From: Billie Best <billie@billiebest.com> To: Discuss Issues in Livestock Processing <livestockprocessing-l@list.cornell.edu> Sent: Mon, Oct 17, 2011 1:33 pm Subject: OT-chicken illness question I have a flock of 45 pullets born August 23. They have been free ranging on my farm since October 1st. They are mixed in with my laying hens, a flock of 20+ [...]
I spent the summer farming as much as possible, playing hooky from my consulting practice, limiting my volunteer work, squeezing out my writing, and ignoring my housekeeping. It was my fourth summer as the sole farmer on the farm. Finally I felt I perfected every mission critical task and process. I was gung ho to manage [...]
Rule of thumb: When things appear to be going perfectly, you are probably missing something. My advice is duck and cover because it’s just about to hit you. I woke up this morning with the same smug buzz I wrote about yesterday — opened all the doors and windows, meditated, breathed deeply in the sun, [...]
I harvested the last of the asparagus in my former vegetable garden before I turned the cows into the south pasture for the second time this season. It has been a three week streak of me doing farm work in every available hour, and I am feeling smug about my accomplishments. So many seasons past I [...]
After a couple more blizzards, rain on snow, a sand storm of sleet, and an accumulation of three feet of snow with a hard ice crust — the charm in my last blog post is completely gone. There will be no photographs of my lovely farm here today. I don’t want to confuse beauty with [...]
A snow storm from the midwest and a rain storm from the Atlantic collided over the farm during the night, and this morning it’s a complete white out. There was no sunrise, just a cross-fade from black to murky grey to silent white. I started morning chores early because the cows and the goats were [...]
The farm is my lava lamp, always in mesmerizing motion. The chickens swish from one side of the yard to another, across the snow, looking for food, hiding from the hawks. The cows and the goats circle the hay feeder, wander over to the water trough, take a lick of salt, head-butt each other, and [...]
Winter is coming. It’s not here yet, but she’s knocking at the door. I have the thermostat in the house set at 60. The upstairs rooms are closed for the season. The heat up there is turned off. I have moved my office to the table in front of the windows beside the wood-burning stove. [...]
I did an experiment with my chickens this year. I ordered ten cockerels (male chicks) of the largest chicken breed: Jersey Giants. According to the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, Jersey Giants were bred in the late 1800′s by two men in New Jersey who wanted a large chicken that could compete with turkey for its [...]
The past couple mornings I have opened my eyes feeling a heaviness that would hold me in my bed if it weren’t for the sound of the chickens on the porch, the roosters crowing, and the cows coughing at the water trough. I worry about the coughing and remember what’s it like to have too [...]