Too Cold

I know that I said that I love snow and cold weather but I don't like this bone-chilling cold. The wind chill today could be -10 and my old bones are screaming for warmer weather. It is suppose to get warmer, even up in the 50's, then all of this snow will melt and we will have mud and flooding but I have already got my snow fix for this year. I am ready for Spring.

Angus is doing well, he is following my DH around while he feeds in the evenings. I got a video of him out in the snow last night. I will try to post it here when I get some more time.

I really love feeding and milking but it is all that I can do to make it outside when it is this cold. I don't remember worrying about the chickens this much, it is so hard to make sure everything has fresh water all of the time. They don't seem to want to drink until the water freezes solid and that happens about 10 minutes after you carry hot water to them.

Enough whining, I just want to thank you all for doing your part to combat Global Warming, your efforts are working and I think those in Kentucky would agree with me.

Night Glitter

To update my previous post, all of my hens came home wagging their tails behind them. I don't know where they have been the last few days but they seem to be fine. I would imagine that they were just under a shelter of some sort. Then the snow piled up around them and they couldn't escape until the sun came out today and warmed things up.

I had a most amazing walk that I was going to blog about and forgot. It got really cold last night and after I got all of my feeding and milking done and had gone into my toasty house for the night. I remembered that I had forgotten to feed Angel and Abby. Well, there was no hurry, I warmed up and did a few things inside. Later I wrapped back up, fixed their food and went back out into the frigid night.

I had my headlight on which gives you a new prospective on things in the night, all of the animals eyes glow because you have this bright light so close to your own eyes. But what was so amazing about last night was that there was a freezing fog.

Oh my, it was the most beautiful thing. The air temperature was so cold that the fog was freezing into tiny, sparkling ice particles floating in the air. Wow! It was like walking through suspended glitter and it was everywhere. I could have stayed out all night if it hadn't been so cold, but if it hadn't been so cold it wouldn't have been such a glittery world. And to think that I would never had experienced it if I had just had a flashlight in my hand.

A One Egg Day

There have been colder days than today, there have been nastier days than today. We have consistently received at least five eggs everyday since the cold weather has arrived. Something changed today, only one lonely egg.

The good news is that the shortest day of the year, Sunday, December 21st is about to arrive and then the days will start getting longer. I always love to get on the other side of that short day. I love cold weather and snow but I don't care for the long nights.

Angel and I both saw an unusual sight today. I was walking back to the barn from feeding Cooter. I had already fed the Chickens in a couple of different places, there was a group pecking at their feed right in front of our horse trailer as we passed.

All of the sudden from up on the hill above the barn, something came swooping down upon us heading right for that group of chickens. I stopped and at first glance thought it was a hawk, it had the same coloring. Angel was a few yards behind me and she froze in place, looking up, high over her head. I was stunned and relieved when I realized what it was, it was one of my little banty hens in a hurry to get to the feed before it was all gone.

I have never seen a chicken fly that high, she had her wings stretched out and glided in for a perfect landing, right in the middle of the feeding frenzied large hens who make her life pretty difficult. Those hens scattered in all directions, they thought the sky was falling. I am almost certain that she was playing big, bad, bird of prey. It was very affective but the moment of panic didn't last long and the big hens ran her off again.

Headlight Review

I got all of my feeding and milking done last night well before dark, I had looked forward to coming back into the warm house to thaw out. My DH had to run to town to pick up some corn for my chickens and some prime rib that has been processed into dog food for my dogs or at least that is what I think they make it out of, it may be veal, leg of lamb or New York Strip.

He took too long shopping while in town and it got dark, so he called me and asked me to feed his horses for him. Not a problem or so I thought, but because of the recent 59 degree weather and rain showers, then the drastic drop of temperatures into the low teens, things were not as easy as I had anticipated.

First the side door of the barn was frozen shut. I had to leave the feed buckets full of grain beside the door and went out the front sliding door, came around and put my shoulder into shoving the door open.

I managed to feed the stallion without any problems. Then I came to the second metal gate that leads to the lot where the 2 yr. old, yearling and weanlings get fed. The chain on that gate was frozen to the gate, this slowed me down and was a little hard to get opened. I had to put the buckets down and try to get the chain loose while holding the flashlight.

