Hot and Dry into July

We had a fabulous 4th of July with a visit to Elgin Texas for the parade (1/2 block long) and a BBQ later with our kids Melissa, Rob and of course.....Mr. Andy. Our friends Jennifer and Harry from slowfoodfarm.com came by. They dropped a few lady friends off for our bull Gunslinger. Everyone is getting along fabulous so far, and one evening Ward and I noticed GunSlinger had setup table with a white tablecloth, wine glasses and a nice candle. Hope it works out for him! We've started the cows on rotational grazing. The pasture is so poor from drought that they're not staying very long in one place. If we could just get a little more rain it would surely help.

We got another batch of broiler chicks in. We don't even have to put a light on them it's so hot!

Frank the LGD has been upping his work schedule. He sleeps with the chickens and spends all but about 4 hours of the day with them also. He's still a little small to actually guard, but he's inside the electric fence with them and so far hasn't harmed anyone accidently. Ward and I have also started tearing out drywall in one of the outbuildings that we are hoping to build out as a processing facility for the broilers. It's so stifling hot to work up there with protective clothing and masks...so the work has been slow.

We've finished our organic certification paperwork. What a challenge! If you like filling out 1000's of forms, please apply for USDA Organic Certification. The good news, the paperwork is complete, approved and has been sent to the regional office for an appointment with the inspector. The inspector will come out and take soil samples, feather samples and go through all the procedures we have set in place. Wish us luck!!!

A few laying hens have fell victim to a coyote attack several days in a row. Predators can't get inside the electric fence or close to the coop, but the hens fly over it and wander around as you can see in the picture. When I go to feed them they trail behind me. You should hear them all softly clucking at the same, yet with so many, the sound is so loud ward and I can't talk to each other. During the day, we don't have a problem. It is the early morning hour right before true sunrise that they are vulnerable. Predators from the night are still out, and the hens are anxious to get an early start on breakfast. So they wander into the woods, and far out into the pasture. Ward and I have camped out several early mornings to avert the attacks. We're trying to break the pattern, and of course we will take Wiley out if we see him. Actually...we did see him one day...but he was too close to the neighbors house to get a shot off.