Just another Day on the Farm

I like to do most things myself, I give my all allowed legal vaccines, I treat for worms and I help birth, I can tube feed if needed and give sub-q shots and fluids, I can trim feet on sheep, goats and even pigs when needed. I treat minor cuts and am the care giver on a few wounds that needed vet help but the rest was all done by me.

For 11 years on the farm, I have taken training courses, and I have been beside vets in the north as their helper aid.. while I know that would not happen where I live now in the clinic, on the farm, the vets I work with know that I can act as a helper in a number of ways.

Having said that..  Know when to call in the pro’s..  by law certain shots need to be given by the vet, certain health issues need to see the vet

However my most regular pro without a doubt is my Ferrier. while I am sure if I had no choice that I could get my file out and at least keep my horse’s feet rounded and smoothed out.. but other then that.. I would suck at it.. I just do not have the knowledge needed to help my horses when it comes to their feet.

They are kept in a bare foot trim and it changes with the season’s and with what I am doing with them..  my gent is awesome, while he does count on me to tell him if there is issues, he also has me move them and he trims them different from each other, they wear their feet differently and they have very different hoofs, Brandy is very much got a big old workhorse foot, where Caleb’s is much more paint in ways.

He has stuck with me and worked with me with all of Brandy’s issues..  she likes him unless he is touching her feet, then it is BAD. I am grateful for his kindness and help, its been a long slow road. I know others would have quit on her but he never has.

Caleb on the other hand is a dream to do.. such a good boy!

When it comes to your livestock, what is something you call in the pro’s for? What have you learned to do yourself? I wish I could call in the sheep shearing pro, but to bring him in for three sheep is crazy, but hand shearing is not fun at all.. more on that later 🙂

Today we picked up Tess, aka Tesseracts, the black sheep..  There was a few to pick from but she was the stand out, her temperament, her size and her excellent hair sheep winter coat.

She was gotten in honor of Jason’s story in the book called, you guessed it.. Black Sheep

She is big (but young yet) she is chill, she is expecting and I like her very much, I have great hopes for training her for being a milk sheep in the future. She had her collar on and was tied for safety, she was totally just hanging out watching the world go by, sometimes sniff my hand and then just looking and watching..

Sometimes in winter, you just love to make it and forget it, and baking something not only increases the sweetness of your root cellar veggies but also helps warm your house at the same time.

the base of this is all root cellar veggies, the butternut squash is holding very well, it was harvested and cured in early oct, so its been in storage for 3 months.. the carrots however where starting to grow greens a bit on the end, and had some fuzzy white roots on them, the turnip is getting soft and had a spot on the one skin that needed to cut a bit deep, not bad per say yet, perfectly fine to go to the pigs.

I will need to process the rest of the turnips soon I think but a few more are still holding yet.

I filled my pot of half full with these three roots, no onion, no garlic, nothing to stop their own flavour from bursting though.. I drizzle my best olive oil and a bit of sea salt and then put the bangers on top, and into the oven at 375 for approx. 90 min.

This was eat it like candy good! The squash melted down, the others where cook but firmer and the flavours.. o despite being held for 3 months, the taste was outstanding.

With winter comes dryness and with dryness can come itchy skin on one of my hounds, she tends to be the type that can itch from the grass, itch from rolling around in the hay and itch from dry skin, she has been tested and its not anything that needs a treatment per say, but we have shampoo that helps but when its this cold, bathing a double coated breed dog is not a good idea and she is only itch in a few spots in winter.

Gold Listerine Anti-Itch Blend to the rescue

1/3 rd Gold (Original) Listerine

1/3 rd Baby oil What ever kind you like..

1/3 rd Water

Measure out and pour into a spray bottle and shake well before use, spray on till fur or hair is damp, gently massage in and allow to dry..  Stops itching in the hounds, or the horse in summer

Now I am sure you want to know why this works.. the answer is simple..  Read below, the active ingredients are antiseptic (proven) anti inflammatory effect (not proven but only because it does not have the proper studies to say so).

What I can tell you is that if I ask my girl to come over and get her treatment, she runs up, lets me spray her, and sighs as she knows that it will take the itch away.

Inspired by Louis Pasteur‘s ideas on microbial infection, the English doctor Joseph Lister demonstrated in 1865 that use of carbolic acid on surgical dressings would significantly reduce rates of post-surgical infection. Lister’s work in turn inspired American Joseph Lawrence to develop an alcohol-based formula for a surgical antiseptic  (Its exact composition was a trade secret.) Joseph Lawrence named his antiseptic “Listerine” in honor of Joseph Lister

The active ingredients listed on Listerine bottles are essential oils which are menthol 0.042%, thymol 0.064%, methyl salicylate 0.06%, and eucalyptol 0.092%.^[14] In combination all have an antiseptic effect and there is some thought that methyl salicylate may have an anti inflammatory effect as well.^[15] Ethanol, which is toxic to bacteria at concentrations of 40%, 26.9% in the original gold Listerine Antiseptic

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Listerine

Sometimes you need to do things the hard way and sometime you can do things the easy way..

While I guess that it would be easier to buy these (haha) trust me.. it would take me more time to go to town and never mind the cost savings. At my local Store’s, a single cake will cost you 1.99 Canadian at regular price, they do often go on sale or you can buy a pack of 3 at 4.99

However as the lard is from my boar, which means to me its totally free, as I would not be using that lard for house use, that is what my lovely female lard is for 🙂 and it cost me about 25 cents worth of scratch and 40 cents worth of BOSS (black Sunflower seeds) if I had not grown my own seed.

It took me a few min to measure 3/4th scratch grain, a mix of wheat, oats, barley and corn to 1/4th Boss, to which I added two pounds of just melted fat. Pushed it into pans and into the fridge they went. Can also use freezer if you want and after chilled up. I just cut them up into blocks, each block will go into a hanger or dish to help my fowl get though the very cold weather we are having at the moment.

I made eight of them for around a dollar and for 3 to 5 min worth of work time.. and I know that my birds will thank me..

Farm Gal Tip of the day- If you are new to homesteading and you are in cold climates, you need to learn what is the engine for your chosen critter. For my horse’s in the cold part of winter, I want them to stuff their faces with as much hay as possible as the hay is what keeps them warm but with my rabbits, I want to add a heaping spoon of BOSS per rabbit to give them that extra booster of fat from the sunflowers.