October 2014 Update

Well, October is here and we are finally beginning to feel like it is fall. I just hope it stays fall for a little while and we don't just hop right into winter. Healthwise, I am about the same. So I won't go deeply into that subject. I feel like I have complained enough already. The good news is that most of the wood to get us through the winter is put up and ready to go. We probably need another half cord put in to make sure we get through and then we will be putting up next year's wood. We were very fortunate to lose two very large oak trees last year and they will last us quite some time for firewood. We are very happy about having the wood almost finished since it is usually the thing that we are really behind on and wind up having to split more wood in January to finish out the winter. Splitting wood when you can't feel your hands is really no fun. On a sad note we have decided that it is time to put our old stallion down. He is 29, almost 30 and he just won't keep weight on anymore. He also has developed episodes of diarrhea for no reason. He is parasite free and no changes in feed have been made. His body is just shutting down and putting him through another winter would be cruel. No matter what he eats or how much he loses weight. He won't be able to stay warm enough. We are very sad about it since we have had him almost 20 years now. It has been an especially hard thing for my husband to wrap his mind around even though we knew this day was coming. He and that old stallion have a special bond. Thunder can be really opinionated about things, but my husband could "talk" him into cooperating when no one else could.

We made a huge freebie score this week, and I love freebies. A friend of ours had a trailer that she rented out. Well, she decided she didn't want to fool with tenants anymore and the last one really trashed the trailer. So she sold the trailer. She told me that the guy who bought it didn't want anything in it so we got a propane wall heater (we really needed another one for the back of the house), and loads of books! I couldn't believe all the books in that place and I had a field day collecting books while my poor hubby was stuck removing the heater. The books are outside on the porch right now because I need to figure out how to disinfect them. Yes, the inside of that trailer was that bad. I also need to go through some of our books and get rid of them. We read a lot of books, so people give us books, and we wind up with loads of "read once" kind of books. I have decided to sell some of them on amazon. Usually we don't get much trade in on them at the trading bookstore and we don't know anyone who reads as much as we do. I have tried to give them to other people and they might take 1 out of a whole box. We could use the money even if it is only a little. I am also back working on writing my books. I am almost finished with a book about colony raising rabbits. These are books that will be published as e-books on amazon. I am excited about it.

Our biggest focus around here has been schoolwork. Petunia is a junior and we are working on scholarships and colleges/photography schools for her along with finishing up her coursework. our little one is a little behind with her reading skills, but she is improving and we are really seeing progress now. I am really excited about that. Reading has been a really BIG struggle for her and now she is seeing her progress and getting excited about reading. She told me the other day that she wants to read Black Beauty all by herself. So that is our goal. Not an immediate goal...Frog and Toad are what we can handle at this moment...but a goal. 6 months ago she was ready to give up, so for her to have a goal to keep reading is amazing!

Fall chores are a little behind around here, but I guess not of them are really that pressing. We will get them done in due time and what doesn't get done before it is too cold to work outside will just have to wait until spring. We don't have too many big projects to do anymore since we are pretty set where we want to be. We do have some fence work to do, especially around the garden. Our pallet fence has lasted for about 3-4 years. Much longer than we expected. So, it is a little worn and we really should replace it. I think that will definitely be a spring project. I am trying to keep going with things around here, but I am slow. Things that would have taken me a couple of days to complete might take me a week or a little more now. It is what it is and I just have to take it slow for now. I am still holding out hope that life will get better for me and I will feel better at some point.

