farm – Skyline Pastures

Big things coming this farming season!

February 7, 2023

by charles.lafferty Silvopasture

February is the month were things start to get into gear for the upcoming farming season. Our
focus this year will be to continue to transition our pig grazing area in our woodlot from thorny
underbrush to a vibrant silvopasture system. Silvopasture is essentially pastureland that incorporates
tree species for a variety of beneficial effects. First the trees provide shade and water retention that the
grasses and animals can make use of. Additionally, many of the tree species we use will be edible so
when we prune the leaves and lower branches the pigs will have additional nutrient-dense forage in
addition to all the goodies they already find in the woods. The pigs have already had a tremendous
positive effect on our woodlot by opening it up, eating or uprooting many undesirable species like wild
rose bushes, and spreading fertility throughout, and we are excited to see how far the beneficial effect
can be taken. We are also taking out many trees (most of which are standing dead Ash killed off by the
Emerald Ash Borer) to open the canopy and dramatically increase the sunlight hitting the forest floor.
This increased sun exposure will allow many grasses and legumes to bloom for the pigs to come through
and eat.

Our silvopasture system will also attract a much more diverse array of insects, birds, and other
animals into our pastures which will all have their own beneficial impacts. As the system improves it will
inevitably augment the already spectacular quality of our pork and eventually, as the grasses become
truly established and perennial, we can run cows in the woods ahead of the pigs to increase the diversity
and quality of our farm even further!

2023 will also be our first year running workshops designed to educate farmers (or would-be
farmers) on additional options for running small-scale profitable operations within their communities.
Not everyone working a traditional job thinks they can raise, process, and sell meat but that is not
necessarily true. While we do have 12 acres here on the farm, we use less than half to run our current
operation and we believe that many others could replicate what we do. If you are interested in coming
out to see how we do what we do, or if you know someone else that may be interested, please have
them email us at skylinepastures@gmail.com or give us a call and we can set up a tour.
As always, thank you for your patronage and of course thank you for reading these updates!

-CJ and Tanya

Death on the Farm

October 2, 2020

by charles.lafferty Chickens Getting Started with the Farm

Last week was a hard week. We lost three animals in the same amount of days. So sad.

It all started on Tuesday night, when CJ went to put the egg laying chickens in the coop. We had been letting them free range around the yard for a while now and have had no issues. They loved wandering around the yard and making dust baths under the trees/bushes. They would follow you around if they thought you had treats. Occasionally the rooster would be a

little jerk and come at me, but I made sure to keep Tank near me to keep me safe from his shenanigans. Betsy the chicken, would get separated from the group often because she was not paying attention, or the other chickens would wander away. It was a little funny because she would start to panic. She would just stand there and scream for her friends. We would have to locate her and guide her back to the group.

The chickens always put themselves to bed at dusk and CJ goes out to close the coop once it is dark. However, that night, he could only find 5 chickens. One was missing. We all grabbed our flashlights and went out as a family to search for whom I was sure was Betsy the lost chicken. There was no sign of her though. We did see a fox run off into the woods. We were worried but could find no sign of her. We locked up the coop and just hoped she was sheltering down in the woods safely somewhere.

CJ saw no sign of her the next morning either. It was only later when I went looking for her again that we discovered the truth. Betsy had been murdered! On my walk, down by where we had seen the fox, I noticed a large swath of feathers. There had been a struggle here and Betsy had fought hard. Walking further down below Cow Cow’s pasture I noticed several more areas of feathers, in sections, quite far apart. One location was but a single feather and a small pool of blood. Oh… poor Betsy! She had wandered off by herself, with no protection, and had lost her life. She had put up one heck of a fight, but she was not strong enough to fight off her predator. It was a sad day.

