The Sale Barn

First, I must apologize - Since I did not take a camera with me to Veedersburg, the true picture of this experience was not captured for your viewing pleasure. So, you will have to be appeased with 1,000 words, instead! We took a cage of 6 Buff hens and 2 Black Star hens. We also took the last 2 doe kids to sell. It was an overcast, but warm evening. It would later turn very cold and pour rain. Sam and Elizabeth, a young(er) married couple, actually WANTED to accompany us down to the sale. They are both misplaced farm kids, homesick for the country.
When we arrived at the sale barn, the place was busy. They normally have an outside sale going on at the same time as the animal sale inside, but because of the forecast of rain, all these items were inside the barn with the animals. The outside items are usually farm related , and there are usually lots of small bales of hay - for the horsey people, mostly, though goat and poultry owners buy a bit of this hay, too. So there were two auctions going on in the same building at the same time, with two loud and verbose auctioneers on two different P.A. systems. I'm sure I was more annoyed by this than most of the auction attendees, but fortunately, all the clucking, honking, quacking, gobbling, and baa-ing (is that the sound that goats make?) drowned out most of the second auctioneer.
We walked through the items in the "outside" sale - sometimes you can find something of use - nesting boxes, an 6-foot oak board, fence posts, and the like, but sometimes there are really odd things, like a warming box from a caterer or vibrating recliners, and this night, it was stuff that looked like someone had cleaned out his barn...and his garage...and his basement. So, we skipped that sale and went into the arena for the "critter" sale. We had walked through the cages and boxes and stalls before the auction started and it was pretty much the norm - no donkeys or peacocks this time. Of course there were hundreds of chickens and rabbits, quite a few goats, and some odd (i.e. strange) sheep. There were a few turkeys that showed up late, but we didn't stay long enough to see them sell.
After 20 lots sold, we led our two does into the ring. These "girls" are an Alpine/Boer cross, which is a milking breed crossed with a meat breed. I'm pleased to report that they sold for $70 each - and as I later learned, the woman who bought them had no intention of milking OR eating these two - she wanted them for PETS! The chickens went for $4 each, the 6 Buffs to one buyer, the 2 Black Stars to another. However, because of the commission of 35% on small animals at this sale, I only made $20 on the chickens! The commission on the larger animals is state-regulated at only 10%. I guess our government does work - sometimes!
While at the sale, Elizabeth fell in love with a baby bunny - it really was sweet and cute (calico) and soft - "and she will love him and pet him and name him George". She ended up buying him when she found out that he was also missing part of a hind leg (poor baby). On a sad note, after spending $3 for the bunny, $15 for a cage (with tray), $7 on feed, $2 on a waterer, and $2 for rabbit treats, "Skippy" died on Monday morning. I guess Elizabeth will be wanting to go to the next sale in the spring - though by that time she will have her own (human) baby. We'll see how she feels then before we make any plans to go down to Veedersburg again!

The Hard Truth

Today, I put the last of four 50-pound bags of feed into the chickens' feeders. Each bag of this premium feed costs $8.75. It is an excellent feed, full of corn and bean meal, trace minerals, no hormones or antibiotics. It is designed to MAKE EGGS! But my chickens did not get the memo. I warned them, told them I would have to see some improvement if they wanted to keep their happy home. They have successfully devoured 200 pounds of feed in the span of 10 days and I have been rewarded with a total of 9 eggs! Now those are really EXPENSIVE eggs! So, tonight, when the chicken coop settles into evening, I will be visiting these unproductive birds and putting the oldest ones (they have little red bands around their "ankles") into plastic poultry cages, and tomorrow I will be taking them down to Veedersburg, a small-town sale barn . Do not grieve for these birds - I'm sure their new owners will love them just as much as I did. ;)
I will report on the happenings of the last sale of year in my next post. Bye-Bye Birdie!

Reap What Ye Sow(ed)

As you (few) who look to this blog occationally, thinking that by some miracle, or incessant nagging, a new post might have appeared in this space...TA-DAH! Here it is! apologies for the long span between posts, I really have no excuse.
In truth, it has been so long since my first post, I had actually forgotten how to get back to my own blog, and had trouble figuring out how to post a new entry. All this was in addition to the writer's block I was suffering. I know I claimed that I would record the mundane as well as the miraculous here, but even I was bored with the subject matter available to me.
Actually, there have been a few miracles - we managed to plant, maintain, and harvest a decent crop of corn and soybeans...No, that's not the miracle...the miracle is that grain prices are higher at harvest time than they have been all the rest of this year! There is no explaining it in human terms, so it is a miracle, I guess. These prices do not mean we will be solvent - just that we will be able to farm another year - whoopee!
Of course, there were a few other happenings of note over the summer and autumn here on the farm. We had a copious amount of rain which was good and bad for our hay crop - it grew like crazy, but there were never 5 days in a row without rain during which we could cut, dry, rake, and bale the wonderful crop. In fact, we only made two cuttings (normally, we take three) and ended up with more hay than we ever had in one season!
Speaking of hay, we had a strange happening concerning one of those creatures who devour our hay - at an alarming rate, I might add! A neighbor driving by our pasture noticed a heifer who looked as if she might be calving. Cows will generally wander away from the rest of the herd to do this, but ours invariably choose a spot where all the neighbors can witness the fun. Our neighbor was kind enough to let us know about the heifer's difficulties and I rode the ATV out to check on her.
Yes, the calf was coming, but was "stuck" about half-way out. In fact, I was pretty sure the calf was already dead, it's tongue out and eyes glazed. But the calf had to come out. All I had with me was a small 3-foot strap, which I looped around the calf's front legs and then pulled. Sometimes, if you're very lucky, the cow will be laboring hard enough that she will stay down and let you assist her - almost as if she appreciated your help. Well, not this cow! In fairness, this was the first birth for this heifer, so she couldn't be expected to cooperate as fully as a more experienced cow.
Anyway, when the heifer got up, I lost my hold on the strap (and the calf) and thought I had a much more complex situation to deal with now - coaxing the agitated animal up into our barn, corralling her into the chute, applying the mechanical calf-puller, etc. But instead, this heifer was annoyed at the "projection" coming out of her backside and proceeded to turn in circles, around and around, much like a dog chasing its own tail.
As I stood there with my mouth agape, she made five or six revolutions and finally, with the aid of centrifugal force, succeeded in dropping her calf. And perhaps it was the unusual delivery, but the calf was revived ( obviously, my first assessment was faulty) and within the hour was standing next to her goofy mother, nursing and enjoying her mother's attentions (i.e. licking). How's that for miraculous?