We started with ten laying hens and a rooster. At night the flock would roost in the small chicken house, and during the day, they'd wander around the barnyard. Most of the chickens would deposit their eggs in the layer boxes in the chicken house, which made the eggs easy to find. Life was good until the "great chicken immigration."
This is not your grandfather's campsite – the tent sits on a wooden platform that includes a deck, two Adirondack chairs and queen-size bed with foam mattress as well as electricity and, in summer, running water.
At first, I thought the 35-year-old woman standing 15 feet from me was a Secret Service agent. I was in a crowd of about 100 people waiting to hear former Vice President Joe Biden give a campaign speech. The woman, dressed in a blue jacket and black pants, looked out over the small crowd with confidence, just as I expected a Secret Service agent would. There were Secret Service agents in the Biden audience, but the woman in question was not one of them; she was a sign-language interpreter.
It's been a few days since the New Hampshire Primary, and now we can walk around without bumping into politicians, campaign workers or reporters. I guess we did better than Iowa; we were able to count the votes we cast. My regular readers know that counting is not easy. Although counting cows is different from counting votes, it's still essential. Knowing where all my cows are could save a life. Knowing where all the ballots are could save a state from embarrassment.
Our bull plays his role for six weeks (July 1-Aug. 15), and then his job is finished. Unfortunately, he still has to eat. In summer there is plenty of grass, but in winter he'll eat a lot of expensive hay. So we get other farmers to share the cost of his upkeep by renting out his services. We are particular about who rents him. It has to be someone we trust; someone who'll treat him as we would; feed him quality hay; and provide veterinary care if necessary.
"How many cows do you have?" is a seemingly straightforward question that I get all the time. But I seldom know the answer because cattle are hard to count, and it keeps changing all the time. When I meet ranchers from Utah or Texas, they don't hesitate to say 3,000, 10,000, or even 30,000 head of cattle. My next question is, "How do you count them?" My whole herd of 40 to 60 probably falls within a Texan's margin of error.