We assumed it was the fox we saw. However, later that day I was making my rounds and noticed a HUGE vulture hanging out on our fence post. With my chickens very near. Mr. Rooster Gooster (that is his name) was being a lazy bum and not even paying attention! I ran up screaming to scare away the vulture. I will add here…. Those are big birds when they are on down on your level. Holy moly. His wingspan was just as long if not longer than Tank! Thankfully, he flew away. I would have had some serious issues if he had come after me! After saving my chickens lives, I stood there making sure I had all my girls accounted for. Rooster Gooster had been standing by me (with no issues) the whole time. Suddenly, he decides that he is jealous that I came in and did his job for him. He huffed up as big as he could, flapping his wings, and came straight for me! I kicked at him to back off, but he was truly offended this time and proceeded to try and kill me. I ran.

That mini velociraptor was hot on my tail. I ran faster. Tank could not see that I was in danger, and with my brain in full flight mode I forgot about him being outside. I remembered about halfway to the house and screamed for him. He cam running but was too far behind. I ran even faster. I was getting a side stitch. Evidently roosters do not get side stitches as he was never more than two feet behind me. I was close to the back door of the house but then realization hit! I will never get the screen door and the regular door open in time. He is going to catch me while I am trying to get the screen door open and I will die. I spot one of Tank’s toy balls on the ground and swoop down during my run to grab it and throw it at him. Rooster Gooster don’t care; Rooster Gooster ain’t scared of no ball. He never falters. Yep. I am going to die via chicken. Thankfully, right as I reach the screen door, Tank catches up and saves the day. He stands between me and Rooster Gooster daring him to come near his mama. That will teach you, stinking rooster!

We decided to put the chickens in the pasture with jasper and added the electric poultry net back up as well. I do feel bad that they do not get to wander now. I may go out and put some wire up on the gates so they can free range in the pasture with Jasper there to scare away any predators. On a good note, that darn rooster will not be able to come after me again!

Poultry on Pasture — They are now double-protected with the poultry netting and the donkey!

That same night, Lil CJ came down to tell me that he thought his guinea pig (named Rat) was not feeling well. I went up to check and it was obvious something was wrong with him. A quick google search of his symptoms made it clear he had an upper respiratory infection. We carried him into the bathroom, and I gave Alayna permission to take the longest, hottest shower ever while I sat with him in the steam hoping it would help him breath a little easier. It was almost 8pm so there was no option of a vet. I tried to look up anything I could to help him, but the only thing that could help him were antibiotics. We made him as comfortable as we could and let him sleep in the bathroom where it was still warm and steamy. Unfortunately, he did not make it through the night.

The next day I dug a small hole next to two doggie graves from the previous property owner and Lil CJ and I buried Rat the guinea pig. We lined his grave with bricks, just like the others and placed a small piece of split wood on top for added protection. It was very sad.

The Day after that, CJ announced that we had lost the 1^st meat bird from the brooder. We are not sure what happened. You always expect to lose some of the meat birds, but these were doing so well I had hoped all 100 would make it out to the pasture. It was so close too! We had planned to move them out the following week! Poor little thing. All the others were happy and healthy, so I am thankful we only lost one bird.

That is the hard part of owning so many animals. You always do your best to take care of them, but death is a part of life. We must learn to deal with it as best we can and keep moving forward.

RIP Betsy, Rat, and meat bird who had no name because I cannot name 100 birds.

Farm Update for August 18th, 2020

August 18, 2020

by charles.lafferty Cow Getting Started with the Farm

Things are moving right along here on the farm!

Jasper got a little attention here recently. We had the farrier out to take a look at his hooves and he got a nice new pedicure. He was not impressed. We haltered and tied him to the barn.

Jasper Investigating the Camera — Jasper was curious to see what I was doing in his grass.

CJ was at his head while the farrier handled his feet. I stood by feeding Jasper apples to try and calm him down and distract him. I am not sure how often he has had this done in the past. He certainly was not comfortable with it. He did behave well though. While he did not like anyone messing with his feet, no one was donkey-kicked in the face as I suspected would

happen. You could tell he was just trying to get away. I was impressed with the farrier’s complete lack of fear with Jasper. It was interesting to watch and he manhandled my donkey quite well. He would take hold of Jasper’s leg and would not let go of it until the job was done, even if it did cause him a few bloody knuckles.

