Horses, sheep, and other livestock

A couple of weeks ago, Katrina, who owns the horse and ponies that normally board here took them all away to go eat grass on a new field. Review, the horse, is such an iggy-piggy, that he has eaten my field almost bare. That boy just never stops!
She loaded up the equines, then we decided it would be good for her to take my little goat, Burley with them, too, so he wouldn't be lonely. She didn't even have to entice him into the trailer... he just hopped up and snuggled underneath Reviews neck.
My field looks so empty and bare without them. It is lonely, and the farm doesn't seem quite as 'farmish' without them.
Hope they come back soon!!

I have also been approached by some other people to keep 5 or 6 sheep in my field. They would use the sheep for herding practice. If they do this, it would be in exchange for herding and/or agility lessons. My idea! Herding lessons are super-expensive.... $40 for a half hour.... so getting a few free lessons now and then would be awesome. I can learn, and Kybosh can hone her skills.

I picked up my 2 new buff Cochin chickens on the weekend. They are very pretty... a really nice golden colour. The male isn't fitting in very well, though. Two days ago, I found him with his head buried in a hole by a fence post (just like you see ostriches do in the cartoons!!) and his butt in the air... several of my laying hens were pecking at his butt. Poor guy! He is do docile, he is just not defending himself. I picked him up and put him in with the meat birds for the rest of the day and night. Then, last night, all he wanted to do was go back in with the layers. He was lonely for his girlfriend, I guess. So, I plopped him back in with the 'girls'. I am watching carefully to see how he does. Hope he's ok, as I really don't have another place to put him right now.

I am also having challenges with the 3 little free chicks I still have in my living room. They are very healthy and robust, but they are starting to escape. One flew out yesterday, and Reckless almost ate him (or her??). Now I have to watch every moment to make sure they are not going to get into trouble! Two more weeks, and my meat chickens go in to be processed, and then I can put these little guys outside. If they survive that long!

RIP Frankie

I'm not certain what happened after my last post, but my dog boarding business exploded. I have been so busy, working 16 hour days, that I haven't even had time to update my blog!

A few weeks ago, Frankie the goat got ill. We are pretty certain he had a twisted gut, and there is nothing you can do about it. We gave him vegetable oil and baking soda, just in case it was just some sort of obstruction, hoping to pass whatever it was through, but nothing did any good. The naughtiest goat in the world passed away.
Katrina, who owns the horse and the ponies, came over several times to help me with him, to shoot stuff down his throat, in the hopes he would magically recover. When he died, she came over to help me bury him. Thus started a comedy of errors...

First, I think Katrina had a hard time accepting Frankie was dead. When I found him in the morning, he was in rigormortis. Stiff as a board. He was still in when she came to help me dig a big hole. She leaned over him, and poked him a bit. Looking up at me, she said " I think he's dead". Then, she poked some more. "Ya, I'm pretty sure he's dead". Then she grabbed a leg, and plopped him over. He was completely and totally STIFF. " I guess he's really dead". Meanwhile, even though I was super sad, I started laughing my head off. Katrina was in some serious denial.

Next, we tried to tie the goat to the horse, and have Review move him over to the hole. Frankie was a big goat, and quite heavy. At the time, it seemed like a good, sensible thing to do.
Review had other ideas.
Once we got Frankie hooked up, and Review felt the weight of him, he went ballistic. Bucking, and snorting and generally having a spaz. Katrina got knocked into the mud - she had mud from one end to another. I just ran away... I didn't want to get caught under those hooves! Fat lot of good I was! Katrina got Review under control, and I apologized to him, and we unhooked him, then worked together to drag him to the hole. We buried him under the trees, and said a few words. Frankie was way too young to die, and I really miss having him on the farm. He was quite the character, and amused me every day.

RIP Frankie