Critter Update

 

 Little Toothless

Little bigger.  I love how he still stands and looks at me in the goofiest positions.

He is getting a lot bigger now, almost as big as Mindy standing behind him.  Sharlotte, behind her, isn't much smaller than him now, and they're a year apart.  It's amazing how much faster those beef calves grow.

The only one who looks remotely pregnant at the moment is miss Nelly- but she fooled me last year too.  Toothless may have been too small to get the job done last fall.

From the drive, towards the road, across the perennial bed.  We've got about as much snow this year as we did in 2008. 

Mama is looking pretty plump these days, but not showing any signs of an impending explosion just yet.  Which is really good since we need to get the milk room cleaned up and a layer of fresh hay in before kids arrive.

Sheila is nearly as big as Mama.  I don't think penning her in with the turkeys last fall did the trick.  Of course there were a couple of escapes at the time, but I think maybe we let her out a little too soon.  We were late selling Shaq, and if she is pregnant, he's probably the daddy.

We're in no rush yet- it's still pretty chilly outside.  They can all keep those babies warm and cozy in their bellies for another month or so.

I am looking at ordering poultry for spring.  Husband has had a number of people at work asking about chickens, so I think I have been talked into raising a few.  I called the abbatoir and it all sounds pretty simple and straight forward.  I am worried about making enough sales to make it worthwhile, so I've decided to cut back on my turkey order this year.  If we end up with a lot of chickens in the freezer I don't want to be wondering where I'm going to put my turkeys!

That said- the turkey pen repairs never happened last year, so it's still on the to do list for this spring.  Except- it's not going to be a turkey pen.  The meat bird's- Frey's Dual Purpose- will get my turkey pen.  Or at least part of it.  The plan is to reinforce the outside fence, nailing logs along the bottom all the way around.  Then dividing the pen in half-ish.  Another line of higher fence posts are to be put in about 10 feet in from the outside fence, and top rails to sit on both.  Poles to go across from the lower fence to the higher fence.  Confused?  Yeah- the boys get that glazed look in their eyes when I try to explain it to them too.  Basically- we'll be adding a roof to a very large pen.

The part I haven't figured out yet is housing.  The turkey shack is pretty well centered in the pen.  I don't think it's large enough to divide in half, and the location will make it hard to build a second shack.  My current thought is maybe building three or four smaller shacks in the corners, which would then be suitable for nesting- if I ever get to the point of overwintering the turkeys to breed the following spring.

Ah, spring.  I'm tired already.