Saturday, April 3, 2010

April Showers...

Wow! It's April (finally) and the azaleas are flowering!
For those of you lacking a green thumb, the azaleas are the bushes around the barn. Vibrant pink and white flowers are popping up all over their green backdrop. Although azalea bushes are somewhat toxic to animals when ingested, they are not very tasty (otherwise the donkeys would be toxified by now!).

Just in the few days we've had the horses out of Pastures 1 and 3 grass has begun to sprout! We purchased a spreader/aerator from Tractor Supply. With Chris's help we assembled it in under 2 hours only to realize that it was a worthless piece of equipment. Bummer! Lesson learned.
The good news is TS will accept the aerator as a return AND I don't have to disassemble it! Whew.

Instead we'll be buying a more expensive, less complicated, multifunctional piece of farm equipment: a spiked drag harrow! Basically just some heavy duty steel twisted into a chain-like drag with about 6 links of metal that point into the ground. It can work as a drag for the arena, an aerator for the pastures, and a drag for the round bales. Figures the simplified equipment works better.

Because of the whole 'crappy aerator' incident, upgrading the pastures has been set back a few days until I can get the aerator returned and the harrow purchased. That may happen this evening since TS is open late!

This weather is amazing, isn't it!? Perfect for doing anything outside with your furry friend.

With spring weather comes necessary spring vaccines. The mosquitoes are coming out of hiding and with them we see a plethora of vector-borne diseases. Is your horse vaccinated?

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