Chestnut Farms - Open House
In early June, Brian and I drove 2 hours west of Boston to go visit Chestnut Farms for their open house. After a day spent wandering around the farm, I was satisfied that the cows, sheep, pigs, and chickens got to enjoy a pretty good life right up until they headed off to the slaughterhouse. And then they eventually ended up on our plates. ( See some of our dinners from them)
It was a hot day so the cows we saw were mostly crowding into the barn to stay out of the sun. There was one lone calf hanging out in the barn yard though a couple of the others wandered in and out. The cows were not that interested in being touched. A few allowed me to pet them but for the most part, they kept a wary eye on us and the crowd of them shifted away from us whenever we approached the railing. Every so often you'd hear what sounded like a sudden waterfall and you'd realize that the cows were just relieving themselves right wherever they stood. Sometimes they peed right on other cows (mostly the smaller calves that were inopportunely positioned).
In the photo below, on the left, you see the big main barn that's undergoing repairs. It had been a mess when they first bought the farm and now they're working on rehabbing it to have a bunch of pens inside. For the open house, they had several pens set up so visitors could pet some pigs and even hold baby lambs. On the right, we see a pen with some pigs in it.
They used old school buses to house the chickens. The seats were emptied out and there was a ramp leading into the bus. If you peeked into the bus, you could see some eggs. There was a small area marked off with chicken wire so that the hens could hang out underneath the bus where several of them had dug out shallow pits that they would sit in and lay some eggs in. Others scratched around in the rest of their yard, looking for bugs. Lots of clucking. One of the roosters kept crowing.
I spent a lot of time cooing over the baby lambs. Brian picked one up and it bleated, "Baaaaa!" Brian laughed, "Oh wow! It sounds just like baaa! just like they write it out in stories!"
I was amused that the baby lambs climbed all over the mother sheep. At one point, one was just standing on her back but I didn't manage to snag a photo of that one.
Here's mama pig and her quickly growing piglets. We could pet the pigs but the piglets were generally not interested in playing with us and would skitter back and forth across the pen, trying to avoid us. I was surprised by how bristly their hairs were on the pigs.
This sow is another breeding pig. It looks like she's laughing but she's just yawning. Does anyone know why the pig pens seemed so much cleaner? Granted, this was a temporary pen set up especially for the open house so they're usually a little dirtier and yet... when we looked at the cows, there were flies everywhere all over them. But over by the pigs, there weren't any flies at all. We asked the farmer about it and she said that usually the pigs did have some flies around but not as many as the cows. So why do the flies like the cows more?
Heat must've made them sleepy. Here's papa pig asleep in his pen. He was huge. I forget how much she said he weighed but I think it was around 550 pounds.
Papa was big all around. Those are his testicles hanging out in back there. Why would their balls be placed in such a vulnerable location? That's just asking for pain! Oh and more pig trivia. After a pig has been a breeder, their meat changes taste a lot so really the only thing they make out of the breeders is sausage. He apparently wouldn't taste good as a pork chop any more.
This is the farmer's son. He's been busy running around helping get things set up for the open house and now he's all tuckered out too.
It was a hot day so the cows we saw were mostly crowding into the barn to stay out of the sun. There was one lone calf hanging out in the barn yard though a couple of the others wandered in and out. The cows were not that interested in being touched. A few allowed me to pet them but for the most part, they kept a wary eye on us and the crowd of them shifted away from us whenever we approached the railing. Every so often you'd hear what sounded like a sudden waterfall and you'd realize that the cows were just relieving themselves right wherever they stood. Sometimes they peed right on other cows (mostly the smaller calves that were inopportunely positioned).
In the photo below, on the left, you see the big main barn that's undergoing repairs. It had been a mess when they first bought the farm and now they're working on rehabbing it to have a bunch of pens inside. For the open house, they had several pens set up so visitors could pet some pigs and even hold baby lambs. On the right, we see a pen with some pigs in it.
They used old school buses to house the chickens. The seats were emptied out and there was a ramp leading into the bus. If you peeked into the bus, you could see some eggs. There was a small area marked off with chicken wire so that the hens could hang out underneath the bus where several of them had dug out shallow pits that they would sit in and lay some eggs in. Others scratched around in the rest of their yard, looking for bugs. Lots of clucking. One of the roosters kept crowing.
I spent a lot of time cooing over the baby lambs. Brian picked one up and it bleated, "Baaaaa!" Brian laughed, "Oh wow! It sounds just like baaa! just like they write it out in stories!"
I was amused that the baby lambs climbed all over the mother sheep. At one point, one was just standing on her back but I didn't manage to snag a photo of that one.
Here's mama pig and her quickly growing piglets. We could pet the pigs but the piglets were generally not interested in playing with us and would skitter back and forth across the pen, trying to avoid us. I was surprised by how bristly their hairs were on the pigs.
This sow is another breeding pig. It looks like she's laughing but she's just yawning. Does anyone know why the pig pens seemed so much cleaner? Granted, this was a temporary pen set up especially for the open house so they're usually a little dirtier and yet... when we looked at the cows, there were flies everywhere all over them. But over by the pigs, there weren't any flies at all. We asked the farmer about it and she said that usually the pigs did have some flies around but not as many as the cows. So why do the flies like the cows more?
Heat must've made them sleepy. Here's papa pig asleep in his pen. He was huge. I forget how much she said he weighed but I think it was around 550 pounds.
Papa was big all around. Those are his testicles hanging out in back there. Why would their balls be placed in such a vulnerable location? That's just asking for pain! Oh and more pig trivia. After a pig has been a breeder, their meat changes taste a lot so really the only thing they make out of the breeders is sausage. He apparently wouldn't taste good as a pork chop any more.
This is the farmer's son. He's been busy running around helping get things set up for the open house and now he's all tuckered out too.