February 6, 2010 – 12:58 pm
Late season (8/12/09 hatch) Mature Pheasants
Years ago there was a wide variance in mature pheasant feathering quality between growers. It was common for some pheasant raisers to over-crowd their birds and therefore produce birds with broken, notched or missing tails. If a producer raised pheasants and they had full tails, that in and of itself was enough. Today, the standards in our industry are much higher.
On our farm we have heard from some of our customers that our birds don’t carry their tails “high enough”. According to what we hear, on our farm (because our soil is sandy and drains well) we don’t have problems with our birds dragging their tails, because we don’t have much mud in our pens. Furthermore, others that raise our birds from chicks they buy from us, often don’t have well drained soil in their pens, and when the birds tails drag on the ground – the tails get muddy and break off. We are actively looking into genetics available in the industry to find the attribute of carrying the tail higher (i.e. not dragging on the ground). We also plan on working to get an extra inch (or two) of tail length onto our cocks tails at maturity – and we have a plan on how to attain that goal. A third project we have started on involved working on getting our chicks to start better – i.e. a lower starve out rate from healthier chicks.
We believe that our industry is looking for higher quality and better genetics. We plan on providing what the industry is looking for!
January 31, 2010 – 8:49 am
It’s been very cold, and the hunt clubs we supply within 200 miles of our farm have had their business affected. We hear that the upcoming week will bring much warmer weather and we are looking forward to moving more birds regionally. We sent a truck and trailer with 3400 to Washington and Oregon on Thursday and the drivers reported that they arrived 6 hours ahead of schedule – with the birds in great shape. With impeccable preparation we are able to deliver birds nearly 1800 miles without a hitch. Every now and then we seem to need to get a wake up call, as when we miss a preparation step – we pay.
Our seminar signup is going great. With all the bad news in the papers and on the internet about the economy – I certainly was hesitant about whether we should host the seminar again or not. We set an initial deadline of January 1st for signup – and my model for the seminar showed we needed at least 50 paid attendees to break even. In mid December we had 13 signups and I think on January 1st we had 23. But similarly to a lot of businesses I hear about – people still planned on coming, they just wait and signup later than in the past. As of Friday (1/29/10) we had 65 paid attendees and we have another 10 people on the fence. I am truly excited about the seminar, and I want to make it the best seminar yet. We have the details of the seminar (the rooms, the meals, the speakers, etc.) all worked out – and I’m calm, for now.
Our food products business is slow. January is typically a slow month, but January 2010 was the slowest yet. I’ve heard some rationalizing from my staff that the reason is our distributors loaded up in December (and paid in January) to make their year ends look good. I’m not sure I buy that theory – regardless – sales in the next month will prove or disprove the rationale. We’re not sure what to do regarding FP production in 2010.
Our retail chick sales are good. Fewer and fewer pheasant hatcheries are selling chicks nationwide (shipping via USPS). On the other hand our commercial day-old chicks sales are down, partially because we boosted delivery charges the past few years. We have literally forced a few of our really good commercial accounts to look for chicks from more nearby hatcheries. If you remember fuel prices nearly doubled in 2008 – and for us to deliver chicks to, for example, a Kansas commercial account – our cost of delivery went up significantly. I wish we had a crystal ball so in 2008 we would have known that fuel prices would have gone down again in 2009. We have always absorbed some of the delivery costs – but we raised our delivery charge for 2009, again using the Kansas customer as an example, significantly. Understandably, our Kansas customer found chicks from another supplier close by. So the fuel prices have begun to regionalize the day-old pheasant chick business. Throughout the pheasant business, the delineation between the very best mature birds and the very best chicks vs. the poorest mature birds and poorest chicks has narrowed. It will be our charge to figure out ways for us to delineate our chicks from the rest. We have a few really good ideas in process, and within a year or two – we plan on bringing those ideas to the marketplace.
January 21, 2010 – 2:21 pm
On a positive note, we have 55 paid participants already signed up to attend our seminar. That is just an awesome number – as we historically have had 10 – 20 people sign up in the month prior to the seminar. I am so pumped about it.
I read in the paper this week that the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is planning on building a new pheasant hatchery at Poynette. I understand that the State plans on continuing to hatch about 200,000 pheasant chicks a year. The paper said the preliminary budget for the hatchery was one million dollars. Years ago, many States had game farms and hatched pheasants. Today, there are only a handful of states that are still in the pheasant business. Certainly in Wisconsin, it’s a positive for the State to stock public hunting grounds with pheasants, as it promotes pheasant hunting. But I am pondering the one million dollar expenditure for a hatchery that would hatch the number of pheasants we hatch here in two weeks. We have always been a friend to the managers of the Wisconsin State Game Farm and we want to continue to be their friends. I want to find out more about the process of how the decision was made to build a new hatchery vs. perhaps outsourcing the pheasant chicks needed.
