By Daisy Luther
It’s been a few weeks since I’ve written the Friday Farm Blog, what with the holiday hullabaloo and things being quiet around here with the colder weather.
El Nino is here!
It has been cold, wet, and lovely here, and the weekend promises more rain. Much more rain. As a matter of fact, we’re going to get a 5 day El Nino rain storm if the forecasts are to be believed. The trenches behind my cottage are dug, and they’ve held well. The mountains here are green, alive, wild, and beautiful. Here is a photo I took at a neighboring ranch right after a heavy rainfall. The manzanitas are thriving and so thick you couldn’t walk through this area. It’s an entirely different ecosystem than my place, which is covered in oaks and pines.
My bird run has been pretty damp for the past week, so today I’m laying in two of those big bales of wood chips from the feed store to try and give them dry ground. The birds have been spending most of their time on the roosts or inside the coop. Still nary an egg, but with this weather I certainly understand their reluctance to cooperate.
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On farms and strays
We’ve been farm-sitting for a neighbor the past few days, and we get to feed an orphan baby lamb. Someone had found her, crying in a field with no other sheep anywhere to be seen. Being city people, they thought she was a goat and brought her to my friend, who immediately fell in love with her. This little baby is so incredibly cute, and a very messy eater, as you can see by the splashes of milk all over her face.
When you live on a farm, you seem to attract strays like a magnet. You have the space, you obviously like animals, and if you are anything like us, maybe you’re a sucker. We acquired a completely useless but absolutely adorable critter last week. My daughter babysits, and one of the families had a little dog that…well, wasn’t really getting attention. With a couple of small children, a baby on the way, and a big house to take care of, little Gus was getting ignored. He is shockingly thin, very timid, and was spending all of his time outside with a large puppy who thought he was a squeaky toy. When the owner saw how much my daughter adored him, she told her, “You can have him if it’s all right with your mom.”
Rosie knows how to work it. She got me over there to meet the little guy and hold him. I immediately felt his spine and ribs and she went in for the kill. “Mom, they said that Gus needs a new home and that I could keep him. Please?” (Batting her big green eyes all the while.)
How can you say no when you realize that a dog is living a miserable existence? He wasn’t being outright abused, but he’s not an outdoor dog – he’s a cuddly little purse dog. So now, I guess we have dogs ranging from 160 pounds down to 4 pounds.
We’ve taken Gus to the vet and he has a bit of a road to recovery. His teeth are in horrible condition, but he’s too frail right now to be sedated. We’re working on tempting him with soft food to get him to eat, but it seems to cause him pain. My next effort is to puree his soft food even more so he can basically lap it up, then if that doesn’t work, I thought perhaps he might like bone broth. Here’s his picture. Doesn’t he look happy as can be, getting brushed gently and then cuddled by a girl?
Here’s his picture. Doesn’t he look happy as can be, getting brushed gently and then cuddled by a girl?
If anyone has ideas for feeding an older dog with bad teeth, we really need to put some weight on him. I’d love to hear any suggestions. We got him this little harness with skulls on it to build his confidence. (Don’t tell him it’s a harness for kittens, though, okay?)
Back to farm-sitting
One of the things that most people don’t consider with farming is loss. The loss of an animal is heart-wrenching and often a very expensive situation. The day before our friends left, a dog had gotten in and wounded 3 of their animals. A calf, a goat, and a sheep were all bitten. The farm vet was called out there. Before the vet arrived, we had to catch the animals in their pasture, which was no easy proposition at all. After two hours of running (and I really am NOT a runner), we finally had all three rounded up into the barn for veterinary attention.
The sheep fared the best, even though she was missing some huge patches of wool. The billy goat is still in isolation, being treated with antibiotics, since his wound began to show signs of serious infection. The calf, though…
The following day, the vet was coming back to do surgery on the calf. He had a hernia from his injury that had to be repaired. My daughter, who is fascinated with all things veterinary, got permission from the vet to assist. The vet, her tech, and my daughter spent 4 hours, working to save the poor calf, but in the end, he didn’t make it and his injuries were so severe he had to be euthanized to end his suffering.
This is the part of farming that no one thinks about. This sweet little animal that we spent hours trying to catch, was dead despite the heroic efforts of the vet. The choice had to be made to let him go. For the farmer, the loss was also a financial blow, because a Lowline Angus calf is worth close to a thousand dollars, plus the cost of the vet’s time and supplies. Raising animals is always a gamble and sometimes the result will break your heart. Other times, you end up bottle-feeding a lamb who thinks you are her mommy, and in the balance, that’s the part that keeps you going.