Well that is about it for now. Have a great October and I will be back soon. Blessings from the farm, Kat

Goodbye BC

This is a hard post to write. It was a rough weekend. I had to put my beautiful horse BC down. A bad case of colic that turned worse. he was dying and in pain, no longer able or willing to make the effort to get up. I suspect that he twisted a bowel, but I didn't do a necropsy to find out. He was thrashing pretty hard in the pasture when I found him. He was 15 years old and I have known him since the day that he was born. I have owned him since he was about 18 months old. I have trained him for the most part since he was 10 months old. He was my boy, my partner and he owned a part of my soul. He had so much heart and such a willingness to please me. I feel a huge loss and I miss him terribly. I had a hard time going to the barn yesterday. We were working together again and it was magical. I was so proud of him and he was gorgeous. Horses are so much different than other livestock and those horses that become your true partner and soulmate are much different than anything else. I have been privileged to have 4 of those such horses in my 30+ years with horses. Gumby, Scampy, Gully and BC. They were all special and amazing. They all still hold a special place in my heart and I would give every other critter on this farm just to have them back. BC was even tops of that short list. He was the one who always came to see what I was doing and offer his "assistance". He was good at inspecting every project. I rebuilt his stall just a short time ago with his "help" as he stood in Thunder's stall with his nose in everything. He was so good with the children, especially the little ones. Of course, they always had treats and he was ever so gentle taking those treats even when little fingers made it difficult. I feel as if I have lost a part of myself. When Gully died so tragically, BC was there for comfort. The other two are not so good at that so there isn't anyone to comfort me over his loss. No one to fill that hole that he has left behind. I miss you baby boy.

Bringing a Horse Up from Pasture (Back to Work)

As I am sure I have mentioned previously the horses have not really been worked in the past several years. When we decided to start farming it took every little bit of time to get where we are and get into new schedules with all the new critters, gardens, food preservation etc. Now that we have settled in somewhat I am ready to start working with my ponies again. I didn't realize how badly I missed that until I started helping my friend with her new horses. Since this isn't my first rodeo with bringing an unfit pasture ornament back into real work, I thought I would pass on my handy dandy tips. So here they are. First start slow. Don't just throw a saddle on your horse and go out for that half a day trail ride. If you do that poor horse won't hardly be able to move for a week. When a horse has been in pasture for any length of time muscle, tendons, ligaments and bone must be strengthened back up for the workload expected of them. I like to start with a refreshment course in stable manners. Stand politely while you are groomed, fly sprayed etc., don't be pushy...those sorts of things. Make sure that you have taken care of the basics such as attending to their health and their feet. If they aren't in that great of condition then either start giving them more calories, slowly or start them on a bit of a diet, slowly. A horse in poor condition by being either underweight or overweight will have more trouble getting back into shape. The next thing I like to do is work on the lunge line which will help to build and strengthen muscles without the added weight and strain of a rider. It also puts the horse back into the frame of mind to work. Some horses don't particularly take kindly to being brought in from vacation and this gives a nice transition without too much fuss. When starting the horse on the lunge don't just let your horse run willy nilly in circles around you. I like for the circle to actually be an oval (yes this means you have to work too) as it is easier on the joints and tendons that are out of shape. Start by walking, lots of walking. Then you can move into periods of trotting mixed with walking. Depending on how long the horse has been out of work will determine how long this period is. My best advice is not to rush it. If you and the horse need a change of scene then pick a different pasture or area to work in. Work both directions to work both sets of muscles on the horse. You can start with 20 minute workouts and work up to one hour. As the time period gets longer then increase the trotting time within that time frame. You can introduce some walk/trot/walk transitions which will help to balance the horse along with building muscle along the back and rear. Once the horse is comfortably lunging for an hour with little signs of fatigue then you can start riding. Start by walking for about 30 minutes and build from there. Just the act of carrying a rider is fatiguing to an unfit horse and most horses out in pasture have weak back muscles so take the time to let those back muscles get stronger to prevent back injuries. A horse with a bad back is not fun to have around. I rode one for a trainer for awhile and it seemed like more days than not I was tending to a bad back rather than being in the saddle. So don't feel bad for just walking...you are doing valuable muscle building and training which will save you a lot of heartache in the future. Next you can add some trot work and hills into your walk to build even more muscles and exercise those tendons and ligaments. Once the horse is comfortably handling a good hour to hour and a half of walking and trot work then you can begin to move into whatever discipline is your chosen one. If you even or jump you can start some canter work and work over cavaletti's. If you do barrels then you can start some canter work and work around your pattern. Whatever you do take the time to recondition the horse slowly, it will save lameness and other problems in the long run and make for a much happier willing partner. If the horse associates you with pain (sore muscles, bruised tendons, etc.) then they are much less likely to be happy to see you when you head out with the halter. BC has been out of work for years and I know that I have to take it real slow with him. We have been working on the lunge for a couple of weeks now. At first a 30 minute walk had him in a real sweat. Now, he is handling an hour of walk/trot work on the lunge with less sweat than he started with. He is also balancing himself much better which tells me that the muscles are getting stronger and more used the work being asked. Next, week he will go in loose side reins and then the week after we will start with slow saddle work. I expect it will be this fall before we really start any serious dressage work and even then eventing fitness. However, BC has been out for much longer and it will be slow going. I have to say though it feels good to just be working with him and spending time with him. Blessings, Kat