January 12, 2010 – 3:17 pm
Some of the loading crew up top and Larry (one of the drivers) down below.
Yesterday we had a major shipment depart for Washington and Oregon. On the truck/trailer we took 3500 pheasants and 800 partridges. This is shaping up to be a BIG shipping week, as last week the weather was rough and we postponed some of our shipments. Today another full truck/trailer load departs for Wyoming and Montana, and we have a full truck/trailer load scheduled to depart for Florida tomorrow.
Last week one of our trucks broke down, due to fuel gelling in the fuel lines. It was an expensive breakdown and we hope not to have a repeat. We hear that temperatures will finally moderate – we actually will be above freezing tomorrow for the first time in weeks.
Chick orders are picking up, we are getting additional signups for our seminar daily and the sun is shining. It’s a good day.
January 9, 2010 – 12:30 pm
Can you tell which flat is filled with our new formulation?
We have been investigating different diets and formulations of feed for our day old chicks. We had a hatch of pedigreed white chicks this past week and we started the chicks on a new feed formulation. After a few days, Troy (our brooder manager) was alarmed as the chicks simply were not eating the new feed diet. So Troy put our previous feed formulation crumbles onto flats and the chicks swarmed the feed. So just a note as a reminder to everyone to always observe your chicks. Thank goodness Troy was paying such close attention.
January 8, 2010 – 2:04 pm
Another week has gone by. We have been busy counting the farm (counting how many birds we have) and trying to tie up the loose ends from the storm. On Wednesday we had a shipment of birds going to Wyoming and Montana – 3100 birds. That morning the reports we had indicated we could still make it out there with the birds, so the crews caught the shipment. Then the weather reports changed and we even found out that Interstate 90 was closed for a significant stretch in South Dakota. Reluctantly the decision was made for us to postpone the shipment and all the birds were let go into the pens again. We really are glad we did not go, as the drivers would have driven into the teeth of a big storm, and certainly would have been lucky to get through. We are leaving with the shipment early next week.
Our seminar registrations are growing – we are just about at 50 signed up attendees. I think we’ll get more as we get closer. I am feeling much more optimistic about the seminar.
Our early breeders have been lit for a while now (in barns) and we were due to get our first egg in another week or two. Much to our surprise we started getting eggs this week. So far we don’t know why the birds are coming in early but we are certain it must have to do with lights being on too long – though the controls are locked and we cannot find any mistaken programming. We think an over-ride switch that was installed a few years ago (a switch that allows you to turn on the lights to do chores during a period when the barn is dark) may have stuck “open” allowing there to be 24 hour light. We cannot replicate the problem – but the birds are laying eggs. Needless to say, we have disconnected the over-ride switches and will be replacing all the spring loaded switches in other barns with electronic digital switches.
January 2, 2010 – 10:02 am
Bitter cold and bright
We’ve been through the heavy wet snow, and we’ve seen the ice – now its bitter cold. The temperature here right now (10 am Saturday morning) is 0 degrees. The pens are back up again – with new 2”X4” prop poles. We have just a few employees here today – taking care of chores, etc.
Starting next week we have some big tasks ahead of us. First of all we need to get an accurate count of all the pheasants, huns and chukars on the farm. We need the count both for our financial statement and because we want to know how many birds escaped due to the collapse of the pens – we have commitments to our customers and we want to verify we have the birds to fulfill our orders. The other task facing us is to get back up to speed in selecting our breeder flock. Due to the storm(s), our breeder selection crew has spent most of their working hours the last three weeks working with the pen crew on get the pens cleared of snow and ice and catching the escaped pheasants. Now we are weeks behind in breeder selection.
We have started seeing more chick orders coming in, and I feel more positive that we can have a good chick selling season. I just want to see the breeder flock placed and ready.
Our signups for our March Pheasant Management Seminar surged this past week – we even had two people from Israel sign up! We have ten registrants from the U.K. too. The seminar is only nine weeks away.
Hopefully the next few weeks will bring some real resolution here. We’ll know how many birds we have (and therefore have a handle on how many escaped), we’ll get up to speed on breeder selection, we’re mailing out our chick price list this coming week and we’ll be able to see where we stand on chick orders and we’ll be able to see if the seminar attendance is up to our expectations.
It’s a new year, a new outlook and an exciting time.
December 25, 2009 – 10:28 am
2 weeks ago snow, now ice.
