Thursday, February 28, 2008

Spring Fever

I can't wait until Saturday, not wishing my life away but Saturday will be March 1st and February will officially be over! February is always the hardest month on us, it is usually in February that we get tired of feeding and our hay supply starts getting short and we think that we will never see green grass again. March gives us hope. The new babies start arriving in March, the weather starts warming up and the winds start drying up the mud.

We have a logistics problem this year. Two mares and two goats are due in March and we have an injured horse stuck in our foaling/kidding stall. We didn't breed back many of our mares last year because of the horse crisis that is going on in this country. Fortunately, the one that is injured is the first one due to foal, so she gets priority in the stall, we can't turn her out anyway. She does present a problem for our two does that are due to kid in March.

Our first kids should be due around March 19th. We have decided to move our dog kennel inside the barn for one of the does and the other one will probably have to kid in the horse trailer.

Our other mare is not due until the end of March, so hopefully the injured mare will be well enough to be turned out with her new baby by then.

Today is the last day that we have to give Morning a penicillin shot, she has had one everyday since she was injured, she hates them. She still has to be twitched to wrap her leg. We give her an opportunity to go without the twitch each time we start, but she refuses to let us take the wrapping off untwitched. Twitches are sometimes necessary things, ours is just a soft rope and not a chain, but she is totally submissive with it on.

On another subject, just to wrap up loose ends. Maude did pass away last week, she had stopped eating and I knew that it was just a matter of time. It is true that broiler or cornish chickens rarely live to see their 1st birthday. I guess that is where the term "not a spring chicken anymore" comes from, because in the fall of your spring chicken's life they start going down hill rapidly.

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