[Charlie B]

Here in Illinois when all the farmers used to raise hogs in pastures, it wasn’t uncommon for them to build temp storage for the corn in the pasture. They simply built a door to shovel the corn out of, and then used slatted snow fence to hold the corn with steel post evey 8-10′. The stucture could be as big around as they wanted to fill, then they would add a second or third story by simpley making a new circle of fencing and filling it with ear corn. Some of these were built right on dirt and sometimes the would be built around a wood platform or a cement pad. But then they just fed out of these cribs all year. Also a second fence was built around the outside 3-5′ away to keep the hogs from rooting up sides of the crib. If they had a lot of extra corn we would come in with a corn sheller the next spring and haul shelled corn to town.

[Charlie B]

25 years ago I was a hog buyer in amish country (Bloomfield, Iowa). There was a family there by the name of Lambright. I bought alot of hogs from them (2000-3000/year). The Lambright’s were great with livestock and especially horses. One brother would load the fat hogs on a wagon at the finishing house about 1/2 mile off the blacktop. When he got the hogs loaded he would send the team out to the blacktop, when they got there another brother would direct the team to turn and back the wagon up to the livestock traile where he would unload the hogs, then he would send the team and wagon back to his brother at the finishing house. This would go on all morning till they had moved 200-300 head of hogs 20 head at time. No one ever touched a line on the teams and there would be at least two teams and wagons moving and passing one another.

Wasn’t logs, wasn’t in the woods,,,,, but broke hoses that knew their jobs and listened when spoken to. I won’t say that I’m hard to impress, but it isn’t every horse and team that can do it. Good horses and great horseman are few and far between and I remember the ones i’ve seen.

[Charlie B]

I noticed this fall at the Draft horse auctions I attended (Kalona and Waverly), the decent young teams would bring $12-1500 each and that weanling colts would bring $400-800. There was not near the number of colts at the auctions and the quality of colts did not seem as good. People were bemoaning the low prices of horses but 3-4 years from now there will not be many teams unless things turn around. I heard and I’m sure someone can find out for sure, that there was only like 1200 Percheron colts registered in the US this last year. Good horses have value. But what surprised me was what people were willing to spend for a colt and they could of bought a 4 year old team for less than $1000 per head more—-feed, training, and knowing what you had surely ought to account for something.

[Charlie B]

One of the best barns i ever saw was a Quarter Horse farm. The trainer had them build his tack room so that a whole wall of the room would spin. They mounted a pipe in the center of the wall and had latches on the ends. When he went into his tack room he would choose his saddles and tack that he was going to use that day and put them on the wall (saddle racks and bridle hooks were on the wall). Then he would unlatch the wall and spin it into the outside alley where he tacked up his horses. The same could be done with harnesses and collars. It was so much easier than dragging tack through a doorway. If you were using the same harnesses and collars everyday it would save you alot of trouble.

[Charlie B]

I used to train Paint and Quarters for a living. I had a nice young 3 yr old stud that would work like a charm at home, but take him to a show and he would call to the mares and bow up and dance like a ballarina. Not exactly what we were wanting. The owner sold the stud in late June, and in August I was at a show and ran into the new trainer for the horse. I asked how he was getting along with him. He told me I wouldn’t recognize him and that he was a fixin to win the junior pleasure class with him. I wished him luck but had my doubt’s that the cure would be that quick and complete. The trainer did win the large class and he was right, I didn’t recognize him. The cure,,,,,,,,,,,, was to lead the stud out into the mare lot and when he acted one bit studdy he used the “running W” to drop him and then tied him down for a couple of days and let the mares devour him. They chewed him up and kicked the crap out of him. He then let him up and let him rest for a couple of days before he tried him again. He said it took 3 treatments to get the cure set. That stud still stands to quite a bunch mares,,,,and I haven’t seen him act up or try to converse with mares since.

[Charlie B]

In my experience a good number of pregnancies start with twins (multiple eggs ovulate)maybe as high as 60%. We never had any studies done that showed that regumate/lute was producing more eggs than a natural heat. But I can tell you we seen more twins at 12-16 days than you did at 18 days. Nature took care of most twins but sometimes the vet would pinch one off and a few times we would abort a pregnancy on a good mare at 30-45 days to do away with the twins. Very few twins make it full term, and those that do have to many problems afterwards. The use of ultrasound by a good reproductive vet takes a lot of guess work out of breeding. Cyst and small amounts of fluid in the uterus can be confused with embreyo’s. That’s why good records and pictures are so important at the breeding farms.