Overall, Jasper’s hooves just needed a little trimming. He did have a slight case of thrush on one hoof that we are treating with peroxide. We will continue the treatment and keep an eye on it.

Cow Cow is doing well and getting bigger every day! I can tell he is lonely and wants to play so I got him a beach ball to play with. He absolutely loves it! I could not believe it! I have CJ go

Cow from the side — Cow Cow strikes a pose

in with me (just in case) and throw the ball around with him. He pushes it around with his head, gets excited, and starts bucking all around. Admittedly, I normally run away at that point and then go back when he is calmer. It is so cute to watch him play and it makes my heart happy.

We did set up a better system for delivering water to the pastures. We hooked up enough hoses to reach the pastures. This works much better than carrying multiple buckets. This sounds pretty simple but CJ was concerned that the water pressure would not be able to push the water that far and uphill. I think CJ just enjoys working hard. I however, really do not like carrying buckets, so I tested it out to see. Works like a charm and now is the go to method.

I think CJ and I will be setting up an electric fence in the pasture to where we can get in there and do what we need to while still being separated from Cow Cow. He wants to play and even went to the extent of jumping up while CJ was cleaning out his water trough. Cow Cow had both front hooves up on CJ’s shoulders! Not cool, Cow cow! Bad cow. He is getting big enough to push even CJ around. CJ was able to swat him off and no harm done. However, if that had been me, he would have knocked me down and trampled me to death. This is not acceptable.

Due to his loneliness and eagerness to play, we are discussing getting another cow for him. I am not sure how I feel about this. On one hand I know it would do Cow Cow so much good to have company and another animal to play with. On the other hand, this is more work, more feed, more issues, and I am just not sure we are ready to take that on. CJ is of the opinion that two cows would not make any more difference than one. He often reminds me of my “just do it” attitude. I do not think that he realizes how much that particular attitude has changed! I fear soon I will be the victim of a cow gang. We will discuss the issue further before we make a decision. While we have learned a lot, there is still more to learn and I want to do better than our first cow purchase experience.

We have found another resource with a gentleman that plowed our driveway last year. He is also a farmer, and has stated that he could provide us with hay this winter for the cow and donkey. He also has a connection with a Jersey cow farmer and she is willing to come out to our farm. She is happy to give us advice on what type of hay is best for the cow this winter and any other tips that she can give us. Hopefully she can come out next week. I am excited to meet and learn from her!

Chickens in Poultry Net — The Chickens are hunting for bugs.

The egg laying hens are doing well and back to laying eggs regularly now that the temperatures have calmed down. We did lose the one sick hen. We are still not sure what was wrong, but she continued to decline even though she was isolated from the others and had access to food and water. We are down to 5 hens now and the rooster. The rest of them seem to be healthy and doing well thankfully.

We are gearing up for the new meat birds coming in September and already have customers placing orders! So exciting! So proud of CJ and his crazy idea of farming. When he sets his mind to do something, nothing can stop him! He is achieving his dream! I love experiencing this new adventure with him, even if most of it is spent with me running from the cow!

Farm Update for August 2nd, 2020

August 3, 2020

by charles.lafferty Uncategorized

First and foremost, Cow Cow is doing great! He has come so far from where he started! He is eating great, gaining weight, and enjoying the pasture. CJ even taught him how to drink his milk from the bucket instead of nursing with the nipple. This makes his milk feeding much faster, he slurps it up in no time! It is kind of funny watching CJ go in. If he has the milk bucket, Cow Cow will almost knock it out of his hands trying to get to it. CJ has to do a little dance and spin around, blocking Cow Cow before he can set it on the ground for him.

