The media is filled with the news of a big storm. We are preparing to hunker down and wait til the storm passes, yet we still have birds to take care of and birds to ship. This morning a full gooseneck of pheasants left for Florida – the drivers are getting south as soon as they can – instead of going over Mount Eagle and then through Atlanta, they are heading south on I-65 at Nashville and going through Birmingham, Alabama. The storm is so big, they just want to get south as soon as possible.
And tomorrow, right into the storm, we are sending a gooseneck to South Dakota. There has been lot’s of negotiating here regarding departure times, etc. etc. The bottom line is, we have customers who need deliveries, and we just have to go.
On the farm, the fear is “wet” snow – the kind of snow that will stick to our netting and bring down our pens. We are hearing that as much as 14” of snow will fall in the next 30 hours, and if it sticks – we’re sunk. So the guys are taking down all the pens this afternoon, to mitigate the damage – but if we get a significant snowfall, at it’s a wet snow that doesn’t filter through the nets – the pens will sustain damage even with the props out and the nets down.
When it’s cold, pheasants seem to do a lot better when there is snow (vs. frozen barren dirt). The birds hunker down in the snow and seem more protected. The big thing we have to watch out for is that the feeders don’t get blocked – when it’s so cold – it’s absolutely imperative that our birds can get to the feeders. I just heard that our partridge crew re-strawed all the huts in the partridge pens – and put feed in feed pans in every single hut – those birds will be fine in the storm with those precautions.
So, we wait – and the storm will come – and we’ll get through it. One thing for sure – no more watering!!!