The Care and Feeding of Tack

I recently mentioned my emotional pain at having to throw out a bunch of tack that had not been taken care of. since I hadn't ridden or worked the horses much I had neglected my equipment and paid the price for it also. So, here are my tips for taking care of your tack and keeping if for a long time. All leather needs to be cleaned and oiled on a regular basis. Even kept in the barn it will dry rot if not kept from doing so. Dry rotted tack is dangerous as you never know when it will break. So on a regular basis clean your tack to get any sweat and dirt off of it with a good leather cleaner. I like Murphy's oil soap and have used it for years. A mild solution of soap and warm water will clean all the sweat and dirt off of the leather. Sweat and dirt will cause the tack to age and degrade faster. After cleaning run a dry cloth over the leather and then oil, oil oil. I prefer neatsfoot oil, but there are many good products for this. This will condition the leather putting much needed oils back into it to keep it soft and supple. Not oiling your leather will cause it to dry out and crack. Now, how often to do this? Many of the big show and training barns that I worked at over the years required tack to be oiled every time it was used and then thoroughly cleaned and oiled again once a week. The horses got a day off of work and that was always tack cleaning day in which everything was taken apart scrubbed down and oiled and then put back in place. After riding a light swipe of oil was run over the leather before putting away for the day. This kept the tack ready to use, clean and intact for a long time. Good tack is an investment so care should be taken that it last a long time. The plus side is that well cared for tack is much more comfortable for the horse to wear as it is supple and soft. When cleaning and oiling pay careful attention to the buckle areas which tend to wear faster than the rest of the leather. Anything that needs repair or looks worn should be taken to the leather repair guy right away instead of put back where it could accidentally be used. If you take good care of your tack then it will last you many many years. Blessings, Kat

