Senile Texas Aggie - comic relief for the rest of you

[farmerjan]

@Senile_Texas_Aggie ; I am glad that others are chiming in to help you. Like @Mike CHS and @rachels.haven have said, your posts show that you do try to research everything before you take too big a leap. It's not that I think you can't do livestock, but that you will get too far in debt for something that you decide you really don't like. That is why I suggested you start small with some chickens and see if you even like daily livestock chores. Some just don't. Nothing bad about admitting that taking care of animals just isn't your thing.

I think that having the fields limed, and doing half this fall/winter and the other half next year is going to be more beneficial to both the land and your pocketbook. When the time comes to renegotiate the lease for the hay, stipulate that he has to fertilize and you will do the lime as soil tests indicate. He is getting all the hay so it is in his best interest to fertilize it well if the ph is where the hay will benefit from the fertilizer. And try to figure out a way for him to be able to use manure of some sort if that is available to him.....you and your wife take a couple days off to go visiting someone when he is going to apply it. That would most likely be early in the spring before there is much growth, or right after the first cutting to give a boost to the 2nd cutting.

There are all sorts of cost share programs especially if you are going to fence livestock out of creeks/ponds etc. Go to the Extension service.... a good agent will tell you what is available. There was money for both fencing and drilling wells back about 6-8 years ago as the place we rent the owner did it a couple years before he passed away . The soil conservation group might also be one to try.... I will try to remember to ask him who exactly to contact.... but our county extension agent keeps my son up on all that stuff. I would be like you and trying to figure out who to go to if left to my own devices.

Wouldn't you know that the tractor place would not get the right count of the specific filters.... happens here too. DS gets pretty bent out of shape and then has to send me to get the right ones..... OH the JOYS of being a farmer!!!!

 

[Bruce]

to buy ready to lay pullets at $10.00 each

Things are cheap in VA! They go for twice that here. 50 pounds of feed is $10. You can raise a lot of chicks on 50 pounds I did the whole starter-grower-layer feed thing with my initial 12 but every chick after that bailed on the starter as soon as they could get into the "big girls'" feeder full of layer so I don't bother with grower anymore. I've not had any problems with the pullets eating layer well before they were at POL.

I agree that chickens are the easiest farm animal around, other than maybe alpacas WHEN they keep using their outdoor poop pile. Annoying when they decide to poop and pee inside. Both types of critters take me about the same amount of "effort" daily. Throw some feed at them twice a day and make sure they have water. Not like horses, sheep, goats kept inside at night where you need to clean their sleeping areas with frequency. IF I have laying pullets in the winter I have to go out a few times a day to collect or the eggs freeze. The boys need their feet trimmed a few times a year and then there is that shearing thing of course. I've not had to deworm anything, alpacas can't have copper so no scheduled boluses or other "medications".

Maybe I've just been lucky, sure didn't grow up raising farm animals.

 

[farmerjan]

I think the pullets I saw a couple weeks ago at the poultry swap were $12.00 this year. Used to buy them for $7.50. In fact, when I first started with the sex-link layers down here, I was buying 50-100 started pullets for $5.00 each....

 

[Mini Horses]

Here they go in the $7-12 range at auctions and swaps, age matters. On line some want a bit more...usually $15-25. If specialty & purebreds, yes, $20+. I wouldn't go with any chicks for a first go with chickens, too many "watch fors" in their care. Get some at least a couple months old....POL is better. Plus use a reputable seller. If they see a greenhorn, you may get a 2 yr old tossed at you saying it's a young one. Yep, people do that! Many were once used care salesmen.

I'm with @farmerjan, serious animal raising has to be learned and loved. Animals can sense your feelings. You need to sense theirs. It can be magic or a travesty. And, it's almost always dirty.....not for clean-freaks or germaphobes. Costs? Yep, be ready. Not like a pet rock. Remember those??

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

All,

Thought I'd bring you up-to-date on what's happened here in the past week or so. On Thursday my Beautiful Gal's next older sister Treasa and her husband James came for a visit. Wednesday was James' 70th birthday, so we went to celebrate at El Penjamo, the local Mexican food place. On Friday we all went to Mt Magazine State Park lodge, as they were wanted to see the fall colors. Unfortunately the leaves had not really started turning colors; will probably do so in a couple more weeks. We had lunch at the restaurant there. The air was clear and fresh feeling. We could see our house from the lodge using binoculars. On Saturday, James and I worked on an A-frame for a lawn swing that my Beautiful Gal has wanted for some time. Here is a picture of the result, positioned on the lawn awaiting a swing:



On Monday after they left, I started work on a work table that my Beautiful Gal also has wanted but for whatever reason I didn't know she wanted. I finished it up yesterday and today after getting back from a dermatology appointment I moved the table with the tractor and put it on the porch.

Table frame:

Complete table on the porch:

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[Bruce]

I'm a bit disappointed, not one word about everything that went wrong?? Could it be there were no disasters?

 

[farmerjan]

Well, @Bruce , I am "tickled pink" that there were no reportable disasters!!!!! Hope you had a great visit with the family.

 

[thistlebloom]

You sure have a pretty view. That will be a nice place to sit and swing after a long workday. Nice table too, looks handy.

 

[Baymule]

I didn't know that you had such skills! You do a lot better job with wood than you do with PVC pipe.

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

I'm a bit disappointed, not one word about everything that went wrong?? Could it be there were no disasters?

Can you believe it? I did not break any tools, no broken drill bits or blades, no cut off fingers or toes, only a few saw dust flakes in the eyes (I don't have any safety glasses). It's almost like an STA imposter was building the table.

Well, @Bruce , I am "tickled pink" that there were no reportable disasters!!!!! Hope you had a great visit with the family.

Yes, it was good to see them.

You sure have a pretty view. That will be a nice place to sit and swing after a long workday. Nice table too, looks handy.

We love sitting on the porch in the morning, which faces east toward Mt. Magazine to the left, the Flood mountain range to the right, and the Petit Jean river valley in between. It certainly is peaceful. So far, my wife is happy with the table.

I didn't know that you had such skills! You do a lot better job with wood than you do with PVC pipe.

Boy, ain't THAT the truth!

Today I burned 4 brush piles, but other than that nothing exciting happened.

Senile Texas Aggie