Ups and Downs on the Farm

This is the time of year when I bring home stacks of books from the library. These books are mostly related to gardening and raising livestock. I brush up on my knowledge just enough to be dangerous. I can only read so much before I have to go out and try things for myself. Thus, it is also the time of year when I start hatching new schemes. I will only say that this year’s schemes concern livestock.

Meanwhile, in the chicken coop…I must confess that I jumped to hasty conclusions about egg-laying being directly related to their feed. The first two days after we switched to commercial layer crumbles, they layed 3 and 4 eggs. However, in the last month that they’ve eaten layer feed, they have averaged 1 egg every other day.

I’m trying to increase their lighting, leaving the coop light on every other night to see if that helps. So far, it has only made them grumpy. Anyway, we’re still working on that problem.

Sis, our resident border collie, has made great strides since I picked up a book on dog problems. After reading the chapter on handling shy dogs, we started doing a little leash training and have seen a positive difference in her behavior. Even my little 3-year-old cousin Jaycee noticed the improvement when she visited the farm last week.

“Her not shy anymore,” she exclaimed as she petted Sis.

On a sad note, we lost our amazing barn cat, Grandma. She was certainly one of the best mousers we ever had. She went above and beyond the call this winter when she killed a large rat. She will be greatly missed by all, except the mice.

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