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Saturday, March 1, 2008

The Nomad

"Yee Haw"

So we have this rooster. I didn't know he was a rooster for the longest time but there was always something strange about him. Our chickens on the farm are divided up into three houses and the barn. Down in the pasture, are a bunch of roosters. I know that is mean but too many roosters equal unhappy hens. So they are down there waiting their slaughter date. Then I have a main house, one behind our house and then about 8 chickens roost in the barn. But there is this rooster. He was originally part of the chicks that we moved behind the house and there he stayed for the longest. Fitting in and socializing like everyone else. Then something happened. It was like he lost his way. Hence the name Nomad. This poor guy is always by himself. All day. He pretty much does nothing right. His crow sounds like he is saying," Yee Haw." The only time he gets a hen is if he sneaks up on her and then he really doesn't know what to do very gracefully. When he finishes, you can almost tell that the hen is disappointed with herself that she let herself get caught. He doesn't bother anybody, he just doesn't know where his place is.


The cows are on their final two rotations this weekend. We have had a couple of glitches but nothing major. Most of them were from careless mistakes I made that either confused them or allowed them to break rank. Cows may look dumb and lethargic but at nights, I think they turn into ninja panthers and find ways to get out. I suggest to always have a couple paddocks up ahead of the one being grazed so that if they do get out, they don't take off to the other side of the pasture. Usually the only reason they bust through the rope is if they are chased. I think some coyotes or maybe some deer spooked them the other night and they broke loose. This is part of the new pasture we purchased last year. I seeded it in almost pure rye grass in late October just to see how it did. Not too bad. Mid March I will be putting some warm season grasses on it. I think once it is cleaned up a bit, I have about 6 burn piles to burn and 2 trees to cut up, it is going to be very pretty.

This pasture has lots of huge trees on it. Something our main pastures lack

They eat as close to fence as they can. No fence line weeds anymore

"Love that green"

The pads divided with the reels. I go through Powerflex Fence Co.

These are new pictures of our hen that snuck and hatched some eggs. She had layed 5 but only hatched out 4. Aren't they cute. Its amazing how good these hens can take care of their young chicks.

Showing the chicks their food. All she does is keep tumping it over.

Leading the chicks off to scratch around

We now use only organic grains for our pigs. It is amazing the difference of it vs. commercial feed. The pigs also highly prefer it. They use to pick at their food, now they take huge bites out of it. This is what the grain looks like inside of the feeder. I put about 200#'s in at a time. We will go to all organic grain for our chickens but I am waiting to get my new chicks in so that they will be organic from birth to death. Can't wait

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I stay so interested in your blog. Love the updates. You are doing wonderful things.

Proud of you Son.

Dad

Kramer said...

Thanks dad. And I want to tell you how much I appreciated that birthday present. High-five. Good thinking.

Ethan Book said...

Jason,

I was looking at your pictures today and was reminded that you had just put in some fence recently ... did you put in high tensile? I just posted about fences over on my blog and totally left high tensile off the list, but I'm very interested in your thoughts on it. How was it to put up, costs vs. other types, how far apart are your posts? Lots of questions! Thanks for the blog!

Anonymous said...

The more I read, the more I really wish we were neighbors!! Love the pics, and I hope Nomad finds his place, poor guy.

Kramer said...

Farm mom,

I would love it if we were neighbors. All mine think I am crazy for how we are doing things so that would be a nice change. Brenham's nice...

Ethan - I typed a big comment on your blog but when I went to publish, it erased it. Pretty Irritating. I am going to do a post on fencing maybe next week because I have the last 20 or so acres to finish out here. Maybe that will help everyone out. Thanks for reading.

Ethan Book said...

Jason ... thanks for the comment. Either you re-typed it or it went through, because I received it. There was some good information there, and I'm looking forward to your post!

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

I enjoyed reading about all the goings-on with the critters today.

Nomad sounds like such a silly dude! He's too pretty and pitiful to eat. You're weren't planning to, were you? Hmm?

I didn't have any plans to have me hens hatch chicks themselves, so we don't have any roosters. But after seeing the sweet pics of Mama Hen and chicks, it's motivating me to get a rooster now! haha

Wish we lived closer, because I'd try to talk you out of Nomad (wink)

I'm guessing that during the day the cows have a clear sight of the fence and anything that moves. Like you said, they must get spooked at night because they can't see what's coming...and obviously can't see where they are going either!

Have a great week!

QuiltedSimple said...

Love the pics of your cows, calves and pastures. I especially like the cows/calves with "chrome."

We liked Nomad too (I keep showing my husband pictures of everyone's chickens to try and convince him to get some- I showed him your wife's pictures of Cruella a few weeks ago) - poor guy. But he looks happy!!

HisPrincess said...

Hi! I'm a farmers wife from Australia and found your blog really interesting. I'm having to admit that all that greenery is making me a tad "green" myself! We are sheep/wheat/barley farmers here and the only green is the stuff in the house garden that gets watered. We are at the end of Summer though. Praying like mad for a break in the drought for the coming planting season but still accepting that what will be will be. The Lord will look after us.
Loved your rooster story. We have a confused rooster, he crows at night, obviously hasn't worked out which direction the sun is going!
I look forward to reading more of your farm life!
Cheers
Sharon.

Kramer said...

Thank yall so much for reading. I have been so busy lately that I haven't had time to update in a bit.

Sharon- I can only imagine. We were in a drought the past three years prior to 07. It is nice living in Texas just because we are Texans but the seasons are great as well for farming. Really there is only 3 months out of the year for winter that things go dormant and if you get a couple of good rains in the summer, usually everything stays pretty green. Keep your chin up. Would love to see some pics of yalls farm. Especially being in such a different part of the world.

HisPrincess said...

I will post some pics on my blog soon. But its all so dead and depressing at the moment!

We were supposed to be shearing this week but are having an unseasonally hot start to autumn so have postponed til next week.

I will be sure to post pictures of that as I have another friend Joanie (it was from her blog that I found you) has a bit of a thing for sheep and I have promised her!

We have about 3000 sheep to get shorn so it will take a little over two weeks. I love shearing time. It's hard work but the comaradarie in a shearing shed is like nothing you will find anywhere else.

Happy farming in those green paddocks!

Sharon.