Economical Horse Keeping

So you now have your horse and you want to make sure that this very large animal doesn't break the bank. Horses can be an expensive hobby and an even more expensive livelihood. But we are talking about the general pleasure horse, not a career in horses. Horses can be kept relatively economically. Here are my tips on inexpensive horse keeping. First a horse doesn't need a 5 star barn with all the bells and whistles. Yes, we all want one of those barns but in most climates they aren't really necessary. A three sided run in will do in many climates, but if you have harsh winters you might want to add a fourth side with a doorway to provide more shelter from the wind. Horses tolerate cold very well, but wind will kill a horse. Provide shelter from the winter wind and the horse is good. A three sided shelter will also protect against thunderstorms. Second is food. You will spend more on a good feeding program than you do anything else, but if you spend less then you Then you will spend more in vet, farrier and other costs to compensate for the poor health of your horses. Buy a good quality feed. It doesn't have to be a top of the line feed, but it does have to be a good quality. You feed less of it and your horses receive better nutrition so stay in better shape. I have gone the route of buying the cheapest feed available and believe me you will pay for it in the long run because the health of your horse will decline and you will find yourself with underweight unthrifty horses that need lots of supplements and vet care. Spend some time looking at feed tags. Buy the best quality hay you can find. It doesn't have to be a high protein hay like alfalfa, but a good quality grass hay. If it is real stemmy the horses will waste a lot of it. If it is poor quality or been stored for a long time then they will get nothing from it other than roughage. Many horses can be kept on just good hay and pasture without extra feed if the quality is good. Pastures should be kept and maintained. Spend the money to have it bushhogged a couple times a year (or use your own tractor). Overseed for extra forage. I like to overseed in the late summer with annual rye grass as it will grow most of the winter in our climate providing much needed nutrition. Fertilize your pasture at least once a year preferably twice. We fertilize with compost and it has improved our pastures tremendously. Rotate pastures so that they are not grazed below 3". If you don't have enough room to rotate properly (every couple days depending on the size of the pasture) then consider adding a dry lot around the barn to rotate into and just feed hay in the drylot. Next, learn how to take care of minor vet care yourself. Vaccines are easy to get and to give and will cost you much less in the long run. If I paid my vet to come out and do vaccines it would cost me roughly 120.00. Yet I can do it myself for about 20.00. For the farrier, keep your horses barefoot if at all possible. Learn how to take of minor sprains, scratches, and other issues instead of calling the vet out for every little bump and scrape. A good place to start is to learn what you can from your vet and to ready a good horse health book. Barefoot horses built tougher and better hooves anyway and unless they are working on heavy rocky trails or in heavy work or sport then they there is really no need for shoes. A healthy horse has healthy hooves, poor hooves are a sign that your horse is missing something or has always worn shoes. When I was eventing we would pull shoes for the down season when the horses were allowed to just be horses. At first their hooves were fragile but by the end of the season when it was time to shoe them again the farrier was cussing because their hooves were so hard and strong. A trim job is much cheaper than a shoe job every 8 weeks. And lastly, take care of your equipment. Tack is expensive and not cheap to replace. If you take care of it, it will last for a good long time. I didn't heed my own advice and since I wasn't using it I didn't think about my tack. I recently threw out every girth I had and some other tack that had dry-rotted and weakened by being neglected. It hurt to throw all that away even though most of it I have had for years I still remember how hard it was to pay for it and how much money just went in the garbage. It hurt believe me it hurt. I know there are many things on this list that are causing you to think that you are spending more money than you should, but in the long run believe me it will be worth it. Blessings, Kat

