Well, winter has finally arrived in NE Ohio, and with it comes the sightings of the rare silver-back Percherons.
Like the Yeti, these beasts have only been seen when snow is falling thick and heavy; and especially in blizzards.
They meander in and out of sight, seemingly unaware of us, as we do our chores as fast as we can.
Sometimes they stand near the gate, not moving, staring at the door as if that alone will cause the door to open into a grand cave.
At times you will hear one squeal, and plumes of snow shoot out as the herd breaks apart in different directions. Yet, they maintain their silver-backs.
Then the door opens and the silverbacks rush into the barn. And back out again. And back in again. A few may charge into some empty stalls. But those silver backs just charge them full of energy and it takes awhile to sort it all out.
By that time, the silverbacks are less silverbacks and more, well, just plain wet.
Bill, and some of our overachievers in hair growth, hold onto their silverbacks for a bit longer.
Ultimately, everyone needs to be scraped off. When it snows, it's cold, and no one like to be both wet and cold for the night.
Showing posts with label farm life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label farm life. Show all posts
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Saturday, January 15, 2011
A New Year
Well, the first of the year brought RAIN, and 50's and the snow melted (Yea!!!).....for 2 days. Then the snow and cold came back. Once again, the road to the barn was filled up, and wheelbarrowing grain and sawdust was the game. This time, however, hubby snowblowed not only the house drive, but the extended drive and out to the barn. How nice!!!! You could actually walk out there!!
And then it snowed again, and it filled again, and he had to blow it out again.
Winter is just not fun in NorthEast Ohio when you've got animals. I'm beginning to think we need to build a barn to house enough sawdust for winter!!
Although "D" (Melody) likes it. Oh, yeah.....snow outside....get out the door.....and ROLL. Never mind the fact that 4 more much bigger horses are on their way out the door, too.....NOOOOOOOO. That snow is just too inviting, and down she goes. At least Star and Bill wait until the ruckus settles before dropping and rolling.
For the most part, it's quiet time in the barn. D and K are growing (at 6 months and coming 3 yo it's expected). In fact K is now bigger than what WAS to be her partner this year, Queen. If she continues on, she may even get taller than Star, and that could be troublesome. After all, the next partner for a MARE team would be Jill......and that just won't work. Although Bill would be fine. But I'd rather not subject Bill to any more work than is necessary. He's 15, this year, and although he has done very well on the Adequan injections, I'm sure there's some damage in his joints.
But weather (and sunlight) is the issue. I really don't like having to shut up the barn to keep the snow out....since it cuts down on ventilation and light. But with the snow coming in from the EAST instead of the West this year, it tends to get into the feed room.....and that's one problem we don't need. We had that last year, where some feed apparently got wet, and actually molded!! We were not aware that it had gotten wet, and started feeding it, when I actually saw it. Not good. But found in time, and no one got sick.
But it does stay dark until almost 8am. Although it has been lighter until after 5pm, it still is a long spell of "dark" for the horses.
But it hasn't stopped heat cycles. Star's in hers right now, so I expect Queen will show up with a day or so. Even Jill (who tends to be either dormant or a "silent heat-er") has been obvious. Of course it's during the coldest times. Go figure. But even K has been cycling along this winter. Maybe it will be an over-all warmer winter.....but we sure could use a break from the snow!!
Maybe I shouldn't say that.....it's freezing rain right now...and that's worse than snow. At least snow stays on top of the hair and can get brushed off when they come in.....freezing rain seems to penetrate to the skin and stays wet much longer. I really don't like my animals being wet when the temperature threatens to drop!!
What can I say.....my creatures are spoiled (rotten).
And then it snowed again, and it filled again, and he had to blow it out again.
Winter is just not fun in NorthEast Ohio when you've got animals. I'm beginning to think we need to build a barn to house enough sawdust for winter!!
Although "D" (Melody) likes it. Oh, yeah.....snow outside....get out the door.....and ROLL. Never mind the fact that 4 more much bigger horses are on their way out the door, too.....NOOOOOOOO. That snow is just too inviting, and down she goes. At least Star and Bill wait until the ruckus settles before dropping and rolling.
For the most part, it's quiet time in the barn. D and K are growing (at 6 months and coming 3 yo it's expected). In fact K is now bigger than what WAS to be her partner this year, Queen. If she continues on, she may even get taller than Star, and that could be troublesome. After all, the next partner for a MARE team would be Jill......and that just won't work. Although Bill would be fine. But I'd rather not subject Bill to any more work than is necessary. He's 15, this year, and although he has done very well on the Adequan injections, I'm sure there's some damage in his joints.
But weather (and sunlight) is the issue. I really don't like having to shut up the barn to keep the snow out....since it cuts down on ventilation and light. But with the snow coming in from the EAST instead of the West this year, it tends to get into the feed room.....and that's one problem we don't need. We had that last year, where some feed apparently got wet, and actually molded!! We were not aware that it had gotten wet, and started feeding it, when I actually saw it. Not good. But found in time, and no one got sick.
But it does stay dark until almost 8am. Although it has been lighter until after 5pm, it still is a long spell of "dark" for the horses.
