Two "Longest Days" with Significant Events

 

Two of the longest days of year at the Genuine Faux Farm are the ones where we take the turkeys to "the Park" and then to "Freezer Camp" or their "Forever Homes."  And, I am happy to report that both farmers survived those two days in 2022.

These two days were technically Wednesday and Thursday this past week.  But, in reality, it all started on Tuesday night.

Why Tuesday night?  Well, the preparation for how things must go on Wednesday begins then.  For example, we knew the turkeys had to stay in their shelter on Wednesday rather than allowing them back out on pasture.  That meant we had to bring in waterers and make sure they were full and make sure the room was ready for birds that were used to being outdoors.

Yes, the turkeys spent each night in this room.  So, it's not like they were unfamiliar with it.  But, we were certain they weren't going to be terribly pleased with the next day's situation - so we took time to make things as comfortable for them as we were able.

This year, we had a nice little extra activity added to our "take the turkeys to the Park" day.  It came in the form of a trip for an appointment in Waterloo at 6:45 AM for a "medical thing."  No, not an emergency.  Let's just say that when it was scheduled there were likely limited choices AND when you look at this sort of thing three weeks before the event, it doesn't SEEM like it will be a big deal.

But, when you find yourself staring one of the "longest days" in the eyes and you're driving to get to a medical appointment, you have to doubt the wisdom of choosing that day.  After all, this felt like it deserved to be a "significant event" all by itself for Wednesday.  And, if we can help it, we like to spread our "significant events" out a little bit.

Guess we failed this time around.

The other significant event was the trip to the Park with the turkeys.  That event starts earlier in the day.  The truck gets cleaned out and straw gets put into the bed.  The electric net fencing and the charger and grounding rod get removed.  A ramp is located and moved to the building entrace and the truck (Chumley) is moved to that entrance.  There is most certainly more to it than that - but I think you begin to get the point.

Meanwhile, Rob and Tammy both did their level best to work a full day at each of their jobs - Tammy at Wartburg and Rob at PAN.

The actual trip to the Park is actually two trips.  Our flock this year was 67 birds - too many to put into the truck at one time.  So, we load up a batch of about half of the birds.  Drive to Greene from Tripoli (about 45 minutes).  Unload that group.  Drive back to the farm.  Load up the second half... rinse and repeat...

The kicker is that the birds are less stressed by this process (and it is easier for the farmers) if we wait until nightfall to begin.  That's not so terribly late this time of year - but we still found ourselves getting home from the last trip after 11 PM.  

That's just day one.

Day two requires a fair amount of clean up.  The straw has to come out of the truck and then the back of the truck needs to be cleaned and sanitized.  By this time of year, things are a bit chillier so the process is a bit less enjoyable than it is when we take broiler chickens in.  

Well, ok.  To be honest, this process is usually a bit less than enjoyable anyway.  But, it has to be done. Of course, we also have to prepare ourselves by finding all of the equipment we need to load, transport and deliver the birds.  

This year, thankfully, was easier for us than it has been in years past.  We have been moving towards raising turkeys for a couple of "larger accounts."  This year, each of those accounts took thirty birds each, leaving us with only seven.  So, if some of you are wondering why we did not promote the turkeys this year - that's why.  We've been executing some of the changes to the farm and we're continuing to evolve.  One of the many changes we have been making have to do with reducing the labor requirement while still keeping our hand in farming.  

Dealing with trying to sell sixty some turkeys to sixty some different buyers is just one of those things.  It is so much easier to take thirty one place and thirty to another place.  One of the buyers is Local Foods Connection - a non profit that arranged to purchase food from Iowa's farmers and distributes them to families that need that food.  That's a pretty good motivator for us to continue to raise a flock.

Well - there you have it.  We survived two of our longest days at the Genuine Faux Farm in 2022.  I even had enough energy to write a little bit about it at the end of the second day.

The real question is this - was I awake enough to make any sense?  I think it might be time to catch some zzz's.