Saturday, November 1, 2008

One Down, One To Go


I think I am as pooped as pooped can be, right now. We spent our day butchering about 90 broilers. This is a family event with all of the extended family pitching in. In all, I'd say, there were 15 of us working our tails off. It sure is nice to have a mechanical picker, or we'd still be out there with lamplight.

Our biggest customer received the brunt of these birds (65-70) and are pleased. We look forward to working with them next year (Lord willing). But what a long day, we finished at 5:00 pm.

It is good to have the family together working like that. It is a great way to fellowship and enjoy each other's company. However, this task of butchering remains one of my least favorite things to do. Yet, the feeling that is received from all the hard work and the payoff at the end, seems to make it worth it. By next spring, we will be looking forward to the next batch of birds. Thank you to our customers. You are the reason we do this. Food fit to eat in the mouths of the local community is a blessing to us.

We now have around 40 broilers left to go, here on our farm. With the birds on the farms of the extended family, we should top 90 to butcher, once again. I have to admit that I will be glad for a break for a few months. Maybe I can get to all those fat rabbits that have been needing to be butchered.

So, in two weeks we will do it for the last time this year, whew! New ideas are springing to life in my mind, already. Ways to improve the feed delivery in the chicken tractors and minor repairs, things like that. I did manage to eek out a few minutes to look at my brother-in-law's chicken tractor and "scammed" some ideas.
One batch down, one to go. I'm going to bed and am seriously going to enjoy that extra hour of sleep. Don't forget to turn your clocks back. Thanks for stopping by.

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