[near horse]

you can over-work a horse in the heat

I would imagine that even with well-conditioned animals, the first bursts of heat we see in the spring can be more difficult for horses (people and other animals included) to deal with as there hasn’t been much time for acclimation. Think of what 80 degrees seems like in April vs August.

Carl mentions managing/monitoring exertion as what he spends a lot of time doing. I think it is probably THE issue I have the most trouble with. One of my horses sweats buckets after a little work while the other one not much at all. Hard to gauge who’s tired and who’s nervous or what have you. Also, easier to see the sweaty horse’s breathing.

[near horse]

Metal wheels on pavement are loud as well.

[near horse]

First, IMO, If you own the land or are paying it off, you need to decide what you want from the agreement. Conventionally, folks always look at $$$ return per acre so how much can I rent this to someone for? But that can and often does leave you with “forty acres” that are in worse shape after say 5 yrs than when you started.

As I mentioned in an earlier post I visited a guy trying some rotational grazing stuff and one thing he showed us was what he/they called “Land EKG” system of evaluating the results of your grazing or other practices over time. (Can google Land EKG). It is a mgmt tool used by proponents of holistic mgmt, and, although I’m not “all in” with HM, I do think the EKG system can really be valuable. Essentially, you run a “permanent” 200 ft line transect in each pasture (just 2 plastic stakes driven into the ground to mark the line). Measure/evaluate the pasture condition at 4 points (every 50 ft) using a 1m cable hoop – take a photo …. Do it once a year about the same time and can see some serious changes. That’s the “nutshell” version.

dlskidmore, after you decide what you want, you can then see how a potential tenant fits in to your goal(s). Perhaps even see other pieces of land they’re using. Good luck.

[near horse]

“They’re everywhere!” I just visited a guy near Spokane raising beef doing some form of MIG (mgmt intensive grazing) and his couple hundred acres was surrounded by 2000 owned by a local heart surgeon. Same type of thing – he puts a handful of cows on the 2000 acres, sells them at whatever the market is (losing money is of no concern) and he qualifies as a “farmer” – deduction city. Meanwhile, as Old Kat says, land prices w/in a reasonable distance of a city/town of any size is outrageously priced and thus, small farmers either are too far from good sized markets or have huge land costs (and taxes) for very small parcels.

A local anesthesiologist built on top of a hill a few hundred feet high in the middle of a wheat field. He cut a drive way that wrapped around the hill to spiral up to the top probably 1/4 to 1/2 mile long – AND PAVED THE WHOLE THING. Just a sad waste of good palouse farm soil.

[near horse]

Another adjustment to consider on the HD mower is the angle (tilt) on the cutter bar. It’s easy to “get greedy” and tilt it with the tips so far down you’re giving earthworm haircuts. Not necessary and not good.

[near horse]

John,

I wouldn’t worry about the difference btwn. morning cut and afternoon cut hay. I know some of the guys that did the research regarding choice by cattle and, of course, they preferred the afternoon (higher carbo hay) but readily admit that the cattle would consume the morning hay in similar amounts when they weren’t offered a choice. I would say it is probably more important to: 1) try to get it in w/o getting rained on. 2) try to get it cut before it gets old enough (over ripe) to be considered “lumber”. If you can do those 2 things, you should have plenty good hay. Grazing doesn’t present the same concerns about getting rain etc.

[near horse]

I am surprised at how my team thrives on grass hay alone – they do get to graze when the conditions allow it but nothing like the 6 months ‘Does Leap’ mentioned. Grass just grows great guns for a bit and then summer hits and no regrowth. I only use grain on rare occasion, maybe a subzero spell or a bit of haying/plowing. But these horses can put some good “bark” on them just on grass hay w/ a few hours grazing (can’t even see their ribs right now). Probably speaks to the need for more horse work but I’m like ‘Goodcompanion’ trying my best to utilize the horses between all the rest of life’s projects.

Believe it or not, awhile back (in the last 10 yrs) it was cheaper to feed low quality hay and supplement with grain than to buy high quality hay alone and feed that. As Erik mentions, people’s practices vary and if you’ve got something that you’re comfortable with and works for you/your operation/your team, then go with it.

