livin' on the funny farm- SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Denim Deb]

I know how hay prices get around here in the winter time which is why I try to have all my hay either bought or arranged for B4 winter hits. You'll see large RBs for as little as $15.00 during a good summer. But come winter, you're lucky if you can get it for $50! I've seen it advertised for $75 or even higher. And then you go to the hay auction and see desperate people driving the price even higher.

 

[the funny farm6]

the problem here is that we have so many buyers come here and buy hay to take south. we went threw so many people, that told us they would have plenty to get us threw the winter, but then they get contacted by these hay buyers that offered them 2-3X what they were asking and they sold it all. and i cant blame them in many ways, but when you tell someone you will get them threw the winter- you should think of them. dh and i talked, and if we had hay and was selling it, and we told people we would be able to get them threw the winter, and were offered 2-3X our asking price, would we sell? the answer was only after we figured what we would need to get our buyers and ourselves threw the winter. if there was extra after that, then yes but i wouldnt do that to the people who depended on me and i gave my word to.

 

[Wannabefree]

Totally agree with ya funny farm! They should remember those they told they'd see through the winter. People often don't stick to their word anymore though unfortunately :/

 

[the funny farm6]

it was such a beautiful day here!!!! made it up to 50 degrees! is it realy january? feels like march-april. got the ash cleaned out of the wood stove.

this is our wood stove:

before i cleaned it out of course.

 

[the funny farm6]

WOW the weather is crazy here! it was @50 yesterday (and rained ALL. DAY. LONG.) and calling for 60 today! it feels like may not january. and the mud is insane! i hate winter, but i kinda wish it would get cold- if for no other reason that to freeze the mud.

my pet stores have been calling me asking if i would be willing to raise small animals again. i made very good money when i did that @ $150-200 per week. and i had contracts with all pet stores in a 50 mile raidius. 1 even offered me start up money and to sell me tanks and cages at her cost. i guess the big bulk supplyers have been sending very sick and mean animals and they are loosing money. so we are thinking about it. maybe not to the scale i was before- i had over 50 syrian hamsters alone. and with the price of rats i either need to raise them or make dh get rid of his snakes. a rat at the local pet stores is now $4.99 for a small rat, $6.99 for a med rat, and $7.99 for a large (realy no size difference from the med). and when feeding 4-6 snakes every 2 weeks... when i raised them- i sold for $1.00sm, #1.50 med, and $2.00 for large, and $3.00 for the huge retired breeders. so if i do it looks like i may have to up my prices.

dozer is back to his old self. he got a clean bill of health yesterday.

 

[Denim Deb]

I know that feeling about the mud. I hate it as well. I don't have a problem w/it here since the soil is so sandy it drains, but out at the farm it can be horrible!

 

[the funny farm6]

well, the mud is frozen. not sure wether to be happy about it or not. we got some snow. and now it is cold.

we decided to get back into the critters- slowly and small for now. then as we see how things go we will ad on. we didnt take our friend up on her offer to help us get started back up. you never know what that entails till later on down the road. but i did call in some favors and got a few female hamsters, gerbils, and guinea pigs. now i need to go out of the area to get some males. everyone has super temperments. as they should they are out of my lines i created years ago! we will be building rack systems this time. we wanted to last time but never got around to it. even have a few breeders looking forward to me getting back in. my critters were well known for being super sweet and NEVER bit. that was a death sentince here.

other than that there is nothing new here.

 

[Wannabefree]

VERY cool that you're getting back into breeding! Good luck!

 

[the funny farm6]

got a few more critters- mostly malles to breed my females. and another pair of guinea pigs, the female should be bred. and a pair of lionhead rabbits.

another warm up here. but it is supposed to get cold again tomarow. it warms up to 40-50 degrees and then cold again- mother nature is teasing us, and i dont like it.

everything is slow going here. not much to do. so not much to update.

 

[Denim Deb]

I hear ya! It was in the 50s today, and will be about as warm tomorrow. Then the temps are going to drop and after Tuesday, it won't get above freezing for a few days.