6 things no one tells you about farms and farming...

[Summerthyme]

LOL @ Thunder...

My husband felt the same for years. It had something to do with his mother having 600 egg laying hens, and him getting the "fun" jobs- gathering the eggs and cleaning the chicken house! He NEVER wanted to see another chicken!

It took me about 10 years to convince him that it wouldn't kill him if I had a few birds. Now, he actually enjoys them. My permanent deep bedding system keeps the odor non-existent (REALLY), and there's none of that disgusting "dropping board" baloney, etc. He gets a kick out of watching the bantam hens with their chicks roaming around, and seeing how different some of them are.

We actually avoid free ranging (they do have a very large outdoor pen) most of the time, because that is when they can get to be a mess... getting into the calves grain feeders, pooping where you don't want it, etc.

But really, they are like almost any other livestock... if you give them enough room, they aren't any messier than anything else. Crowding them into a small pen... yep, they're a mess. But then, so are cows under the same circumstances.

Summerthyme

[MinnesotaSmith]

Originally Posted by Summerthyme

But as for the rest of the essay... the points could have been made and still been funny without the rather disgusting language he uses.

Clarity is often more important than politeness, diplomacy, concern for others' feelings, etc., especially among people who actually get things done in this world (as opposed to people who mainly talk, not saying you are one of the latter). The Confederate general Robert E. Lee was reputed to have never used profanity even once during his lifetime -- and lost more than one battle because he was overly polite to subordinate commanders at critical junctures. By comparison, Nathan B. Forrest was a "school of hard knocks", up from the ranks, without the benefit (which Lee had) of a West Point education and career in the U.S. Army, constantly-foulmouthed type -- and a considerably more effective general of troops.

Classic piece on the subject of what happens when politeness is held a higher value than clarity in communication:

from http://tinyurl.com/7xbh38u

HOW S**T HAPPENS

"In the beginning there was a Plan.

And then came the Assumptions.

And the Assumptions were without form, but a cause of consultants.

And the plan was without substance.

And darkness was on the face of the Workers.
And they spoke among themselves, saying, "It is a crock of s**t, and it stinks."

And the workers went unto their Supervisors and said, "It is a pile of dung, and none may abide the odor thereof."

And the Supervisors went unto their Managers, saying, "It is a container of excrement, and it is very strong, such that none can abide by it."

And the Managers went unto their Directors (A totally useless form of office clutter, paid more than the Manager's) saying, "It is a vessel of fertilizer, and none may abide its strength."

And the Directors spoke among themselves, saying one to another, "It contains that which aids plant growth, and it is very strong."

And the Directors went unto the Vice Presidents, saying unto them, "It promotes growth, and it is very powerful."

And the Vice Presidents went unto President saying unto him, "This new Plan will actively promote growth and Vigor of this company, with powerful effects."

And the President looked upon the Plan and saw it was good, and made it mandatory.

And the Plan became Policy.

And this is how s**t happens."

---------------------------------------------------------------

I work in the oil industry, and have to switch back and forth every day in my speech patterns between talking on the phone/via email to office geologists & office engineers (latter in many cases probably not even owning a pair of boots, except perhaps ski boots) -- and rough-living, fully-coarsened rig hands, who are notorious for using the "F" word instead of the word "the" in their speech. You have to go to people where they are intellectually to communicate effectively, and many people are at the level where everything they can notice is a biological function, with a minimum of syllables available for names of nouns and verbs. The author of the article chose directness and clarity above euphemism, and that's much of what made it funny to read. Imagine if he'd instead said that animals can be a little messy sometimes, or that roosters aren't the politest birds; not the same article at all.

[Big Red]

I swear the reason chickens run around after you cut their heads off is because their bowels still have so much to live for.

I grew up on a chicken farm. Truer words were never spoke.