Canesister's 2025 journal - Bushel & Peck Farm

[canesisters]

I went in for a "7am to noon-ish" training on A shift.
The crew before then started a roll JUST before the end of their shift..... so we had to finish it before we could start the changeover. 'A shift's' creel tech didn't show so I ended up running part of the creel until the roll finished around 10.
We worked on the changeover until 5. I ended up teaching the 2 Beamer trainees who were there several small things. By the time we FINALLY had the first roll of the new product running it was almost 6.
I decided that, at that point, they were going to have to throw me out.... even if I didn't have anything to do, I was getting that last hour. What a long, pointless day.

It's snowing here. Roads covered in a through dusting by the time I got home. Eva was too. I always worry when it's cold & wet. She always does fine.
There was one storm a few years ago that was just a wreck of sleet, rain, more sleet. Everything was covered in ice & she was shivering slightly. I brought her in the barn for a day & put my old horse blanket on her over night.

 

[Mini Horses]

Good cow momma!

That was a long day...hope you're home tonight.
Snowing here now.

 

[Baymule]

What a day!

 

[Ridgetop]

Agree, don't take it home... maybe take home ONLY what you are going to make for the next shift .... another thing to keep a log about... besides the sleeping on the job......Tell him that you will keep it all in your locker but since it is alloted to each shift, you should not have to ask for it like a kindergartener asking for a pass to go to the bathroom...

Absolutely agree! Use double Ziploc bags.

Probably need to move this to a separate thread.... but just to let everyone know that Ga has posted on their Ag info (like our VDACS).... there has been one (or maybe it was 2) cases of HPAI discovered in a flock and ALL poultry related activities (shows, swaps, etc) have been cancelled in the state at this time... Flock has been depopulated and there is a quarantine for a certain area around the affected flock.
Maybe someone can move these couple of posts to a separate thread....

I wondered if they would be cancelling the poultry shows when the first case showed up.

 

[farmerjan]

So far, no panicking in Va as far as the shows and other poultry events. The flock where the HPAI was found was a commercial broiler flock. Kymberly is not a panic person, and is monitoring the situation. Yes, I think it is possible that things are going to get shut down, but this may be contained to the one flock, and so, too soon to go over the top at this point. It could change tomorrow... But we will see.
When I talked to her at the Va poultry breeders show in Nov, I asked about the connection to the dairy situation, and she said that they were monitoring the herds and that it had not become a problem here. There were some restrictions in place on the movement of dairy cattle. Unfortunately, there is no way to stop the wild waterfowl that seems to be where the disease lives, and does not seem to affect them. It also passes to wild birds with seemingly little effect. The commercial flocks that have been infected are all confined flocks and the disease has been introduced from the "outside"... but realize, there are hundreds of ways for it to get inside.. feed trucks, workers that go from outside to inside... a bit of the disease can get carried inside in many ways totally by accident.
It seems that it may have infected one flock through the water... they get water from several ponds developed on the farm for water, and it is piped through the system to water the birds... so some filtering is not stopping it.
This may wind up being something that will have to run it's course to some extent... trying to "contain and slow" the exposures, and for some animals to have to be disposed of, as others start to build up an immunity... no one is sure. But this is the same "influenza"... with different numbers, that affects hogs and humans. (H5N1 I think it is in humans)
Like "covid" and several other viruses... it is here to stay. There are several "new" diseases that are affecting cattle now.. and we are learning to try to live with and "manage" them....