So You Think You Want to Buy a Horse

So you think you want to buy a horse? I have been in and out of the horse world for a long time and there are some serious pitfalls out there for newbies. So here are my tips to make buying a horse a pleasant experience. First, be real about your horse experience. If you don't have any get some. Read everything you can, talk to trainers, spend time at the local boarding stable, volunteer to muck stalls. I gathered some of my most valuable knowledge mucking out stalls just to be around the horses and trainers. Second what do you want to do with your horse? If you just want to trail ride then you don't need that high dollar (and high spirited) thoroughbred or warm blood. You need something that is sane and solid. The next question to ask yourself is if you can handle the financial end of taking care of a horse. They are large and eat 20-22 hours out of every 24 hour day. Some horses are easy keepers who will do just fine on a quality grass pasture, others need grain hay and pasture to keep on weight. They need routine vet care (vaccines and blood tests) and feet trimming. They need equipment which can get expensive especially bought all at once. They need housing even if just a run in shed and they need fencing. Can you manage that? Then there are the emergencies. One thing you can count on is that if you keep horses long enough there will be an emergency no matter how good the care. Having a herd of horses can be like having a herd of toddlers out looking for trouble. Next when you think you have found that horse of your dreams take someone knowledgeable in horses to look at it with you. This is oh so important as I can not emphasize enough that many(most) horse traders are worse than used car salesmen. I have seen it all in that arena. I have seen traders drug horses that were nut cases and sell them as children's mounts and never once blink an eye. I have seen them drug horses so that they are sound on the test ride knowing that horse was lame as the day is long. If it can be done I have seen it done. If someone is pressuring you to buy a horse don't walk away run away. If they have a quality animal then they don't need to pressure you into buying it. The pressure comes when they want to get it off the property before the drugs wear off. Buy your saddle after you buy the horse...not every saddle fits every horse. A bad fitting saddle usually leads to a bad tempered horse as riding is associated with pain. 1000 lbs of bad temper is not pleasant for anyone and those are the horses that wind up at auctions or just standing in a pasture eating money. Find a farrier and a vet as soon as possible. Knowing who to call before you need to call is much nicer than searching around and being stuck with what you can get. The farrier that I used when we first moved here was great, then he decided he didn't want to be a farrier anymore. The next one I got was awful and my horses hated him. I have been through the gamut of farriers that were cruel and abusive, scared of hyper horses, didn't know what they were doing and bad trim and shoeing jobs. I had a vet that killed my daughter's first pony because she was ill after a choking incident and he poured an entire gallon of an electrolyte and glucose solution into her lungs because he was too lazy to check and make sure that the tube was not in her lungs. She drowned as my daughter and I watched and he drove out my driveway. So doing some asking around and finding out the good bad and ugly can help you know who you are calling before you have an emergency. If you have covered all those bases then go get your horse, it's a buyers market out there right now and there are loads of horses looking for just the right home. Of course, there are ways to keep horse cost to a minimum and we will discuss that next time. Blessings, Kat

Where I've been and what I've been up too

Wow, things have been busy and since the mornings are getting started real early around here due to the heat, I haven't posted much. I guess I should get better about that. A few weeks ago a friend of mine got two horses and they didn't settle in very well. Her experience with horses is limited and so this old horse trainer pulled out her dust covered boots and headed down the road every morning after chores to help. The horses have settled in now and we are just working out some kinks with two horses that haven't had much riding or work for several years. So being with her horses has really inspired me to stop procrastinating and putting off my own horses. I have been working on getting BC back into shape and making plans to get Whisper started again. I stated in another post earlier this spring that this is the year of the horse in which much needed repairs and such get done to the horse barn. So I started working on that yesterday. The feed room out there is now nice and tidy, all tack has been gone through and will be cleaned today. The tack area has been cleaned and organized. Today I have plans to make some repairs to BC's stall. I will be taking out the old hay rack that was built way to high up on the back wall to be able to throw hay into and installing a new (to him) hay tub. Why a tub? Because we frequently feed bagged chaff haye and it won't go in a standard hay rack. Then I have the side door to repair, which I was thinking about widening but because of our water problem with that barn I might not. I will be installing a drainage ditch at the door which tends get trampled down to allow the water to flow into the barn. I will put a pipe in there so that doesn't happen and there is still room for the water to flow around the barn instead of through the barn. Then I will be cleaning the outside of that side of the barn where all the junk has accumulated. So busy busy day this morning. Of course the garden is finally in production and we have been getting some good rain the past few days. We just keep planting and will plant straight through fall since the spring was off to such a bad start this is the only way to make up the difference. I don't think I will get much squash this year even though the plants look great. No squash vine borers and no squash bugs, but the squash are not maturing well. Maybe that will get better with time. Harvested most of the onions. Didn't get a whole lot but they are nice looking and I am sure will taste delightful. Sweet potatoes are in the ground and the first crop of corn should be ready soon. We had another snake in the garden so dear hubby got in there and thoroughly cleaned out some areas that I haven't been able to get to with everything else that needed to be done. The weeds and the snakes seem abundant this year. The goats are doing well and still no babies which is driving me nuts even though a couple of my girls look like they are going to explode. I wish they would pop soon because Dolly and Windy are both dropping in milk production. I still don't have a shortage though and have made some cheese and ice cream pretty regularly. Since the heat is getting to be unbearable we spend most of the day inside. The little one and I have been doing some crosstitch and the oldest has had a cold. I have some sewing projects that I likely will be finishing up soon. Other than that we are plugging along doing what we can outside before the heat gets to be too much and then enjoying the quiet time inside for the rest of the day. Hope your summer is going well and your garden is producing. Blessings, Kat