I have not been going inside the pasture because, and I cannot stress this enough, dying via cow does not appeal to me. However, my time has come, and I must overcome my fears. CJ has drill this weekend so it is up to me to care for all of the animals. I went in yesterday with CJ to see how Cow Cow reacted to me and he did fine. Of course, he has gotten used to CJ feeding him, so he mainly harassed him (which is fine by me). I went in to feed him his grain at lunch, but I took Lil CJ with me. He stays outside of the fence though. I do not know what I expect Lil CJ to do should Cow Cow come after me, but at least there will be someone there to hear me scream and alert someone of my demise. Lil CJ being outside the fence distracted Cow Cow long enough for me to sneak by like a ninja, dump the feed, and sneak back out. I had to go in again this evening, but he was further down in the pasture and could not see me. I opted to climb through the fence as it was closer to his feeding area and the sound of the gate opening would have alerted him to my presence. So, I climb in, tiptoe over to his shed, dump the feed, then run back to the fence as fast as I can and climb through trying not to fall or get hung up! I may have done a little ”Woohoo” upon my successful, unnoticed, escape. I can do this, even if I must do it ninja-style!

The egg laying chickens seemed to have taken a break in laying eggs. I think the heat is just getting to them. I can hardly blame them! I would not want to give birth daily in this heat either! CJ tried to get the hens to be fed purely on foraging alone, but this did not seem to go well for them. Even though they have a generous area to free range, it may not be enough to sustain them completely. We will continue to give them feed.

We do have a hen that is not feeling well. We are not sure what is wrong with her, only that she is weak. She can stand up but does not move much and when she does move, you can tell she is struggling. She also just falls out of the coop in the morning when coming out instead of going down the ramp or flying out. She can not get back up in the evening. We moved and isolated her in a pen in the barn for a few days with her own food and water close to her. She improved so we put her back in with the other hens. She quickly became weak again. I am thinking that because the other chickens can move faster, they are eating all the food and she is not getting enough. So, we moved her back to the barn. She seems to be doing well there, so we will keep an eye on her for a bit longer and see how she does.

We have two new additions to the farm! A couple of bunnies and one guinea pig for Lil CJ. We had great success with using bunny droppings at the old house to fertilize our garden, so we plan to do the same here on the farm. Lil CJ has wanted a guinea pig since he was little. We found one for free and can’t exactly use the excuse of no room now that we have the farm! He has a nice cage in Lil CJ’s room and Lil CJ has been taking good care of him.

Jasper the donkey seems to have a hurt leg (or hoof). He was limping the other day and I could see nothing visibly wrong. We called a farrier and made an appointment to have him come look at his hooves and deliver any care necessary since we are not experienced in that area. I also really do not want to get donkey-kicked in the face, so I will leave that to the professionals to handle! He does seem to be walking better now so he may have just sprained his leg or had a rock stuck in his hoof that eventually came loose. We will keep an eye on him until the farrier can arrive on Monday.

Things are moving right along here on the farm!

Cow Update June 19th, 2020

June 19, 2020

by charles.lafferty Cow Getting Started with the Farm

Happy Friday!

Cow Cow is still improving and doing great! We almost had an adventure here today, but thanks to my quick thinking (ok, maybe more like begging God to have mercy), the crisis was averted!

Calf from side — My ribs are no longer showing 🙂

Today brought a slight issue with me being able to check on Cow Cow while also not going into the pasture. Mother Nature decided to bring the rain. It was bound to happen. Typically, I keep his feed bowl right by the fence so I can keep track of how much he is eating and refill easily. I can not do this if it is raining. His food cannot be out in the rain. CJ moved his food bowl into the shelter. This means I must go in there to check on it.

Since his recovery, Cow Cow has much more energy, and for some reason only acts up when I am in the pasture. He also will not listen to me if I try to get him to stop acting up. Basically, he is a toddler. He acts like a little crazy, rambunctious, little demon for Mom, but then acts all super sweet for everyone else. I do not think he is being aggressive. I honestly think that he is trying to play. I am the one who cuddled him, gave him love, and cares for him. Now that he has energy, he just wants me to play with him. While I would love to play with him, I cannot allow him to play in that rambunctious manner. When he is grown, this could be very dangerous. Since (like a normal toddler), he pushes the boundaries, and does not listen very well, I think that it is best that I stay out of the pasture until I can get him to respect me and my personal space. Also, I do not want to die via cow.

