[dominiquer60]

🙂 Spring Therapy, I’m liking it, thank you all, it’s just what I needed!

[dominiquer60]

Jason,

I love the George Nakashima quote, he was a great man of wood. In high school I had the honor of helping my father refinish and repair a large private collection of Nakashima furniture. The wood that George collected over his life time is just beautiful.

I was thinking about ways to market wood, you probably know the value of a good burl already, if not start saving them. Highly figured domestic wood can have great value, especially if it is well quarter sawn. My father is trying to market more stunning custom guitars made from domestics, who needs Brazilian rosewood to make a classy guitar. Just some things to think about, but we’ll talk more about wood soon enough.

Erika

[dominiquer60]

I love them all, some good positive images, though you can keep the angels to your self Robert, no offense. I have never heard/seen a yellow headed blackbird, it sounds like you can keep them in the west there Geoff. I keep talking to a gentleman back home manning his sugarhouse at night while I am working. Its nice to have the company and hear about the progress of spring, today he plowed a strip and planted peas, he is considering early carrots also. Its music to my ears.:)

Erika

[dominiquer60]

Welcome friend from the north, it sounds like you have a fun and worthwhile project ahead of you. You don’t write too much, If you ever feel like you need to, private message me and I’ll show you what too much can be, just ask Robert Moonshadow:D Enjoy the spring air, work safe and feel free to jump in on one of these conversations any time.

Erika

[dominiquer60]

I am glad to hear that there is improvement, keep up the good work.

[dominiquer60]

Yes Geoff Redwing Black birds, don’t take the wind out of my sail man, its my memory.:( I’ll take a redwing over a starling, grackle or cowbird any day thank you, and no offense to anyone that may cherish these species. Snowdrops and crocuses too, I forgot about those, they are a must. I can’t share the owl one, we just didn’t see them much in my river valley, and as far as lettuce goes, I’ve been enjoying that out my garden all winter.:p That’s one good thing about FL winters.

Erika

[dominiquer60]

This has some technical information on the estrus cycle and describes heat (estrus) detection at the bottom.

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/181601.htm&word=equine%2cestrus

There are many factors and possibilities that could explain this including cysts, tumors, and normal cycling, it is hard to tell. There are products that you can use including (new to me) marbles to keep your mare from coming into heat, but I am sure that just dealing with it is the cheapest option. There is nothing wrong with an old girl feeling her oats, but if she causes problems you may want to try something different so that she doesn’t hurt one of the other working horses. Just my two cents

Erika

[dominiquer60]

A good deal of the horses that I work with are shipped around all the time, up and down the east coast and across the country. A good number of them arrive via commercial shipper that drive two men to a rig and drive straight through stopping every few hours to check and water the animals. It is nice that they have fancy air ride suspension to ease the ride, but even those that don’t generally don’t have any problems. Some folks that ship themselves stay at a farm overnight in SC where the horses get a stall. But usually 2 drivers 12 horses, 24 hours from NY to south FL, no big deal. I am sure that many of the methods suggested here are also used to reduce stress with these big shipping companies. Drive carefully and watch out for the other guy, there seems to be less respect for livestock haulers these days. Good Luck.

Erika

[dominiquer60]

Based on my experiences with thrush, your problem sounds like something different. Can you provide a picture?

[dominiquer60]

Is there a distinct disagreeable odor? Is the area soft, flaky or pasty when you pick the hoof out?

[dominiquer60]

You are right Bret, one was a trooper he stopped my best friend towing with only a Dodge Dakota in the middle of a 3 mile climb because of the wrong color trailer inspection sticker. The other two were stopped for similar reasons by locals. All three officials asked to see them, I am sure that the paper work could have been for the entirely wrong animals and it would not have mattered, they just wanted to see them. I know generally that the last thing that a trooper wants to do is get involved with animals on the side of the road, I wouldn’t want that responsibility, but he did ask.

Old Kat I can relate, our fairgrounds has a line of vehicles waiting to enter on show days, everyone has to have UTD rabies and coggins tests before they can enter. I am glad that these diseases are no longer a big problem, I don’t like the fact that they can be a means to force us into a unnecessary government program like animal ID. I won’t exhibit livestock any more because of it, fortunately they still let us bring our vegetables without enrolling into a program. I always look forward to baffling the judges with some outrageous heirloom variety, and they look forward to seeing them.

[dominiquer60]

I don’t plan on letting these laws effect my life until I am cornered. However I am going to let them effect my pen so that the government knows that we are not all ignorant sheep.

I see several areas where I may be cornered. I run the 3rd largest county fair poultry show in NYS, every summer I have to deal with the state vet, they want to see healthy banded birds(bands indicate they are test free of salmonella pullorum) in a clean barn, I have no problems with this. If the ID thing gets out of hand, I refuse to be a participant in enforcing such things and my fair will loose any of my interest with it and I will find another place to educate folks about the joys of poultry husbandry.

