Mud and Manure

I have very mixed feelings about Spring. I think every farmer does. These are some of the reasons why.

The intense grip of late winter starts to give way to Pre Spring.

The pristine blanket of snow, that constantly renews itself with new, pristine white blankets of sparkly cleanliness, lulls you into forgetting the vile nastiness below.

The dripping and bubbling sound of water is the music of melting. Of water beginning to run and filling the creeks, ponds, lakes and puddles. The white giving way to an earth that has been hibernating since November. This is also the gauntlet of gurgling muck. The frozen morning, releases to ground that is saturated with manure and urine. I am talking about intense layers of manure, soiled hay, bedding mud and slush. The bloom of hay twine that has grown over the winter, coiling under the ice and multiplying. There is hay scattered everywhere and even the odd lost glove or knife. The  fetid water running over ruts of mud and ice the color of strong tea.

The mud puddles, with a dusting of hair that is sloughing off the animals in patches. There are broken fence posts that have been held up by the ice, that suddenly list to the side. There are broken rails, the gates drooping like they are exhausted. The pinto patches of dingy snow in the dull, ragged hay fields waiting to be harrowed and seeded.The hay barn is looking forlorn and the woodshed is emptying out. The sheer volume of work that will ensue.... overwhelming does not begin to encompass the feeling.

Everything is brown, tired and dirty and more so after months and months of bright white.

Then there are animals who need to be dusted for ticks and lice, De-worming, vaccines and horse blankets to be laundered. The hair coats once warm and downy start to become dirty and loose. You cannot touch anything without coming away covered in mud, hair and manure. The only way to describe the smell is pungent.

This is what I call pre spring, and I hate it.

As Pre- Spring starts to release its sad grip, and the brown begins to give way to green, 

the burdens start to lift.

The tangled nests of twine have gone to the dump, along with the heap of feed bags and dog poop from everywhere. The manure and soiled hay, fought back to a majestic, heaping, hillock out back. Fences pulled tight like guitar strings, posts replaced standing guard, gates rehung straight and strong. The creeks of tea, giving way to bubbling, pristine water.

The animal hair has been turned into birds nests. The fields are neatly harrowed and have an emerald sheen, next to a sparkling lake. 

There are tickling spring breezes ruffling the new grass, carrying the sweet smells of earth and growth. The garlic, crocus's and daffodils are poking their way through the mulch. 

 Strawberries and rhubarb,

unfurling vibrantly from their slumber. The pregnant goats and cow heavy in their pregnancy, soft eyed and round. Preparing the kidding and calving areas, with the excitement of impending birth.

New saucy little piglets arrive and begin to thrive. The horses are starting to frolic, manes and tails flying, hooves cutting into the soft ground. Fit and shiny, running free of the ice and snow.

Everywhere there is newness, anticipation and light.

The heavy cloak of winter thrown down and the soggy boots of pre spring kicked off as the entire farm prepares for the next stage of the year.

Generating Heat

It gets to be cold here, the kind of cold that freezes your eyelashes together and you put your ice cube trays on your front porch to make ice. The kind of cold that really hurts your face and shrivels the inside of your nose. Those days are when I feel like bringing all the creatures in the house.


Now I know that would be the worst thing for them. Yet the unrelenting bitter cold for days on end makes me wish I had a magic wand.

The only thing to do is make them comfortable and be prepared. First defense is to provide shelter from the elements. We do not close them in but allow them to choose to remove themselves from the elements. They then can decide to move around to warm themselves, to huddle up together or standing in the rising sun and eat.

I have mentioned before that some of our horses will wear blankets. Some do not. I have a very strong opinion on blanketing.  My opinion is that each horse's health, age, weight and mobility will determine what is best for them. A horse who is not sound, cannot move around as much without stiffness to improve blood circulation. A horse who is very thin or had poor muscle stores also does not need further caloric energy going to shivering. Ones who have a very fine hair coat or are prone to rain rot or fungal skin infection does not need to have a layer of ice on their backs.

We have a blanket for each horse on the property, and can use them for emergency. If it is 15 below and that horse is needing veterinary care, they have to get in a trailer and ride an hour to town. Horses, too go into shock and need to be kept warm. So we have blankets, a lot of blankets. The number one thing we do to keep them warm is to provide as much forage as possible. The horses digestion is their oven. While they are eating they are keeping warm. Grains don't do the same work. Forage is a beautiful thing.  Warm water is essential to them to ensure that forage is moving its way through the body.

