I make an effort each week to write my thoughts for the week before Saturday evening. This gives me time to reflect on what I’ve written, solicit editing and feedback from Racey and my dad and not feel crunched. This week I’m starting these words at 7pm on Saturday evening. A fitting end to the week.
As I write I can see the three dim silhouettes headed down to the barn to check on the chicks, one with four legs running back and forth, one short with only two legs and still darting and jumping in the snow and the last one a taller two-legger setting a steady pace from the rear. Like these three figures, this week had a little bit of everything, some wins, some losses and so much in between.
Most mornings I have my herbal tea, start the fire in the woodstove and check the weather for the week. Our first batch of chicks was due to arrive this week and so the weather is particularly relevant. To my surprise the weather for Tuesday and Wednesday had progressed from some mild snow showers to what appeared now to be a full blown winter snow storm. We try to watch for potential weather disruptions to prevent any delays in our shipping delivery program. I figure it is better to wait a week than to lose an order to delays and potential thawing. This week however we had the added logistics challenge of live chicks traveling by the US Postal Service from the hatchery in PA to our farm in Northern New York.
We postponed our shipping orders this week, and thank you to all of our understanding customers; the weather on Tuesday was not great driving weather! I also called our hatchery on Monday morning to ask their opinion on the weather and what if we had delays. I learned that egg and chick availability this year has been very tight, hatcheries around the country are struggling to keep up with demand, and they were sold out throughout most of the summer. My hope had been to postpone the batch and send one the following week, but they were all sold out! We concluded we would have to just take our chances.
This week was also Gwen’s birthday! Gwen, Chad and Layton all went down to visit Gwen’s parents in Warrensburg and Chad and Gwen were planning to have some fun skiing in the forecasted snow. Chad and Gwen are more than just neighbors, they are dear friends, they helped us build our farm, and they help out on the farm in exchange for food for their family. Just as they support our family to get off the farm, we pitch in when they go away and we do Chad’s horse chores. With the snow and wind coming Chad suggested I bring the horses into the barn for the evenings, and if the weather was as bad as predicted to keep them inside on Tuesday. Keep an eye out he told me and Lewis, his mare Rose was getting close to having a foal.
Tuesday morning brought a fresh blanket of snow and a school cancellation. Lewis was fascinated by the possibility of seeing a mare give birth to a foal so he asked me to wake him up early to go up and do the horse chores and check on everyone. The dark and snowy morning yielded only impatient horses and arduous paths through the deepening heavy snow. At dinner we took “votes” (more understandable somehow than taking bets) on if we thought there would be chicks waiting for us at the post office the next morning. Had they made it safely and on time through the snow?
I was not optimistic with my vote. It is not very often the Postal Service exceeds my expectations, though we rely on and appreciate their daily service. In fact, without it the chick hatchery industry would surely suffer. Miraculously we got the usual phone call from our friends at the Essex Post Office at 8:00 AM informing us that our chicks had arrived. A win for the USPS! The first chick pictures of the year always involve the humans in winter snow gear and the chicks bustling about trying to find the warmest spots. Chicks need temperatures near 95 degrees during their first week, which means lots of heat!
Thursday morning Lewis and I walked up to the horse barn in the dim light before sunrise to check on the horses. Chad and family were home so no chore support was needed, Lewis nevertheless wanted to see if there were any baby horses. To our surprise and joy there on the ground lay a new foal! Rose had foaled during the night! We watched in the quiet of the barn, the other horses unusually calm in the presence of the newborn. Lewis and I went to Chad’s house to let him know and Lewis and Chad went back out to the barn to check on the mare and foal. Baby chicks and baby horses in two days.
With life comes death however. On Friday morning our yet unnamed foal was slow to get up in the morning and was showing a general lack of vigor. By midday he was worse and Chad loaded mare and foal into the trailer and brought them to a horse vet down in Schuylerville, NY. By the time Chad returned home that evening the foal was dead. For us adults this was a shock, full of sadness and confusion at how quickly a seemingly healthy foal died. Lewis’s (age 7) first reaction was to ask how the mare was doing. Lovett (5) asked “why?” and Layton asked “but where is the baby horse?” Then promptly returned to the play at hand.
In a way, as a livestock and meat farmer it is our job and responsibility to be stewards of death. Somehow the children accepted death, while we adults held onto the possibility of life even after death. I am thankful for the life we have, and the life we are able to give to our animals.
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