Spring is In the Air

It’s been gorgeous on the farm and the animals are really starting to change.  We now have our meat chickens out on the pasture, and they are loving these cool-season grasses.  The new slower-growing chickens we are trying are not living up to our expectations.  They are growing steadily and we can’t stop them!  We’ve tried restricting feed, but they are grazing machines and are getting so much nutrition from the pasture (and will taste so good) that we just have to accept that they will be a bit larger than we expected.

 

The new rabbits are thriving too.  We are experimenting with a new type of mobile pasture house for them, and they are working great.  Rabbits are tough because they are solitary animals that love to dig, which makes them downright hard to rotate on pasture.  However, our new “Bunny Porches” give the access to fresh greens, and simulate a dark safe space so they aren’t tempted to dig out.  So far they are working without problems.  We are also getting ready for them to live up to their species’ reputation for rampant breeding, although they’ve had a slow start. Today was actually the first successful and confirmable breeding, so look forward to some adorable Easter Bunny photos coming soon.

Shae, Iris, and I have also made sure not to lose track of how important leisure and rest are.  In addition to a wonderful picnic lunch we treated ourselves to, it’s not uncommon to find any of sneaking a nap in when we can.

Last, our first processing day of the year is April 16, and we are already sold out.  We are experimenting with weekly slaughters, so it’s not that great of an achievement, but we take what we can get!