With this accomplished, I went over to set the bunk feeder up on it's feet because my DH always leaves it on it's side so that water won't collect in it. Of course, it was frozen to the ground and it was a struggle for me to break it loose and set it up.

Next came the third metal gate where the younglings come into the feed lot, the chain on it was frozen too, this one wasn't as bad as the other one, but still aggravating.

I finally arrived at the fourth metal gate that lets the younglings into the lot that contains the feed lot. Is this perfectly clear? Anyway they were waiting impatiently at this gate to be let in for their grain. They were huffing, puffing and pushing, but the problem here was a busted metal gate that was tied together with a doubled piece of rope in a fancy knot.

Now this knot had been rained upon then frozen solid, I tried and tried, but it is very difficult to untie a fancy frozen knot with cold ungloved hands while trying to hold a metal flashlight in your mouth. I finally realized that it wasn't going to happen. My face and fingers were nearly frostbitten, so I started for the house to get some pliers and a screwdriver to pry the fancy knot loose.

As I arrived at the house I remembered the one thing that I had asked for for Christmas, a Headlight! You know, one of those lights that miners and coon hunters wear on their heads.

I knew it was in the big Christmas box of gifts waiting to be wrapped. So I tore into the box, found my lonely Christmas gift and started the long process of getting it out of the impossible packaging. I ripped and cut my way in with a steak knife, put the batteries in it and strapped in on my head.

Oh, my! I love this thing, it is an Energizer, Trailfinder Series, 1 Watt, LED Headlight. We got it at Walmart, so it was made in China but it has a Lifetime Guarantee. The button switch on top is a little small and hard to use but it has three different light settings and it tilts to aim where you need it. The main spotlight setting is really bright and lights up a wide area.

I took my pliers and screwdriver and managed to work the fancy knot loose, got the gate open and the horses were saved from starvation, all because of this really handy little headlight. I don't know how long it will last or how fast that it will go through batteries but my DH had to try it out when he got home and he wants one of his own.

Crispy Morning

It was pretty chilly out there this morning. All of the waterers had two inches of ice on them. So I got to use my little red wagon in earnest this morning. Since this was my first icy morning, I didn't have everything that I needed in my wagon on the first trip. It will take some planning and organization to be really efficient with my feeding schedule.

Let's see, I need a bucket of Chicken feed, a bucket of goat grain, two scoops of dog food, two flakes of hay and two buckets of warm water. I don't think that it will all fit, I will have to make two trips. I want to take the hay at the same time that I take the grain, so that I can fill the hay feeder without any assistance from the goats, they will be distracted by the grain.

I will have to come back for the water, that way I can take more than two buckets, I carried about five buckets this morning but they are small, it is the number of trips that wear you out.

This sounds like a good plan but it will change from time to time with the weather. If it is sunny then I will be taking Calico outside for the day and she will have to be fed and watered out there.

If it is raining, all of the feeding has to be done inside the goat/chicken shed and that is a mess. Just getting into the shed through the slick mud with buckets and hay in your hands with the starving, welcoming committee in the doorway is always a treat, if I can even make it without falling before I get there.

The ice in the water offers another challenge. I wouldn't have to haul as much water if I could effectively remove the ice from the water buckets and troughs without using my hands. I take a small hatchet or splitting maul (whatever is handy) to break the ice, then if I could pick out all of the ice chunks most of the water could be preserved, recycled, it would be the green thing to do, I could save the planet! Usually I just go ahead and grab the ice with my fingers and pitch it out but this is not the wise thing to do on a crispy morning. I need some type of small crooked pitchfork device or a small holey shovel for ice removal.

For those of you playing the home game, I have only smacked my head one more time on the nesting boxes and my DH ate a Wheat Thin last night, just one with no problems, he will probably insist on eating two or three tonight.

Stupid

I couldn't think of a title for this blog because I have so many different thoughts going through my head. I am hoping a title will emerge from the blog all on it's own.

