Present with the Turkeys

You can find me in the turkey pasture this time of year. Raising these birds the way we like them takes a good deal of time, and now we are in the home stretch. As we approach the start of processing, my eye has to be a little keener on the desired outcome. We always monitor weight, health, crowding, competition, nutrition, predation, and more. However, here at the end of the grow-out is when we have to have everything right. There is no one silver bullet. We just have to be on top of all the variables. If you're not, the one you let slip will be the one that gets you. It's that unknown unknown thing. The best way I have found to fend off the unknown unknown is to be very present. Having our eyes on these animals multiple times daily for extended periods allows us to catch issues early when they can still be corrected with little or no damage. (Story time) I learned this from an old gentleman that I consider a friend. His name was (interestingly) George Washington, and he raised chickens commercially for 50+ years. He had old chicken houses and very outdated equipment. His facility didn't have the automatic ventilation capability or any of the modern capacities of technologically advanced chicken houses. However, his growing efficiency was always near the top. He consistently ranked among growers with all the new technology. How does he do that? I began to study how he managed this feat. I discovered that there was no magic, but there was a reason. Other growers with fancy, technologically advanced houses were often never in their chicken houses. In fact, many had off-farm jobs and only spent a few minutes in the morning and a few minutes in the evening. It's hard to catch the unknown unknowns that way. I guess they just trust that the computer will eliminate them. What I learned about Mr. Washington, though, is that he was present. Without fail, every time I visited him, he was inside one of his chicken houses. His presence was the magic formula. If the birds were too hot, he was there to open a curtain. If the feeder malfunctioned, he was there to fix it before the birds missed a bite of food. I like the way technology can make our lives easier as much as the next guy. However, when raising animals, I will always appreciate the valuable lesson Mr George Washington taught me about the importance of being present.