Water is so important in cold weather, and asking them to drink ice water seems like asking for trouble. The last thing I ever want to do, is deal with colic in extreme cold so I will do what I can to prevent it. The frosty, happy hay covered faces greeting me from their round bale is a wonderful thing in the morning.

The goats shelter together, they will sleep in family units cuddled right together. It also makes me happy to see that the breeding of Cashmere bloodlines gives them a natural heavy down to their coats allowing them more natural insulation. Heated water is just as important to them to encourage them to keep drinking. They too get as much forage as possible to keep their little bodies warm.

Cows too are on the same program but given big areas of bedding to bunk down in. We cut our swamp hay for that purpose and they seem to choose to sleep in it happily. Ginny our lovely big cow has occasionally chosen to push through her fence to hang out with her goat friends next door. The goats love her visits and all seem to want to eat under her. She would be like a giant furnace.

There are so many ways to keep critters happy and healthy in the winter and I am thankful for the progress of things like slow feed hay nets and water heating systems.

The other main thing we always ensure is free of snow, is the stock trailer. This is our emergency trailer. Digging it out is always important, and keeping it where we can hook up at a moments notice is not always easy especially after a huge dump of snow, but you greatly appreciate you have done it when you need it.

Go forth and stay warm my fellow farmers!

My Top Hand

        

               A farmer has a variety of tools needed to do their job. Some are more important than others, there are some that are replaceable.

A Farm Dog is one of the most irreplaceable and important tools on a farm.

Kit Kat is our top hand, she is a red merle, Australian Shepard from working lines.

She was born into  life on a farm.

When Kat came to live with us as a pup, I was working at another ranch. She would get up with me and drive to work everyday. She spent a lot of time sleeping in a warm truck on cold mornings or being packed around in my coat. Once she was big enough, she started farm school. She has had all kinds of teachers and many lessons, leading her to greatness.

The Farmer is the one she plays with and who she loves the best. Her and I have a different bond than they do, we work together everyday. Sometimes we have a difference of opinion but we still find ourselves best friends by nightfall. She has never been far from my side.

Now a farm dog will have a variety of jobs. Working livestock is the most obvious one of course. But that job is often misunderstood. A working dog must show a pre-disposition to working. They need to want to follow, to chase and to guard. They need to be hard fast and loud, or slow, silent and gentle, depending on the livestock they are working. They need to have focus and incredible listening skills. They need to be trustworthy, honest, hardworking and be quick. There is a lifetime of  work ahead of them so they need to love their job.

She learned to be around horses without getting underfoot. She had a hard lesson going into a horse pen where she had a near miss getting trampled in the snow. It was a reminder that she should be close to me and not wandering where her nose took her.

Kat learned to work cattle slowly, the fastest way to work cattle is slowly. She spent time in the corrals with yearlings who are unpredictable. A mother cow with calf up close and personal, can be more dangerous than a bull and takes finesse to motivate She learned to be gentle while moving cows with calves to range, there is no aggression needed around calves.

She was learning when to follow, when to chase, and when to wait. Bulls, well they are big and depending on the time of year can be frightening; She learned to get through, over or under the fence faster than the Farmer when challenged by a ton of beef. She was learning self preservation. She later learned how to fight for us to protect us and to give us time to get over the fence. She had learned when it was time to be a warrior.

Different livestock takes different levels of attention and method. Which is partially developed by training and partially to their natural inclination and intuition.

Moving to our Farm has brought new livestock challenges for Kit Kat. Goats are in some ways like sheep but they will turn and fight with their horns if pushed to hard.

She had to learn to go softly, push them together and to encourage them from the back of the group keeping some distance. A Nanny with kids will turn and fight hard if crowded, as is her right and their horns are a real threat. Kat has gotten caught off guard and thankfully our goats are not mean. She has been bunted and been scared enough to learn the lesson of spatial awareness. Goat kids love her of course and she loves to lick them and watches over them. 

