Happy Manure Year!!

You might remember me discussing equine parasites over the past few months.  Much to my horror, I found bot eggs on the Bigs' and Little's front legs this past autumn.  Dr. Becky advised me to wait until after a good freeze and then we would de-worm our equine friends.  

Well, we have had a month of quite cold temperatures, 
so yesterday was D-Day (de-wormer day).

Neither the Bigs nor the Littles were impressed with the taste...
nasty stuff!
But they took their medicine like good soldiers.

And now the challenge for me is keeping their manure cleaned up and disposing of it in a safe location...away from canine mouths...especially that of Indie, Dr. Becky's Aussie Shepherd.
(in case you are new here, Dr. Becky is Hubbs sister and our vet... 
and lives next door to our farm.)

Why??.....you ask?

To answer that we have to turn back the hands of time....
about two years.

First of all, I must tell you of a veterinary phenomenon.
Apparently, dogs of herding breeds with white feet
(figure that one out!)
are susceptible to a severe reaction to Ivermectin and similar drugs.

Two years ago, Indie became severely ill and lapsed into a coma-like state for several weeks.  She was rushed to an emergency center a couple of states away from us where she was treated and kept for several days.  She returned home in a semi-comatose state and required several weeks of constant care.  With tons of love and loving care from Dr. Becky, Indie pulled through this terrible ordeal.  She is smart and loving and Dr. Becky's constant companion.

Needless to say, now whenever it is time to de-worm, we take great pains to assure that Indie will not be exposed to the worming medications.  This necessitates removing all manure for 3 to 4 days and taking it as far away as possible.
We load our muck buckets in the gator and head out to the furthest corner of our land...
across the road from Dr. Becky's barn,
beyond our arena,

way back into the woods,
as far as we can go,

to an area we call the Field of Dreams.

This is a several acre field that we allow a neighboring dairy farmer to plant with corn for his cows.  This field is surrounded by woods and has no water running through it...making it the best place to dump 3 days worth of manure.  After all, it will serve to fertilize the corn field...and be far away from Indie's romping.

Back home with empty gator, I stop by Dr. Becky's barn to say hello to Sid and Ava...
As you can see, we still have no snow.  The funny thing is, there has been snow to the north, south, east and west of us....but none here.  We might just be the only area in the country that has not yet had snow! Winter continues to leave its mark on us,though, with cold temperatures and short days.

Comments

d.a. said…
How interesting about the white-footed herding dogs and the deworming medication! Glad you posted... saw this via another reader, who linked the article on Twitter.
Nancy Jo said…
Well Bev, guess thats a problem I don't have but I can see that its been one for you and glad to see you are getting it under control. So HAPPY that your puppy is getting better.
You are one busy girl, always wonder how you do it all.
NANCY JO
My goodness, that sounds like a lot of work! I suppose you have to do what you have to do. I want a Gator. And horse manure. Horses themselves frighten me though. I hope you get some snow! We've had over 20" here so far. It's melted now and I miss it so.
I so enjoy seeing your beautiful animals in all the photos you post. I am thinking I want to add a very small flock of chickens this spring to the homestead. My little farm of sorts is really all pets. The eggs would just be for my own use. So glad the pretty dog made a recovery. All the grounds surrounded with fences is so pretty. Blessings & Happy New Year!
Kelly said…
Dogs will eat anything. They are amazing creatures. Horse poop is one of their favorite treats, right up there with cat poop. Glad the pup will be safe. Oh, and the horses bott free.
Katmom said…
Just goes to show, even the most dilligent can still get hit with an infestation(Bott) and have to do battle with the parisites.....
As for pups & their inquesitivness,,,
thank goodness Dr Becky takes such good care of her's your 4-legged children.

Now, as for the Snow, or in your case lack of it,,,,I would be more than happy to send you some of ours! lol!
Qn2TsMom said…
Stumbled upon your blog while searching for an old toy. What made me read was a pic I saw of you holding Quest de-wormer. I sincerly hope they have changed the formula since its first arrival on the scene. It was supposed to have killed grown horses. And people who used it inappropraitly, like my father (sigh), as a dog wormer for his dogs, the result was dead dogs. On a brighter note, I really enjoyed your blog and have saved you to my favs to come back and read again.^_^