So many broken things...
First, Larry drove the tractor over a board with a nail in it, and popped a tire. Thankfully it was one of those smaller front tires, and not a humongous back tire. But still. Popped tire. Unusable tractor. So we can't move the chicken truck, can't unload hay... just stuff. That can't be done because we have to fix a tire. But with all this rain, the tractor isn't going anywhere anyhow.
Also some broken fence. We tore down a section of fence that last year's steers cribbed, between the orchard and the winter chicken zone. It has not been put up. This year's steers learned the chicken zone fence is weak, and pushed it over, getting into the orchard and knocking over the meat bird feed a few times yesterday. So yeah, some fence work is in our future too.
And looks like some west end fencing has been cribbed over by horses. No evidence shows that this is necessarily the issue, but two of our pups have been getting out. We need to fix this, too. Some hot wire may be in order.
Larry, in his quest to win a gold medal at a ju jitsu competition, seems to have now hurt his neck. He thinks maybe another herniated disc, which would bring that count up to 3.
Not all broken things are bad; this weekend, we broke our all-time chicken processing record. 256 birds in ONE day, all before 2:30PM! Larry says this is a record we should not try to break. However, we could not do it without the plethora of volunteers that come out to help us,and the crews that our customers bring!
We also have broken hearts. Over this guy. This is Squeaky. This is another hard decision we made. He's a good little dude, he's overcome so many obstacles. But no one can overcome death. I've said this before, it is rare that death is a gentle, pass away in your sleep activity. Most animals get sick, injured, or endure the pain of failing joints or organs. They suffer at the end. And realistically, as a neutered male, Squeaky serves no purpose here except to eat. It's tough, he'll be missed, but this is the reality of raising food. Shanny picked out a frame, so we can put a picture of him in it. So if my eyes are red on Wednesday, this is why.
