The Old Folks Home

[microchick]

Congratulations, @penny1960. Beautiful baby!

 

[CapricornFarm]

I just heard that there are stores in Iowa that are out of meat. Seriously.

I think we are all going to be hatching and eating a lot of chickens before this is all over.

I guess I had better perfect my technique!

 

[getaclue]

The commercial farms are saying they can't get enough workers to process the livestock. I'm not entirely convinced. I suspect that they did away with a lot of the processing part of their operation(s), because they were expecting to ship the animals to China for processing. Now they don't have the equipment, to do it, and it would take way too many people to do it the old fashioned way.

A thought crossed my mind. Maybe not a good one, BUT.... What if they contacted the Amish, and Mennonite communities across the country, and began shipping all those chickens to them for processing. Maybe they couldn't handle all of them, but I'm sure they could make a big enough dent to make a difference, so our food supply chain doesn't break down. It could be a great deal for all concerned.

 

[Beer can]

@microchick when planting carrots I only covered them with a minimum of soil. This is how my Mom instructed me to plant carrots and beets.

Same here and spinach lettuce radishes. I built a small wood box with hardware cloth add a scoop of dirt and sprinkle it over the seeds. Helps keep the stones/rocks/weeds out also.

 

[Beer can]

That is the way I plant them too, Sour. Makes me wonder if birds haven't been at them or voles. They both steal enough scratch grain that the chickens leave behind to put me in the poor house.

Chipmunks 🐿 are stealing my pea seeds out of the ground as they sprout never had a prob with them and peas before. Played heck with them a couple yrs ago with Indian corn and sunflowers.

 

[microchick]

A thought crossed my mind. Maybe not a good one, BUT.... What if they contacted the Amish, and Mennonite communities across the country, and began shipping all those chickens to them for processing. Maybe they couldn't handle all of them, but I'm sure they could make a big enough dent to make a difference, so our food supply chain doesn't break down. It could be a great deal for all concerned.

We live in the middle of an Amish community. Yes, they do the processing of their own livestock, be it Deer, poultry, hogs or beef. The big conflict I see with having them do the processing on their own farms is that they are not going to conform to practices that are required by the FDA/USDA in order to assure safe handling of the meat to prevent crossover contamination with bacteria during the processing of the meat.

They march to the beat of their own drummer that way. We have been around them when they are processing their own poultry and it's pretty much the way any back yard processing of meat is done on butchering day, meaning there is an assembly line sort of production going on.

I even wonder if they would submit to testing and if positive but asymptomatic would conform to quarantine requirements.

DH and I were talking about this last night and discussed how this shortage of workers could be dealt with. What if the plants closed for cleaning, then all the employees were tested and those positive were required to stay home and their empty slots on the production lines were filled with new hires or others (here the Amish community would fit in nicely because they are schooled in how to butcher)? The fill ins would have to be tested and have negative results before they could be put on the production lines.

There would only be a short pause in the supply chain instead of a lengthy shut down.

I read about all these animals being euthanized and get ill, not because animals get slaughtered in order for us to eat, it's the waste of all that meat that is really needed in the general public.

 

[ronott1]

I went out later and got down on my hands and knees to look. Finally found one lonely carrot up....dang. If his buddies don't join him by the end of the week that's it for him. I'm planting bush beans in their place.

I do have a few carrot seeds left. I think I'm going to try putting them into one of the containers I have. Can't do any worse than the ones in the ground have done!

I hope you can get them going!

 

[ronott1]

I just heard that there are stores in Iowa that are out of meat. Seriously.

I think we are all going to be hatching and eating a lot of chickens before this is all over.

I saw an article that said our meat selection would be limited by the weekend.

Luckily I have some meat in the freezer!

 

[ronott1]

We live in the middle of an Amish community. Yes, they do the processing of their own livestock, be it Deer, poultry, hogs or beef. The big conflict I see with having them do the processing on their own farms is that they are not going to conform to practices that are required by the FDA/USDA in order to assure safe handling of the meat to prevent crossover contamination with bacteria during the processing of the meat.

They march to the beat of their own drummer that way. We have been around them when they are processing their own poultry and it's pretty much the way any back yard processing of meat is done on butchering day, meaning there is an assembly line sort of production going on.

I even wonder if they would submit to testing and if positive but asymptomatic would conform to quarantine requirements.

DH and I were talking about this last night and discussed how this shortage of workers could be dealt with. What if the plants closed for cleaning, then all the employees were tested and those positive were required to stay home and their empty slots on the production lines were filled with new hires or others (here the Amish community would fit in nicely because they are schooled in how to butcher)? The fill ins would have to be tested and have negative results before they could be put on the production lines.

There would only be a short pause in the supply chain instead of a lengthy shut down.

I read about all these animals being euthanized and get ill, not because animals get slaughtered in order for us to eat, it's the waste of all that meat that is really needed in the general public.

Tech companies are scrambling to build more automation into everything including Fast Food.

 

[ronott1]

Guess what I have first peep Gray from Blue egg Red my Rooster EE Mom 6 year old EE View attachment 2111838View attachment 2111839

Cute little Guy!