Daniel made the decision.
Toby argued.
“We need two more weeks.”
Daniel said:
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because the trial serves the farm.”
“The farm does not serve the trial.”
Emily backed Daniel.
The chickens moved to a pasture rotation away from fruit production.
Toby continued sampling orchard blocks afterward.
That created another useful comparison.
Did effects persist after birds left?
Some did.
Some disappeared.
Leaf litter remained reduced in certain sections.
Groundcover recovered in rested areas.
Overworked patches slowly healed.
Insect counts varied.
Rain changed everything.
Toby started understanding why agricultural research took years.
One season could fool you.
Weather alone could create differences larger than management.
By July, the orchard did not look miraculous.
It looked like an orchard.
That disappointed people who came expecting transformation.
The trees had crop.
Some fruit damage.
Some clean fruit.
Some weeds.
Some bare patches.
Some better-looking floor conditions in chicken-managed areas.
Some sections that looked nearly identical to controls.
Toby loved that.
Reality was harder to exaggerate when the visual result was boring.
Then Harland returned.
Three months after the morning he had laughed against his truck.
The co-op manager, Dennis Shaw, came with him.
Daniel saw them pull in.
“Toby.”
“What?”
“Your fan club.”
Toby looked.
Harland climbed out.
No laughter.
He carried a clipboard.
Dennis carried nothing.
They walked toward the north block.
Harland stopped near N4.
“This was one of your worst areas?”
“Yes.”
“Last year?”
“Yes.”
“Show me.”
Toby did.
Not the best section.
The worst.
That surprised Harland.
He pointed toward a tree with visible damage.
“This looks bad.”
“It is.”
“Chicken section?”
“Yes.”
“So?”
“So chickens didn't fix that.”
Harland looked at Toby.
“What caused it?”
“Different pressure.”
“Not accessible to them in the stage that mattered.”
Harland nodded.
“Good.”
Toby frowned.
“You’re happy it failed?”
“I’m happy you know why.”
They walked.
Another section.
Harland crouched.
Pulled back litter.
Less accumulation.
Some insect counts lower.
Not zero.
He asked:
“How many samples?”
Toby gave the number.
“Controls?”
“Yes.”
“Same method?”
“Yes.”
“Same dates?”
“As close as possible.”
“Weather?”
“Recorded.”
Harland looked toward Daniel.
“He’s irritating.”
Daniel said:
“Runs in the family.”
Then Toby showed them the failure patch.
Overgrazed.
Bare in spring.
Recovering.
He explained the wet-weather concentration problem.
The rotation change.
The labor required.
Predator losses.
Forty-three hens gone by then.
Not all predation.
A few illness losses.