Race Against the Weather
April 29th, 2014 · No Comments · Posted in farming
Forecast calls for cold and rainy weather through the end of the week starting this afternoon so I don’t have much time to fool around on the computer. I’ve got to finish the “tractor” destined to be the new home for the 25 Freedom Ranger chicks in our basement brooder. I know it doesn’t look like much–just a big plywood box–but this is what we use to move the broilers around on pasture. I spent the better part of yesterday cutting out the sides and stapling wire mesh over the openings. Today I have to cut and secure a metal roof.
Projects like this put so much extra strain on us at a time when there are already extra chores. We have two pregnant ewes who are being kept separate from the rest of the flock and need special, high-protein feed twice a day. The cow, the boy goat, the other sheep–we’re moving them out of the paddock and onto fresh pasture each morning. The girl goats need their feed. And there’s feed and water to be carried out to the laying hens in the orchard.
And let’s not forget those chicks in the brooder: they have to be checked every couple of hours to make sure their feeder and waterer haven’t run empty.
It all makes for very busy days this time of year. There are 50 more chicks scheduled to arrive on Friday. Plus, my wife on Saturday is driving five hours to the Finger Lakes region to pick up five Dorper lambs. She spent yesterday cleaning up and re-arranging the tool shed to make a place for them pending a merge with our existing flock.
It’s a bit exhausting just thinking about it all. But we’ll muddle through. A little sunshine would be nice.
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