Join Farmer Andrea for a Morning on the Farm

Refilling fresh water, a morning wellness check, and plenty of happy & healthy chickens.

Good morning from the farm,

I thought you might like a peek at what a Friday morning looks like here. Truth is, it doesn’t matter much what day of the week it is, chores don’t take weekends off!

By 10:20am, our farmhands Chuck and Jason had just wrapped up the chicken chores. Today it was just the two of them tending two brooders full of chicks (around 6,300 total), and moving, feeding, and checking 16 schooners on pasture (about 8,500 more chickens)!

Follow the leader! Getting the fencing finished for these ewes to move to fresh pasture today.

Once everyone was cared for, they got back to work on the sheep perimeter fence. The wire is up, but there are still T-posts and hot wire to finish before it’s complete. Before heading out around 2pm, they’ll circle back for a water and wellness check on all the birds to hold them over until evening chores tonight.

My morning started a little later than usual, just before 6:30am.From there, we moved the ewe lambs to fresh pasture. Deer had knocked the hot line off the insulators, but once it was fixed, the fence was hot again. With water and minerals in place, they were happily exploring their new paddock.

Moving to fresh pasture - Caramel’s steady presence keeps the herd at ease.

Next stop: the heifers. We set extra posts and double-checked the hot wire before moving them to fresh pasture. Apple, Sullivan, and Carmela (the “mentors”) led the way. Most put their heads down to eat right away. A few tested the fence, learned their lesson, and went back to grazing. Calm and peaceful.

The ram lambs live a half-mile away and rotate pastures every two to three days. They moved yesterday, so today I just checked their fence and water, then set up their next paddock. After this, I’ll check the heifers once more, check on the guardian dogs, and make sure the chicks in the brooders are warm and well-ventilated. Then, it’s my turn on the fencing project, making sure dogs can’t slip under gates and running hot wire along the top!