Animals
- Equine Ice Capades
This is a familiar afternoon scene on the farm. It might look like three horses walking alone down the road, but buried in that mass of brown fur and hooves is Dr. Becky. Her horses Sid and Duffy, along with Shirley (pony and sister to my Donnie and...
- Who's Who....part 7
I often get the question..."Which animals take the most time to care for?" The answer to that is easy...no thought necessary.The horses! Cleaning up their manure three times daily...plus cleaning the pastures,feeding (in the winter time, they need lots...
- Predators, Pestilence, Parasites And Poison Ivy
Ahhhhhh, life in the country... idyllic, bucolic, peaceful... filled with breathtaking sunsets, gentle breezes, predators, pestilence, parasites and Poising Ivy!! It seems we are always engaged in hand to hand combat with some form of pest.Life...
- Together At Last!
I have been hesitant to put the "Bigs" and the "Littles"together in the same pasture to graze...fearing for the safety of my tiny horses. That is until the other day, when I took the Bigs to the upper pasture and heard the cries ofthe Littles as...
- Berry Good For Everyone!
What are the Dwarf Nigerians so interested in? Perhaps it is the fact that there are some visitors in their yard....some really BIG visitors! If you have read this blog for a while you may remember me talking about goats and parasites. Basically,...
Animals
Keeping Warm
Baby, it's cold outside!
Night time temperatures have been dipping below zero.
You might wonder how our equine friends stay warm
through this harsh weather.
Especially because they are not put away in a stall each night.
No, our horses live out of doors all year round.
They have access to stalls if they want them,
but more times than not, they just use them as
a "potty".
Being ponies, minis and draft horses gives them the advantage
of being able to grow long, thick coats for the winter.
And, they do just that.....
grow long and thick and shaggy....
and warm.
Besides wearing a warm coat,
our Bigs and Littles have access to lots of hay.
In the winter, their bellies become a furnace of sorts.
As long as they have hay to munch,
they stay toasty warm.
We also handle worming our equines a bit differently.
We do not have our horses on a monthly schedule for worming.
Instead, we check stool specimens periodically during the year
and treat accordingly.
Fastidious cleaning of pastures helps to reduce parasites.
There is good literature suggesting that monthly worming
has caused parasites to become resistant to the medications
currently on the market.
This year I noticed that our horses had bot eggs on their front legs.
Now that we have had some freezing temperatures,
we will give them worming medication to kill the bot larvae in their
gastrointestinal tract.
Yesterday afternoon, I inspected their legs and clipped off any
remaining bot eggs....
to prevent further ingestion.
Scarlet thought she might help me....
(Equine bot flies lay their eggs on the hairs of the horses legs.
Then, when the horses rub their mouths on their front legs,
they ingest the eggs. The eggs begin their metamorphosis
in the GI tract of the horse, where they will live for the
next year...causing health problems for the horse.)
Later this week I will give each of the horses a dose of
worming medication....
hopefully the only dose they will need this year.
If you have horses, you might want to consider only using
de-wormer as a treatment, and not prophylactically.
It is important, then that you do regular fecal exams.
- Equine Ice Capades
This is a familiar afternoon scene on the farm. It might look like three horses walking alone down the road, but buried in that mass of brown fur and hooves is Dr. Becky. Her horses Sid and Duffy, along with Shirley (pony and sister to my Donnie and...
- Who's Who....part 7
I often get the question..."Which animals take the most time to care for?" The answer to that is easy...no thought necessary.The horses! Cleaning up their manure three times daily...plus cleaning the pastures,feeding (in the winter time, they need lots...
- Predators, Pestilence, Parasites And Poison Ivy
Ahhhhhh, life in the country... idyllic, bucolic, peaceful... filled with breathtaking sunsets, gentle breezes, predators, pestilence, parasites and Poising Ivy!! It seems we are always engaged in hand to hand combat with some form of pest.Life...
- Together At Last!
I have been hesitant to put the "Bigs" and the "Littles"together in the same pasture to graze...fearing for the safety of my tiny horses. That is until the other day, when I took the Bigs to the upper pasture and heard the cries ofthe Littles as...
- Berry Good For Everyone!
What are the Dwarf Nigerians so interested in? Perhaps it is the fact that there are some visitors in their yard....some really BIG visitors! If you have read this blog for a while you may remember me talking about goats and parasites. Basically,...