Wednesday, June 29, 2011

We have baby!



Antares was born between 12-1 am, June 28th. I know this because I checked them before Midnight and then Kid #2 checked at 2:30, ran screaming back into the house that "Teddy is born!" Theodore Roosevelt would have been "his" name. But we have a filly. Kid #2 is perfectly happy with his Antares, both with being a filly AND a solid.
This is her first pic. I had to use a flash to figure out what she looked like. Foxy had a perfectly good stall to foal in,but she had to be surrounded by the other mares. Belle, Misty, and Lady were all around the run when we showed up. Lady was lying within 4 feet of Antares, but a fence did separate them.


She appears (at the moment, but Lady changed color a bit in the first month, too) Red Dun. According to J'Wayne McArthur's book, Training for the Western horse and rider, a red dun is, "Lighter than a sorrel, with darker red points than the body color. Generally a red dorsal stripe will be present. These horses may have zebra stripes around legs." My first thought was bay, and I am still leaning that way just because the mane and tail do look black at the moment, but when she is in the sun, that red dorsal stripe really shifts my thinking back to red dun.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

less than four weeks

Foxy is due in less than four weeks!
Yippee!
We are still a little worried about the flood, but other than a lot of standing water in the moat, we are ok. I found this at the Five Pine Ranch. The comments that are bolded are my personal comments.

According to Five Pine Ranch,
"Current recommendations for the last 4 - 6 weeks or pregnancy are to administer annual vaccine boosters to broodmares to heighten immunoglobulins in the mare's colostrum. Yep, we already did this. Various opinions exist as to the proper time to deworm broodmares prior to parturition, ranging from 1 month to 1 day prior, or the day of, foaling. I am of the 30 days prior and day of foaling on the worming thought process.It is this writer's opinion that deworming every 60 days during gestation and the day the foal is born is most beneficial taking care to use products approved for use during pregnancy. (Growth & Development, 2007; Kellon, 2005)

During this final 4-6 week period, the mare should be introduced to the environment (stall, paddock or pasture) that the mare is to foal. This is all great, but if we flood, then I have to move her. I don't want to move her. I want her to stay right here and foal in her nice big stall. I do need to move Belle out of the stall/run, though. They are both resisting this. This helps reduce stress by sudden changes and allows her immune system to build antibodies for environmental pathogens. Continued exercise is important to help maintain fitness and may reduce the chances of edema in the legs and abdomen. That is why they all get out to pasture every day. Clean fresh water must be provided at all times as broodmares require larger quantities of water at this stage. I have two separate watering troughs available, one in the pasture and one in her run. I leave the run gate open so that she can have access to the shade in her stall when she wants it, too.(Davies Morel, 2003)"

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Almost time

Foxy is due in less than 5 weeks. Yikes! I have bunnies due this week. I have barn kittens due sometime this month. I have two more litters of bunnies due on June 11th. I have 20 Turkey chicks arriving this week. A llama is also joining the herd this month. (kid #3 doesn't want a horse. He wants a llama. It might be useful to pack out an elk this year) And we are only 5 days away from the 1 year anniversary of the flood of 2010. We are anticipating it this year, too, but we keep being told that it is a different watershed area that will be the problem.(yeah, right. That's why I already have a moat and Lady has only 2 inches of clearance when she runs through the water)

Fortunately (or unfortunately for my bank account) I am not doing summer school this year. I get to focus on the animals, the garden, and the yard. (I will have to get housework in there too)

My property is an icky mess, so riding has not been a huge activity. I am also moving things to higher ground, like saddles, bunnies are elevated, the 4-H chicks are raised up.
Kid #1 chose the Black breasted Phoenix as her chickens this year.
Kid #2 chose the Partridge cochin
and kid #3 chose the Silver Laced Polish.
They are really cool.

The meat chickens are also elevated and in a bin that floats if necessary (that is what we did with them last year, too. We just floated them up to the house)

The ponies already have a place to go if we need to evacuate. The awesome lady that let them be in her pasture has already volunteered her pasture again. I just don't want Foxy that far away if she foals early.

I will post pics of the giant bellied mare later this week. I need to finish cleaning up my classroom. ICK!!!!!!!!!!!1