So, I came up with a plan. I filled his milk bucket with water and just enough milk replacer to give it flavor but not too much that it would cause any harm through over-feeding. I had

Fencing in need of repair — The gaps in this fence are enough for a calf to fit through

Alayna feed him over the fence as normal, while I ran in the pasture and refilled his food. This worked well, I was able to get in, do my thing, and get out. Once out of the pasture I took over holding the milk bucket for Alayna and she walked back to the house. Cow Cow finished, I took the bucket away, and started walking away. Cow Cow decided to test his boundaries at this point and was pushing THROUGH the fence. To get a better picture of this moment that sent panic throughout me: the fence was in the active process of giving birth to the cow and he was about to be outside of the pasture and running free in the wilderness.

There are many things that went through my mind in this moment. Some I will not type here, because, well… CJ would frown upon it. But the general idea, is that I was about to have a rambunctious cow on the loose. I was going to have to chase this thing all over. I do not know how to catch cows. I do not know how to catch them with a leash, or a rope, much less my bare hands! I panicked for a moment. He had most of his upper body through the fence and I saw the realization on his face. There was that moment where it went from “I am going to try this” to “Hey, this is actually working, I can do this”. He had but take a step and he would be free.

My heart dropped and my mind sent up a prayer, an oh crap, and a here we go, all at once. I puffed up my chest, bent my arms inward (kind of like a body builder flexing), jerked forward in the most threatening manner I possess, stomped, and bellowed in the most aggressive, deep voice that I could muster: “Get back, Back, don’t you even dare, don’t do it, back, go on, GET BACK IN THAT FENCE!”

I must have sounded somewhat threatening, because Alayna came out yelling “What is going on, are you ok?”. Cow Cow stopped and had a look on his face that said, “What the heck was that”. I continued my jerking and bellowing for him to get back, and thankfully it worked! He started to slowly back up. Even if he did look at me like I had gone bonkers. I do not care, it worked!

Lord, have mercy. I thought I was going to have to chase a cow! I can, not, even! However, the crisis was averted, and all was well in the end. I will have to use my newfound threatening skills when I am inside the pasture to see if that works on getting him to respect me. Of course, only if CJ is in there with me, should he not find me threatening enough. HA!

Fixing that fence, has now moved to the highest priority. It shall be done. We will also have to come up with a better way to handle feeding during rainy weather.

As you can see, he has his energy back! He is eating great! He is getting more used to eating the dry feed and eating the amount that he should be eating. He has gained a little weight, I think. I did buy a cattle weight tape so we (I mean CJ) can get an idea of how much he weighs, and we can track how much he is gaining each week. I believe he needs to be gaining at least 2.5lbs/week. He may be a little slower at first due to him trying to catch up to a healthy weight, but we will get him there!

Farm Life

June 17, 2020

by charles.lafferty Getting Started with the Farm

Things are going great here on the farm!

Cow Cow on the move — Cow Cow likes the attention

Cow Cow is doing much better and getting heathier every day! Once his nutrition is under control, we need to move on to other things with him. At some point we will need to bottle break him and get him to drink milk from a pail instead of a nipple. He knows how to drink water from a pail, so you think this would be easy. Wrong. He refuses. If it is milk it must be consumed via nipple. There is no other way in his mind. Set the bucket in front of him and he will just continually search for the nipple. We will also need to get a halter and halter break him. He has a large pasture to roam freely and a shelter to bed in, but there will be times when we may need to get him from the pasture to the barn, or from point A to point B. We have some time before these things need to happen, but it is something I should spend some time researching now.

The broiler chickens are doing great! They are living life out in the pasture in their chicken tractors. They get plenty of fresh grass each day and fresh bugs to eat. They are getting bigger each day. I do not think we will have any problem reaching our weight goals for these guys. Butcher date is approaching soon (June 25^th) and so far, we have only lost 4 birds. This is much less than we expected, especially being first timers! I believe it is typically expected to lose about 10% of your flock before butcher date. So, we must be doing something right! We are getting everything lined up for butcher day and are looking forward to seeing everyone at pick up!

