A New Day..................................

The girls, free from "slobbers" today, pining for pasture, not happenin' and free from burrs!



The results from a local Farmer's Market Thursday. Fresh breads, fresh organic leg of lamb, fresh fruits and veggies. The spring onion are almost too beautiful to eat. We know what dinner will be tonight!



And I thought I'd show this. These are not clouds as such, but rather steam coming off of Lake Michigan which about 40 miles east from us. We woke up to a crisp Autumn like morning, cool air and a now heated large lake. Usually you don't see this until mid-winter. It stretched the length of the horizon. I find it fascinating.

Here We Go Again..........

Well since I've had the girls inside without pasture for a week or two and I mowed it yesterday, I thought that maybe, just maybe I wouldn't have a problem with "slobbers" again...........BUT, NOOOOO................. They were only out there a few hours and low and behold both came in with raging cases of slobbers. I did try some electrolytes and that failed miserably, so will try a different approach this evening adding it to their food with some corn oil. They did both get some Banamine and some Probiotics for good measure if it didn't all come seeping out with non-stop saliva. And Misty was full of burrs, so I spent an hour and a half with cooking spray and a comb removing every burr on her mane and tail. Kola some minor grooming for that. They are still eating and drinking. There will NO MORE PASTURE for these girls the rest of this year.

The Breakfast Dance!

The girls had been willing me for 30 minutes to come down and feed them............




I love this hay that has just been delivered. A 50/50 mix of alfalfa and grass.......This bale a little more stemmy, but the girls and the goat boys love it and it takes them awhile to finish it.




My roses are still blooming.............




And we're all waiting to go back inside..........

On another note, the boy dogs managed to wake me at 6am this morning by jumping onto the bed where Mina and I were still laying in and they proceeded to lick my face. Only Spot must have blown his ass glands because it was disgusting and Mina was growling trying to defend our sleep. And the boy dogs were wet! Thanks, boys!

Stephen and I are getting ready for a long time coming vacation back to England. We leave in less than two weeks and we have so much more to do. I've got our bags packed for the most part. But still have lots to do, shopping, dental appointment, hair appointment, pay some bills, call all the credit card banks to get pre-approval for possible spending over there, Mow the lawn again, even though I just mowed it yesterday. The list goes on and on and we still need to work. Gads! Sometimes just getting ready for vacation, means you need another one! LOL!

Bad Tummy In Dog!

I thought that I would share this with everyone as it turned out well and worked. For those of us with dogs, especially on a farm, this bit of info may be helpful. Yesterday, Miss Mina or as we affectionately call her "the Moo", decided that early in the morning she might taste the soybeans in the field next door. Of course we did not know this until a couple of hours later when she didn't eat her breakfast and proceeded to puke.........alot........and within these piles I cleaned up were what appeared to be beans. Hmmmmmmm.........She then became very listless and suddenly weak in her hind quarters. To the point where we had to carry her up and down the stairs to take her in and out of the house for a potty. Now, me being a nurse and having had so many critters over the years, did the usual checks. I listened to bowel sounds and they were normal, meaning I could her them gurgle in all 4 quadrants of her gut. No pinging sounds, those aren't good. Her belly was soft for the most part, but would occasionally tighten up. I also checked her color, the same way you would check a horse's color, look at the gums and lips, mouth and I also checked for dehydration......not pale, a little sticky and a good capillary refill. Watched her breathing, good, not fast, listened to her heart and checked peripheral pulses all good. I gave her water to drink and put it in front of her every hour or so. And then, this is my own little thing, I gave her a cup of olive oil with just a little milk to make it taste good, thinking that this may grease her up , so to speak, when it came time to poop. She didn't get any worse, however, she wasn't improving, so I called the Vet. I explained what I had done and her condition, adding the assessment I had done. The Vet suggested and this is what I didn't know, to start her on 10mg of Pepcid AC, not Complete, generic=famotidine every 12 hours or twice a day for what was more than likely a bad gut ache. I did not know a dog with a gut ache could actually lose their strength in their hind legs. It took this dog nearly 24 hours to get over this and this morning we were back to 100%. And the olive oil did it's trick. Last night, Stephen and I were very worried that we may need to make a trip to the Vet, but no, didn't need to and now I know how to treat gut ache in dogs. Interesting, I thought.

New Products: Absorbine Equine

Recently, I had been contacted through Facebook by a person representing Absorbine to try a couple of new Equine products. Honestly, I had forgotten about it until, of course they showed up in the post. One is a natural fly spray and the other a topical liniment and antiseptic which I believe can be either wiped on or sprayed on. This is the beauty of blogging and attaching your blog to Facebook. I love when this happens because it gives me an opportunity to try something new and share it with others and the timing was perfect.

Now, I have not tried the liniment, thankfully, I have no reason to at this time, however, I have been using the natural fly spray, UltraShield Green by Absorbine. It has a blend of essential oils including geraniol from geraniums, citronella, lemongrass, thyme, rosemary, cedar and clove. I like it. It is eco-friendly and it also can be used on dogs as well. It is a natural fly spray, so it doesn't last as long as the ones that are not natural, but it did give the girls eight hours of relative relief from biting insects and at the height of our hot and humid weather. I was shocked at just how how well it worked. The other thing I like about a more natural fly spray is that it did not limit me as to how much and where I put it. I was fairly generous and as I sprayed legs, the flies just dropped off to the ground. The smell is good too, not bad. And the girls did not seem to mind it, but my girls are pretty used to getting sprayed and wiped so it wouldn't matter to them what it smelled like, but it was nice for me because I did not come back in the house needing a shower to clean off the reek of normal fly sprays. Would I consider purchasing this product? YES, but to alternate it with my usual Pyranha spray. The price on line is about the same as any other fly spray. In the $15 range. I can find it easily on-line. Here is the link to the Absorbine blog http://absorbine.blogspot.com/ , if anyone is interested.

Fungus Is AmongUs..................

The culpret..............clover............Of course with our heat and recent rain, more to come, my pasture is becoming over run with fungal clover. Up until now, I've been able to avoid "Slobbers". Well, no longer. At noon today, Kola aka Miss Sensitive came in with a decent case of slobbers. What slobbers is http://www.horses-and-horse-information.com/articles/0799salv.shtml . Slobbers is caused by a fungus that clings usually to red clover, however, in my case to white clover. A few years ago, Kola had it for the first time and I called the Vet out, assuming I had completely poisoned her. What happens is explained in that link. Consequently, the horse can dehydrate from over salivating.



So I ran out today and bought this. It smells yummy and comes in a powder form, only my horses will not eat it, even disguised with apple juice and apple sauce. I gave it to them anyway, hoping that eventually they'll give in and finish what's in their feeders. I also soaked their hay with water, figuring any extra hydration I can force won't hurt. The good news is keeping them out of the pasture will allow it to subside and Kola certainly has not lost her appetite.




Here is what it looks like and it continues. The very first time, Kola got this, she was raining buckets out of her mouth. This time although it is still continuing on, even after hours of being out of the pasture, it's not as bad as it was years ago. So pasture closed for now. I've been trying to keep the clover down by mowing, but my effort have been in vain.