This week:

• Locally acquired chickens (support a local business), 
• Around the farm updates, 
• Preparations for pig farrowing, 
• Limping Andy and animals on concrete, 
• Pasture to Plate simple dishes.

 In the The Coopcast Community:

• Chicks in a brooder - Use a red bulb in your brooder, 
• What is the best breed of pig? 
• A gift book and visit, 
• A listener "uses" his broody hen. 

This Week, In The News:

• The FDA decided to "recommend" that no on farm antibiotics be used without a vets prescription. 
• While this sounds like a great thing, with less than 10000 large animal vets in the country, what's the real impact to small farms? (CoopCast 002 discusses antibiotic resistance in the Farm U segment)

On this coopcast:

• Listener feedback on YOUR farming projects (cool!), 
• Chicken coop chicks updates, 
• Pastured chicken pre-orders have started, 
• Status of the gardens and seeds, 
• The peas are in - must mean spring in NY, 
• Knitted farm animals (Indigo Moon's Chicken Thistle Farm Collection), 
• Sugar Mountain Farm's Kickstarter Project - here, 
• Prepping for piglets in 21 days! 

On Farm U:

• What is High Tensile fencing, 
• Basic fencing design, 
• Electric fence energizer basics. 

Other notes: Up until now we have been publishing the coopcast/farmcast/podcast every week in both m4a (Apple's format) and mp3 (the worlds format). The challenge is only one version can be included in the "feed" and recently we have had several requests for the mp3 to be in the feed. Given that, we are switching to mp3 and unless anyone speaks up we will be dropping m4a altogether starting with this coopcast.

On this coopcast:

• 5 on farm hatched chicks in the coop now,
• Soil blocks and seeding in the hoophouse,
• The new farmstand,
• some general small farm / farming updates.

A new segment called The Coopcast Community:

• What is that picture on Facebook?, 
• Do you know the breed of your chickens?, 
• What do coop hatched chicks eat?, 
• A Small Farm Kickstarter Project worth supporting. 

Questions, Conversations and Rumination:

• Visiting a pasture pig farm, 
• Managing our pig herd in the future, 
• Analysis Paralysis by "Expert" Input, 
• A plan for farm fencing.

On this coopcast:

• An update of Nugget and other incubating eggs, 
• Managing pigs in unexpected heat, 
• Warm spring and it's effects on the gardens, 
• Soil block frustrations (again)! 

A new segment called Questions, Conversations and Rumination:

• What is a farm? 

And in this episodes Farm U segment:

• Portable pasture netting for poultry, 
• Management of netting, 
• Energizing the netting, 
• Where to find the netting.

On this coopcast:

• Managing a farm while you are on vacation, 
• Buying produce from the store (gross), 
• General farm updates, 
• The adventures of "Nugget". 

And in this episodes Farm U segment:

• Buying / selling meat chickens, 
• The importance of good "forms", 
• Pricing of chickens.

On this coopcast:

• Updates on the coop hatched chicken named "Nugget", 
• Grade School Science Fair, 
• Some good listener questions. 

And in this episodes Farm U segment:

• Small farm tractors, 
• Brands and dealers that matter, 
• Types of tractor tires, 
• Size and selection.

On this coopcast:

• Thanks for all the reviews and feedback - keep it coming - a great community of listeners, 
• Andy is losing the guinea discussions, 
• A soil block love affair, 
• Good eats with pork steak and preserved vegetable stir-fry, 
• A new firearm comes to live with us, 
• Hatched in the coop chickens. 

And in this episodes Farm U segment:

• Final part of our Cornish Cross (Cornish X) chicken discussion, 
• Putting the birds on pasture (tricks and tips), 
• Pasture pens, Water, feed and other considerations for the pastured Cornish X birds, 
• A consumer's perspective on pastured chicken.

On this coopcast:

• Kelli managing the farm and Andy's business trip, 
• Crazy weather (really, it never ends), 
• General animal updates (pregnant pig and broody hen). 

In our Listener Feedback/Questions discussion:

• Great feedback and reviews this week, 
• Questions about feed, 
• Other discussions. 

And in this episodes Farm U segment:

• Second part of our Cornish Cross (Cornish X) chicken discussion including; 
• Where to get the chicks (hatcheries and strains), 
• Food, feed and feed restrictions for Cornish Cross chickens, 
• Managing the chicks in the brooder.

On this coopcast:

• A Bourbon Red Turkey in the oven, 
• Soil block germination rates, 
• Managing mice in the greenhouse, 
• Broody hen update. 

In our Listener Feedback discussion:

• A plea for feedback and ratings on iTunes, 
• Bucket waterer tips for chickens, 
• Egg prices around the states, 
• Breeds of chickens in our laying flock. 

And in this episodes Farm U segment:

• First part of our Cornish Cross (Cornish X) chicken discussion including; 
• How do they breed a Cornish Cross broiler, 
• A little history, 
• Consumer demand for the Cornish Cross carcass.

On this coopcast:

• Soil block update, 
• CSA status, 
• Upcoming farm stand, 
• Our plans for a broody hen. 

In our Chicken Talk discussion:

• How we set up our chicken coop for our climate, 
• How we pasture (range) our birds. 

And in this episodes Farm U segment:

• Chicken manure management, 
• Carbon to Nitrogen in manure management (deep litter), 
• Coop cleaning.