Little CJ has done a great job of helping with the chickens. I am so proud of him! It is quite difficult to move the chicken tractors in that pasture as the grass is taller and much bumpier. The chickens add to that by being lazy. They do not move quite as fast as our larger egg layers. Those chicken tractors are heavy and with the birds not moving as fast when you drag the tractor, it can be very easy to accidently run over a chicken. For these reasons, Dad has been moving the tractors each morning. Then, Little CJ goes out to feed and water all tractors. Little CJ checks on them throughout the day and goes back out at 3pm to feed and water again. He is also in charge of checking on the egg laying birds during the day and collecting eggs. He gets up with Dad around 6-6:30am every morning and does his job without complaint. I cannot express how impressed I am with his commitment to help!

Alayna does not have such an interest in the farm yet. I was hoping she would with Cow Cow, but since he went all crazy that day, I am hesitant to have the kids go in the pasture alone to help with him. He will get bigger one day and I do not want them to feel overly confident and end up getting hurt. I am thinking of having her put her artistic skills to use and design something for us. Even if its just labels for the shrink-wrapped chicken. I want to find a way to include the kids on the farm, but I also want it to be something they enjoy doing and take pride in.

Jasper the donkey is doing great! He is very low maintenance. Grass, water, and an apple treat each evening is about all he needs to stay content. I do try to include the kids when giving treats in the evening. He is a little jealous of the cow. I have been spending quite a bit of time with Cow Cow up at the other pasture, and Jasper has noticed! If I spend too much time over there and do not give any attention to Jasper, he will run to the gate braying as loud as he can, ending in a big ole huff and puff! He demands I come give him some loving and I always oblige. He is a good donkey.

Jasper Smiling — Jasper smiling for the camera

The egg laying birds are doing great as well! The new coop is working great out in Cow Cow’s pasture and they get to free range in a large area each day. Today they rewarded us with 7 eggs! We only have 6 hens! Guess someone was working overtime! HA! The rooster is settled into his routine and is doing well with the girls. He is a talkative fellow and crows quite a bit during the day. They have a poultry net fence that surrounds their area to protect them from predators. It is charged by a solar powered battery that connects to the fence. Cow Cow decided they no longer need this since he was there to protect them and chewed through the battery wire. I have no idea how he managed to do this as the wire was live and would have been shocking him. At least CJ thinks it was Cow Cow, we do not have proof that it was him. Either way, thankfully, CJ can fix the wire so that we do not have to replace the battery. We will have to come up with a way to protect the wire from future chewing though. We may end up just blocking off one end of the pasture so Cow Cow can not get to it. We shall see.

All in all, things are coming together nicely here at the farm! It is not always easy, and things go wrong (almost always for me), but we are taking things one day at a time! We can do this!

Did I say we? I totally meant CJ… I will be in the house not dying via cow.

We needed a new Mobile Coop for our Hens

May 18, 2020

by charles.lafferty Getting Started with the Farm

The chicks are almost ready for the pasture. Their feathers are coming in and they are no longer the fragile little yellow chicks we picked up just a couple weeks ago. They will be divided up amongst the three chicken tractors we built and moved through the pasture under the supervision of Jasper the donkey starting next week. In the meantime, we needed to build another structure for our 6 egg laying hens to live in since they have been living in one of the chicken tractors for the last month.

Side vies of partial mobile coop — Initial framing of the mobile coop.

Enter the mobile chicken coop. We purchased an 8×10 utility trailer and built a chicken coop on top of it so that we can move the birds throughout the pasture allowing them to range out and gather more of their own nutrition. They will not have overhead cover, so hawks could be a problem, but in anticipation of that potential predator, we are picking up a Jersey Giant rooster to watch over them. The mobile coop has plenty of roosting space as well as nesting boxes with outside access which should provide ample space and protection for the hens while allowing us to collect eggs without disturbing them. We just have to install the door and then the coop is ready to go.

The hens have been providing more than enough eggs for our family and we are excited to get them ranging even farther out into our pastures to eat pests and spread fertility!

Nesting Boxes on partially built coop — Here you can see the access point for the nexting boxes.