Now – for our elderly riding horse, we feed the store bought “old horse” feed and give him shredded beet pulp (soaked for 15 minutes or so). At 30+ yrs of age, he looks and acts “alright” – no riding for him anymore, just hangs out with his sheep buddies.

[near horse]

Hi Tim,

Out of curiousity, how does the mower draft etc relate to plowing drafts (I know there are lots of variables there as well but just ballpark) – seems the mower would be a little easier for a team than say a 12″ 1 btm sulky, even in good ground. What do you think?

[near horse]

How do you know it’s not blood in the urine? You can check it pretty easy w/ a urine dipstick (can get from your vet) to make sure it’s not bloody urine. Same one or two animals each time or does it vary?

[near horse]

Mitch,

Haven’t heard of the wilted grass being toxic.

[near horse]

It’s amazing the plants that “can” be toxic to horses. About 10 yrs back a guy lost some horses to what the vets considered to be clover poisoning – not sure which one alsike or sweet (different plant all together)….

[near horse]

That is tragic. I am surprised that the website can only speculate that the toxicity is due to tannins. There has been a lot of work done with animals consuming tannins since they are a type of chemical defense used by some plants. Tannins usually bind with protein and have a negative impact on protein digestion. Certain species, like deer, that mostly browse leaf material as a primary part of their diet, have evolved a counter-mechanism in which specific proteins in their saliva bind the tannins and render them ineffective in the gut.

Interestingly, that dry after taste in a red or burgundy wine is the result of the tannins interacting with proteins in our mouths.

Again, it’s a sad, sad thing to lose animals to something like this. We just need more information regarding plant toxicities in livestock.

Here’s a good review of tannins for those so inclined – it should be noted that oaks are noted for their tannin content – certainly more than maples.

http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/toxicagents/tannin.html

[near horse]

Hey Andy –

First – That’s what I said – referring to the tube worms and clams

None of those animals that you mention live where the oil leaking is ending up – on the surface and shorelines

I did read the article (written 8 years ago) and most of it dealt with the news that areas that we are pumping oil out of seem to be “refilling” or “filling” with oil/natural gas from deeper layers of the earth’s crust. The chemosynthetic worms/clams (that have also been found back in the early 1980’s – although they used H2S rather than methane or hydrocarbons for their energy source) live in that very unique/specific environment where nothing else can. Put surface-based life in those conditions and they die.

My point is that natural seepage happens – apparently always has and the ecosystems have evolved to handle it over long periods of time – so it’s more of a chronic event. Millions of ADDITIONAL gallons of oil in one particular region of the Gulf over a short period of time, leaves no time/opportunity for acclimation/adaptation etc – an acute event. I know that there are acute natural events that are devastating to ecosystems – like volcanic eruptions, hurricanes etc but that’s the point, we can’t do anything to stop these things – this oil mess is the result of man’s handiwork.

[near horse]

None of those animals that you mention live where the oil leaking is ending up – on the surface and shorelines. There are bacteria that live in the geothermal vent areas of regions that have volcanic activity – scalding hot temps and high sulfur dioxide etc. Naturally occurring but not a good environment for most other life forms.

Also, it doesn’t matter how much oil/gas seeps out naturally. Pumping it to the surface and leaking it all over the place isn’t a natural event.

If you think that supply and demand drive oil prices and not speculators/market manipulation, then why wouldn’t fuel prices be going through the roof right now? There have been plenty of other “bogus” excuses for run ups in fuel pricing that weren’t as significant as this mess. “We were switching over from heating oil production.” “The war in Iraq/Afghanistan.” “Shut down refinery to do maintenance” to name a few. It’s just not good PR for the industry at this point – they’ll recoup it after the spotlight quits shining on them.

Here’s a few more articles from the same internet source (rense.com) http://www.rense.com/general90/less.htm Lessons from the Gulf of Mexico

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/05/11/national/a104820D60.DTL&tsp=1 Lawyers: Rig workers asked to sign statements

[near horse]

Today there are many Indian and Chinese companies that produce Lister copies (aka: “Listeroids”) for export. These are fairly faithful to the original design — with varying quality

Has anyone purchased one of the Lister “knock offs”? Did it seem to be satisfactory? There are a lot of small farm machines being produced in developing countries (nobody in the west seems to find it worthwhile) – hate to waste money on junk though.

[Author]

Posts