The busiest time of the year

Spring is such a busy time of the year on the farm and this one has been no exception.

Since we're a grass-based farm, we have to stockpile feed for winter. In order to do this, the first grass that grows so quickly and lushly in the spring is mowed, raked, baled and wrapped to preserve it for late fall and winter when there's no grass available.

We've learned that the hay really needs to be made before Memorial Day in order to have the amount of protein that will be required to keep the cattle thriving during the cold winter months. This is a different routine than the more common (in northeast Ohio) way of storing hay as dried grass that is used as a supplement to a corn-based diet for cattle.

The hay in the wrapped bales is fermenting. The bales "puff up" a bit as they cure inside the wrapper; if the wrapper is punctured, the hay will spoil. Aaron lines the bales up along the edge of the fields where the cattle will be kept over the winter and then feeds a combination of the fermented feed and dry hay from mid-December until the grass starts to grow again in the spring.

These bales are unwrapped or drier hay that will help balance the high protein content of the wrapped hay. Too much protein isn't good for cattle, any more than it is for people. The balance is both an art and a science that takes careful management year-round.

The early warm weather gave way to a more rainy late spring and our hay-making was a challenge but the biggest push is done for now. We'll continue to bale some hay throughout the summer; it will take more than 250 bales of hay to get our livestock through the winter.

This undertaking, added in to the regular routine of farm work and keeping up with yard work, makes for a very busy time of year!

Chickens

So this is the new set-up for the chickens. This photo shows them outside their tent. We move the tent often so they have clean grass. The feeders are outside so they have to go out to get food. The waterer is that green PVC pipe, cut in half and suspended from what looks like a sawhorse; there's a float that causes the water to turn on when the level is below a certain point. This keeps the water clean, fresh, and cool for the chickens to drink.

What looks like netting around them is actually a movable, flexible fence. It does resemble snow fence but has a few metal filaments in it so it can be electrified. This keeps the chickens safe from predators.

And the last photo is a full-grown chicken. They should weigh about 4-5 lbs. after 7 weeks. Our sales are "farm-gate" only, whole chickens only, and the cost is $3.25/lb. Give us a call if you're interested.

Chickens

Remember how cute they were here. Hard to believe that was 6 short weeks ago.


Within a few weeks they looked like this. See the little feathers on this chick's wingtips. Those pop out only a few days after the chicks arrive.


Several weekends ago, on a (hot!) Sunday afternoon, Daniel, Aaron and I transferred the chickens from the upstairs of barn, where you saw their nice warm set-up, outside to the pasture where the chickens could live on pasture.


Aaron caught the chicks and put them in crates, Daniel hoisted the full crates onto the 4-wheeler and hauled them out into the field and put them on the ground inside the fence then I unloaded each crate while he went back to repeat this process. Thirteen more times. Three hundred chickens.


After they were all moved and shooed into their tent--it really was a hot afternoon--we organized their feeders and waterer. Aaron had already moved the tent, which looks like a carport on skis, mowed around the tent so he could set up the fence which will keep predators out; the grass must be short in order to get the fence low enough so nothing can get under it and also so that the taller grass doesn't cause the electric fence to short.


Watch for photos of the chicks in their new home.