Paddocks to Pasture & Poor Megs

Poor Megs!
Just took off the skin so it's really superficial
but it could have been a lot worse if she had
gotten really tangled

 What was that I was saying about doing today what you can put off until tomorrow? Especially when it comes to fencing... We had a funny summer, couple dry periods but when it rained it poured! And all that water sitting in the ditch really compromised the dividing fence, so it was falling down & getting looser and looser.

I had it on my T.D.B.W. (to do before winter) list, but apparently I didn't get around to it soon enough.

You can see bits of her hair are still on
the fence

It didn't take too much to find out where she'd gone through the fence. Right beside the feed bucket, so she probably aimed an air-kick (she rarely actually kicks other animals, but she likes to show off) at someone and missed.

 So, I push aside other things that needed to be done and got straight to taking care of this fence before anyone else got hurt. It took hours and hours of back-breaking, hand-killing, I'm still soar the next day work. It's all down and out of the field but our yard looks like a I'm showcasing some sort of red-neck art installation.

I was trying to clip the fence at each post, but so many of the posts were rotten off at the bottom they broke when I tried to get the fence off them. These got rolled into the fencing so I removed the whole thing from the field in 4 big chunks. Plus digging out the 3 pieces of re-bar holding up extra fencing in the ditch between paddocks (I understand why those were there, but an extra long T-post would have gotten that job done better & safer!). I also got the last of the galvanized wire off the bottom line around the paddock, it was still in good (tight) shape, but we weren't using it.

For the winter we've got one big pasture, which is just fine. It was about time for the horses to start coming into the barn for meals (need to do that so I can change blankets when it's cold) and the only time I was splitting up the animals was to feed Maddie anyway. I'd still like to confine the cows in a paddock over winter, so they don't damage the grass; but based on what I've seen at other farms, cows don't really stray from the warm barn unless forced once snow hits the ground.

Meg is all cleaned up now, took some coercion on my part (not a fan of spray-things), but relatively painless all around. If the wound had been any deeper or I had found it sooner it would have been a vet call to close it all the way. As it was the wound was already mostly closed and had stopped bleeding (she probably did it overnight). She's also mostly sound on the leg and still running around like an idiot just in case the vet does come. So I sprayed some Iodine to keep it from infection and applied a liquid bandage for livestock (the silver) to keep it closed.

Flashy Girl!

I could have wrapped the wound but I know the goats/Meg would have taken that off very quickly so this was a better option (plus I'd have to catch her twice a day to change the bandage, eating up time I don't have). I would cold hose it but we've had a big temp drop in the last few days so that is already keeping the swelling down. Hopefully it will close and heal just fine, although she'll probably have a little scar where the biggest part of the wound is. Keeping her outside, and all the blood flowing through the leg as she moves is the best thing to do now that it's covered. I'll be keeping a really good eye on her leg for the next few days, watching for swelling, oozing, and if I'm going to need to reapply the bandage (if we do get either, I'll have the vet out for antibiotics).

We're definitely keeping the liquid livestock bandage in the first-aid trunk from now on. It wasn't cheap ($20 for a small can) but the amount of time/wraps it's going to save me, it was definitely worth it!

Ducks out for a stroll

The ducks have taken to the habit of going out in a big flock for morning and evening strolls about the farm.

I am so enjoying having the Muscovy, we picked them up just wanting any breed of duck to have on the farm, but they've been a really enjoyable addition. Very nice dispositions, very quiet, and just adorable with their little waggling tails!

I wonder how many we'll have next year...

Cook: Home-made is Best

I usually go with the processor method, but mine
is busted, so volcano it is!

If you've never had home-made pasta you just don't know what you are missing! It's much easier to make then you think it's going to be, and is very high reward!

There are 2 methods I use to make the dough:

The Volcano

This is where you place your flour directly on your counter-top, then make a little depression in the centre and put your eggs in that. Then use your fork/finger to incorporate the eggs and flour and create your dough.

The Processor

This method is much faster and easier to clean up! You can put all your pasta ingredients into your food processor, then just quick little pulses to combine it all together. As long as you don't over-work the dough it will remain soft and yummy.


Rolling it out.
Once you've let your dough rest you need to roll it out flat.

The Rolling Pin

This method is really labour intensive, and again, messy. You start from the middle and roll outwards, turning the dough as you go to stretch it nice and thin. You can use a pizza cutter, or just a knife to cut out the pasta.

Pasta Press

I had quite the epic journey to find my pasta press! Apparently a lot of home-cooking shops don't sell them. If you're lucky enough to own a Cuisinart mixer you can get an attachment pretty easily, but a free-standing reasonably prices pasta press was very hard to find. I ended up paying about $40 for one that mounts to the counter, the bracket broke within the year.

The press was definitely worth the money though! It's much easier to create nice thin pasta and the back part of mine cuts spaghetti.


I really recommend everyone try to make pasta at least once, because the taste is going to turn you!!