All was peaceful and quiet yesterday evening, my DH had a rare day off and was busy mowing the top pasture. I thought that I would go ahead and get the evening feeding and milking done before it got dark. I was going to take my time and enjoy the process. I started out by trying to get all of the new chicks in cages with their mothers. I soon realized that herding baby chicks is not an easy task and that I was wasting my time.

I went to the goat lot with halter and lead rope in hand, caught Cinder and led her to the barn/house to be milked. She was not as cooperative as she usually is and that task turned out not to be pleasant in the least. She didn't want to get on the milk stand that is still standing in muddy water from the recent rain.

I finally got her in place and sat down to milk and dropped my clean cloth that I had to wash her udder with into the muddy water under the stand. So I had to go back into the house for a new one. On the way back to the milking stand was when I first noticed that the wind had picked up and the sky had grown dark and there was a not too distant sound of thunder. I had a lot to get done before it started to rain, so I picked up my pace.

Cinder had more milk than usual and so it took me longer to milk as the storm crept nearer. When I finally got the milking done and everything cleaned up and turned her loose, she lost all common sense and couldn't remember any of the routine things that she does twice per day everyday. She tried to go out the wrong door, she had to stop and taste everything along the way, whether it was eatable or not. I finally got her put back in the lot by the time it started to rain.

I was moving as quickly as possible because I needed to get into the house to turn off the computer before lightening struck again.

I went to collect Cooter who was tied to a concrete block in a nice patch of weeds. He had wrapped the rope around the block several times and while I tried to untangle him, he was giving me kisses and chewing on my hair. You can't slap him or push him away because then he thinks that you want to play and he plays too rough. I finally got him loose and by this time it had stopped raining but the storm was getting closer. I put Cooter in the horse trailer for the night instead of in his pen which is up the hill and farther away, so I had to get him a bucket of water.

Next I mixed the goat and chicken feed and managed to get them all fed without too many problems. Now it was back to chick herding, that is a skill that it takes years to perfect. You would think that they would go into the cage when their mommy went into the cage but not so. There is always one more thing that they need to do outside the cage before they call it a night.

Some of the chicks who were already safely nesting under their Mommy, would also think of something else that they needed to do and run out of the cage just as I got the last straggler in. I think that I used the word "stupid" a lot last night in dealing with both chickens and goats.

I finally got everything put up, watered and fed. I closed both big sliding doors and the side door, then went into the house to shut off the computer. The storm went east and never got to us. It did rain later in the night but all of my rushing around was wasted.

I think that I have a title now!

The Question

I don't understand people who like to golf, I don't understand people who like to rock climb, bungee jump, or sky dive. I don't understand people who like to fly, and I really don't understand people who like to shop, I just cannot relate.

So I guess that I should not find it odd that there are people who cannot relate to what my Husband and I do. But I must admit that I get a little testy with people who ask me "the question" that makes my blood boil.

We like living on a farm, we like raising animals, we like feeding animals, we like caring for animals, we like shoveling our hard earned money out onto our manure piles without ever turning a profit. That is what we do and enjoy.

Get over trying to understand it, it will never make anymore sense to you than continually buying shoes and clothes, wearing them a couple of times and giving them away, does to me. It will never make anymore sense to you than paying ridiculously high prices to play a game of golf or trying to kill yourself with some dangerous sport or hobby, does to me.

We love our animals and enjoy them and part of that love and enjoyment includes a commitment, a commitment and responsibility to feed and care for that animal while it is under our ownership. Just because the weather is horrible outside doesn't give an animal owner the right to skip a feeding, just because money is tight doesn't give an animal owner a right to quit supplying food or expect those animals to fend for themselves.

We had a situation come up today, a friend who recently had surgery, went to check on a mare that was due to foal. When she arrived the foal's nose was out but no feet were showing and the mare had stopped laboring.

She called the Vet, then called me. I told her what I would do in the same situation, which was push the baby back in and find the feet. She called me back a short time later to tell me that she had done what I had told her but that she couldn't get the legs to straighten out, so she just pulled her out by her knees.