Today will be spent doing some holiday baking. This Christmas has really crept up on us, and there is lots to be done so that we’re ready for the big day. I’m trying some recipes from my new grain-free cookbook, Joyful, by Danielle Walker. I hate Kindle books, but this was only available as an e-book and her other recipes are so delicious I had to give it a try. I’m giving away lots of edible treats for holiday gifts this year, instead of trying to find the right store-bought present.
How has your December been?
What about you? How is life going in your neck of the woods? Please share your farm stories, your food preservation, and your prepping endeavors in the comments. (And don’t forget, if you have suggestions to fatten up a fearful, finicky little pooch, I’d love to hear them!)
The pup looks fine. They don’t get real fat. The little dogs are sometimes high energy and burn off their calories anyway. Offer him food off of your plate…..they always want what have! You may find out by trial and error what he prefers and just make his dog food ……if he likes it he’ll eat it.
Peanut butter and yogurt for the dog. Dab it on your finger so he can lick it off, if he’s not eating from a dish. Peanut butter first, and if he won’t or can’t take that, move on to the yogurt. Anything to get some high calorie, decent protein and fats into him.
If the teeth are problematic give him a mouth rinse with myrrh diluted with water in a syringe. Or, use Tom’s toothpaste with myrrh and propolis, be sure to wipe it off with a paper towel after you’re done. Myrrh is phenomenal for helping pretty much all mouth problems (receding gums, lesions, loose teeth, etc). It greatly speeds the healing.
Best of luck to you, it’s always stressful nursing dogs back to health.
You probably know that chickens lay best with fourteen hours of light. Since you are on the grid it should be easy, you might even be able to put the lights on a timer. We are off grid so we use 12 volt LED lights we got from Napa and swap out marine batteries once a week. Since it doesn’t get fully light until 10 AM and is pretty dark by 3 PM we don’t get anything from our solar pannels this time of year so we run a small generator three or four days a week to charge our main battery bank and charge the marine battery with a small charger while it is running.
We lost an eighty five pound pig two years ago because there is no farm animal vet anywhere near us to consult so I know how it goes with losses.
I’m not a farm girl. We now live on a 5 acre plot, but we don’t have farm animals. But –
I have a question for you farm folks that I’ve been wondering about ever since Daisy mentioned not getting eggs.
I seem to remember my Mom and some other people who have kept chickens mention that in order to get the chicken to lay they put fake eggs in the nest. Some used the old white glass door knobs. Is this just an old wives’ tale or does it really work?
Someday, I may overcome my fear of chickens and try to raise some.
Generally fake eggs are introduced in nests to help persuade chickens to lay their eggs in the nest rather than where ever they are when the urge is on them. I doubt it would induce egg production. Light affects egg laying if you do not supplement winter light egg laying will decrease or stop entirely. Also the amount and quality of protein is important. Chickens need the full array of amino acids the same as humans. Free range chickens usually get some of the ones usually found in animal protein from the bugs they eat which are scarcer in winter. Some supplement with an animal protein source might help if the layer feed is not adaquately balanced. I read years ago in an English farm magazine that most of Europe’s eggs come from that North Sea because of the amount of fish meal made from trash fish bycatch used to supplement the poultry feed.
i used the hollow plastic easter eggs to suggest to my hens maybe they would like to “focus” their efforts in the places where i planted them. they didn’t care if they were bright colors 🙂 other wise my girls were free range on an acre and i lost many eggs. it helped.
Your nesting boxes must look adorable with the Easter egg hints! 🙂
Thanks. I know absolutely nothing about raising chickens. If I were to ever decide to get some, I’d have to do a LOT of reading first.
The thing about enticing them to lay in the nest instead of elsewhere is interesting. I never thought they would just drop an egg anyplace!
I know your a minimalist, but the dog will groove on some canned dog food, theres tons of different kinds, and even “healthy” alternative foods, but seen that more than once, poor thing struggling through some crunchy dry food,,,
Soft broken up, doggy will love it, and with meat!
When you have tons of eggs, and chicken (if you go that way) a friend of mine makes his own doggy food, grinds up the chicken and makes a big pot of scrambled eggs, ground up chicken, ground up veggies, cooks it all up once a week or so and sticks it in the fridge, actually smells great, so no surprise the dogs love it, looks like store bought but is home made.
Hi Tom – strangely, he won’t even touch canned wet food. I’ve tried 3 different brands and he wants nothing to do with it. Poor little dude. His appetite IS starting to pick up a little. It’s almost a ritual. You must lay his dry food out on the floor, because bowls are scary. Then, remove all the other animals from the area, because the door cannot be closed, trapping him in the room with the food. You need to avert your eyes, because you can’t look at him. THEN, finally, after circling it suspiciously a few times, he’ll eat. He’s a funny fellow. I’ll try the eggs – he might like that!