Many of you have met the new addition to the farm, Darsy, the 4 month-old Holstein heifer calf. Feel free to brush her, feed her treats, and scratch her favorite places. If you want to take her out just let me know and I'll give you some basic instructions (I'm a nervous mommy!).

The spring flowers are beautiful! They only last for a few weeks so take your pictures soon :)

Everyone is doing well despite the low levels of grass. We're still getting our ducks in a row to seed and the ducks keep swimming in all different directions!

Congratulations to Molly and Chris on their fantastic find in Canada! A quaint home with Bodhi right outside their window - perfect!

For those of you in school - good luck on your exams. It's almost over!

Florida is Baaaack!

The oaks are shedding on to the backs of the horses (and donkeys!). The horses are shedding on to the grass. And the itty bitty birds are carrying the horse hair back up into the trees. It's spring time!



I've been soaking everyone's grain in water the past few days. Since there is still limited fresh grass the horses are eating a lot of dry matter (hay, grain, etc). Adding water and occassionaly adding wet wheat bran will help their guts out. Just trying to avoid upset horse bellies!

Everyone appears nice and plump so once the grass explodes in the next few weeks we will very likely need to cut back on their grain.

Since your blankets are no longer needed feel free to clean them and hang them to dry on the fence. No reason we can't put them away until next winter!

Enjoy Florida!

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?

Updates, updates!

Pasture upgrading is in full swing!
We finally received our soil sample test results back -- the pH, Phospohorus, and Potash (potassium) are at perfect levels. Hooray! That means we don't need to add lime to adjust the pH. They do recommend adding 50 lbs of Nitrogen per acre. The don't test for Nitrogen but they say that for grazing pasture they always recommend adding Nitrogen.
So, we have the Nitrogen, the Pensacola Bahia grass seed, the seed spreader/aerator, the herbicide and backpack sprayer. We're good to go.

Betsy, Dancer, and Shellie were moved about 5 days ago to Pasture 4 with Jedi, Ufir, and Molly. Molly was thrilled to see her younger lady friends and ran around with them until everyone settled down. Molly has buddied up with Betsy and they all seem very content with the new herd arrangements.
Pokey & Tav were added to Magic's pasture and all went smoothly. We've added corral panels outside this pasture so that the slow eaters (Tav and Pokey) can take their time eating without having to put them in the pasture while its growing.

Now we have two empty pastures on the 'barn side' ready for aerating, fertilizing, and seeding! We'll let them grow for (ideally) 60 days before switching up the herds again.

Pokey and Betsy will no longer be "stall horses" - they are both going to enjoy the luxury of 24 hour pasture!
Shellie and JW will remain in the stalls with pals Satin and Dancer until further notice.

I am typing this update while in my Epidemiological Methods class... so I'm going to cut this short!

See you at the barn!

Kathy

Spring Time is Here!

It will officially be spring so soon I can taste it!

We had Cindy from the UF IFAS extension office give us a consultation on our pasture management. She's quite the expert and had an answer for all our questions.

We love to share any knowledge we gain so here's what we've learned (over the past year from research and confirmed by the expert):

-- As far as pasture tolerance goes, experts recommend 2 acres per horse. Our farm is closer to 1.75 horses to 2 acres.
-- Now is the time to kill the weeds! We have perennial weeds popping up everywhere - geranium, stinging nettle - so we will be using herbicide (a 2, 4-D will kill these broadleaf weeds), safely of course.
-- We will be seeding all the pastures of "this side" of the farm. That includes the jump field (pasture 1), pasture 2 (with the burn pile), and pasture 3 (by the hay barn). We will need to aerate the pastures first, then seed, then drag or aerate again. We will be using Tifton 9 (a type of Bahia grass).
-- The horses cannot be on the grass for (ideally) 60 days! Yikes! So we'll be combining herds as previously blogged (Tav & Pokey over with Magic's pasture, the girls & JW's herd over with the oldies in Pasture 4). The Donkeys will probably live in the round pen or arena if we decide to see the paddock area.
-- We will be moving the jumps!!! The new jump pasture will be in Pasture 2. There is more tree cover in Pasture 2 so less grass will grow. Pasture 1 (where the jumps are now) makes a better grazing area. But no jumping while the seeds are growing. As an alternative you will be able to set the jumps up around the farm (just not in a pasture).

This will all be happening in just a few days, stay tuned!

More to come...

What's new? Be ready!

Same old, same old here at the farm.

Blankets on, blankets off. Horses in, horses out.