The year of the horse

My poor horses have really had to make do over the past couple of years as we have been busy with other infrastructure for goats, chickens, pigs and garden. We have always had a drainage issue with the barn because when it was built (not by us) site location was not a big consideration. When it rains the rain runs downhill and right through the barn, creating at the least a cleaning pain or at most an unusable nightmare. In the past we had brought in some crushed limestone for the floor of the barn which helped, but like I said the last couple of years we haven't done much of anything and this past winter we got a lot of rain. The barn is a mess and currently isn't really useable as we can't get the water out of the barn. We have stripped the stalls which lowered them even more and we are still getting loads of rain each week. So, this has to be the year of the horse. We are going to strip out the inside of the barn, bring in dirt and get those stalls back to the shape they need to be in. We also need to re-do the French drain around the outside of the barn to keep water from coming through it. Then there is roofing work to be done and some of the siding is loose. Essentially the horse infrastructure around here is a mess and this has got to be the year that it is taken care of. So, it looks like I will be on the phone today to get the best price on a dump truck load of crushed limestone and we will be trenching around the barn within the next couple of weeks. Since this is the year of the horse the fences need doing too. I have been saying over the last year that we were going to get to those fences and this is the year. Loads of money and time, but it has to be done. My poor ponies have had to make do long enough and now is the time to give them a better environment. Everyone else is happy and settled so now it is their turn. We also need to get them separated at feeding time because we are having issues with out mare being a bully and the boys are getting run off from their food. Poor old Thunder doesn't need that hassle as he has a hard enough time keeping on weight. Well, we do the best we can and keep moving forward to do better. This year the horses get "better" and everyone else can make do. Blessings from the farm, Kat

It's official

It's official, the computer is fried and can't be repaired...or at least not repaired for less than it would cost to buy another one. So I guess I am hunting for another computer. This really stinks. It's money we really don't need to spend, but I can't write and send articles without one and I can't telecommute to my part time job without one. right now I am on my daughter's lap top which is just a simple little laptop for a student, not nearly powerful enough for what I need. The rain is supposed to stop today, which is good news because the pond is literally overflowing. It was 1/2 empty just a couple days ago. The barns are flooded and we have a huge amount of cleaning out to do. What a mess. On a sad note we have decided that it is time to put Thunder our old stallion down. I know this is something we have been talking about for a couple of years, but it always seemed like he kept plugging along. Well, he isn't plugging along so well anymore and is losing weight again despite the senior feed that we feed to him in copious amounts. he also appears to be going blind. We have noticed several times that he bumps into the doorway of the stall once he figures out where it is. It takes him longer to find the doorway as he seems really confused and frustrated trying to come in. It is a hard thing to accept and that is why we have been putting it off so much fo so long and doing what we could to keep weight on him and keep him happy. He just doesn't seem happy anymore. It is almost as if he is spending each day waiting to die. It is hard to watch him age this way. he has always been such a proud and noble animal. Don't know when we will get around to this, but we have decided that it probably needs to be soon. Well, I suppose I had better get to work. Lots of things to be done around here. Blessings, kat

What a mess!