Pigs too are an interesting thing to work around and these are her biggest challenge.  Kat learned to work with horses by learning to go ahead on trails and flush out grouse and to be on watch for things ahead in the trail. This is not as easy as you would think, the lure of bunnies, squirrels and the various smells enticing a dog off the job, must be incredible.

She also learned to follow behind or to ride on a horse when called upon. Also to know when the horses pick up speed, she would have to as well and when it was time to move to the side of the trial and allow the horse to go by.

Working dogs spend time on their own farm, but also can be called to go to work on another with other working dogs. This can be an interesting time for a young dog. It is a learning experience and can often entail some hard lessons.

Socialization is important for the dogs, and they need to know when it is time to listen for your voice, amid a lot of commands and noise. Each adult working dog will have lessons to teach a young dog, these are invaluable and should be welcomed.

Even working dogs need a holiday now and then, they earn their keep and love time off. Some will just want a shady afternoon to themselves. Some will want to do whatever it is you do. Kat is no different, she loves a good swim and will willingly ride in a boat and nap under the bow. There cannot be all work and no play.

Herding is hard work, these dogs put on so many miles it is amazing. They will dehydrate and get heat stroke. Their paws get raw, they get injured, kicked, trampled and will never quit.

They will only stop when it is so bad that against every single instinct they have, will they come to you for help.

They are essential to the workforce. There is nothing you won't do to ensure they are going to be ok.
This is where the volume of their hard work is recognized. When you have to go out to the barnyard without your top hand, your partner.

That intelligent, precious face, right by your side looking at you with their whole being available to you at a moments notice. The loyalty, the hours of work, the miles of trail. The sheer amazing, selfless, brilliant creature that is a dog.  Right then, that moment you know that every vet bill, feed bill or amount of hair on all things, is worth it.

A working dog is not just a tool to a farmer. They are family and they are loved.
There is nothing in the world like a dog.

Is your dog your

   your best friend?

I'd Like to Check you for Ticks

               One of my first dates with the Farmer was fishing, on a warm, soft evening where he serenaded me with a loving rendition of Brad Paisley's song Ticks. That is the only, and I do mean only, favorable thing about ticks I can think of.

Tick season starts for us in January when the coldest month warms up a bit leading us in to February. By Valentines day the last thing you are thinking about is how much you love lice and ticks. You are deep into hating these winter creepy crawlies. Since most critters have been snuggled up tight all together, they have bugs by now too. Deworming on a regular schedule helps rid you of all internal parasites but for exterior pests,  here are some of my favorite tricks for Goats and Horses.

.

For all our Goats, Pigs, Horses, Cows we use  5% Carbaryl, Dusting Powder during infestation.

We will also use this as a preventative on the animals housed with a known case of the bugs. Strip all bedding from houses and re-bed after treatment. Dusting powder has to be applied and disposed of according to the label, Use gloves, do not do on a windy day or do in a non windy area. Ensure to read the entire label and when in doubt check the info online.

I like to put on a fancy garbage bag, some sweet shoulder length rubber gloves with dish gloves over the top and a dust mask because I am a sensitive kind of girl. Eye protection, since I wear contact lenses and the thought of the powder stuck to my contacts sounds like a bad idea. I look like I am going into surgery. It is an attractive look.

If you are treating for lice Carbaryl Powder needs to be repeated in two weeks. So keep your hot outfit for the next application then dispose of properly.

~Goats~

Butter, Milk, Bella and Latte

They commonly really pile on together in the winter months and are housed together. There are particular animals who present with unthrifty appearance and those are generally the ones most affected. Start your search there to identify the pest your dealing with. Our goats have Cashmere blood so with their downy heavy coats it is near impossible to find  the ticks, so we normally deworm and dust. We are careful to catch each animal and we shroud their eyes and gently rub the dusting powder around the head. The rest of the body gets a vigorous rubbing down with handfuls of powder, working it in to the warmest regions. Avoid genitals and udders. I have an old child's hooded sweatshirt that I have the neck and hood cut off. This gets slipped over their nose in front of the horns protecting the eyes. This is a two person job, a mad horned goat in full winter weight is not always happy go lucky being vigorously rubbed in the "warm regions". Yet this also is a great time to have a good look over them since you are rubbing the de louse powder into their coat. If you have the forethought to bring out a clip board and make notes on the condition of each animal this is a great time to do so, or use a carpenters pencil from the farmers tool belt with the inside of a feed bag. Also take advantage to trim up the hooves.