But it hasn't stopped heat cycles. Star's in hers right now, so I expect Queen will show up with a day or so. Even Jill (who tends to be either dormant or a "silent heat-er") has been obvious. Of course it's during the coldest times. Go figure. But even K has been cycling along this winter. Maybe it will be an over-all warmer winter.....but we sure could use a break from the snow!!
Maybe I shouldn't say that.....it's freezing rain right now...and that's worse than snow. At least snow stays on top of the hair and can get brushed off when they come in.....freezing rain seems to penetrate to the skin and stays wet much longer. I really don't like my animals being wet when the temperature threatens to drop!!
What can I say.....my creatures are spoiled (rotten).
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Winter's Here!!!!
Winter has arrived in NE Ohio!! And none too gently. We were lucky through this first onslaught....most of the heavy squalls went west and south of us, so we only had to deal with 6-8" vs 2' in Burton!! But this next storm promises to be ugly....and they are talking about FEET instead of inches.
The biggest problem with winter in our area is that the road back to the barn gets blocked. The drifts tend to set up right where the road leaves the main pad, then another at the end of the old barn, another halfway to the hay barn, another in front of the hay barn and then one humongous drift right in front of the horse barn. We can easily get easily get 5 18" drifts out of a little 5" snowstorm. This time the winds are expected to be over 50 mph, so the drifts will be even worse.
Occasionally, we luck out and the wind comes from the direct west, which blows most of it right down the drive and across the street.
This blockage makes life interesting when you have sick-y animals.
Right now our newest arrival, weanling Melody (or "D" as we are calling her), is having trouble shaking the snots. It seems all weanlings get "the baby snots" when the weather turns.....and since our weather has had a hard time deciding whether it wants to be warm or cold-----she's been dealing with sinus problems for some time. Now she has developed a cough....a cough we've been treating for about 10 days now. So even tho her lungs are clear and air is moving easily, she has a dry cough, high in her airway. As a medical professional, you get an ear for where these coughs are starting. We have her on an anti-biotic to prevent bigger problems.
I don't like putting horses on antibiotics unless they need them, for the simple fact that they begin to build up a tolerance to the medicine (as do the little nasties that live in them) and it gets trickier to treat them as they get older. It's no different than we see in humans, where the so-called "super-bugs" run rampant because we all have had way too much antibiotics for no reason (colds/flu are VIRUSES and cannot be treated with antibiotics which is for INFECTIONS). But all things considered, antibiotics prophylactically (oooooow, THERE's a big word!!!) is probably the better part of valor. In other words, trying to PREVENT pnuemonia or bronchitis is better than treating it once it gets a hold of the horse.
The snow also makes it harder to get sawdust and feed back to the barn.....it needs to go back little bit by wheelbarrow or shoulder.
That's probably one of the biggest drawbacks of farm life. Since we don't plow or harvest with tractors, the tractor we have is not quite up to the serious plowing it needs to do. Oh, we've TRIED....but it just isn't heavy enough (and we get some really heavy snows!) Some day I hope to get a bobsled style sleigh to let the horses help in their own care. Hey! What a novel idea!!! Totally new concept!!!
The biggest problem with winter in our area is that the road back to the barn gets blocked. The drifts tend to set up right where the road leaves the main pad, then another at the end of the old barn, another halfway to the hay barn, another in front of the hay barn and then one humongous drift right in front of the horse barn. We can easily get easily get 5 18" drifts out of a little 5" snowstorm. This time the winds are expected to be over 50 mph, so the drifts will be even worse.
Occasionally, we luck out and the wind comes from the direct west, which blows most of it right down the drive and across the street.
This blockage makes life interesting when you have sick-y animals.
Right now our newest arrival, weanling Melody (or "D" as we are calling her), is having trouble shaking the snots. It seems all weanlings get "the baby snots" when the weather turns.....and since our weather has had a hard time deciding whether it wants to be warm or cold-----she's been dealing with sinus problems for some time. Now she has developed a cough....a cough we've been treating for about 10 days now. So even tho her lungs are clear and air is moving easily, she has a dry cough, high in her airway. As a medical professional, you get an ear for where these coughs are starting. We have her on an anti-biotic to prevent bigger problems.
I don't like putting horses on antibiotics unless they need them, for the simple fact that they begin to build up a tolerance to the medicine (as do the little nasties that live in them) and it gets trickier to treat them as they get older. It's no different than we see in humans, where the so-called "super-bugs" run rampant because we all have had way too much antibiotics for no reason (colds/flu are VIRUSES and cannot be treated with antibiotics which is for INFECTIONS). But all things considered, antibiotics prophylactically (oooooow, THERE's a big word!!!) is probably the better part of valor. In other words, trying to PREVENT pnuemonia or bronchitis is better than treating it once it gets a hold of the horse.
The snow also makes it harder to get sawdust and feed back to the barn.....it needs to go back little bit by wheelbarrow or shoulder.
That's probably one of the biggest drawbacks of farm life. Since we don't plow or harvest with tractors, the tractor we have is not quite up to the serious plowing it needs to do. Oh, we've TRIED....but it just isn't heavy enough (and we get some really heavy snows!) Some day I hope to get a bobsled style sleigh to let the horses help in their own care. Hey! What a novel idea!!! Totally new concept!!!
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