Everything went well and the baby and mare were both fine but the baby's legs are very crooked from being in that position for so long and she couldn't walk or even stand to nurse. My friend just milked the mare and gave the baby a bottle then asked if we would come down to try to get the baby up to nurse it's mother, since she couldn't do that because of her surgery.

We went to the place where she keeps her horses and my DH got the pretty, dun, blanketed, appy filly on her feet and held her head up and steadied her to nurse. This filly will be fine, her legs will straighten out with time and she is completely healthy. But without human intervention both the mare and filly would have died. Without someone spending a couple of days helping this foal to nurse she will not survive.

While we were there someone else who has horses in the same barn, asked us if we had seen another horse that is at this barn. We said that we had, it kind of stuck out like a very sore thumb. She has been feeding this poor, young, skinny horse her own hay just so it will survive. She has talked to the owners about giving it away but they won't because they love it too much. They did say that they would sell it, but they want a good tidy sum for it. My feelings about this is that if you are eating, then your animals should be eating. If you are not doing without meals, then your animals should not be doing without meals.

If you have the money to have cell phones, cable T.V., an internet connection, go to places of entertainment, or go out to eat, then there is no excuse for not taking care of your responsibility to your animals.

I will climb down from my soapbox now and get back to my original point. I am spending many sleepless nights right now because of my pregnant mares and does. It will get worse as time goes by and they get closer to kidding and foaling. It is my duty to take care of them, since we are responsible for them being bred in the first place.

I know many people who own animals and take very good care of them but when it comes to birthing, they will not lose any sleep over it, to me this is just like not feeding your animals, because you are eating out all of the time. Which gets me to "the question" that I hate. The question that people will ask is, "Why do you have to watch them so closely, don't you think that they can have babies without your help?"

The answer to this question is this, "Were you home alone when you gave birth or was your wife home alone when she gave birth?" Yes, animals have been giving birth unassisted for many, many years. But what makes them any different than people? Women have been giving birth for many, many years as well. It isn't that I think animals are as important as people, but I have an investment in these animals and there is just as much chance of something going wrong for them as there is for humans.

The investment that I have in these animals may not necessarily be a big financial investment but with horses it is eleven months of care and waiting for a foal. With my goats it is five months of care and waiting. Do you really think that I don't want to be there when they give birth.

If you have raised animals for any length of time, you know the simple things that can go wrong during a delivery. Things that can easily be fixed if you are present but if you are snoring in bed those simple things can kill both the mother and baby or babies. Sometimes it is just a knee that gets stuck or the sharp little hooves that try to perforate into the mother's colon or a breach. With twins, triplets or quads in goats, it can be a tangling of legs or two competitors racing to be the first one out. These are things that can be corrected without an injury or death.

Last year one of our foals was just huge, she got stuck at the chest, we had never had this happen before. Her head and shoulders were already out and it took all of the strength that my Husband had, with his feet braced, to pull that baby out. He was sliding the mare backwards and we were praying when she finally popped out. It happened in the middle of the night. If we had been asleep we would have awaken to a dead mare and foal in the stall and it would have been very difficult to have gotten them out of that stall. My poor Husband was extremely sore the next day.

A friend of ours had a foal get stuck at the hips, the mare was panicking with the baby mostly dangling out and flopping around. Our friend was not strong enough to help, but luckily the Schwans delivery man arrived just in time to put some muscle into the pull and they got the colt out.

I am not saying that I am present at every birth but I miss very few. If I do miss one it isn't because I wasn't doing constant checks. There are times when you think that you can safely slip away for a couple of hours without anything happening, only to find out that that two hours was all that it took and they are either in the middle of giving birth or have just gotten done when you return home.

Hay for Sale

Many farmers horded hay this past season because of the drought. Instead of selling out of the field they hired help to store square bales in their barns that have gone unused for many years, because they feed big round bales to their own animals and usually sell square bales in the field.

They thought that they could sell their square bales out of their barns all winter and people would pay a premium, especially horse owners. Instead, most of the horse owners faced too many obstacles to paying high prices for hay. Horse values dropped, hay was hard to find and too expensive, the economy got worse and some lost jobs. So, many horse owners have sold their horses for whatever they could get, breeders stopped breeding and thinned their herds by selling, giving away or euthanizing.