Oh my goodness did we have the rain yesterday! I certainly don't mind a good long steady rain to help with our rain deficit, but really did we have to get rid of the drought all in one day?! We had so much rain yesterday, which started about noon and was still going at 11 last night when I fell asleep. It was a hard steady downpour too, not a drizzle or light rain. I was driving home from my mother's yesterday and was seriously worried when I saw several neighbors with fences that were underwater with nothing but the top of the posts showing. As I have mentioned before we have a water issue with our horse barn. We have to re-dig a trench around the side of the barn to re-direct any water run-off. Well, last night there was so much water coming down and too running down the hill to the barn that the trench was overflowing and the excess water that couldn't run around the barn fast enough was running straight into the barn. I let two of the horses loose, whose stalls were completely under water. I do mean completely underwater with a good 4 inches of standing water in the stall and more coming in the barn. They could go around to the tractor bay on the other side of the barn which was dryer to get out of the rain. Thunder's stall was wet in a good many spots, but half of it was still dry so he was good for awhile. There was so much water coming down that it was coming over the concrete into the feed room and rabbit colony. In the 10 years we have been here I have never ever seen that happen. The rabbits had a thick enough bedding that they were ok, but it will have to all be cleaned out today. It will probably take me all day to get everything mucked out and new bedding put in so that they are all dry again. I don't know what we are going to do about that barn, but we will have to do something thing year more than the trench. It takes forever for that barn to dry out. I am thankful for the rain as we did need it, but my goodness did we have to get a year's supply all in one day. I guess I am just thankful that the house sits on top of the hill instead of down the hill. Well, I guess I better get my boots on...looks like it will be a long day. Blessings, Kat

Dumped Livestock

I had been hearing about folks around the country waking up to find new horses in their pastures that weren't there the night before. I hadn't heard of it happening here though, until the other day. A couple pulled up in my driveway in a van and asked if I had lost a horse and a donkey. I told them no that I hadn't and they then told me that they had a horse and donkey show up in their pasture and they couldn't find who they belonged to. I told them they might have been dumped as I had seen them on the side of the road a few miles from me and had made some phone calls to find the owner. They were gone when I went back by so I figured the owner fixed the fence and secured their animals. I guess not as this gentleman in the van was telling me that they were quite content in his pasture. I told him about the horses being dumped around the country because they aren't worth anything and so many can't afford to feed them anymore. This really ticks me off. Not only are they sentencing the horses to a potentially horrible death and miserable existence, but they are a serious danger to people driving down the road. If someone hits one of those animals then there is a very very good chance that they will not walk away from that crash. Hitting a 1200 lb. horse is not like hitting a 300 lb. deer and we all know the damage that can be caused by hitting a deer. Just imagine the havoc wreaked by hitting something much much larger. A semi or mac truck is about the only thing that has hope of surviving. So whoever dumped those animals on the side of the road felt that it was ok to endanger everyone driving down that road. This follows right along with the post I made not too long ago about the horse slaughter issue. If the slaughter houses were open this would not have happened, there would have been somewhere for the owners to send their stock. Or here is another thought......get rid of the stigma of eating horse meat and maybe the family that is on hard times could have filled their freezer for the year! I know, I know don't flame me or send me ugly emails for that comment. Really though think about it, no difference between a horse or a cow. However, instead of endangering other folks' lives they could have helped out their own situation. It's much more responsible of an action than dumping them. Blessings from the farm, Kat

Beaver Update

Well, the beaver was negative for rabies. Good thing. Thunder is doing just fine and the bite has just about healed. No infection and no lameness. He is a tough old man. The state lab said that there is a disease that beavers can get which gives similar signs (odd behavior)and that is probably what was wrong with the beaver, but it definitely was not rabies. So everybody here is in good shape. Blessings from the farm, Kat