Chicken Tractor Build

March 20, 2020

by charles.lafferty Uncategorized

With the help of my father, the first chicken tractor has been constructed and put to use. Frankly, my Dad is to thank for the majority of the construction; he built the major components in a modular fashion and then hauled them to my farm for assembly. A friend from our old neighborhood had 6 hens that had begun to eat eggs, so she gave them to us and there you have it.

Chicken Tractor Build — CJ and his Dad building a chicken tractor

Not counting the hours spent at my Dad’s house, assembling the walls and door, bending the conduit for the rafters, and tacking the hardware cloth to the framing, it took 4 hours to put together in my driveway. We are using a modified version of the Suscovich style chicken tractor. Ours has some additional structural support that does not add too much weight, as well as hardware cloth covering the entire structure. After 6 days being moved daily throughout my garden space, we have lost none to predators although the predators are certainly out there as proven by my game camera.

Picking up the chickens was an ordeal since, against my better judgement and Tanya’s advice, I sold my pickup truck and bought a Corolla. I was spending too much in gas (90-mile one-way commute) plus the truck was beginning to show its age mechanically. That being said, I really need to get another truck. We picked up the hens in Tanya’s van using a large dog crate (the wire frame style with a plastic tray for a floor). I expected this to be sufficient for the 1-hour ride back to the farm without damaging the carpet in the van, but I was incorrect. Fortunately for us, our friend loaned us a tarp to place under the dog crate and boy was it needed. Within five minutes of pulling out of their driveway the chickens had pooped all over the crate and the smell was horrendous. We had both sunroofs open, all of the windows down, and were mouth-breathing but it wasn’t enough. The tarp protected the carpet so at least once we got to the farm cleanup was easy, but we let the van air out for a few hours anyway.

The test chickens are all hens and are actively laying eggs, which was not the original intent for these chicken tractors so I had to add in some nest boxes with the hope that they would lay the eggs in the boxes for easy collection. The chickens have other plans though. They use the nesting boxes as roosts and lay their eggs on the ground. Not a big deal I guess but I will have to build them a proper roost to see if that will fix the issue. So far, they have not eaten any of their eggs.

Completed Chicken Tractor — The Chicken Tractor is ready for its new residents

The Time is Near!

March 9, 2020

by charles.lafferty Getting Started with the Farm

We are getting closer and closer to the chicks arriving on May 4th. The chicken tractors have been built and are on the property waiting to be set up! They were built in sections for easy delivery. We still have some time to put them together as the chicks will be in the brooder in the barn when they first arrive. We should start preparing the barn soon and setting up the brooder as well.

We did check out the Oley Valley Feed Mill on chicken feed pricing and the gentleman there was very helpful and took the time to explain different feeds and what would be the best feed for our broiler chickens. I must admit… I did not expect there to be much to chicken feed! There were so many types and variables to consider: protein amounts, pellets or crumbles, types for specific breeds, organic/non-GMO or no, how early to buy the feed. It was much more informative than I though it would be. I am glad that I tagged along and was able to learn more about the feed. The gentleman helped us find the info we needed and offered to follow up with us the following Monday. I am sure we will be ordering from that specific store. The customer service was outstanding.

On a different note, I believe I have been replaced as the official main chicken farmer here at Skyline Pastures… BEFORE I even began! That’s not going to look good on my resume! It seems the founder of Skyline Pastures (Charles Lafferty) has went behind my back and found a much younger able-bodied applicant and offered the position to this young whipper snapper! This young man goes by Little CJ! My own son has stolen my job! HA!

I found this out as I was talking to Lil CJ about the chicken tractors. I told him that they are quite heavy to pick up and move. I advised that If this becomes a problem for me (I have multiple herniated disks in my neck and the strain of repetitive lifting could potentially cause issues) that I may need him to help me. Lil CJ got very offended suddenly and exclaimed that Dad had offered him the job of taking care of the chickens and paying him to do so. Well, well, the plot has thickened!

All jest aside, I am so glad that Lil CJ has taken an interest in helping on the farm! I will happily give him the job! This is exactly what we had hoped for, for our children to be a hands-on part of this journey. The deal is that he will get up each day, move the tractors to fresh pasture, feed, and water them. He will be paid for his time with the exception that he has to put half of his earnings into a savings account. I will of course be there with him each morning to supervise and provide help if needed.

