Exciting day/week coming

Tomorrow, two Red Angus steers join our herd of two - wow, we are doubling quickly....
And, and Wednesday, 30 broilers - we sold out of meat chickens and are ready to raise some more.

Another Lesson Learned

Ok - so even if the ashes you took from the wood burner have sat all day in the bucket out back, it's still not a good idea to toss them onto the compost pile full of straw and manure and walk away. Thankfully, Abby and I noticed the billowing smoke coming from the pile and were able to put out the very, very, small fire with 4 gallons of water and some snow. Dan has way too much fun telling this story...

A Horrible Day for Wendy

I'm writing this retrospectively, because it's funny now, and I want to remember it. On last Friday, I took Dan's truck and went to pick up Abby's new 4-H projects. Three Californian meat rabbits, and cages. When I arrived back at the farm and unloaded the rabbits, I saw "Hamburger" and "Steak" waiting for me to notice that they hadn't any hay and were hungry. I threw half a bay over the fence, but they were on the wrong side of the barn and couldn't figure out where I put it, I guess. So, I grabbed a flake and was leading them around the barn to the pile and came upon one of my beloved Rhode Island Red layers, dead and ripped open. I started to cry a bit, even while I had a conversation with myself about living in the country, and knowing this would happen sometime, and the fact that this is the only one we've lost in a year, and it's to be expected. Then the cows stopped to see what it was and they wouldn't leave it be. This upset me more, I'm yelling at them to leave her alone, and I know they aren't going to eat her or anything, but it bugged me they wouldn't come along to their hay. I'm getting a bit distraught, when one cow pushed the other away from it so hard, he fell over and rolled onto his back. "Cow tipping, by cows?", Aaron said. Yes, it was. So, I sneak in there to grab the hen by a toe, and I'm totally saddened and creeped out that she is still warm and soft. This JUST happened to her, and I feel I let it happen, that I wasn't there to protect her and all she ever did was give us beautiful, healthy eggs - she didn't deserve it - again, I know this it to be expected, but..anyway, the cows both come at me quickly, because they still want to smell it. I tossed her into a corral they couldn't get in, and then they went to eat hay. I'm still crying and go to unload the cages so I can get the rabbits out of their travel cage and Mr. Rooster attacks me. Again, and again, and again. Coming at me, trying to peck me and run up my legs, his feathers are up higher than I ever thought possible. I'm trying to be understanding, he obviously still feels threatened and is trying to protect his flock from whatever got the hen (we believe it was a chicken hawk) by now I'm almost hysterical, because I can't get away from the rooster, and I'm yelling to him, "I know your upset! I'm upset too!", finally after kicking him a few times, I'm able to get away from him. I go to the house and call Dan for comfort. The rooster calmed down, I penned them back up in their fenced area, I unloaded the cages, and got the rabbits set up.
When Dan came home the next day, he said, "We really need to work on your level of reaction to death. By your reaction on the phone, I thought maybe you were telling me my dad died, or your mom, or maybe Tammy was decapitated or something - you need to bring it down a notch or two for chickens......" Thanks Dan...