Selling at Market

I headed back to the farm for the weekend to help sell at the market.  I spent the entire summer raising 100 broilers and now it was time to sell the 400 lbs of chicken at the farmers market.  We decided to sell the chickens in cut up sections since no other farmer at the market sold chicken this way.  Many people were surprised that we now offered chicken cuts because we were know as the "beef people"  Overall it was an exciting weekend.  People at the market talked to me about my internship and college and what my future plans were after graduating.   We had gotten back feedback from one person so far and they loved the chicken, and they are looking forward to trying other cuts.

The egg layers

My first chicken sale

400 lbs of chicken

Week Seven.. Chicken Move Out

Wow time is flying by, it is week seven already of my internship. We started out by moving the broiler birds out of the barn and onto the pasture.  We found these chickens running to the new patch of pasture and it makes moving them more enjoyable because they have such a positive reaction.  This breed of broilers is a very aggressive forager and we find ourselves moving the chicken tractor multiple times a day.  We ordered another 50 meat birds and should be picking them up this week.  This time we ordered Cornish giants.  I placed another set of eggs (41 to be exact) in the incubator on 7/19. Hopefully we have a better success rate with this batch.  Greg and I built a permanent brooder so that no predators can go after the newly hatched chicks and we started building the second chicken tractor for the Cornish giants.

      When I returned this week, two more calves had a slight fever due to a naval infection.  This week Greg taught me how to draw medicine with a syringe and how to properly inject the calf by checking to make sure you don't pierce a vein before injecting the medication.  On one of the days we where giving the calves shots I had to hold one calve by myself as Greg ran to the medicine cabinet to grab something he had forgotten.  As Greg came back the calf was startled and tried to ran away as I was holding it.  The calf managed to knock me onto the ground causing me to land in a pile of cow manure, but I didn't let go and held onto it until Greg finished giving it a needle. All we could do was laugh.  I showed him who was boss.

Week Four & Five-To Hot to Handle

I will start by letting you know that I have combined my last two weeks into one blog post. Due to the temperatures in New Jersey continuing to stay in the upper 90's and as high as the low 100's, there have been no new projects started at the farm. However, we were able to get the chicken project up and running this week. We purchased our first batch of 51 Red Broilers from Moyer's Hatchery located in Quakertown, Pennsylvania. The farm also has a new part time worker name Lily. She had visited the farm through a Girl Scout trip and she became interested in the chickens. Lily and I are working together to tend to the chickens, which includes feeding and supplying water for both the meat birds and the egg layers as well as collecting eggs. She also is helping to set up the brooder for the Red Broiler chicks.
     The first cutting of hay is done and all that is left to do is unload the remaining hay wagons. We unloaded the last two hay wagons this week. With the heat wave, the cows are spending most of their time in the barn so we are now going through a lot more straw then normal, which is used for the bedding. We managed to purchase three wagons of straw from a local farmer so that we have enough to make it through the summer. On the adventurous side, I learned how to drive an ATV this week. I had to spray week killer along the fence lines and the sprayer is attached to the ATV. It was pretty cool.
     So far we have had five calves born. A few of them have had temperatures as high as 105 degrees. After consulting with the vet, we found out that the fever was caused by a naval infection. They decided to give them shots of penicillin, but after a few days the temperature was not dropping. So Jeanmarie and Greg had to try a different medication. They will be administering the new medication for the next few days.

Day Old Chicks

With temps. in the upper 90's the cows sit in the shade most of the day

Chicks at a week old

Week Three...New Additions

     This week was the start of the summer season and the 90+ temperatures.  For the most part it was an easy going week because of the heat. The cows where not having it with the heat and they spent most of their time laying inside the barn. When this happens more hay is needed for bedding.
  I started incubating chicken eggs on 6/22, the farms current egg layers are getting old and will need to be replaced with new pullets (A hen under a year old). Most of the eggs will hatch mixed breeds in 21 days.  Thirteen of the eggs in the incubator belong to the farms Easter Egger hen that roams the farm with a rooster of the same breed.
     The cows are due to have calves in 2-4 weeks, but we had our first calf born on 6/21 when the temperature was almost 100 degrees out. When a cow is ready to have there calf the first thing they do is try to move far away from the herd. This cow was doing just that by laying out in the pasture in the hot sun while the rest of the herd was laying in the barn. We knew she was ready and we had to start timing when we saw contractions. If a cow is in labor for over two hours then that usually means there is something wrong and a vet should be called. Jeanmarie called the vet to inform him of the cow going into labor and he was in the area so he stopped by. We placed the cow in the squeeze chute, and the vet pulled the baby calf out.  This was my first time seeing a live animal birth.  It was an exciting moment and the feeling you get when the baby calf was born was indescribable.  It is important that the mother cow nurses within six hours. The baby calf receives colostrum from the mothers milk, which contains antibodies that protects newborns from disease.
     I finished the week out doing some general farm cleaning, weed whacking along fence lines, and started building the second chicken tractor. Also we have a new piece of equipment on the farm, a round baler. Now baling hay can get done twice as fast.

Easter Egger nest

While laying down fresh hay this cow decided to lay on top of the entire pile.  She is known as the "Diva" of the herd

First calf of the summer

New round baler

Happy Cows

Week One at Tullamore Farms

     This is my first week interning at Tullamore Farms, a grass-fed beef and pasture chicken egg farm located in Stockton, NJ.  I am working with Jeanmarie, the farm owner and Greg, a farm hand; they are both amazing people with a lot of knowledge to share.   The farm has about 147 acres of hay and 35 acres in cow pasture. I learned so many things on just the first day that I don’t even know where to start.  I will begin with the morning chores, which take place every morning.  Before starting anything, you need to make sure you unplug the electric fence which detains the cattle .  After that’s done, we have to check on the chickens and unlock their cage so that they can walk around on fresh pasture.  After that, it is time to move the cows to fresh pasture simply by removing the temporary fencing. It is very important to check on all of the cows to make sure they are all healthy.  Some things to check for are extremely runny noses as well as any cow that strays far from the herd.  The cows are comical; they know what time you are coming, and if you are taking too long to walk out to the pasture and move them, the entire herd starts mooing.  After moving the cows we check to make sure they have plenty of straw bedding and enough hay to eat and fresh water.

Coop for the Egg Layers

Beginning To Build the Chicken Tractor

      Now that the morning chores are done, the rest of the day is spent doing general work around the farm.  The past few days Greg and I started building chicken tractors.  My project for this internship is to raise pasture meat birds from start to finish.  So far, I have been building chicken tractors, but I will also be assisting in planning, ordering, and selling at the farmers market.  

     On a side note, Greg started teaching me how to drive a manual farm truck.  It is a little difficult, but I will eventually be able to drive it with practice.
     Greg and Jeanmarie are constantly checking the weather, it’s a very important to know if rain is coming.  They have about 147 acres of hay and they have to cut it and bale, and they can only do that when there is no rain.
     I finished the week out visiting the farmers market.  I walked around and looked at the other vendors, and got a feel for the customer base.  There were a lot of organic and grass fed farmers at the market.

     Greg and Jeanmarie are anxious to start cutting and baling hay so hopefully I will be experiencing that next week