Cats are for Lovin'

Peaches after her bath on her first day
She was covered in fleas, full of worms, and has
a nail so grown over it had gone into her pad

Seems very appropriate after the "commercial kennel" seizure story from the weekend.

Cat Crazed doc was on CBC and is viewable online, it's a great watch if you love kitties.

I feel very strongly about how we should make spay/neuter clinics available to everyone, paid for through licensing programs. I really don't mind paying the $15 to have our dogs licensed each year, especially knowing they will be hand-delivered back to us if they ever strayed.

I also feel people should take responsibilities for all their feral kitties. The dressage barn I used to work as, as much as it seemed a little nuts at times, did an amazing job of caring for their colony of around 8-12+ cats. They remained at that low number because of TNR, and feeding the cats regularly. 

You can get a special TNR rate at some vets in our area, I believe the cost is around $80. Yes, that is a lot of money for something you may not feel you have to pay for. Especially when you're caring for 5, 10, 15 cats. But I've also been to many barns where they don't control the population and having 100 un-managed cats running around isn't healthy for anyone, including your livestock. You need to either maintain what has decided to make your barn home, or find another humane solution. 

By contacting your local cat shelter you may even be able to find TN ferals or barn cats at a very discounted rate if you're willing to provide a home. These cats are very difficult to place because of their natures and are a drain on the shelter's resources.

We picked up our kitty Peaches from a barn that does not control their cat population. On top of having been pregnant with Oscar around 6 months of age, both cats have both mental and health problems. Even being managed in a loving home, they are not "normal" cats.

Outdoor Feed Station

It's just too beautiful to bring the ponies in, even for meals. They love being outdoors so I hate to lock them in, plus this is much faster. However, the goats love getting into the horse feed, so we had to put Maddie's feed bucket where they couldn't get into it.

This has worked very well. We didn't use a post because they all have electric fence on it, and it's not nice to get zapped while you're eating your breakfast. In the future we'll build something more permanent in their shelter (To Be Built).

Now, if only I could get Maddie to stop dribbling food to the goats...

(Blog note: I wrote this before Meg got hung up on the fence, she's fine, more about that Tuesday. As of the 15th we're not using the feed station any more, it did work really well for a month though and we'll be incorporating outdoor feed stations into the plan for the paddocks next year.)

Have room in your heart/home?

Photos by the Toronto Star

 
I'm not in anyway personally affiliated with this story, just that I heard it on the news, and it is relatively close to us. I want to pass on this information so that we can all help these dogs.


PawsRUs Kennel near Shawville Quebec has had over 500 dogs & puppies seized.

People have know about this kennel for years.
Canadian Goldens.com forum has a posting back from 2004 by a woman named Lorie Gordon. The Ottawa Citizen carried this information about what happened. Basically Lorie purchased a Labrador from PawsRUs in 2002(?) who developed a heart murmur and hip dysplasia and had to be put to sleep. PawsRUs gave Lorie a golden retriever as a "replacement" dog, and that dog either came with or developed sever mange, and also has problems with epilepsy.

Both hip dysplasia and epilepsy are well known genetic problems with these breeds of dog, and responsible breeders preform genetic screening to prevent breeding animals who might pass on these problems.

PawsRUs sued Lorrie Gordon for liable in 2006 for calling the "commercial dog breeder" a puppy mill online.  PawsRUs won a judgment for $14 000. It seems Lorrie Gordon has appealed, I'm not sure what the trial date is (conflicting unreliable information online) or what is happening.

I want a pound dog seems to be right on top of the story.

Montreal Dog Blog is actually involved in the rescue.


On Friday PawsRUs had over 500 dogs and puppies removed from their property. A lot of the dogs reportedly have skin and respiratory problems. http://www.hsi.org/ conducted the raid, and would be the best place to start if you want to help.


This story is still developing, but if the animals are won in court, eventually over 500 dogs are going to need new loving homes.

Listen: Podcasts

The Bottom Line

Was a great podcast done by Dr. David Suzuki (a very well known Canadian ecologist) very smart, and I really learned a lot from the one on soil bacteria. I really hope they are coming back to do another season!


The Self-Sufficient Gardener/Hunt Gather Grow Eat

Done by the same person, they are wonderfully researched and very thoughtful. Lots of information on gardening, raising livestock and living sustainably. If you've got one area of interest it's pretty easy to search through the records, you won't be disappointed.

Growing your Grub

Great organic gardening information, lots of expert guests. Market gardens and small farm information too.


Ontario Today - with Ed Lawrence.

Every Monday for 30 minutes, Ontario Today has Master Gardener Ed on to talk gardening and take listener question. There is a reason they have many international listeners, and just celebrated Ed's 30th year on the show. I really miss when they had him on for a full hour!

If you've got any more you'd like to suggest, I would love to hear them! I've always got podcasts on while I'm cleaning/organizing/cooking around the house - just makes the work go faster.