[sanhestar]

it’s really nice but I don’t know what to think about the use of the mechanical hackamore – a rather crude way to communicate – for logging. Especially in the mule it sits way too low on the soft part of the nose…..

[sanhestar]

I think this waggon trail is based on the borax transports. They did teach the mules to jump over the chain because on certain parts of the trail the pull had to be directed that way to avoid the waggons toppling down cliffs, etc.

[sanhestar]

we have three Aussies, one English Shepherd (one of the few in Germany) – all work the goats in turn and one old rescued Dalmatian – she spends most of her time now on the couch.

[sanhestar]

thanks so far. I’ll ask about the weight of our bales when I get some this weekend – I think they are around 600- 700 lbs.

@Tim: getting the bales from the “outside” storage sounds fun but it’s not. It’s “rope here, rope there – pull the bale down with the car – roll it to the trailer, roll it up the trailer ramp….” – at least I don’t have to pay dues for a fitness studio 🙂

Unfortunatelly things didn’t turn out well with the cattle I bought this spring and wanted to train. Right now I’m thinking how I can best achieve what I want to do with animal traction during the year and if cattle would be the best choice.

[sanhestar]

Hi Mother Katherine,

treeless saddle – saddle without a tree

[sanhestar]

check for

“harnessing the powers of youtube….”

there’s already one thread filled with videos of all kinds

[sanhestar]

we have a – I think – similar health system in Germany than that described by Ixy.

up to a fixed monthly/yearly income you’re in the “Gesetzliche Krankenversicherung” = GKV – a fixed percentage of your monthly wages will go there (14,9%). Several insurance companies provide the health care for this system, so you can choose between several competitors -although the differences are small, some are more willing to cover alternative treatments or glasses and other things than others. Middle of 2009 the German government issued a law that fixed the monthly amount at 14,9%. Before that, the different companies variied for a few percentage point.

If you’re unemployed, retired or living on social security, they will cover you. If you have children, they will cover them, too.

And then there’s the private insurance companies. You have to pay privately if you have a high income (but if you want, you can still stay member in the GKV) and they are trying to get more people to at least make additional private contracts for the treatments the GKV won’t cover or better accomodations when in a hospital, etc.. During the last 10-15 years the system of the GKV is declining (too many sick people and not enough income from working people) so they cut back on treatments they carry (f.e. dentist work).

[sanhestar]

@bivol 14857 wrote:

honestly, i doubt the durability part a bit, but otherwise i think id work.

I doubt it, too and if you have to repair/replace it in short intervalls the time/effort safed for making it will be spend with repairs…

[sanhestar]

I didn’t realise that you actually mean cloth from an umbrella. I thought that you meant any kind of waterproof cloth.

But leather is not hard to sew. You need an awl/bodkin and some strong twine, preferably waxed (use a candle to do that), a sharp knife and a strong needle or two. Granted, the seams look better when you have more tools but for some very basic equipment this is enough.

[sanhestar]

but if you don’t have access to leather how do you get access to such a sophisticated cloth?

You can get leather from curing hides of butchered animals and you basically need some chemicals and/or the animals brain, a scraping tool, some wood frames and/or smoke but to get wax cloth or other water-proof/water resistant cloth you need: fiber, a spinning tool, a weavers loom, a fuller (or fullers mill) and at last what ever is used to make the cloth water resistant – and I don’t know the process that is used to make f.e. Cordura or GoreTex cloth….

[sanhestar]

John,

try

http://nzdl.sadl.uleth.ca/cgi-bin/library.cgi?e=d-00000-00—off-0hdl–00-0—-0-10-0—0—0direct-10—4

---

0-1l–11-en-50—20-about—00-0-1-00-0-0-11-1-0utfZz-8-00&a=d&c=hdl&cl=CL1.1

Animal Traction, Chapter 2 “Draft Animal Selection”

– Determining power requirements
– Method for determining the size of the hitch

[sanhestar]

@gebritt 14467 wrote:

A old hunter in this area introduced me to using Ivermec Pour On on our dogs instead of Top Spot, Frontline, etc. to control fleas and ticks. I works great (really better) and saves lots of money. I’ve wondered about pouring it on the horses back as well to controls flies and worms as well. Any thoughts???

CAVE!

you can use ivermec (in every form) only on dogs that don’t have die MDR1 defect (those who have it, can (!) be: Border Collies, Collies, Australian Shepherds, Shelties, English Shepherd and crosses of that breeds with others). If you use Ivermec on a dog with MDR1 defect, it will die.

Pour ons can cause skin irritations and rashes in combination with sunlight – not sure if you want your horse to have a bloody rash on its back.

[sanhestar]

if they are solely bottle raised without contact to other goats I add probios for the first weeks to help development of rumen bacteria (they normally pass from mother to kid when the mother cleans them after birth)

[sanhestar]

Donn,

when I took classes in horsemanship we made the experience that horses understand “true” emotions like anger or affection but can’t relate to “mixed” or “untrue” emotions like frustration or frustated/bottled anger or hate or revenge.

For me it became the purpose of being around horses to be honest with my emotions (very much to the disliking of the humans around me….)

[sanhestar]

Hello,

well, this would depend on where you get them from and at what age and how you bottle feed.

A good breeder with healthy goats (mums and kids): CAE and CL tested, worming uptodate, if you prefer vaccinated animals, they should have Tetanus and enterotoxicaemia shots (CDT), enough colostrum for each kid.

They should be at least one week old and used to the bottle – if you get them as lambs you definetively need two!

Bottle feeding: 6 times a day during the first 4 weeks, 4 times a day the next 4 weeks, 3 times a day the next 8 weeks, 2 times a day up until age 5 months.

I’m sceptical about milk replacer, I raise my bottle kids either with milk from another goat or with raw whole cows milk (from my neighbors) – assuming you have a source where you can get milk from healthy (again CAE) goats or cows.

If you want to get weanlings, you have to make sure that they have been handled by people a lot and treated well – goat weanlings that have grown up “wild” with their mothers only take years to become tame. Again, choose the breeder well.

If you want to spend the money (and save you time and effort = your money) you can contact one of the packgoat breeders that you can find via the NAPGA (North American Packgoat Association). These goats are bred for years now for working and are raised and handled with this future use in mind (imprinting, basic training, etc.).

One more thing: if you decide to get your kids from a “normal” goat breeder, make sure that they are still intact (bucks) up to the age of 5-6 months. Early castration is a high risk factor in goats for developing problems from urinary calculy (and often the cause of an early, untimely death).

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