Latestarter's ramblings/musings/gripes and grumbles.

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greybeard

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Me too.
But, as I've stated several times.What they do on big farms and ranches can almost always be downsized to work on small farms. I have some 8' tee posts in the fence between me and my brother's place, driven down so less than 5' is above ground that are in a low area that stays damp 9 months out of the year and those 8 footers are always being pulled up by the wire tension. I drive them back down and in a few weeks, they're right back up, allowing calves to get under the bottom wire. Now I know how to prevent it. Get a 4, 5 or 6 ft tee post, drive it in at an angle right next to each of the 8 ft posts along that draw, finish up with a sledge hammer if I have to to keep it from sticking out too far and then either haul my gas powered welder down and weld the 2 together or take some 12.5 ga HT wire and firmly lash the 2 together-- problem solved. Just from watching a video of someone smarter than I am. I'm old but I try to learn something new every day.
 

Latestarter

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So I was feeling un-farmerly yesterday... started checking CL for laying hens for sale. Next town over a person had some red sex links (or production reds?) for $12 each at a year old. Went and got 3 this morning. Gonna be some really expensive eggs for the rest of the year... $36 for the hens, ~$130 for the animal carry crate to transport them, bag of feed, oyster shell, grit, pine flakes, a new waterer and new feeder. Had to basically start over from scratch. Set them up indoors over in the out building. Clipped their wings to keep them inside the enclosure within the bldg. Using pine flakes over a tarp with 4' welded wire enclosure. We'll see how they adjust. Mel freaked when he smelled them on me. Couldn't get enough sniffs in LOL. They aren't very hefty birds but well cared for. We'll see how long till first eggs.
 

Mike CHS

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$12 is a bargain for year old chicks. I don't remember the amount but Teresa kept track of what it cost to feed chicks until they are laying age and it was a surprisingly large amount. I mentioned on another thread that all new hens that come to our farm are going to be from 4H. On average they sell at auction for roughly $20 each which coincidentally is what the kids pay the organization for the chicks initially.

Teresa is selling between 9 & 10 dozen eggs a week which more than pays for the feed and we get ours free but we want to get another 10 or so layers to meet the demand.
 

Bruce

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I don't remember the amount but Teresa kept track of what it cost to feed chicks until they are laying age and it was a surprisingly large amount.
That just doesn't add up. Meyer has a chart that says a 16 week old layer will have eaten < 11.5 pounds of feed to that age. It would have eaten 1.09 pounds of feed that last week. So let's say they start laying at 22 weeks and eat 1.5 pounds/week (which I expect is high since they don't get a lot bigger in that time) on average those next 6 weeks. That is less than 21 pounds total. I just paid $14 for 50 pounds of feed (up from $12.50 a month ago. That means the girl would have eaten less than $6 in feed to 22 weeks. AND that assumes they get all their feed from a bag. My girls eat a lot less in the summer so I would expect them to have eaten less than $6 worth.

Dang... sure wish I could afford $50,000 worth of hydraulic fencing gear (including the tractor to power it)... Then wish I had another $50K for the other nice tractor toys like hay making equipment, backhoe, etc... :rolleyes:
You could buy all that stuff then hire yourself out to make use of all of them. Of course you would have no time to use it on your own property.
 

Latestarter

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Since it has been brought to my attention (frequently :confused:) that I am often remiss in posting pictures while routinely letting others know that they are a "requirement"... Here are some I just came in from taking. Adults, L to R front: April, CC, Moose, Rear: Bang, Dot, CB.
2018-4-26 grazing #1.JPG


Here's Mel following the herd. L to R: CB, Mel, Dot, Bang, Moose, RJ, April, CC
2018-4-26 herd on the move.JPG

Mel helping Henry (sold) who scraped the scab off one of his horn buds. The other sold wether is right next to Henry. Champagne back left and one of Dot's boys back right.
2018-4-26 Mel and babies.JPG

The 5 adult girls slowly making their way back to the pen for water and kid feeding. L to R: Dot, CB, CC, Bang, April
2018-4-26 herd on the move 2.JPG


Who says I'm too short to reach the hay? This is DS (Double Stuff) up in the hay feeder pawing for all she's worth. She's a great little girl and very stocky. She's not the only one who I've seen up in the feeder. You can see the legs of Champagne trying to climb in on the other side.
2018-4-26 DS in the hay feeder.JPG


So the 2018 NFL draft starts in about 1/2 hour. The Cleveland Browns have the 1st and 4th pick and have been searching for over 20 years for a franchise quarterback. They traded down the last couple of years and missed out on some really good ones. Hope they don't "Browns it up" again this time around.Their W/L record for the past 2 years is 1 & 31, zero & 16 last year.
 

farmerjan

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Around here $12 for year old hens is high. Most sell started pullets for $10 to $15 each at about 20 weeks...6 months or less. By the time they are year old they are halfway to their first moult. We sell cull hens for about $6 to $8 each at 2-3 years old and they sell well for the different ethnic groups that come to the poultry sales for soup and stew birds. The last 2 years the ones the 4-her's raised sold for about $15. ea. They get anywhere from 10 to 25 chicks to raise and have to "give back 3 for every ten they get for "seed money" for the 4-H to buy more for the next year for the kids that want to raise them. The kids get to keep the rest of them or sell them and keep the money. It teaches responsibility, and they get to make a little money for their labor if they sell them. A couple of the kids have gone on to become egg sellers and done pretty well.

Cannot imagine spending that kind of money to get a crate to transport them home. We use cardboard boxes. It is the safest way to transport hens with air holes cut in the sides. the darker interior also is more calming to the birds. We transport many of our show birds that way. They are less likely to break tail and wing feathers against the cardboard, they don't need so much room to turn around and try to get out. They are also disposable when there is any concern about lice or other poultry diseases. Animals do not need alot of moving room during transport. It allows them to get nerved up in many cases. They need to be able to stand, sit or lay down. If long trips then being able to turn around or taking them out for some exercise. But they don't need to be moving all around and back and forth.
 
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