Horses

Some of our horses have winter wear, some do not. During warmer winter weather we remove blankets and hang them liner side out, in the sunshine. This is a great time to spot wash them as well. When we do that we will mix up a spray bottle with sensitive skin laundry soap and water  in a spray bottle. Dilute well, you only want a small amount of soap. I use 2 tbsp. soap to 4 cups water. Spray down the areas that are the most soiled and use baby wipes or a nail brush depending on what your dealing with to clean it up. I have one who is amazing at pooping on his leg straps, I have a spare pair so that they can be washed and traded out often. Poopy leg straps can chafe the legs. Then spray the entire blanket down with This stuff: Absorbine Ultrashield EX. This is also my go to in the summer as well. This stuff claims to repel deer ticks as well as a myriad of other things. Now I think that treating the interior of the blanket with a tick repellant is a heck of a good idea. This has worked for us pretty well so far. CHECK to see if your horse is sensitive to the product before doing your blankets. Also when doing a groom on your guys it does not hurt to hit them with some of this stuff as well. Prevention is one line of defense but our next step is when you have the rotten ticks. Careful grooming of the horse will let you know if you have them. Odd bumps must be investigated. When finding a tick there is no better way than to learn to carry a pair of tweezers in your pocket and properly remove the sucker. You need to get the head of the tick and there are a pile of good videos out there of properly removing them. You want to grab the sucker as close to the skin as possible and remove. a pill bottle with some oil in it or a bit of dusting powder is a great place to put them. Unless you know you have killed it. If you find multiple ticks on your horse this is when you go to the dust. We will dust our horses when the warmer weather hits down their top and bottom lines. Then keep a continual grooming going. We will not spray with Absorbine when we have dusted. This program has helped us keep the ticks down. I do find them more on my dark horses and the older the horse the more they seem to have on our place.  

After the treatment of ticks, and the grooming of the dust through the coat, I will then do the task of cleaning our grooming gear for the spring. This entails putting all the brushes, hoof picks, rags, sponges all of it including caddy's to a good scrubbing. The horses new coats are starting to grow in by February so might as well get clean stuff to start shedding season.
I will use a metal comb to brush out all the brushes, then soak all the bristle brushes together for a few minutes in Unscented Laundry Detergent, a splash of fabric softener, and some white vinegar or an antifungal soap.. I will brush them together in the bucket to clean each other. If you have the water level high enough to keep your hands and brushes underwater you will not get as much blow back from the scrubbing them together. Don't' let them soak to long especially with wood handled or natural bristled brushes. Curry combs are especially nasty and you don't know it until you get into them being they are usually black. Rinse well. I lay all the brushes on their side on a towel and let them air dry. Oil scissors, use steel wool to get the rust off hoof picks, and shine up the caddy. The fabric softener helps with the static in your brushes, also oil any wooden handles and apply a

good silicon spray to natural bristle brushes to protect them as well.  Once this is done you will feel like a very good horse woman. So on the ball. It might even inspire you to start cleaning your tack...  

The dogs and cats get treated for ticks at this time of year as well, since we know they are on the livestock why take the chance  right.

Do you have any tick tricks?

Comic Relief

I talk about my dog Kat being my partner. She is a key part of my day to day work force. She is always a good listener and works hard. She is a significant and undeniable asset to me. But she does not provide one essential thing that the cats do…

Comic Relief.

              A barn cat has a major role on any farm. They are to keep the mice out of grain, from wreaking havoc in the tack room, nesting in engines or moving into the house. We have four cats and they do a job too. They are well fed making them superior killing machines. They do not just kill things to eat, they have tapped into the sadistic wild puma side of themselves and kill for sport. This sounds awful, but when it comes to expensive rawhide eating pack rats, or garden destructive bunnies well simply put IT’S ON. Now we have some old folks who are a bit retired who do more house patrol  and our two younger cats are on field and barn. So yes they have actual jobs yet as for job descriptions you decide.

Let's be serious cats cannot herd cows.  

Nor can they keep the deer out of the garden.  

 
But they are the stand up comedians of our place.
For morning chores I head out with Kat and my gang of cats, we storm the yard and go to work. During the day at any given time there will be a cat busy somewhere you look.

