Puppies & Ponies

The newest craziness began on Friday! Shockingly, it's not very often than I second guess the decisions I make, but this weekend was one of those times. It all began Friday morning when I agreed to take a litter of EIGHT puppies. K3 (who is the one that talked us into fostering dogs) was still camping, so I was on my own.  As I am working out the details of transport & where I am going to house all these little cuties, I get word that the 2 ponies & donkey that were given to us will be arriving Saturday at 10. (again, we were convinced by K3 that we needed these ponies). We had dinner plans that Mark went to, but I stayed home to get everything ready & settle in the new pups. Of course the weather finally turned into haying weather ,so Farmer Mark mowed hay.  Big thanks to Andy & Kevin & Hunter for unloading all the hay on Monday in this very HOT weather!

The puppies are soooo very sweet. We will have then until the 24th when I have to transport them Waistfield to get spayed/neutered & than hopefully they will be adopted soon after :) If anyone is looking for a new family member, please contact me. Here's my puppy run down. I get to the barn around 7:30 with K3. We feed four puppies,than take them outside. Feed the next four puppies. Clean their pen & water them. This is a process of about 1/2 hour. Repeat at 2, than we come back around 8 for dinner. We also try to take them out potty every 2 hours during the day. Sometimes we let them loose, other times we harness them.They love any and all attention, so it's really hard to get any work done with them here. K1  has helped feed & walk them. Even K2 has even helped with a feeding & she doesn't care for dogs, but she has a favorite puppy (Bruiser).

Love this !

K3 aka dog walker

Lily & Bella looking lovely in their harnesses!

Petey!

It's tiring being a puppy! 

 The new ponies- First let's talk about Radar the donkey. He was just castrated so we have to feed him antibiotics wrapped in treats 2 times a day. He is strong- surprisingly so! Getting him across the road to and from the pasture has been a challenge. None of them are easy to catch. Our mini ponies, Abby & Nancy, run right up to us and can't wait to go in. These guys we have to bribe with treats. I believe they were spoiled! Now we have 4 ponies & a donkey so we have to alternate them in the pasture. Some go out in the morning, than come in late afternoon. We let the others out, and then come get them in when we feed the puppies dinner, because the bugs are so bad.  The fun never ends around here!

Griz  & Twister/Patches 

  Griz is a little strong headed also, K3 has been working on Whoa when leading him. Twister (K3 calls Patches - because he looks like a pony in a tv show) is shy & quiet. The hopes are to eventually give pony rides. K1 & 3 are going to work with them. The first on the list is give them a bath & detangle their dreads. Then  I'll find a guinea pig  (Madison), to ride them LOL!

I will post a better pic of twister & of course more puppy sweetness!

Days off- sort of?

Monday is my "day off" meaning the petting barn is closed, of course the first thing I have to do is take out the foster dog & feed the house pets. Then outside to feed/water the pigs & turkeys that are out to pasture. Head to the petting barn to feed everyone there. Here's the day off part, I don't have to clean everyone & sweep the aisle. Then I head to Middlebury with K2 to the doctors, we hit the bank & back home within 2 hours. Make lunch for the fam than off to Rutland with K3 to run some errands & go grocery shopping. Get home & Mark & his crew are at the petting barn. Perfect, cause we need to castrate the bull calves. K1's boyfriend works for Mark, I bet you can guess the conversation Mark gave him, while demonstrating this process (similar to Cleaning my Gun song by Rodney Atkins). Then we worm the alpacas. Next is trim 3 sheeps hooves & the goats. Now we feed everyone & head home. I make dinner, Mark does the outside chores. Tomorrow we are bringing K3 to Lake George for Quenneville camping. She is amazing & completely packed herself (stole K2's work sneakers, but that's another story!). Mark & I plan on spending the day at the lake , oh how I wish we were escaping for the week. I catch up on laundry,dishes,vacuum,pay bills....finally to bed at 11. K3 feels bad for me and washes 3 days of eggs...going to miss that girl!

Tuesday I do chores , Mark has a meeting with a client, We pack up & head out. We are only 40 minutes late but that's OK. We spend a lovely 8 hours at the lake than reluctantly go home to do chores....again. I hope they have a good week & K3 will be home on Sunday.

Wednesday, is cleanup day. I slack off on Monday & Tuesday, so I have to completely clean all the pens. UGH! My super husband helps me. I decide to call the vet to come look at 3 sheep that have been sick for awhile & just not getting better. While he's here I have him look at the piglets at the petting barn, their skin looks funny. Here's the verdict, one sheep with pink eye, 2 with respiratory infection, and bacterial skin infection on piglets. Why???  Who knows, weather doesn't help....and the dream continues.....
P.S. Mark got 40 balage bales aka white marshmallows & somehow we also bought a calf from the farmer who made the bales.