[Charlie B]

The Thorobreds can’t ship the semen but they can collect and use the semen fresh on the farm. I used to work with a vet and we were breeding 1000 to 1500 Standardbreds here in Illinois (plus the occasional Paint, Quarter Horse, and draft). I would handle the studs and the vet would do the collecting, then he would do the ultrasounding of the mares and I would AI them. Each stud is an individual with his likes and dislikes and attitude. One day a lady came to us with an 18 hand warmblood that had been shown in dressage at the olympics. We were to colect him and ship the semen off on next day air. He was a great horse to handle and was about 10-11 years old, quiet as a dead hog. This was the first time I had seen this horse but his demeanor was super quiet. Well when I led him into the breeding barn with a teaser mare at the far end, we went the full lenght of the barn in 3 leaps. I still had hold of him but he caught me by surprise. Two days later they were back to collect him again, this time I asked if I could have an educational moment with him. When I walked him into the barn that morning his eyes were on me and we slowly walked to the teaser mare pen, and only when I let him did he pay attention to the mare in heat. He was perfect to handle after that, but they told me after the first session that noone wanted to handle him twice. Studs need to be respected and have manners at all times. Breeding horses might not be rocket science but its close.

[Charlie B]

Are you planning on breeding several mares with fresh semen, or are you shipping chilled semen, or are you freezing semen for future use? All of these are possible and each horse has his own problems with collection, dilution, and storage. Some semen stores well and has great livability. But some really top horses(big money spent) can’t get the sperm to process and still be a breeder. Horse semen was some of the first to be AIed but has proven to be about the hardest to use. There are some great reproductive vet’s out there and they are not all created equal. The greatest drugs and techniques come out of Kentucky, due to the money spent on the thorobreds. Alot of the Vets will have consultations with clinics in Kentucky to work out any problems. If all goes well it is economical, but all doesn’t always go well. Seems like the less you have invested in the horse the better breeder he is…….go figure.

[Charlie B]

I have not worked a team in standing water, but I have always been able to work my horses where I wanted to. So if it is physically possible then doing it is all there is to it.

When I was in College years ago, I would go to Okeechobee, Fla. in the summers and work on a ranch there. We had 100,000 acre some of it was improved pastures with all the ditching and drainage. But some of it was the Okeechobee Swamp (everglades). We would go for days back in the swamp and rope the wild cracker cattle and drag them out of the swamp. The water there was 6-18″ deep with hammocks every so often that would just be a foot higher and drier. Great sport working in the Swamps, they told me to watch the vegatation because it would change as the water depth changed. Seemed like no big deal that first morning as we rode thru the swamp. But after chasing the first cow out of the hammock and across the swamp, I leaned to watch for deep water vegatation, cause horse tend to somesault when you hit the deep water at a run. What doesn’t kill you, sometimes educates you. Granted we were on fairly solid sandy soil, but the horses were no worse for the wear in the water. The trailer we loaded the cows on in the swamp also brought us fresh horse at noon. Those were the days, playing cowboy and getting paid.

I guess you know what kind of footing your soil will be like when flooded. Where I live it would be a bottomless muck. Much like March is now.:)

[Charlie B]

I looked and the price on the Website is $25/day. But I know that price is for the people that come for just a day or two. If you are interested in going for a longer period, or you have multiple people or family members, then you need to call and talk to Danny Van Fleet (309-337-1100). I am sure he will work with you. At any rate it is not cheap. But I think anyone that has been with the train the last 2 years would tell you it as been worth every dime. I believe the ride will last about 21 days this year. The wagon train is made up of really great people, passing thru some really great country. The hardest part is going home when its over. I have spent a lot more and recieved a whole lot less.

I know he has gone out last year and for 3 weeks laid out the trail we will follow and set up for campsites. Then everyday he furnishes a shuttle bus to haul us back to the wagons when we move our support vehicles. Also he has porta-pots at the campgrounds and every few miles we have fresh water for the horses and use of the porta-pots. I know he can’t do it for free, But I wish he could. Freel free to dicker him to the bone, But in the end its a great trip that everyone should enjoy. When I’m dead and gone, I probably won’t be remembered for my fortune I leave my kids, But they will know where I have been, and what I have experienced

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and that I wouldn’t trade for anything.:)

[Charlie B]

Go to http://www.vanfleetwagontrain.com, and check out the wagon train leaving Ogallalla, Neb. on June 4. It should be another great time. You can go for a day or two or attend the whole way. You can cook for yourself or they have Dutch oven cooks.

[Charlie B]

If it takes a horse in harness and you want to use them, then by all means you should use them and they should work. Train the horse to work for you and expect that it will work. It doesn’t matter whether you are pulling a wagon 25-30 miles a day or pulling a plow or skidding logs. You chose the job and then use your horses to the best of your ability.

[Charlie B]

I have a pair of Shire geldings that are full brothers, 4 and 5 this year. With regular use they operate completely and smoothly off of voice commands. I trust them to listen and respond to my commands at all times. Two weeks ago I was pulling in logs from the woodlot, my wife could see that I was trotting them up to the house and back to the woodlot, time after time. When I went to the house she wanted to know why I made them exert so much for so long. Well they were feeling their oats and wanted to move out, so after of a couple of minutes of trying to make them move at my pace, I instead worked them at their pace. After a couple hours in the woods the listened for my commands and had no problem slowing down. At know time were they going to run off, and they would stand quietly to hook up but they wanted to moveout at a long trot. My idea is I give the commands and they respond, my horses don’t make the decisions but sometimes I have to alter the work so that they think it was my decision. Everytime we handle our horse we are teaching them something—hopefully we are teaching them something good.

[Author]

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