Beaver Situation

Well, Sunday certainly was an interesting day around here. It started out normal enough. I got up drank my coffee, read the news, took my shower, got my clothes out for church, woke up the children and headed out to feed and milk. Everything out there appeared normal also, until I got to the second doe to be milked. From where she is on the milk stand I can see into Thunder's (horse) stall. So I am happily milking away enjoying my quiet time and the sounds of happy critters munching away when I see a dark shape in the back corner of Thunder's stall. It was a big dark shape and very difficult to tell what it was. For a split second I thought the neighbor's dog had gotten into the barn and in the stall with Thunder (very dangerous thing to do) and was really badly hurt. However, one of the chickens solved the mystery as she popped through the wall between the stalls and began to make her way happily around Thunder's feet (yes he tolerates the chickens) to scratch through his bedding. As the chicken scurried toward the big dark shape it growled and lunged at her. It was then that I knew what it was....a beaver. A really big beaver. For a moment I was shocked, so much so that I stopped milking and just sat and stared. What was a beaver doing in my barn so far from any lake or pond or stream or anything else. Our pond is swimming pool size, wide open, no trees, and fenced in. Not beaver habitat. My neighbors to the side and back of me (2 brothers) have about 4 very large lakes and several smaller lakes/ponds. I figured the beaver came from there. But here is the question. This beaver had to travel up the hill, through the woods, all the way around my goat fence, double back toward my house (and my LGD) to go into the front of my barn right next to the house with the cars parked in front. Why? This is not normal behavior for a beaver. So I got my husband and we pulled all the animals out of the barn and put them out back in the pasture. Thunder was not happy that he did not get to finish his breakfast. My husband and I left the barn to give it a chance to go away, put all the dogs in the house and got the gun. The beaver was right where we left it, it had no interest in leaving. Something was not right with this beaver. Beavers tend to avoid humans at all cost, at least that has been my experience. As a wildlife painter I spent many hours in the woods trying to get photos of beavers only to get the splash of their tail as they disappeared from sight. Even though I have never heard of a case of rabies in beavers this was my thought. So my husband shot the beaver leaving the head intact. We then with gloves double bagged the beaver, put it in a cooler on ice and checked the critters. Well, it had bitten Thunder so it definitely needed to be tested. By this time going to church is out the window because I need to know what to do with this beaver. So I call the state wildlife office (no answer, it is Sunday after all), the critter man (doesn't know what to do with it), my vet (no answer probably in church with the phone off), sheriff's department (don't know what to do with it) and on and on it went as I called every agency I could think of to call to see where I needed to take this beaver. Finally, my vet called me back. So yesterday morning I went and picked up a rabies booster for the horse, decapitated the beaver and took the head to the state lab in the city to be tested. I should know the results today. What a shame, that was some of the most beautiful meat I had ever seen not to mention the gorgeous pelt. And the fat, just think of the soap I could make from that beautiful 1/2" layer of fat just under the skin. So that has been my past couple of days, dealing with a wayward and possibly very sick beaver. I hope the animal tests negative, but at the same time I hate the thought that I killed an animal that perhaps just got very turned around and very scared when it found itself in a bad spot. However, with such odd behavior and its unwillingness to get out of my barn I really had no choice. I will never have any answers as to why this beaver wound up in my barn. I am just wondering if one of my neighbors hasn't destroyed a lodge and displaced a family. Cruel thing to do this time of year, even in a mild southern winter. This is the time of year that babies are getting ready to be born and mama wouldn't have time to build another lodge before hand. If people are going to live in wild places with wild things, then I wish they would at least learn the cycle of those things with which they live. I understand beavers can cause problems and need to be moved out, but if you destroy the lodge at least do it when they have time to rebuild before having babies and even then maybe it would be better to trap and eat the beavers before destroying the lodge. My grandfather never agreed with wasting any life that God created. He didn't believe in killing for the sake of killing and putting a pregnant beaver out of home in winter is killing for the sake of killing in my book. Of course, I am just jumping to conclusions on that one. It just as easily could be a sick or lost juvenile that mama put out to make room for the new little ones. Anyways it was a beautiful critter and I finally got up close and personal with a beaver that I had for so many years tried to capture on film. Blessings from the farm, Kat