The other area where laws could have a serious impact is my future lively hood of vegetable sales, you can relate Robert. Customers feel safe with grocery store triple sterilized salad mixes, I will sell salad mixes, mine are not sterile and I let the customer know that it is their responsibility to make them sterile if they that is what they want. One of my concerns with heighten food safety is the potential for new regulations that could include any farmers but especially small farmers that direct market. I can picture, but certainly don’t wish for, regulations that require expensive greens washing machines, licenses and inspections taking all responsibility and choice away from direct market customers. So I keep an eye out for it the same way I would be watchful or pro active about a predators potential threat to my flock, I don’t think about it all the time, just always keep it in the back of my mind that the possibility exists.

I rarely loose sleep over these type of things, but I like to keep watch of what is going on in the legislatures and let my freedom of speech be heard.

In the mean time Bret I work 3 months in the south Florida winter horse industry, it is a good way to save money fast. Of course it doesn’t help that we are loosing rich customers to their own demise of embezzling scandals. I do know of 3 instances where friends were stopped and in addition to the reason for being stopped were asked for their coggins, all cases were over 50 miles from Saratoga. It was just an example of how the noose is tightening and not a suggestion to comply with unjust regulations. The dead horse thing seems possibly outdated considering all the water shed restrictions these days that don’t want large animals being buried at all.

Robert, I crave for the responsibilities that you have on your plate, I will have a go of it myself someday. For now I have my temporary job here in FL and no one close by to relate to. I do have a group of good folks with similar yet unique ideas that I communicate with online and for this collection of differing sanity I am thankful.

Carl, I enjoy your perspective on life, its often something that I strive for myself. However I currently feel like my dog Miles, I am just running circles waiting for a worthy task to keep me occupied. I shouldn’t bark at every mouse jumping in the leaves, but until I get settled into a worthwhile situation, I feel that writing letters and sharing information about the potential changes that could happen in the future is as worthy as it gets at the moment. It is more like barking at the coyotes, they haven’t killed the chickens yet, but I want to let them know that I am here to protect the chickens if they come after them. I can wish I was home restoring my walking plow and planning a seeding schedule, but until I get there, I’ll do what I can from afar.

Erika

[dominiquer60]

Jenn, I figured that you were not for this bill and it was good of you to provide another perspective, balance is a good thing even when both sides have their faults you can pick out common points and go from there.

Gentlemen, I am all for civil disobedience when it comes to defending my rights or my way of life. I know that there are many farmers that do things the way that they see fit and some take extreme cautions not to get caught. I think the guy that Robert was referring to was a dairy farmer in WI that felt that the NAIS was against his religion (Amish/Mennonite) and refused to join, I think that it may be mandatory in WI. Sometimes no matter how much you refuse to play along and mind your own business the government comes along and tries to make and example out of you. I found an article with a few of such examples, there are a couple small false facts(CSA started in Japan not Europe, and I don’t know of any farmer that gets close to $1.50 a gallon for milk today) but it doesn’t appear to be terribly extremist, the author seems to be pro small farmer. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071203/gumpert

The feds and the states are making the slope a little more slippery eveyday. Example: In NYS we have been required to have a current coggins test for any horse being transported on public roads. This is a test for EIA or “swamp fever” it is highly infectious and the government program of testing for it has done a very effective job of nearly eradicating this disease. You need to have proof of this test in your vehicle when you are traveling with equines. Today there are two forms of proof, the old school piece of paper or the new and improved shiny colored plastic credit card sized thing with a picture of your horse on it. If you want the shiny plastic you have to register your livestock premise with the NYanimalID program, and guess what, they forward your info to the USDA and APHIS, now you are really in the system. Where do they catch you? If you choose to participate in a fair, show or other highly organized event you must have proof of negative coggins. If you roll like Carl and a lot of other logger types, you just get in your rig and drive, but there may be a time when an officer of the law stops you and feels like taking your time and asks to see your negative coggins test and that is where it starts. Most don’t want to bother with animal issues but as municipalities call for an increase in tickets issued to boost department income they will begin to look for anything to make a buck and keep their jobs.

I agree with many of the points in this thread, but the problems will not go away if we simply ignore them. Even if we hide our operations from the public or the road the technology exists to see beyond our privacy hedge. We need to work together and hope for the best so that the government does not get out of control and starts to actually look over our privacy hedge, well at least not more than they do already.

Erika

[dominiquer60]

I believe that there are 3 sides to any story, your side, my side and somewhere in the middle is the truth. I think the alarmist web pages are an extreme, but I also don’t trust a bunch of consumer organizations either. Overall from the little of the actual bill that I have read, it seems vague and open to a multitude of interpretations and gives the government too much control, and for those reasons alone I oppose this bill/proposal.

Erika

[dominiquer60]

If you want a ruggedly built steel trailer look for a Moritz, they are made very well and some fault them at being too heavy, I guess that is what happens when you use real steel instead of flimsy sheet metal. There is a 1986 12 footer that has changed many hands in my neck of the woods, it is always well cared for and has had the floor replaced and a couple paint jobs and someone always gets $2,000 for it when it gets passed on. My point is that even in the Northeast you can get some mileage from a well built, well cared for steel trailer. If you end up going with Aluminum, check for sharp edges on the insides, some companies do a poor job finishing the little details. Good luck with your search.

Erika

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