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....

 

[canesisters]

About an inch of snow last night. So far... if I'm remembering right... this is 'a lot' of snow for us. 2 events almost back to back. We have had storms that dropped more than 2'!!!! One back in the late 80's & 1 since I've been here... early 2000's maybe. February is usually our wettest winter month, so that might get interesting.

I got up this morning to find water on the floor along a wall in the utility room. The main bathroom is on the otherside of the wall - hot water tank & toilet litterally on the other side of the wall. The cabinet with the hot water is dry - walls, floor & little tray it sits in. The floor around the toilet is too. I put a towel down around the toilet & one down where the water was in the utility room. That's going to be an After Coffee problem to solve. As long as it's not the hot water, I've still got the guest bath if I have to turn off the water to the toilet until a replacement can be arraigned.

Eva is doing fine in the cold. Ice chunks frozen in the winter woolies along her back. It's a shame she's so totally un-house train-able.

I'm with you @Mini Horses - I think I'm going to be encouraging any broodies this spring instead of buying chicks. Maybe even breaking out the incubator & taking my first try at that. Christopher Owen (my roster) is VERY "attentive" to his ladies so my only issue should be finding & stopping the egg eater(s). Or maybe building a roll-out nest box .

Time for yoga. Yesterday kicked my rear end.

 

[canesisters]

There has been zero water on the floor...? The towel around the toilet is dry, the floor in the hot water heater cabinet is full of its usual floofy dust bunnies.

Now I'm trying to convince myself that this is what happened:
It's a small room, 4' or 5' wide. The main door is on one wall & the water was on the floor at the opposite wall. I had come inside using the back door & didn't realize that I had left the door in the utility room cracked all night.
Is it possible that it was simply condensation????? It WAS COLD that night & there was fine snow blowing all night. It was roughly 1 or maybe 2 cups of water.
I'm going to leave the towels down a few more days. Can't hurt & if I'm wrong about the door thing they might yet show me a leak.

 

[canesisters]

Wed night was rough.
One of the creel guys called out so my trainee had to go to the creel all night. The shift before us had left the Beamer in really rough shape. It took me nearly 3hrs to get it back all pretty like I like it.
But the rough part was because of my coffee addiction. The bathroom near my station was out of order. The other one on my floor is at the far end of the building - a 5min round trip. Too long for me to step away except for scheduled breaks when the machine stops.
No potty..... no coffee.

I had to stay almost 45mins late this AM to turn in my "statement" about an issue one of the engineers is having with my supervisor.
There was a plumber's truck in the parking lot when I left.
I am SOOOoooo looking forward to enjoying a lot of Hot coffee tonight.

Also slipping this in so I can look back on it later.
Tues I was working with the Beamer operator who trained me. He is considered the BEST at it & has a rep for being an absolute perfectionist. He just casually tossed out the comment that he can always tell when his shift follows mine because the Beamer is always in so much better shape.
Just about made me cry.