Let Them Eat Snow

November has been very kind to us – weather wise.  We have over 100,000 pheasants on the farm – outside in the pens.  Once we reach late October and then November, our water system usually freezes.  Once the water system is down, the birds will eat snow – if there is snow.  Without snow, we then must water our birds with water tanks.  Adult birds will drink about 3 gallons for every 100 birds in a day – so our 100,000 birds require 3,000 gallons of water into their pans every single day.  So far this year we have been able to keep our automatic water system functional.  The labor hours we have been able to save by not having to water with tanks yet this year is significant.

I can remember a year that within a day or two of the first hard freeze (persisting into the daytime) we had a significant snowfall and we had snow cover virtually the entire winter. Therefore we didn’t have to water with tanks to speak of that year.  Alternatively we have had open winters (very little snow) and we watered our birds with tanks for the majority of the four month winter season.

The mild weather has also resulted in better than expected sales of grown pheasants to preserves.  Working conditions for our employees are great – it’s 50 degrees today, again.