You must put a lot of work into blogging this much!…

Kevin,
Yep, I’ve been busy. Hard to find much time to write anymore. Like I said in my recent post, hopefully things are settling down a bit. I miss this time of year and the new birds we always tried to get. Ducks, giuneas, chicks, and even pheasants and quail. I raised several hundred when I was in FFA.
My grandparents built chickenhouses in the 60s and were out by the 70s. The big guy is squezing out the little guy everywhere you turn in this country. You just about have to be tied to a corporation to farm anymore. I wonder where it’s all heading?
Thanks for the comment!

Lella,
Good to know you’re still reading. I’ve been so busy lately I havent had much time to post or respond to comments. Weather has been in the 70s a few days, but like your friend will tell you lots of rain. It’s pouring now. Thanks for the comment and check back soon!

I heard from a friend who lives in Kentucky that they had rain just pouring a few days ago.

Wishing you the best..

L

I haven’t stopped by and checked up on what you’ve been up to, looks like a lot!

I didn’t understand that you were getting grown pullets. I thought they were shipping you chicks, that you would raise on site. A lot tighter bio-security control when you do that (only two farms involved that way; yours and the hatchery). The way they did it you get at least two, if not three or more farms involved, plus the risk of shipping from farm to farm. I’ve only had chicks a few times so far in the mail I’ve hauled. (The weather here was too nasty for most people to even think of ordering thier chicks.) Sunday it looked like there were quite a few starting to be moved, probably this month will be the “boom” month. I know I was planning on ordering some chicks for delivery in late March/early April. (Less time that way with them in the basement/garage under a brooder lamp.)

The company I work for has four Dodge 3/4/one ton Cummins diesel pick ups for service/owner use. All of them are 4×4, and have the auto tranny. Only one of them is a standard cab, the rest are extended cabs. The owner’s wife’s truck regularly pulls a 28 foot fifth wheel camper, and 4 horse slant load trailer with a 16 foot dressing room. She hasn’t had any trouble with it. His has a cab high topper on it, and he uses it for hauling tools, parts and pulling various bumper hitch trailers. His son’s has a tool box in the bed, and other than some towing of small trailers and pulling out stuck semi’s and straight trucks it has had mostly highway miles racked up on it. His truck had some problems, but they were related to the fuel pump and injector system. The mechanic’s truck has a tool box in the bed, and it has been used about like the son’s truck, but it hasn’t had any problems. Overall, I am impressed by the Dodge pick ups. Mine is a 1990 D150 (1/2 ton) that I bought used off of my boss. It had over 100k on it when I got it in 1997, today I estimate the mileage at over 300k! (No major engine work, just one tranny overhaul!) It’s rusted through and needs some work to get it past the inspection for license renewal, but I am going to keep it awhile longer. You know how it goes, hard to justify payments on something when what you have doesn’t have any.

You are partly right about the past situation with the chicken producers. Only thing was it was actually during the depression of the 1930’s when small poultry producers got thier foothold in the business. Then in the 1980’s it was more the situation of the contract grower system that took them out. If they weren’t under contract to a large company they got squeezed out as the number of independent processors went out of business. (When I was in high school, the 1970’s, there were a number of small growers in this area, and there were a few small independent processors still around. By the middle of the 1980’s most of them were out of business. Today there are a few independent processors, but they are concentrated in niche markets; organic/free range or kosher poultry.) Basically the same thing has happened in the pork production business. Our local newspaper ran an article late last year about the last of the independent pork producers in our county shipping out his last load of hogs. Between market prices, production costs and the contract grower system the independent producer has been virtually squeezed out. (Now to pile on top of it we’ve got animal/premises ID, DNR/EPA requirements, planning and zoning restrictions, high land prices and some time in the future heightened bio-security requirements. The small and beginning farmer is virtually unable to start in the business.)