K3 went with Mark to pick him up & named him Moose .

The Tom's are so cute when they puff out their feathers.

Farmer Mark loves his cows!!!!

Nala takin' a break....it's stressful being a goat!

Farm Happenings

We are off to a good start at the petting barn. Some days are great like Wednesday when we had  63 people, but other days are very slow & long.... Mostly because I am at the store, knowing that I have so much to do at home & that's hard. I don't think the weather helps it's too hot or too rainy.

Speaking of all the rain it's been impossible to make hay, making a very frustrated farmer Mark. He took a chance yesterday & it poured buckets. Plan b is to do wrapped/silage bales. He's been having a problem with the Grandpa tractor. He got parts & fixed it, but then the tire was going flat, so yesterday he brought it to be fixed. Flat again today, found another tire only to realize  hay/ field is too wet to rake...try again tomorrow & hope it doesn't rain tonight. Joys of farming.

On a positive note all the animals are doing great! We are checking everyday to see if our beef cow, Black Beauty has had her calf. That will be exciting, don't really care if it's a heifer or a bull, just want everything to go smoothly. Sheep are content, we move their pasture every 5-7 days & have had no worm issues. It's so nice to have the land to do that! We got the pigs out to pasture & they sure are enjoying the green grass. It's so cute at chore time when they come running for their food. Turkeys are lovin' their space. They make such  nice sounding little chirps. They love roaming around. Makes my heart content to see everyone outside and I feel so good knowing that we are going to have a abundance of tasty meat.

Nancy & K3

Daisy Duke & I

Star Flower & Bella

Nancy, waiting for some love.

3 week old Golden Comets

Disaster Avoided

Friday morning I get to the petting barn. I walk in the barn into the "milk room", I start mixing the calves milk, and I hear clanging from inside the barn. I know that sound is the grain bins...great, whose out? It's the ponies. Their faces are covered with chick mash & the cover is off the sweet feed. Oh no! Ponies that eat too much can colic ( which can be fatal). I put them back in their stall. There is no poop on the floor, so  I think that means they weren't out long. I will watch them all day, worry, and hope they are fine.

I am alone at the barn, waiting for customers, when I hear barking outside. Hmmm,  maybe the kids are here with the puppy. I walk to the door and I hear the barking coming from down the road. That's strange since their isn't any house close by. Suddenly, I see across the road my ram lambs running and a dog chasing them. The grass is really tall, so I just see them leaping out of the grass. I have no idea what kind of dog, or how many. There is no one around, so I run up to the landlords house burst open the door. Their house cleaner D. is cleaning. She tells me no one is home, and asks whats the problem. I tell her there is something after my sheep & run out the door. Meanwhile, K2 & 3 are just getting out of their car at the barn with my niece & nephew. I tell them to put the kids back in the car, call Dad, call Uncle Jerry or our neighbor...anyone with a gun. I am a dog lover, but I don't know if this is a wild dog, or if there is more than one, and I don't want to lose my lambs. I run into the barn & grab a shovel. I am fully expecting that I will have to beat  this dog off my sheep. While I ran to get the shovel, D. had come out of the house, climbed the fence and started yelling at the dog. By the time I get across the road and over the fence with the shovel she had caught the dog.  The dog had a collar, obviously it was someones dog. There was two lambs missing. I go on a search and find them terrified hiding in the brush. One had been bitten, just a small puncture wound on his face. We crate the dog & try to find the owner. After an hour the lambs still hadn't come back to the group, so Mark & I decide to go round them up. My reward for this is poison ivy, all over my legs. We find the owner & they come and get their dog. She had accidentally got out & they felt really bad. The dog wasn't being vicious       (since she stopped when she was yelled at), she was just playing - not the dogs fault or the owners. Animals are unpredictable and things happen.

Ponies were fine, lambs were fine, all was good when I left the barn for the night.....until 10 when we get a phone call from Leo, sheep are out.

Mark, K3, and I head out. Of course Leo & Arlene come to help (best landlords ever....). We finally track them down up the road in the neighbors field. It's the ram lambs, obviously still scared from the morning attack. Another neighbor stops to help & we corner them and all dive for sheep. Then we throw them in the back of my car & bring them to the barn. I am laughing because we have 6 ram lambs & K3 all crushed in the back of the Mariner. K1 has my Fusion, because I wanted a bigger "Farm" car....there have been  many times like this that I am so happy I have the Mariner.

As Mark always says...." We're Livin' the Dream...."