I am a slow learner

We have had horses for 12-13 years now and it has taken us this long to figure things out for the good of the horses, our pocket books and us.  When we started we spent a lot of money getting the barn renovated for box and standing stalls, bought tons of blankets, etc. Lots of money was wasted.
 Now we: 

• leave the horses out 24 hours a day year round with a run in shed
• bed the run in shed with coarse sand instead of straw (it stays drier and is a lot easier to pick clean)
• insulate the stock tank and use a bucket heater to keep it open in the winter
• throw a handful of pennies in the stock tank to control the algae
• feed in a round bale slow-feeder net in a tombstone feeder
• fecal test 4-5 times a year and only deworm as required
• only vaccinate the minimum for a closed herd
• trim as required instead of on schedule (changes with season and ground conditions)
• 99% of diet is forage, supplement based on analysis
• adjust diet based on body condition 

They are healthier and less stressed and so are we.  I am looking forward to the time we have the same breakthroughs for the sheep. I hope it doesn't take 12 years.

TTFN,
Laurie 

Fall is here with a vengence...winter is coming

The one advantage to the arrival of winter is that you can no longer kid yourself into believing that you can: paint the garage and the barn, build a new shed, build a new garden, plant some fall vegetables etc etc. With the cold weather is the realization that winter is here and you can no longer prepare.

Our lambs are now weaned and slowly are heading out to either new homes (or new freezers). We sold one purebred Tunis as a breeding ram and while are still open to sell the other Tunis ewe lambs we have no problem keeping them ourselves.

We just purchased a new Terminal ram - Winston is a purebred Hampshire ram that is long as a freight train and promises to add a lot of meat on our market lambs.

Our horses are content being pasture potatoes and we have not had time to do much other than that. Two are heading out for retraining this winter.

We have been trying to declutter and every trip to the dump, scrap metal, recycling plant makes me happy.

Cheers
Laurie