Goats are arid animals and do much better in a dry climate. There has been nothing dry about the last 3 months here. J said at least 5 nannies aborted last week. The weather has stressed them that much.
The snow has been around in some places since before Christmas.
Sometimes the only dry spot is on top of a rock.
J has been putting part of a round bale out for the horses between the barn and the house about every 2-3 days. The snow on the south facing slopes had melted so they were grazing some and out of hay.
The first cattle guard is filled in with dirt and ice (much more solid than the one at the house that we dug out last week). The phone rang at 2:18 am. The police had called our neighbor because the horses were in his yard. In the dark he thought they were his and ran them back over the hill (further from our house). He then realized that they were all brown and his were paints, that's when we got called. I rounded up halters and some grain and J and I went out to bring them back. We caught 3 and let the other 2 follow (Spot, bless him, had stayed home). We had to lead them about a mile down a frozen driveway, up the main road and up our frozen drive. All this at 2:30 in the morning with it snowing and wind gusts of 50 mph.
We now have a "horse guard" across the cattle guard at night. Be careful if you come to visit.
By the way, my camera is back to working again so I guess a new one will have to wait a little longer.
V worked the head gate and caught hers first. She also was the first to be holding on to him once she got the halter on and let him out. She did a good job working with him until her hands got tired then J took over.
He worked on leading and calming for a little while then switched back to V.
He calmed down well then J tied him up.
He stayed calm and V was able to brush and rub on him. He probably weighs over a thousand pounds by now. E's steer was a little more uppity and mostly just stayed tied.
So the snow is actually starting to melt.
Of course this means more runoff in the driveway creating more gullies and ultimately more mud if that is possible.
But for now we are enjoying the warmer temperature.
It was a difficult contest. They used mostly school horses and 5 of the 8 classes were hunter.
The tiny girl is one of our new members. She is 9 and absolutely in love with horses.
I lost 2 girls before the awards so they didn't make the picture.
The horses have been the only animals in this field so it hasn't been a problem until last night.
There were some unmistakable signs in the yard this morning. First off, numerous hoof prints. But is that is not enough to convince you,
here is proof positive that the horses were in the yard. I had 8 piles of proof to clean up.
I did a little editing on this picture I took awhile back. If I can get it to print out how it looks on the computer I might enter it in a fair this summer.
J is doing more of feeding and care of the steers than V and E are.
Lately, when he has needed to buy feed, he has to transfer it to the tractor to get it to the barn. The road is too slick to take the truck down there.
He always rubs on the steers when he feeds to help get them use to being touched. V and E just haven't but forth much effort and it has really discouraged J.
She was lame for a couple of days until it ruptured out at the coronary band. She is walking better but now the leg is swollen.
I started her on an antibiotic and anti-inflammatory medicine yesterday.
Today the leg is not as swollen. I had to quit giving her the anti-inflammatory medicine however, because it was too bitter (even with syrup) and she wouldn't eat the grain with it and the antibiotic.
Therefore, he had to go to another section where he had some trees down. The calves in this field were very curious at first.
That is until the chain saw started.
Then they high tailed it out of there.
They did get over their initial startle and cautiously watched from more of a distance.
J just cut a tractor dipper load to get by for the next few days.
It is interesting what effects you can come up with playing with the photo editing.
Of course it helps to have some spectacular subject matter.
Even though the snow is getting to be a chore to work in (especially for J), it still makes for some fabulous scenery.
She stayed this way a little while, raised her head up then went back to sleep.
Those are the goats she is suppose to be guarding in the background. I guess Bumble is on the job back there.
It covered everything, including the livestock.
Next, we had freezing rain. It froze on the horses manes and stung as the wind blew it around.
Last came the rain. This just added a new level of misery. Now there is 5 inches of very wet snow that was too slick for J to get back up the driveway. He had to walk up, go to the barn, get the tractor, then tow the truck up.
So are the woes of having a winter birthday, no dinner out. E made me a delicious cake which V iced and J lit the candles. The singing was a little weak but I did make a wish.
But otherwise, the horses have to pick around in the bare spots.
Of course this doesn't appear to be much of a hardship on them. They are all in very good shape.
I, on the other hand, am dreaming of the next show season.