It’s been a little over two weeks now since the big storm. For the most part the farm has returned to normal – the damage to the pens is there, but the pens have been secured, or in some cases emptied of birds for the winter and shut down. One positive point is that the storm occurred in December when we were past the point where all the pens were filled with birds. We know we lost (dead) in excess of 3000 chukar partridges due to the storm and the collapse of the chukar pens. We had virtually no pheasant mortality from the storm – days after the storm we found pheasants that had been trapped underneath collapsed pens – but the birds survived. What we don’t know yet is how many of the 5,000+ escaped pheasants were recaptured and how many are still on the run. We need to get a count of the farm – a daunting task.
Wednesday (12/23) I spoke to Chris (our production mgr) and Brian K. (our pen manager) about the storm predicted for that night. Both of them were leaning towards putting all the pens down (pulling out the 2X4 props) due to the chance of freezing rain that night. I had looked at the weather and listened to the radio and for some reason I got it in my head that it was that unlikely that the temperature would be low enough to freeze. Over the years I am the one that has repeatedly told my guys that it’s better if they expend the labor to put the pens down 100 times and be wrong (i.e. the snow or ice event wasn’t enough to warrant putting the pens down) than what happens if just one time they don’t put the pens down and the pens collapse (the 2X4 break from the snow or ice load). So if I had just kept my mouth shut, I think Chris and Brian K. would have seen that all the pens were put down Wednesday afternoon. Instead they put ½ of the pens (about 50 acres) down and left 50 acres up (i.e. left the 2X4 prop poles up).
Wednesday night I was out shopping with my wife and it was raining. When we came back to my truck after 9 pm – the truck was covered in ice. I felt just sick. I knew what it meant. So early Thursday morning when I talked to Chris – my fears were confirmed – 90% of the pens left up had collapsed under the ice. The pens that had been “put down” were just fine.
In some weird way, ice isn’t as bad in some ways as snow. With snow collapse the birds can readily see the how (they see the light) and escape. With ice – the holes aren’t as visible. Also ice coats the cover in the pens too – and the ice makes the cover more supportive to the collapsing nets. I think I’m just trying to rationalize here.
Compared to the events of two weeks ago, this was nothing though. Yesterday afternoon it warmed up enough for all the ice to melt – and the crews got the pens fixed. We still had escapee’s – but they numbered in the 100’s not the 1000’s.
Through all of this our employee’s have kept a positive attitude. I want to single out Chris Theisen for 1) not blaming me for my misguided idea of not putting all the pens down and 2) for his continual positive outlook – what a blessing he is to me and to the farm. I also want to say thank you to the employees that worked today (Christmas Day) to take care of the birds – Luis Vargas, Marie Zanton and Brian Klein.
Merry Christmas everyone.
December 18, 2009 – 9:23 pm
Most of these employee's have worked 10 days without a day off!
It’s been a week since I last made a post to my blog. Last weekend the temperature was a few degree’s higher than freezing and our crew made the most of the opportunity. On both Saturday and on Sunday we had over 20 employees beating snow off the pens and getting the pens “up”. Then on Monday, in addition to all crews (food product crew, breeder crew, etc.) working on the pens, Chris Theisen (our production manager) brought in 9 workers from a local temp agency. By the end of Monday – the crews had about 70% of our farm up.
Tuesday through today (Friday) the temps were back as low as single digits – but with the pens up, the employees concentrated on rounding up the thousands of birds that had escaped the pens. In addition to working on the pens and catching “escapee’s” life went on – i.e. we took 5000+ birds to the processing plant, caught thousands of ringnecks for preserve customers – and had to get caught up on all the chores (e.g. feeding) that got put aside last week with the storm.
Certainly we feel better today than we did a week ago. But we have 25+ acres of netting that now needs to be replaced this summer – and a massive amount of reconstruction of the foundation of the pens – the perimeter posts. .\
At this same time, we have been preparing for the year end – getting inventories counted, etc., etc. It has been an incredibly hectic 10 days!
I think the main lesson I learned through all this is how loyal our employees are to the farm. This past week so many of the employees worked without a single day off – and the work they accomplished was back breaking work – knocking snow off acres of pens and then lifting the nets. I am truly blessed.
December 10, 2009 – 2:39 pm
We have had another day to start to actually realize the extent of the damage to our farm cause by the 10″ wet snowfall. We have thousands of birds that have escaped. We are devoting our entire crew to trying to get a handle on the problem – but it feels like we are just scratching the surface. All of our 100+ acres of pens are down – and with sub zero temperatures – the pens are frozen down. Honestly I really don’t feel like writing anymore today – I’ll just share some pictures I took and Brian Klein (our pen manager) took yesterday afternoon and today.
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