Sometimes it is Bird, who is Kit Kat's best friend. They are often caught in a solid cuddle in the evening.

Bird has assumed the job of making sure she keeps the pig pen covered. Making sure their feed is just right by ingesting some of the good bits out of their trough, she is prone to eating oats, corn and anything bread related she will fight off a full size market hog, for any tasty morsel that she believes is not pig worthy. She will also ensure that any little bird thinking that the water trough is a bird bath is on notice that this is not a place to spread your avian flu off you go, good thing she is too fat to fly from all her quality control in the pig sty.

Weasel aka Weeze is the silent killer, she is aged now and will find a spot and hold sentry kind of like the Queen's guard. You can talk to her or try to pet her and she is having none of that crap she is busy. She will stake out a cool spot in the summer and hold court and sure enough something will try to get by her and it's game over. Weeze has always been a bit lets say rotund. Last summer a skunk tried to make a home under the goat house and learned what a well fed house cat can sound like when it is under duress. In all honesty she was not really trying to deter the skunk, she was stuck under there but the skunk felt that it got told off and that was good enough for us.

Tuffy is  the head of the pride the ruler of the roost so to speak. He is the mighty overseer. In his younger more vicious days he took on a red fox with Bazinga and won. He is older and has diabetes, feline diabetes is not an easy thing. I will talk about it in another post, so let us not get into that. He still, despite his affliction will go outside and become wild cat. He hunts side by side with the black cat and you cannot get near him unless he comes to the house where he is once again a housecat. This did not always serve him well. When we moved to this ranch from another, he thought he would make the journey back to the last place and near died as a result. We were blessed to get him back and he was a changed cat for it. He remains a hunter and earns his keep.

           Bazinga is the youngest, this black cat has absolutely no clue he is not part dog part horse and all super hero.

He did not get the memo that cats are dignified creatures who do not behave in such a manner. He will climb you like a a tree for affection, he thinks he can come riding, has tried to take on every variety of livestock and wildlife. We are amazed all the time he makes it home to the house at night.  As a kitten he made a heroic leap to attack the strange beast that was the fan atop our woodstove. He received third degree burns on all four of his paws. We had to doctor his poor feet for months. He recovered and to this day loves his feet rubbed. His favorite place to sleep is in a chair right close to the woodstove. He is a lesson in fearlessness.

          When you are in a dark barn reaching out to grab a square bale and you grab two handfuls of cat. The moment of sheer panic thinking "what was that"  only to feel the purring and smack of a paw for man handling their business reminds you that you are very thankful they are there doing their job. Sleeping on the hay, keeping the unpleasant things from doing so.
It never ceases to amaze me that they are willing and able to work with us no matter what we are doing or what the temperature is. The dog will do it by loyalty, but the cats, well it must be for a whole other reason we have yet to comprehend.

                                          Or when they bring a snake into the house and you see it slither out from under your couch, as you are folding laundry. You do the sprint across the back of the couch hurdle the kitchen table, to dive out the front door. They have reminded you to not only to fix the screen door but that you still can move like a gymnast! Or when they get sprayed by a skunk you think hey at least this time it was not the horse or the dog. When you climb up into the tractor and there is a fuzzy little seat warmer, who rides around with you then promptly goes back to sleep on the seat when you get out with a wink  and a "I'll wait for you right here". Then there are the times you see them doing Serengeti cat in the hayfield and you can almost hear the narration in their head “ the majestic jaguar stalks his prey."

  

"The grasshopper is a formidable foe for the jaguar” Yah that goes through your head and you can only laugh.

Or when they think that a stand off with a coyote will be like the road runner and coyote show. When they realize the only option is up the tree but they overshoot the mark, you know the one that said you can climb down from here but after this point your screwed, yah then you get to find out you can still climb a tree too.

The animals have a way of changing  a crap day. Sounds so silly but a cat truly never wants anything much from you, which can be a major asset on a farm where everything relies on you and depends on you to ensure it’s existence. The cats have got life covered, they are hard working little creatures who deserve a warm dry place with some food and a cuddle. Seems so little for what they give to us. If you continue to provide them with entertainment they will do the same.


What is the most interesting thing your cat has done or has brought you as a gift, just to see your reaction?