Last Friday morning, our gilt Tiana delivered seven healthy piglets and quickly proved herself a devoted mother. These piglets are the first sired by our young boar, Buzz Lightyear. Yesterday evening, we weighed, ear-notched, and castrated the litter. This morning, Tiana proudly guided her piglets on a walk around the paddock, keeping a watchful eye on their every move. There’s something endlessly delightful about watching piglets explore and root around in the dirt.
-Leo
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Jon and I hit the road for Mineral Wells, Texas, at 2:00 am to pick up our new registered Dorper ram. Breeders Gary and Stephanie Payne have built a reputation for pasture-raised sheep renowned for their resilience and outstanding muscle conformation. Although we haven't had a chance to weigh our new ram yet, we estimate he's already over 150 pounds. Not bad when you consider a typical hair sheep born on January 2, 2026, weighs between 90 and 115 pounds. We're eager to see the impact his genetics has on our flock in the coming seasons.
Much like our Berkshire pigs, Dorper Hair Sheep are prized for their exceptional meat quality. Often called the "Angus of the Sheep World," Dorpers are celebrated for their intermuscular marbling, fine texture, and remarkable tenderness. We're excited to watch how his offspring perform and contribute to the quality of our flock.
-Leo
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With daytime temperatures over 100 degrees, much of our work on the farm focuses on guaranteeing the animals have ample water and shade. Between these tasks, we’re also preparing for the arrival of a new litter of pigs and welcoming our new ram.
This afternoon, we moved the sheep into a 3-acre greenbelt that collects runoff from the neighboring properties to our west. In the past, we mowed this area several times each year. Now, with the help of our Nofence virtual fencing system, we’ve successfully launched an Adaptive Multi-Paddock (AMP) grazing program. The sheep graze a small section at a time and are rotated daily, allowing the land to rest and regenerate. Forage that isn’t eaten is trampled, creating a protective mulch layer for the soil. We’re anxious to observe the benefits of AMP grazing on soil health, weed control, and forage growth.
-Leo
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An update on our baby donkey and what has been going on at the farm.
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During the last few years of my career at a large electric utility, I worked closely with a manager responsible for leading emergency preparedness. As a consultant, I have developed Emergency Response Plans and trained members of rural water systems. At the request of A Greener World, I contributed an article on emergency response planning to their magazine, Sustainable Farming (https://agreenerworld.org/resources/sustainablefarmingmagazine/)
Every farm and ranch should have a straightforward Emergency Response Plan that details how to respond to emergencies—such as extreme weather, natural disasters, power outages, or disease outbreaks. Regardless of the situation, the sequence of actions is generally as follows:
1. Protect life first. Take the steps needed to keep livestock and people safe: escape routes for livestock from a barn fire, moving animals to high ground during a flood, or providing shade and water in extreme heat.
2. Notify the team. Work from a current phone contact list for everyone on the farm, prioritizing those closest to the site.
3. Notify public officials if required: fire, police and other emergency services. Keep the current numbers with the plan. Review contact details annually.
4. Notify suppliers as needed: your veterinarian, electricity, fuel and feed contacts you would have to reach if services were cut off or machinery failed.
5. Plan the recovery. Convene whoever is available to agree who leads, what is needed to keep animals fed, watered and cared for, and how the farm gets back to normal.
A plan is only effective if it is kept up to date and clearly understood by everyone involved. Specific responses will always depend on the situation; in my experience, the most common failure isn't a flawed plan—it's a good plan that no one has trained on or reviewed, left forgotten in a drawer.
As an AGW-Certified Animal Welfare Approved operation, we are required to have an ERP that is complex enough to cover all types of emergencies but simple enough for any member to carry out the plan.
-Leo
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