Longer Daylight Days
I am thankful for more daylight hours. I love the sun and the view of outside. In fact, whenever we stay in a hotel, the first thing I do is open the curtains. And, now, I am excited to say I will be moving my home office into a room with a window! (Read below to find out why) You have no idea how excited I am.
So what is happening on the farm?
Well, I just closed out our year-end for the corporation. Yes, our farm is a corporation. Why? Because of the business benefits. No, we are not large, so most people would not think we are a corporation. We have one employee.
Our personal tax year-end is December 31. Our corporate year-end is the end of February. Let’s just say, I am glad our year ends are over. And we also completed our income tax appointment, which is another headache. At least we are done until next year.
I feel like I can move on now that both of these are done. And my goal is to write more by sharing our story.
As far as the pigs are concerned, we are nearing the end of selling our pigs. Only a couple of loads left. It will be a few weeks before we bring in newly weaned pigs.
Margins are Tight
You have probably heard this in the media. Probably multiple times. Yes, our prices are not what they used to be. And our costs are high. For example, our insurance costs increased by more than 40% from a year ago. Outrageous. We met with our insurance agent and we decided to increase our deductibles. Some days it makes us wonder why we have insurance.
And insurance is not the only thing that has increased significantly.
The Other Big News!
After 48 years, we are moving into a different house. I have only lived in two houses during my entire life. The one from birth to age 18. I married when I was 18 and have lived in the home we are moving out of.
No, we did not build a home.
We are moving into a home (near the house where we have been living) that my in-laws built and owned about 25 years ago. This is also the site where our grain storage is located. We were told a number of years ago, that if we continued to build new grain storage, we would probably have to buy the grain bins over again because it was part of the building site. And there may be a probability that we would have to buy them over if we purchase the building site later.
So that is what we did. We purchased the building site. My in-laws continued to live in the house as if they still owned it. It has never felt like the house was mine.
A few years ago, my mother-in-law moved into a nursing home. We then started making some updates to the house.
Now . . . the past few months we have been moving into the house slowly.
Can I tell you how difficult it is going through 48 years’ worth of stuff? It’s a struggle. But we are making progress. Trying to decide what to keep and not to keep. And trying to get over the feeling that this is house is now mine.
Has anyone else been through this?
Chemicals in Foods
The media has been busy talking about how we need to rid our food source of chemicals. Part of the MAHA system. What I find so frustrating is the misinformation that is being spread. First of all, basically everything is made of chemicals. Not all natural ingredients are safe. For example, arsenic is natural. But is extremely poisonous.
I don’t disagree that we need to make some changes in our food system. But it seems things always go to the extreme.
We really need to research and understand the misinformation that is being spread. One person I follow is Dr. Kevin Folta. He is a professor at the University of Florida. Years ago, he was working with scientists helping them on how to communicate with the public about “chemicals.” Unfortunately, he was ostracized for speaking the truth. I love that he is an expert in so many areas in our food system.
Here is the chemical makeup of a banana. Note all the chemicals. But all very healthy for us.
Wonder What It Is Like to Raise Pigs?
I wish.
I wish others could experience the things we experience.
I wish others could see sows fighting each other, which is a natural response to their innate social hierarchy. The purpose of the infighting is to determine which sow is “king” sow. The fights that result in injuries such as bites to body parts including ears, snouts, vulvas, and legs. And sometimes these injuries are lethal. I wish people could hear the ear-piercing screams we hear when a sow is attacking another. No, we don’t rush to grab our phones to videotape the pig attacks. Instead, we attempt to break up the fights, assess and care for the injuries, all while hoping not to injure ourselves.
To read the rest of my blog post, Click Here.
Any Questions?
Let me know if you have any questions for me or if there is a topic you would like me to write about. (And my plan is to do a lot more writing now that life has settled down a bit!) I would love to know! Please put them in the comment section.
Until next time!
