Yesterday was a nearly perfect day, with temperatures rising to the 70’s, and plenty of sunshine to keep us going. And go we did! Well, alright, it is not like I am a twenty-something workaholic, but I rounded up my two daughters and got some chores done. They were good about it, too, and argued over who got to go with me in the afternoon when I asked for someone to volunteer to come help. “You go!” “No, you do it!” So I let them both come out and help!
In the morning we did the usual animal feeding, then started working on the other projects we need to get going in order to set our little farm back to being a farm again, rather than a petting zoo. That’s my one main farm goal this year, to get the place producing protien, and not producing a pet feed bill that does not get reimbursed by what the animals are good for.
For the rabbits, this means we had to dig the little portable cage out of the storeage and then rotate rabbits through it while we move their cages from seperate spots in the back yard to a place in the big chicken run, where their cages will be incorporated into a fence and set so the rabbits will have a run, and the chickens will be able to get under their cages to clean up after them. If any two animals can look after eachother in some practical way, they should! One less job for the farmer! We got two of the big cages moved yesterday, and just need to move the three little cages today, then we can start building the fence for the bunnies in preperation to let them take tunrs by gender running around for a few days at a time.
For the chickens, I set up the homemade brooder in the egg coop where currently four peacocks and a pair of white cochins and a chuckar are residing. Getting that brooder in there means getting it out of the way of anywhere else on the farm, and putting it where the droppings and mess will fall to the floor of the egg coop, alone with all the other mess in there, which means still one less cleaning job for me! I need to get a couple of parts for it, and dig out the feed and water trays for it, but I could in theory easily get birds into it today and get them going, so whenever I see them on sale, that’s the time to buy. Or anytime, really, because of chicken math.
I was informted by my twelve year old of a pig problem I have. Our potbelly boars were found outside of their cage yesterday. She cooly put them back onr own, but I suspect they will be out again today. I sure wish I had a backhoe I could dig their perimiter with, and plant their fence into the ground a couple of feet to prevent them digging under it. It’d be a big help! Then I could attach the normal fence to the top of that for above ground! Luckily they were not inclined to go far, so they were found bedding down in the llama pen, in which their pen resides. I like pens in pens for animals prone to escaping. It gives them a second stop and usually they explore there and find it sufficient to satisfy their want to move on.
We have a cat problem as well. Two of the barn cats gave birth recently. One did so in one of the goat pens, so her kittens had to be moved to allow me to rotate goats around to get the billy away from the two does that will deliver late next month. As soon as my daughter put the kittens someplace perfectly safe, their mother decided my shop was even safer and moved them there. We have not gone looking, so they could feel settled.
The second cat problem has come with the other mother putting her litter down on a stack of large hay bales, that I have no means of moving, and some of the babies apaprently dropped down between the bales, for they were missing, and that is all we can figure out. There were no sounds by the time we realized they were gone, so we stuffed the gap with loose hay to prevent her last one from following, and I expect I will find the others when I get to that bale and get it apart.
Lastly, yesterday we had a weird one in the chicken run when my youngest daughter pointed out to me that one of the hens started flailing around for some reason, possibly related to a stampede of birds, though I have no idea! I said it looked like it would be dead pretty quick, and we went to the shop to grab a tool and were back within five minutes, and she was as dead as a doornail. We still have no idea why. There was no blood. Chickens are strange that way. They can be tough as nails and dead as doornails just as easy. I decided it was time to se ehow the eight year old did with dead animals, so I asked her to pick up the hen and throw her in to the big pig’s pen, and she did with no hesitation at all. I might have finally found the kid who will take over the farm!
Now, to answer the obvious questions just raised in the last paragraph;, who deals in livestock deals in dead stock also. It is just the nature of things on the farm, and to think otherwise is horribly naive. While American life is now largely insulated from death, out on the farm it is just part of the natural circle. As for feeding meat to the pig, our big pig is a pet, and she is used to till land and dispose of things that are manageable. She is good at what she does, and she is loved like some folks love their dogs. Without practical purposes though, it would be hard to justify her expense as a pet. Coming in at and 400 pounds, she is a big eater. But she has uses alive rather than just as the traditional plate of bacon. We are quite fond of her for that, and for her big puppy-like personality.
Today I need to get the female rabbits moved into their new spot, and if the urge takes me, I might go up to the local farm stores to see if they do have any chickens on sale. I got a plucker this week, and am pretty much ready to process meat birds. It would be helpful to fix the barbeque to heat water on it to scald the birds as a part of processing them. That will require getting a new propane tank on it and seeing if it is indeed water in the old tank that is causing the regulators to freeze over. If I get to it, it would be good to get the hospital pen cleaned out and ready to take either any ill animals or baby calves we get. It is currently being used as a dump for some of the things I needed out of the way in the autumn. I will have to get whatever comes out of it to the dump though, or out of the way if it is still useful, because I would like to get some firewood next weekend and start processing it, which reminds me, I need to get the Service Yard tidyed up and ready for work. Then when all that is done, I can start the annual barn cleanning and try to get it further prepared to become my new workshop.
So there is where I am at this fine Saturday morning, and now that my mind is awake and back in the game, it is time to get a good breakfast down me and get at it all. I wonder which kid will volunteer to help out?