Friday, March 16, 2007

It's Raining!

Rain and just in the nick of time. We have had about one half inch of rain since last night.

If I listen close I swear I can hear the grass grow.

I have a load of supplemental feed coming today for the ewes to get them through lambing and lactation.

But there should be no need to supply forage, and a good thing to, since one thing I have in common with everyone else around here is that I am out of hay.

4 comments:

Alan said...

We got a big three tenths of an inch out of that one. Better than nothing I suppose, but seeing as how the Weather Service gave us a 100% chance of rain Friday and Friday night I was hoping for more.

We roasted one of your birds for supper tonight and the family pronounced it excellent. We'll be buying more when you run your next batch.

.....Alan.

Anonymous said...

Jim and Alan -

Can the palate tell good breeding vs. a mutted-out "yard bird"?

Since my start-up flock was a bunch of freebies, I have all sorts - including giant a giant buff orpington, down to under-sized silver laced wyandotte crosses.

Once I go through these birds (which will definitely take a while) I'll be looking to get more from local breeders or one of the bigger mail-order hatcheries.

But the main question is, I suppose, have either of you ever had a bird that just wasn't even worth the trouble to cook?

p.s. I do know, at least, that there is a difference between broiler birds and egg-layers. But we can pretty much go ahead and eat them all, right?

Unknown said...

Hi,

If you did decide to cook a gnarly old rooster I'd do it in the crock pot. Other than that I think all chickens are fit to eat. They are better when they are young. If I get a straight run batch of some sort of egg laying breed birds, like happens when you hatch them yourself, I like to eat the cockerels at about 12 weeks or less. Great for fried chicken. Very little white meat of course.

Jim

Goat Mom said...

I am out of my own hay, too, but thankfully the grass is greening up some. The horses can get by, but not the goats. I just bought a few bales from the feed store at $4.50 a square bale. (40 pounds) I heard that since I bought that, square bales went for $7.00 a bale at a local hay auction... Yikes. Here's hoping for a great growing season this summer.