Colonel's Blog, Earthdate 24 March 2023...
Hey Y'all!
Happy Fast Jet Friday--2nd & 3rd pic!! Really rainy rounds is the alliteration for the day. We donned our rain gear for rounds this morning, top pic, but we still cut things a bit short when the lightning was close and the thunder loud. We've had 1.6" of rain since last night when I dumped the gauge and we are forecast to get another 2" or so. The creek is up, but not outside its banks...yet. If we get the rain in the forecast, I expect it will be out of its banks by evening. Only one hog ventured out of their hut for breakfast this morning. The layer chickens are all huddled under their chick-shaws but the ducks and geese are living their best lives. The lambs were under their shelter but, like all sheep, they will never pass up the opportunity for a meal and came running for their alfalfa pellets and hay. We let the milk calves be with Happy and Betty overnight. We decided it was better for Happy and Betty to be able to get under cover and get less milk this morning than to lock them outside and get an additional 2 gallons of milk. Update on the beef chicks: We moved one from the big brooder into the hospital brooder yesterday afternoon and moved two from the hospital brooder to the big brooder this morning. We are using the ability to stand and move around freely as the criteria to be in the big brooder. We are encouraged to move a couple out of the hospital brooder, since it means that our intervention is working, at least for a couple of them. The 4th pic is a corner of the big brooder this morning. The bottom pic is the layer chicks in their brooder. We are not seeing any of the issues in the layer chicks that the beef chicks are exhibiting even though they are eating the same food. Maybe its the 4 days of age difference, maybe we started supplementing them early enough, or maybe their nutritional needs are just that much less. No matter the reason, we are happy they all seem completely healthy. We candled the eggs in the incubator the other day. At day 5 in the incubator, you can shine a light into the egg and are able to see if things are starting to happen. If the egg is fertilized and growing, there is an obvious dark spot with spidery veins visible around the spot. Of the 36 eggs we put into incubators, 33 are developing. With two separate data points, I am comfortable saying we have a 90+% fertilization rate. We removed the 3 eggs that are not developing to keep them from spoiling inside the incubators. Yesterday we made a couple pounds of cheese and worked on YouTube. Today we will do the same as well as cleaning the garage and prepping for the market next weekend.
In order to progress in my career as an officer in the USAF, I was required to get a Master's degree. By the time I was a Lt Col, I had completed 3 Master's programs. My final degree is a Master's of Philosophy in Military Strategy from the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies. My family enjoys watching me when they ask about current events as I squirm my way through what I can discuss and what I can't, what things are certain and what are my opinions, what of my thoughts are driven by facts and what are driven by emotions. They get quite a kick out of the mental gymnastics visible on my face before I can answer the simplest of questions. Military planners are trained to identify the Most Likely and the Most Dangerous Enemy Courses of Action. This training almost always guides my discussion of current events. It normally sounds like "well...probably ___ is going to happen, but the worst case scenario is ___." Shelley asked me about the news this morning where there is an obvious tit-for-tat between the United States and Iran in Syria. A suspected Iranian drone killed a US worker and injured 5 US soldiers and a contractor. The US President then authorized a series of precision strikes in Syria targeting facilities used by Iran's Revolutionary Guard, reportedly killing eight Iranians. Following those strikes, Iranian proxy forces launched about 7 rockets targeting a US base in Syria, with no casualties initially reported. Shelley's question, "What's going on with Iran?" Commence mental gymnastics. My initial thoughts once I did a bit of research on exactly what is known: the most likely situation is that since the last volley of rockets from Iran didn't cause any casualties, the US will allow Iran that "response" so that they can save face. Following our strikes killing Iranians, they had to retaliate in some manner or they would be viewed as weak by the international community, an obviously precarious position, especially in that neck of the world. The US will most likely condemn the rocket attack but will not escalate the situation further. Calm by weekend is my thought of the Most Likely situation. That said, with the interconnected storms brewing all over the globe, I'm unable to bound the Most Dangerous scenario--a position that makes me uncomfortable as I'm usually able to see the boundaries of a given situation. Oh well, back to trying to keep beef chicks alive and walking.
We published a few things to YouTube yesterday. On one, we are trying to learn how to use the different editing software offerings out there and made a Short with a lot of 'pizazz.' Both Rebekah and Makaylah (oldest and youngest daughters) gave us two thumbs down, way down. Their feedback, not bad editing...just not who you guys are; don't think it works with the people with which you are trying to form a relationship; there's no animation/flashy/blingy stuff in farming! [Just read this to Makaylah and she said "It's TRUE!"].
The Short they hate is of us moving the hog troughs to a new spot in prep for the rains:
Check out our YouTube Channel and let us know what you think!
Local Farm Report for 23 March 2023:
Harvest:
32 Chicken eggs
7 Duck eggs
1 Goose egg
5 Gallons of milk
Sales:
3 Gallons of milk
3 Dozen chicken eggs
Cheers! Psycho & Shelley
Kids these days…harrumph!😎