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I have been told that feeding grain to keep them warm is an old wives tale. the best thing that I know of on a cold night is more hay, the bit of fermentation that goes on in a horses hind gut will do a lot more heating than oats or any other type of grain. Of course I am open to being wrong, that is just what I learned at a big institution.
I am a product of people that tend to pamper their horses and have a rather anthropomorphic mind set, I have seen all sorts of ways to keep horses warm. Unless you plan on body clipping her and working her everyday in an indoor, I think that your mare should be fine as long as she has hay and shelter. A little draft that I used as a 4-H project would drive us crazy, she always stood under the drip line of the barn even during an ice storm, it never seemed to bother her and she had the choice to seek cover.
I think that once you get more used to your mare and develop your relationship you will know when something is wrong, whether she is sick, sore, or cold. There are a lot of people out there that want to treat horses as if they were children instead of an animal that evolved to winter over on the open Steppes of Europe and Asia. Your mare should do just fine doing what she was bred to do, eat grass and survive winter.
Good Luck with her and post a picture if you get the chance,
Erika
dominiquer60ModeratorBack in my college days I was friends with some draft pony people. Wondeful folks, they let me hang out and help with chores. Sometimes this would involve taking a wagon load of manure and spreading it by hand with a team of Clyde pony stallions. They would work off voice command as we forked manure off the back end of the wagon, those were good nights on the hillside farm. Anyway they crossed all sorts of ponies and horses to get little pony sized draft show/work animals, shetlands, hackneys, welsh, percherons and clydes. These were always tough as nails ponies and if it weren’t for the shear volume of them they would have earned their keep.
Central and Western NY have a good deal of draft pony people, they still have a division for them at the state fair. There is an association that you could try to use to get in contact with more draft pony people, they may know where to get small scale equipment or give you a good idea of how to scale something down. Western New York Draft Horse & Pony Club, Inc. wnydhpc@yahoo.com I know that there are still some pony people out there.
dominiquer60ModeratorThis cow tax could also effect other ruminants such as sheep and deer, and possibly pigs and chickens too. There is a great deal of proposed legislation and policy that can hurt many farmers no matter what your size is. I know that the NY Farm Bureau easily came to the decision that they were opposed to the “cow tax.” I am sure that many other state FBs, Dairy and Beef lobbists are already crying their objections.
I attended the NYFB state meeting this week, it was a great learning experience. I was pleased to see an Organic veggie farmer was attempting to run for the President of NYFB. He didn’t win but had some great ideas centered around opposing a bunch of regulations. I personally watched him stand up in front of the entire delegation and change the NYFB policy to oppose potential food safety regulations that could put a lot of small farmers out of business. The great part was that the big conservative veggie farmers from the west fully supported his motions and the policies were passed. The trick is that even though it is FB policy, if it isn’t a big enough problem or doesn’t impact industrial Ag than FB doesn’t do much about it.
I feel that small family farms (some like to think that their 30 employee, 1,000 acre farm run by their family is a “family farm” so I use “small” to mean the type of farm that we all want or have) and small scale organic farms are going to really have to voice their opinion on some serious issues that are rounding the corner. Find a way to make your voice heard because we are going to need it.
dominiquer60ModeratorI have lost touch with the vet world mostly, but I know that it is hard to attract young equine and large animal vets to the northeast. NY Farm Bureau is currently looking to promote financial assistance to these types of vets that want to commit to working in our state for a minimum period of time. I know that it is getting harder to find vets willing to work on largestock and they are having to traveling longer distances. When I worked for an equine vet we covered 9 counties on a regular basis and 3 others periodically. It was normal that we worked 16 hour days and the worst ever was 21 hours, half of the day we spend traveling. There may be demand for vets, it may involve the difficult task of someone starting their own practice, and I wonder what the poor economy can support these days.
dominiquer60ModeratorMOFGA has a great website, this link will bring you directly to the LIF info and you can get contact info for Andrew and Peter. Best of Luck. http://www.mofga.org/Programs/LowImpactForestry/tabid/227/Default.aspx
dominiquer60ModeratorJennifer,
I am so sorry to hear about your loss. We should all be so fortunate to pass that peacefully without much of a struggle. It’s hard to let go of such loyal friends, especially the “once in a life time type” like Dax, they are easy to forgive and impossible to forget.
Here’s to all the best dogs ever, may they fade fast and rest peacefully.
Be Well,
Erikadominiquer60ModeratorZopi,
You bring up a wonderful memory, I am sure that I remember more from Farmer Boy than any other book that I have ever read since. The details were great and really spurred me to want more than my rural residence had to offer me growing up. I have not been interested in cattle until this year, but when ever picturing a pair of calves in my care, I have always pictured Star and Bright.