Some minor changes you will notice:
Tav is being kept alone in the paddock during the day to keep his mom happy - no playing with an ouchy hip! Pokey and Tav did not appreciate this change and both have been fairly stressed. To reduce the stress as much as possible I've allowed Bodhi to stay with Pokey during the day and Tie to stay with Tav at night. That way Tav has company that he won't be inclined to play with. During the day Tav can see his buddies just over the fence and although he's still feeling lonely he is adjusting slowly. Hopefully he won't be kept separate from his pals for very long - he does enjoy a good romp with Pokey.

The donkeys are hanging in the arena for the time being. If you would like to use the arena you are welcome to halter the donks and put them in stalls opposite one another so they can see each other (they are very bonded and there is no reason to cause them undue stress).

The mower is still incapacitated. When we find a few moments we will replace the spark plug to see if that's the issue. In the mean time, please keep dumping as far back in the pile as possible.

We will be seeding the property before the end of the month. The seed will need about two weeks to take root and grow a few inches. Horses can not be on the pasture at all for those two weeks. So here's the plan:
(1) We'll be testing Pokey out with Magic separately. If they do well, we'll try them both with the other boys (Cas, Bodhi, Tav, Dusty). I don't anticipate any issues. Pokey has a high play drive and so does Magic. Neither are aggressive alpha horses. Tav will have to deal with some boo-boos because he will have to be pastured with them. They will all go in Pasture 5.
(2) Besty, Dancer, Shellie, and Tie will go out with Molly, Ufir, and Jedi.
(3) That leaves Satin and JW. I may try them with the above herd as long as all goes well.
(4) The donkeys will be kept in the round pen during the day.

So we will have 3 empty pastures and a paddock on the 'barn side' that will have to remain empty until the grass grows. There can be no jumping or riding in the pastures during that time. After the approximate two weeks of growth we can switch horses to 'this' side for two weeks while we seed the other side.

As usual, I will keep you posted!

Kindness makes a Happy Barn!

Those of you who have been out to the barn over the weekend may have spotted the new board in the barn aisle-way. It's titled, "Be Kind and keep a Happy Barn!" Or something like that.

Why is it there and who does it apply to?

It applies to everyone, and clearly these are principles that should be upheld in life, not just at the barn. But I slapped 'em up on the wall as a reminder because I know we are all so busy and often forget about the important things - being considerate!

Let me be clear. No one has been directly negligent or rude. This silly little dry-erase board is simply a reminder in our barn setting.

So, that is who it applies to and that's why it's there.

What does it say?

In a nut shell it screams, "BE NICE! BE THOUGHTFUL! BE CONSIDERATE! BE COURTEOUS!" But more specifically:

(1) If your horse drops a pile in a high traffic area (barn aisle way, wash rack, the pavement, right outside a pasture gate), consider the other boarders and grab a pitch fork.
There are 4 plastuc buckets and 3 wheel barrows outside the barn doors. Toss it in there. If you're in the middle of something then just be sure to come back to it and clean it up. No one likes a big steamy pile of manure in their way when they go to hose-off their horse.

(2) If you move it, be thoughtful and put it back when you are done.
This goes for pretty much anything - saddle rack, chairs, mucking tools, blankets, hoses, etc, etc. Not only do these things get in the way, but some items have been ruined as a result of being left out (either getting chewed on by a horse or donkey, getting knocked over and broken, getting rained on, run over by a vehicle...). I have run over a plastic bucket that someone left out and damaged the undercarriage of my car. A wooden saddle rack was left in the rain and knocked over and broken. Blankets left in reach of 'naughty' horses have been torn. Rubber buckets go missing and I am left rushing around to find where it ran off to. We are on hose #3 at the wash rack because it is left unraveled and horses are left tied at the hose and the metal end is squished. We are also on hose-nozzle-sprayer-thing #3 for the same reason.
So, if you move it from its safe place, put it back in its safe place.

(3) If you borrow it, treat it like GOLD and put it back the way you found it.
I love sharing equipment because I know how frustrating it is not to have something. Being able to borrow someone's equipment with prior permission makes life more fun! But make sure to treat it well (treat it better than you would treat your own gear) and put it back exactly the way you found it. Some people like their girths removed after riding. Some like halters clipped back together and hung. If you find it that way, be sure to return it that way. This shows that you care!

(4) If you have any suggestions, requests, or concerns, please let us know! We want to make you happy, not just because we are providing a good service, but we are nice people! We want to help you in any way we are able. Need us to babysit a dog? Trim a cat's nails? Notice a bulb is broken in a stall? Fence down in your pasture? Let us know - that's what we're here for!

We love our horses and their parents! If you have any suggestions to make our barn a happier place for everyone, do tell :)