This does dampen my hopes of becoming super buff, from lifting chicken tractors (providing my neck, didn’t try to kill me first). I will just have to find other ways around the farm to become super buff that does not threaten to make my spinal cord explode.

There are concerns from others that Lil CJ will not want to get up or do the job properly. He is only 13 after all. Teenagers are not exactly known for their willingness to get up early or work ethic. However, CJ has never minded getting up early. He often asks to be woken well before he needs to be up, to allow him more free time. He has done this since he was in elementary school. He knows that there are things that must be done in the morning and if he wants more time, then he must get up earlier. I do not think he will have an issue with getting up early and I will be there to supervise that he is doing the job properly.

This should not interfere with school at all as he does cyber school at home and classes do not start until 8:30am. He will have plenty of time to take care of the chickens before classes. He does not have to worry about getting ready or catching a bus. It works out quite well for him. He will only have to take care of chickens and school for a month as classes end for summer on June 5th. We do not plan on having chickens during the fall when school begins again.

I think this is going to work out well, and again, I am thrilled that he has the desire to help! Instead of being replaced, I will think of it as being promoted from Farm Laborer to Farm Manager. Does that mean I get a raise??? Not likely! I guess I will just have to be happy that death via chickens is not imminent. (I do not have to worry about Lil CJ dying via chicken… he is much younger, has no fear, and can run faster. HA!).

Getting Ready

January 9, 2020

by charles.lafferty Uncategorized

Things are happening!

Kids with Wheelbarrow

We ordered the chickens and they will arrive May 1^st! So exciting! I am a little nervous as well, seeing as how I ran from a duck in the past. (He was a very aggressive duck.) How am I going to control all these chickens? Are they going to attack me? Does it hurt when a chicken pecks you? I should google that one!

We will be doing the chicken tractor method, so wile they will be free to roam inside, they will be contained at least. I do have a plan…. I will make them all love me from the moment they arrive. I will be Chicken Mama! Chickens don’t attack their mama, right?

My husband is probably concerned about a great deal of things, while I am here googling “how NOT to die from chickens”. HA! We all have our priorities, and NOT getting attacked by chickens is my highest one.

My husband’s father is building the chicken tractors and that is well underway. He will deliver them, and we will set them up here on the farm once they are complete. The Idea is that the tractors will be moved to a new patch of grass every day, so that the animals are always exposed to fresh pasture. I am a little concerned about this as well since I will be the one moving these structures daily. I am a small petite girl. I don’t expect the tractors to be small and petite. My husband assures me that I will have no problem moving the tractors. I hope his faith in me is well placed! One thing about me though, is that I am very determined! Where there is a will, there is a way! I will get it done, even if I have to train my chickens to help me! Heave chickens, HEAVE!!!

Here on the farm we have been getting things done as well. Mostly splitting and stacking firewood, lots and lots of firewood. The gentleman who owned this farm prior to us, left a large amount of wood that needs to be split and stacked. Huge piles of it, lying around various parts of the property. A gracious friend let us borrow his wood splitter and it has been a blessing! I will say that it is hard work. Everyone is tired of stacking wood. Well, everyone except my husband… he seems to enjoy it. The kids are tired, I am tired. We do love the wood stove, however, so the kids and I try to remember that as we are stacking the millionth piece of wood. We turned the last stacking event into a game. Dad hauls the split wood from one location to the kids and I to stack. We try to hurry up and stack it all before he returns with the next batch. If we are successful, we sit down and act bored, as if we have been waiting for ever, asking dad what took so long when he arrives. Which in turn makes dad try to load faster to see if he can beat us. This makes for a very effective day and the job gets done quite quickly with minimal complaining from the children… and myself. My husband never complains, no matter how hard the work is, no matter how visibly tired he is, he just keeps on going till the job is done. He is amazing!

Here is to getting things done one day at a time! Soon the farm will be up and running!