two pigs to the processor, so we'll be fully stocked in pork for the upcoming markets. They're going to be moved where those chickens were, like I was saying.

[00:11:24]Chickens have taken care of some of the ticks, so we'll move the pigs in behind them and then it's just a awesome thing, so chickens are on their first day in here getting to work helping us clean up and we're excited for that, so piglets are over 3 days old. It seems like everything comes in threes. You want to move the chickens in here after 3 days, piglets do well after 3 days. So, let's head up to the farrowing barn and we'll check out the piglets. Let's head up there.

[00:11:58]You guys about ready to move, huh?

[00:12:00]I know your pool's in here. You might not be super excited to leave your pool.

[00:12:07]All right, this morning we actually moved to Louise. She has dried up nicely. We moved her back with Ryder and we'll try it again.

[00:12:16]See how the piglets do this next time, but so we only have one pig in here right now and that is Delilah. And you remember she lost a few. She's got four left and uh here she is.

[00:12:31]And I think when we talked about her pigs getting rolled up on, I think the problem was she got so big.

[00:12:37]How you doing, Delilah?

[00:12:39]She had a hard time getting up, so she laid on one, it was hard for her to uh get off is what I think happened, but that happens with pigs sometimes.

[00:12:48]They'll roll up on these babies, but we've got four left. We've got three little girls and one boy. And let me figure out which one How are you guys doing?

[00:13:01]They're all doing good. That's a girl right there.

[00:13:04]Let's see. I think that one right there.

[00:13:06]No, that's a girl. So, that means this one right here is the boy, that little banded one right there and this white one is also a girl. Mom, are you going to give them some uh you going to give them a little milk or what?

[00:13:20]You tired of them already, huh?

[00:13:22]Figure they had enough. But these four are doing fantastic and like I say, usually past day three, they're old enough, big enough to be able to get out of the way of things and uh doing just well. We did have one come outside already, come over the bar, got popped by the fence and came back in, so they're learning where their spot is and normally they want to be by mom, so it is not that hard.

[00:13:48]How are you guys doing?

[00:13:51]We do have two more moms coming up here, so we'll have more pigs shortly. We're just waiting on their due dates and uh to see how they do, but here are the four that are doing just fine. Always fun to check out these markings. Is mom being stingy? Huh?

[00:14:10]Is mom being stingy?

[00:14:12]You can see how small they are.

[00:14:14]Little bit bigger than the size of my hand.

[00:14:17]But we're about I think we're 4 days old now.

[00:14:20]And uh umbilical cords have dried up and fell off and they are doing great. So, all these guys are going to get a lot of love. Obviously, they're the only piglets on the farm right now.

[00:14:31]So, they're the only ones we get to come in and see, so we'll be spending a lot of time with them and that is exciting. How are you doing?

[00:14:41]How are you doing?

[00:14:43]As the first ones on the farm this year.

[00:14:45]Little nervous of this camera in your face, huh?

[00:14:48]It's okay.

[00:14:50]So, anyway guys, I wanted to show you guys that.

[00:14:54]Show you these little piglets. Boy, you are really trying trying to get in there. Is mom being stingy? Let's see if we can pet her and get the bar to open here.

[00:15:04]No, I think she's closed you down for the time being. You're going to have to wait.

[00:15:08]So, anyway guys, I hope you're having a fantastic week.

[00:15:12]Appreciate you guys following along in all the farm happenings.

[00:15:16]Don't forget to make the change and we'll see you guys on the next video.