Sorry if I rambled on a bit. Hope everyone is doing well, and I understand about those early hours. (I get up at 1 AM to head back to work M-Sat, and get to “sleep in” until 4 AM every other Sun, and then get one Sunday off!) Well, just keep at it!
Kevin

I\’m new to your blog and found it because I just wrote a blog post stating that I couldn\’t find any other blogs written by farmers .

So, I\’m impressed with how clean and white your new chickens are but I understand your not being a 100% sold. The not being allowed to have any other birds is pretty crappy. As you can see if you check out our website, we\’re on the other end of the farming world than you but one one level, I can see why you put up with the parts of your chicken operation that you don\’t agree with. Dollars are a good motivator when you\’re trying to pay the bills! (I know cause we\’re deadly short in the $$ department!)

Anyway, good luck finding your peace with your farming path. And enjoy the birds.

Cheers,
Colleen

sunnyacres,
Don’t know why it went out here so many years ago. Could have had to do with disease. There was a chickenhouse on every corner. I think the government supported the soldiers returning from WWII with them somehow. There also was a processing plant just up the road in Burnside. It left at the same time. There has been some discussion that the processing plant got into trouble with the EPA when they impounded the lake. Also heard it had to do with feed conversion. Every chicken farmer had pigs too and they say a lot of the farmers fed the chicken feed to the pigs thus the feed coversion got way out of hand. Thanks for the comment!

John,
Not afraid of the Duramax, just have a bad taste in my mouth from GM because of the 6.5. GM plain did 6.5 owners wrong all around. I’ve read accouts of brand new 6.5s broken down by the side of the road on the way home from the dealership. GM really dropped the ball with the 6.5 and they kept it too long! At it’s best it is an overheating panting dog. It has a useable range of less than 1000 rpm. Outside that range it won’t pull a wet noodle. If I go with a Ford it will be an F150 with a gas engine and a older F350 7.3 powerstroke. I really wanted a 3/4 ton truck so I geuss Dodge is still out in the automatic category. Aisin makes good stuff, but I’m not familiar with them ever being used in a real heavy duty application. The Allison is used in big trucks all the time. Fire trucks, buses, construction applications, etc.. Funny you should mention Toyota. They make a really nice half ton truck. How long ago did Dodge start using Aisin? I’m shopping a used truck. Don’t really like any of the new ones except Toyota. Thanks for wishing me luck with the chickens. I’ll need it! Thanks for the comment and check back soon!

I wouldn\’t be afraid of the GM Diesel. It isn\’t the same as the old 6.5L. It came from Isuzu which is owned by GM. The smaller Isuzu diesels are known for their relibility used in refrigerated units. The Allison Transmission is a very good transmission also. I work for a company which supplys parts for them and from what I have seen GM has done a better job on this diesel program. Ford is having issues with Navistar which concerns me. Navistar quit shipping engines as result of a despute with Ford over warrenty claims last year. A Judge forced Navistar to fufill their contract. Not good! Dodge is using a 6 speed automatic in some of their 3500,4500 and 5500 Cummins Diesel Trucks. It is a Aisin Seiki Transmission, also used by Toyota. It is a world class transmission same as Allison is. Dodge definitly needed it. It is a toss up between the Dodge Cummins and the GM Duramax. Good Luck with the Chickens also! I think you have done Great Job!

John

John

Tom

Zach,
Machinist huh, that’s respectable. My neighbor and good friend James is a retired union machinist. I think my dad has done everything. He was in the machine shop at Toyota for a while.
The only thing I’m not liking about the chickens so far is getting up at 4:20 to feed them. I kind of don’t like the fact that I’m not allowed to own any other birds either. I miss the spring chick and duck order we usually placed. With grocery prices rising I can see 2 things happening. One, smart folks will raise their own as much as possible and two, corporate agriculture will follow manufacturing overseas. My prediction is they will stay here long enough to raise the prices and then set sail on the promise to lower prices which will never happen. We are rapidly becoming a lower class nation while others are moving up in stature. It’s really sad to see. Thanks for the comment and check back soon!

paintsmh,
15,262 chickens to be exact. Hopefully I can find time to work on the my space page. Thanks for the comment!