[Squashmania]

This style saves space, collects 165 gallons, barrels are dark to prevent algae growth, and take advantage of the gravity for the spigot at the bottom.

[Squashmania]

Seems the more expensive they are, the longer they last. I also like storing mine in larger loops layed flat, instead of hanging, to prevent linking. I scared a couple friends who thought I had a hibernating nest of snakes in the back of the shed🤣

[Squashmania]

Congratulations on a new calf. I had smaller magic at my house. Muscovies.

[Squashmania]

I am new to Muscovies. They are two days old, and I am probably being a new neurotic owner. I am looking for advice and encouragement. I have chickens and quail, and “accidentally”raised a few mallards and released them last year.(another story for another time).

I have nearly every predator east of the Mississippi, besides bear and bobcat. How do I keep them safe?

I have a quarter acre pond, and I understand they can roost in trees, but we have snapping turtles and owls. I can keep them out of the pond until they are big enough that a bass can’t swallow them whole. “Operation Training Wheels” photo below, teaching the mallards about the pond.

I had two hens killed and/or carried off by hawks a few weeks ago. Any input would help.

I am reading a ton of forums. According to back yard chickens, they are nearly impossible to hatch. I hatched 7/8. I have one with wry neck, but leg spraddle in the same chick corrected itself in the first 24 hours.

[Squashmania]

If you can talk with your PCP to duplicate the medications dispensed by JASE medical, you can save a ton of $$. ($45 vs $300).

[Squashmania]

The following was my response to this proposal. Thank you for the link. I didn’t read the proposal completely before responding, however the core of my message is congruent.

Thank you for posting the link. Buckle up. I paraphrased Joel Salatin at one point.

I am a private small midwestern grower, and this goal is ludicrous, exorbitant, untenable, and cumbersome. I do NOT agree with this proposal. DO NOT PLACE THIS into law. DO NOT have a “trial group”. Please DO read on. It places additional burden of time, cost, and accounting squarely on the farmer, and undue additional stress on the animals, not to mention the dreaded “red tape” effect, which slows the productivity of everything it touches.

There are relied-upon methods to account for one’s stock; ear tags, brands, segregated groups; the list goes on. These previously listed identifiers can all be seen by the naked eye. Howr many shysters will claim that their stock is “e-tagged”, when they are not? There are just too many opportunities for obfuscation and misleading.

This proposed identification would put undue strain on an already fragile supply chain. What happens when it is the allotted time to “chip” your stock, but the chips are on backorder? How often has THAT happened to you in the last two years? It took my neighbors 22 weeks to get a couch. Really. And these are electronic devices, which can break, cease to function and be counterfeited, never mind having (and not losing) a correctly functioning reader. Would this require a USDA annual inspection and seal? Any implanted device carries the inherent risk of concomitant infection.

In order to accurately position such a device the animal would need to be “handled”, which, when in large groups, requires infrastructure, multiple people multiple hours to coordinate, with typically heavy machinery. If you think this is “no big deal”, see what it takes for a bison rancher to place ear tags and give a vet exam. Have you ever had a bison burger? It is totally delicious.

Now on the other end of the spectrum, when would every rabbit produced also be required to have this tagging method? They are a livestock species that is farmed and consumed. The idea of, “where we go one, we go all”, is ringing in my head, and the slippery slope that is being proposed is very dangerous. Livestock is different than a treasured pedigreed dog that could be lost.

My sister breeds pedigreed dogs. They are “tagged” prior to sale. It is not a small process. Besides placement of this chip, there is an electronic “back end” component to this. She is placed as primary and the purchaser is placed as secondary on the chip memory, which requires computer programming. All these steps have a cost; money and time. This is where a cost-benefit analysis for a litter of 8 puppies makes sense, but for a herd of hundreds, or even thousands, is ludicrous.

Once processed, would these “e-tags” be removed and recycled? Would they be placed back into circulation? Yet another step and more costs, which sounds like an impending problem for the leather industry.

Do not underestimate the “average” farmer’s intelligence in comprehending the behemoth that this law would create.

This idea has been adopted by people who are disconnected from their food sources, and have no idea the volume of animal stock that is required to feed such a large populace. I wonder if any person drafting this proposal has been to a CAFO lot? I highly doubt it. I wonder if any farmer was part of drafting this proposal? I also very much doubt that.

I will reiterate that I do NOT support this proposal.

[Squashmania]

I bounced this off a bison farmer I follow, and he said he used “Eid’s” periodically and liked them. This I felt was short sighted and potentially detrimental down the line. I will state that he used to be a teacher, so thinking along the party line probably feels ok to him.

[Squashmania]

Last week Ohio got quite a drenching rain. Most central Ohio creeks were swollen beyond the banks considerably. Flood warnings, etc. on the news and radio. I was hoping that,”the solution to the pollution is dilution”, and not that the bolus of rainfall accelerated toxin travel, or stirred any up that had settled out, to send it further downstream. Ohio doesn’t have mudslides, major earthquakes, significant hurricane events, or forest fires, but we apparently excel in rough infrastructure.

[Squashmania]

I have a boatload of seeds, so if you have some dreams, just let me know, and I can send your way. That would be so exciting!!

[Squashmania]

I have an old over the fire cooking grate that I put across the gorilla cart, and soft compost with a shovel/hoe system. It works well enough. Wood shavings, quail poop, leaves, food scraps, and “liquid human element”. I have been so irrationally excited for the compost I am making. I have recently discovered biochar (I made a discussion about it somewhere on here) and I am adding that to my compost as well.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by  Squashmania.

[Squashmania]

So is Charlotte pregnant? When they are about to farrow they get “doughnuts” around their nipples. That is the best insight I have. Best of luck!

[Squashmania]

These with the overhead airspace are best for hot area for shade plus ventilation. Also, you can feed hay through the top of the cage, that way the bunny has to stretch up and develop back muscle to get their hay, and with it in this position, it is less likely to be rained on. Good on ya!

[Squashmania]

Love the weather split lists. I can’t make biochar in the rain and I hate sewing on nice days. There is still NO good day to string trim the pond banks😂

[Squashmania]

The Dollar General near me is drawing down on stock to get ready to install….produce. Not just the refrigerated and frozen, but fruits and veggies. The stores will be closing to implement the change for approximately a week or less, I believe.

[Squashmania]

I am interested in Ohio!