Out Around the Barn

It has been a very hectic year and so many changes have taken place. We are ending the year in good standing with a few new members to our barnyard, five miniature horses.  These new additions were part of my good will effort to rescue them from a farm that had ran out of pasture and the owners were just sick that they could not feed them.  They were in good physical shape and between wild and semi-tame.

The owner and I had worked together with putting on petting zoo clinics for the elderly at nursing homes this past summer.  She knew I was an animal lover and called me up and asked if I would have room to take 2 or 3 of her herd and give them a home.  Al and I went to look at them and came home with three; Cocoa, Jessie and Mistress Minnie, the baby of the herd.  I fell in love with them before I even got them home.  They are just a pleasure to watch and play around with.  It is a task to get them to cooperate at times since they have not been messed with in quite some time.  I can get close to all of them but they are still skiddish and fearful at times and spook extremely easy.

They get along fine and I would mess with them as much as time would allow, but not as much as I would like to.  About three weeks later I was contacted again and a couple had backed out of taking the stallion and mare, which is expecting in Feb./Mar.  I had to do my “FLIRTY EYE MOVE” to get Al to agree to just go look at them once more.  Of course, I knew we would be bringing them home because he hooked up the trailer and away we went.  So I now have five.

Taco, the stallion, and Sugar had not ever been separated and she had delivered healthy colts and fillies for the past eight years.  The owner said the could not be separated or they would just be uncontrollable.  I kept them together for three days and then I took a risk and separated them.  It took Taco a while to adjust being alone but he does just fine.  Sugar has to stop by his stall on the way back in the barn once in a while just to say “hello” and then goes on.  Taco will do his “I am the Man” dance every once in a while but for being told he was wild and I would have a hard time with him, we get along fine.  It took me an hour to get him to come to me and a halter on and now we are “buds”.  I must say that he is just so beautiful.  A miniature black stallion and with the lines and mane to go with it.  So petite but full of spirit and spunk.  Don’t let them fool anyone, just because they are small does not mean that they cannot put away the food.  I feed them Grostrong Ultra Fiber and they eat it up.  They are not shy when it comes to meal time.  I did have to make some changes in the feeding area and that is they cannot reach any of our feed bunks so feeding pans were placed and it makes feeding time a lot easier.

We have had a busy year but our animal family continues to grow.  We are ending the year with new stock and new baby goats on the way within two weeks.  Life on the farm is just great.

Tags: equine feed, feeders, goats