The Grass is Back!

Spring has arrived here at Early Bird Ranch.  I know that we passed the calendar date for the first day of Spring--it's a memorable day for me, since it's the day I went into labor with Kevin Jr.  But there's the calendar date, and then there's the unconscious knowledge that the seasons are changing.  This year, they coincided pretty well.

For me, Spring has arrived when the grass begins to grow again.  It greens up and almost overnight seems to go from hunkering down for winter storms and cold snaps to reaching mightily for the sun.  It means we'll probably see cows at the house soon, since there's something for them to eat!  It means we'll soon have just-fledged young chickens out stretching their legs and grazing, and happy hens clucking about making mazes in the grass (hopefully NOT hiding eggs--last year's Easter spent on a real egg hunt was enough for me).

This year we have a new way to enjoy the growth of grass--through Kevi's eyes.  He's finally past the obsession with putting everything in his mouth, so I feel comfortable setting him on the ground outside.  We still mostly do chores in the jogging stroller, which he thinks is a great way to tour the farm, but I decided to let him explore the new grass while I put up one of our electric nets that will soon house chickens.  He was delighted by the new environment, as you can see.

New Blog Location

Hello Everyone!

As part of our new changes for 2013 we have refurbished the website and moved the blog there (with a new post!).  This little Blogger page has been good to us, but we feel very excited about our snazzy new website.  Please check out the new site when you can and give us your feedback.  The address, as you likely know is: www.EarlyBirdRanch.com.  If you have any trouble finding it or the blog please let us know as that would be quite good to know before the season gets going again and there are literally thousands of animals to care for.

Thanks!

"Let The Animals Do the Work"

This is really more of a note than a blog post, but I think it's worth sharing.  One of Joel Salatin's favorite concepts is to "let the animals do the work."  In practice, at Polyface and at Early Bird Ranch this typically means things like hens following cows and reducing fly load by scratching through cow patties to eat the larva.  Instead of having to apply some kind of fly deterent to the cows, we let the hens do that service, saving Joel or the folks at LeftCoast GrassFed a little work.

Today I saw a great example here at the house, though. Kevin, Brooks, and I have been working hard clearing compost out of the brooders and dumping it in wheelbarrow piles in the garden.  I just looked out the window to discover that some rogue hens (who refuse to sleep in the Eggmobile and are generally a pain in the butt) are trying to redeem themselves by scratching the compost evenly through the garden soil.  In the picture, you can see the piles we left, and how they're spreading it in an even layer, saving us the time and energy of raking it out ourselves. So, although I grumble to say it... Thank you rogue chickens!

Execution Year

What a year!

2012 was fraught with challenges, and yet we are still standing. I would prefer not to go into too much detail as not all of the mistakes or accidents were acts of god, but after a couple of record breaking storms,  a few broken structures, and unprecedented turkey mortality we are ready for a new year.

Of course, the feather in our cap is that Kevi Jr has been thriving, but we are also thrilled that the business is still afloat and growing (though modestly).

Please ignore all the STUFF in our lives!

2013 will be the first year we will actually just farm. There are no new babies on the way or surprise moves planned. It is just a year to focus on efficiency and fine tuning. The folks on TomKat told us in the banking world this is called an "execution year."  The name just drips optimism, but it really does offer us a lot of hope. We are coming up on 3 years of operating our own business, and there are a number of things we've left on the back burner (like the blog) while we've tried to keep our heads above water and our animals happy.

This year we are looking forward to full participation in our new Good Eggs "Webstand". The  platform is everything we could wish for and the company that started it really appears to care about how well they are aiding farmers. You can see it at www.goodeggs.com/earlybirdranch. It's very cool.

We are also planning to expand our pig enterprise in 2013. The demand for and reviews of these forest raised beauties has been great and their effect on the forest quite positive. The big hurdle is in how to scale the operation properly, but it is certainly worth doing. We are excited too because once we have a large enough and consistent enough supply we can approach folks like Chipotle and New Leaf. We are also hoping to find a charcuterie so we can begin selling cured meats that truly showcase the deep flavors that our style of production can imbue.

The last major change we are looking to make will be focusing on record keeping and organization.  Not as interesting, perhaps, as pigs, but certainly important to the business.  So far, we've kept a minimum of records for our own use, but we want to have easy-to-understand numbers on feed consumption, mortality, sales, and weather in digital formats!  With our combined experience using Excel for data analysis, this should be no problem!

And now, because this post sorely lacks pictures... here's the eggmobile and its hens as the sun rises over the hills of TomKat Ranch!