Welcome and Thanks for jogging my memory,
Erika
dominiquer60ModeratorI agree that a good cat is very valuable, mine with kill mice, chipmunks, voles, song birds, rats, squirrels, and full sized rabbits. I haven’t seen a chipmunk in the garage or a squirrel in the yard since I got him. Once we did have a problem with really huge rats that moved in the house during March, rain must have flooded their winter nests because they moved in like gang busters. They had a bad habit of taking chicks out of the brooder even after we covered it. The cat could not keep up with the population so we resorted to poison. I wish I had know of the “Adirondack rat trap” back then, the dog and cat were fine with the poison around, but I hated using it, but sometimes the cat:rodent ratio is not in your favor.
dominiquer60ModeratorI recently talked to a friend that had the same problem, but with rather large rats. This idea could work just as well if you scale it down to a mouse sized contraption.
Take a five gallon pail and drill two small holes about 3-4 inches from the top and directly opposite each other. take a straightened coat hanger and thread it through an empty soda can and then through the holes so that the can is suspended in the center of the pail opening. Secure the wires by bending them so that they won’t pull through. Put peanut butter on the top and bottom of the can and top it with your horse grain. Fill the bottom half of the bucket with water, or if it is cold use RV winterizing fluid (non toxic to the house/barn cat). The rodents will try hard to reach for the snack on the can and may actually touch it, but soon find them selves in a trap that they can’t get out of. When my friend first emptied the trap she thought there were 3 or 4 in it, there were actually twenty. She loves it and can’t thank the guy who told her about it enough.
Good Luck,
Erika
dominiquer60ModeratorI couldn’t resist putting in a call to a friend in Wellington Florida, she just paid $33/130# bale of really nice orchard/alfalfa mix. She is feeding horses with 6 digit price tags and it’s nothing but the best for them. Prices there are predicted to stay the same as last year and not increase because of the economy, the fact that there will be less horses and less demand for hay. I know that I will feel the pinch when I get down there to work this winter.
Erika
dominiquer60ModeratorIt’s on tonight at 2am EST, The next episode is on logging with helicopters and the next about swamp logging. On the schedule they briefly describe the show “When big equipment won’t cut it, its time to bring in the mules.”
dominiquer60ModeratorI feel your pain Jason,
I did not see it last night, so rarely does the TV ever turn on in my apartment. I have been in a similar position before, only small scale non Discovery channel media, some publicity is bad indeed. Lets hope that we can overcome this poor sensationalism. Word of mouth still works, its just slower, I take every chance I get to educate the ignorant yet slightly interested. I have seen this make a difference and will continue to open my mouth when those that don’t know any better say something negative against local food or truly green practices.
Erika
dominiquer60ModeratorAs a complete novice to timber harvest and forest ecology, I gained a great deal from this event, it was well worth the 7 hour drive. The highlight for me was working with cattle for the first time. I had a great time spending a good portion of the day following Jim Hawkes and his team of yearling steers around the woods and fairgrounds. What a well trained team, later I found out that it was their first time working in the woods too. A big thanks to all that planned and attended this event, and to Patti who did an excellent job feeding us.
I hope that I can make it back next year.Erika
dominiquer60ModeratorJason brings up some great points. Another thought is if you are going to use a blanket consider the material. I think that many of us have heard the phrase “cotton kills”, anything cotton will wick moisture like a sponge, but it dries so slow. Just think of your own long underwear, cotton wicks sweat and keeps it there, synthetics, silk and wool wick sweat to the surface and quickly drys against your skin. The same goes for horses, use wool, synthetic or a blend blanket after the animal is cool but it is still wet. There is an overwhelming diversity in horse clothing these days, the best ones can be found at a yard sale or a used tack sale. Also, one should consider any used king or queen sized blankets, they may not have any strap or buckles, but a $1 spring clamp at the horses front end will do the job. I used to give mine a good toweling off(a good absorbent cotton towel), and blanket them in their stalls while I did chores and such, by the time I came back to feed for the evening the blankets would be wet on the outside and the horses mostly dry underneath.
Erika
dominiquer60ModeratorA neighbor where I used to live once round baled cornstalks. I think that the field was partly lodged so they cut and baled the stalks that they had avoided with the combine. It seemed to work well, the horses and cattle picked through the bales for the ears and the rest made a nice place to lay down in the winter months. I am sure that his herd lived on any hay that was available, any extra ears laying around and a red salt lick, he likes things simple.
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