Your niece’s farm sounds awesome!
I’m still in the planning stages of putting a house on my farm. I started saving up for my own place when I was about 9, so your niece is living my dream :)
She & her hubs are living their dream ... I’m living it too, vicariously. I’m wondering if they need a ‘farm hand’ one day?
They are working on turning old monocrop land into a regenerative farm. They are pasture raising meat chickens & have started ‘small’ with hogs. They plan to raise beef as well, but need more fencing. They sold their first hogs this fall - I bought a half hog & so far, it’s been delicious. I asked for the fat from my half hog (& someone else gave me theirs) to render into lard ... wanted to do it this week, but ran out of time.
So silly, but I love their hogs. The two breeding females are hilarious - 300 lb ‘pets’, both of them. One is a Berkshire & the other is a Gloucester Old Spot - both are heritage breeds. They ‘talk’ to you, are curious, smart, escape artists & a few other things ... love belly rubs.
The Berkshire hog appears to be farrowing as I type ... we’ve been going “nuts” all week ... turns out my niece had the wrong “due date” by a few days! She’s actually due Friday, but appears to be in labor now, which is great - my niece and her family will be able to come for Thanksgiving tomorrow if she has the piglets today/tonight. I’m getting progress reports every 30 minutes. I had a brood mare for years - 3 foals, so I know how anxious it can be waiting for babies to put in an appearance & hoping all goes well. This will be the mama pig’s first litter - the breed tends to be good mothers, so hopefully, she will be as well. Exciting times!!