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Tuesday, June 8, 2010

13,000lbs of milk

Got another shipment of sweetened condensed milk today.  Well, "got" isn't really the term.  "picked up" is more accurate.  It's packed in these cardboard containers, each one weighing about 600lbs.  I'll mix it with the spent grain I also pick up, the two ingredients making something that looks a lot like the oatmeal that you and I eat at the breakfast table. The pigs fight over this stuff.  To them it's ice cream and birthday cake all rolled into one. 


If I feed it straight to the pigs, as I did in that video, I'll put the barrels down in the pasture, and cut a hole about the size of a dime in the side of the barrel, about 3/4 up. A little bit will dribble out, inquisitive pigs will find it, and they'll eventually knock it down and rip it apart, going for the milk inside. the next day I'll pick up the metal rings that form the top and bottom, and the plastic lid, and leave the cardboard in the pig pasture.

Why leave the cardboard? the pigs will chew on it, and mix it with the soil, and it breaks down in a month or two. Composting it is an idea I like better than taking it to the landfill, or even recylcing it. I keep my recycling on the farm as much as possible.

4 comments:

  1. Hey, off topic here. We are thinking of starting a bee hive to help with pollination around the garden, we have read a bit about bee keeping but still feel like there is more to know before buying that buzzing box.
    Do you have any advice for a beginner about where to acquire honey bees for personal use? Housing?
    Or any good advice to help us start out? Any advice about how to save money when purchasing the necessities? You are usually in the know on these things.

    Thanks

    Mike
    Spokane, WA

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  2. Nice blog. I have been going through your post. I am raising my first turkeys this year and someone refer me to you sight. Plan on stopping in again. Great info!

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  3. I saw these the other day from the trestle and figured they would show up here sooner or later!

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  4. lol, it occurs to me this blog isn't just about farming, cuz I'm getting quite an education on how processed food gets handled and packaged. Amazing, a real eye opener.

    Funny, last fall you had all that pureed pumpkin, but when I asked for some at Costco, they said it had been a bad year for the pumpkin farmers. I certainly hadn't heard that before, and there was no shortage of pumpkins sitting out in fields. Hmmmm, are we gonna have a shortage of sweetened condensed milk now??? lol

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