The snow is blowing in and, as usual, we could use an extra few weeks to get ready for winter.

It is time for the pigs to start heading back toward their winter quarters.  The smaller pigs have already arrived at the greenhouse.  The larger ones will come up to their winter area next week, and the boar and sows will be making their move shortly thereafter.

It is time for the cattle to make the last passes through the fall pasture rotation before moving to the winter store of hay bales.  They have about ten more acres to graze through, but it shouldn’t take them very long.  There is some good quality grass out there, but it is on fields that received a hay cutting a bit late in the season, so the regrowth didn’t produce a lot of volume.

There are lots of little details to take care of.  Winter fences to be built, temporary laneways and corrals for moving cattle and pigs, miscellaneous repairs to the winter farrowing huts.  But as we go into our fourth winter here, we feel that we have a better understanding of what needs to be done.  That doesn’t mean preparations are less laborious, but at least we know better what to expect.