Now Spring is just around the corner and barns are still full of hay, not many people want to buy last year's hay. Much of the hay that was put up last summer was poor quality because every spare weed lot was baled. It looks like some farmers may have cut off their noses to spite their face, as horse owners are smarter now. We have all learned our lessons, get rid of all of the hay burners that are no longer useful. Feed only good quality hay, and feed it smartly, eliminate as much waste as possible, use hay alternatives and shop around, your loyalty to your hay supplier didn't mean anything to him during a rough year, so why be loyal to one supplier?

I believe hay will be plentiful this year and will be for sale in the field again and at pre-drought prices. Grain prices will come down as the demand drops, we fed a lot of grain this winter to supplement the quality and amount of hay that we had, I am sure that we were not the only ones who did this.

Most horse owners will not be caught in the same situation that we found ourselves in this past fall and winter. People who own a few extra acres that can be divided off and not used as pasture, will do their own hay instead of having to depend on others. It has been easier and just as cost affective to buy hay instead of putting up your own, but that may have changed now.

Oh, Deer

Every evening we have two deer that visit us, they always show up while we are doing the evening feeding, they aren't the least bit concerned about us. Angel would bark at them when they first started showing up but she has gotten use to it and now ignores them. They know they have a safe haven here.

Well, we were blessed this evening with all of our Kids and Grandkids coming for a visit and they just happened to be out target shooting with a new BB gun that my Grandson got for Christmas. I just hope that our deer weren't too traumatized and will come back tomorrow night. I also hope that my sons will mature some day.

Just Lovely

When I went out to feed this morning, it was gently snowing, the ground was covered with a fresh dusting of snow, it was just lovely.

I enjoy feeding on mornings like this, it wasn't too cold, just beautiful, peaceful and quiet. One hen had already laid an egg which I deposited in my coat pocket.

I came back into the house to get a small bucket of warm water with some Apple Cider Vinegar in it for my goats. As I leaned over the sink, I heard a popping sound, but it didn't register at first. It wasn't until I was going through the kitchen with my bucket that figured out what the popping sound was. Oh well, that old coat needed a good washing anyway.

Catching Up

I seem to have gotten behind in my life and need to do some catching up. I have several rope halter orders that need to be made and shipped.

It seems most of my website clients wanted updates after Christmas. We had a horse come home from the trainer and his info and pictures had to be updated on our site. I even took some videos of Leroy with the trainer and posted them, you can see them here: 2004 ApHC Bay Leopard Gelding For Sale . The page has a lot of pictures, so if you are one of us poor peasants who are still on a dial-up, then it will take a while for the page to load and you will have to really be patient if you want to watch the videos.

Leroy may be a famous horse, we got a call the other day from a friend who sent Leroy and Biscuit's pictures in to a magazine, I forget the name of the magazine but he said that they had gotten back with him, wanting to know the reason for their names. I don't understand that, doesn't everyone name their horses Leroy and Biscuit? Leroy had actually been named by the owner of the mare that he is out of. We bought him after he was already registered. Biscuit is an actual descendant of the great Seabiscuit and Lady Bugs Moon, so thus her registered name, PS Lady Seabiscuit, you can visit her page here; 2007 ApHC Chestnut Leopard Filly For Sale .

I just got back in from doing the morning feeding, I can walk on top of the mud now, it is frozen, we have several days ahead calling for cold temps, so I can take care of my animals myself and give hubby a break. He only has 30 something horses to feed grain to every evening besides my stuff, it is taking him around 3 hours at this point.

I broke the ice for water this morning, it was pretty thick. I have to carry water out to my goats and chickens in a gallon bucket because that is the most my back will allow, so sometimes I have to make several trips. I don't even mess with the hoses, even if they have been drained and aren't frozen, they still hurt me to drag them around, the bucket is easiest. I usually get warm water from the bathroom for everyone when it is cold, they appreciate it.

Angel was very needy this morning, I had to sit down and spend some time petting and hugging on her. I really enjoy my life, I would never leave home, if I didn't have to.