Friday Night
Today the boys and I dropped Leah off at the Above Rubies Reatreat for the weekend. Its chilly out tonight, we sit here by the warmth of nice hickory fire listening to some Johnny Cash. We read a few chapters in On The Shores of Silver Lake after we got some wood carried in and cover up some of the garden with a tarp to protect it from the frost we’re supposed to get tonight. We have a hamburg heifer hanging on the loader tractor that needs to be boned out and ground up tomarrow after we get the morning chores caught up. Next week we hope to move the milking herd up over the hill and across the road to start grazing off some 2nd cutting hay thats not worth the fuel to bother mowing. There is another months worth of grazing up there. Off to bed for me and my little helpers…..
September 30th, 2006 at 6:40 pm
That hamburger heifer sounds pretty good. So does reading a book around a hickory fire. A yes, fall is upon us and soon winter will be calling for long-johns and an extra blanket or two on the bed. This fall seems much different for me, however, as we gear up to work Sam & Sadie through the first winter. Being a summer — give me thunderstorms and thick green forests — type man, I normally see fall and winter as a time to hunt while waiting for spring. Now I can’t wait, bitter cold winds and all, to get my hands on those lines and work the team through days of logging, one at a time, in fellowship with like-minded brethren.
September 30th, 2006 at 7:55 pm
It does sound like a nice evening. We are looking forward to some like it soon, now that we have gotten our potbellied stove almost installed.
Different topic- I noticed you have a page about your pastured poultry operation. We are getting started in that direction, currently running mostly laying hens in chicken tractors trying to meat the ever-increasing demand for our eggs. A few customers have asked about meat sales without our ever bringing it up. We’d like to eventually add meat to our sales.
I’ve read all of Salatin’s books on the topic and Andy Lee’s Chicken Tractor, but I’m wondering more about the day to day experiences of others. How many months a year do you raise broilers? What kind of pens do you use? What kind of profit margin could a newcomer expect? Any problems with predators? Have you found Cornish Rock crosses to be worth the troubles they have or would you recommend a different breed for areas with high summer temps? Any advice to those getting started?
I’d appreciate any words of wisdom you may have.
Blessings,
Laura
http://www.blessedacresfarm.com (our blog)
October 1st, 2006 at 5:37 pm
Charlie loves his Johnny Cash - calls him John Cash (I guess they’re close
)
Hope you and the boys had a great weekend together and Leah had a wonderful time at the retreat. I wish we had one of those near our house.
October 2nd, 2006 at 5:10 am
Missouri Rev
I am excited for you! I wish I was going to be working with a fine team of mules all winter. I will spend most of my time shoveling feed into one end of the cows then shoveling fertilizer from behind
Mrs Webb
We are fairly new to pastured broiler business. We put the first batch out in June and I like to have the last batch done in October. We have not had to many predator problems, mostly becouse I keep them down by the barns with a bluetick on patrol
We raise the cornish rock crosses. We don’t have to many problems with them. The biggest reason we grow them is becouse our customers expect a large breasted bird. I’m not sure about growing them in south, I’m a northern boy. I did go down to Joel Salatin’s feild day 2 years ago in Virgina, and they were doing very well. It was in the upper 90s and humid. Anyone from the deep south want to comment??? Our birds averaged a profit of about $7 a bird this year. These were an average of 5.5 lbs and sold frozen for $2.50 a lb. We think there is a lot of potential for this business. Right now we are not selling enough to make huge sums of money but the business is growing and we hope it will make or farm more profitable in the years ahead.
Gwen
Charlie has good taste in music
Leah and some other ladies in the area planned and put together the retreat, you could do the same out in your neck of the woods. She said Nancy Cambell was great and it was one of the most edifing things she has ever experienced. I will get Charlies books out soon, the next time I go to town.