Chop Wood Carry Water Plant Seeds

Ask the Amish to build you a barn to keep livestock and horses in! 

We have one of those, my daughter wants to evict all my stuff so the barn can be for animals. Farm animals is a whole nuther question! 

Kacchapa wrote: We have one of those, my daughter wants to evict all my stuff so the barn can be for animals. Farm animals is a whole nuther question!

Maybe she's a messenger of divine will...   The joy of a herd of sheep, a jersey cow, and a couple of ponies might be life changing!

yeah ... life changing until you see them start getting sick on you and dying Ive had sheep for a few years and lamb and then one year I havent noticed them losing weight. They seemed ok and I could see them eat but by the time I've had a lamb not being able to walk it was very much too late for some of them. I've tried my best to get it up again but was too late (I would get up every 3 hours at night to give it extra food). Vet said they've got two kinds of parasites which was too much for them to cope with. 1 sheep and 2 lamb died and we managed to save the rest (then I sold them all). 

Earlier that year one sheep gave birth in the middle of the night in the open field. I found the two lambs still able to breathe and even say "beee" but they could not move. I've spend hours covering them in straw and placing warm bottles around them so to slowly bring them back to life but they gave up after several hours of fight  

If you want bigger animals be prepared that they will cost you a fortune!!! They eat alot and they need a vet for the usual yearly vaccinations and hoof fixing etc ... I have neighbors with 6 horses and when they told how much per year they spend on just one horse I almost fainted (cant remember now how much it was)

I still have animals but its down to a dog, a cat, a few aquarium fish and 3 chickens. Ah yes, one beehive still keeps kicking (I hope they survive the winter)

Sorry for being a party pooper but my experience was rather sad.

BTW, if some of you wonder about my farming/gardening/beekeeping life here is my old blog which is not updated for a long time now but I did blog from 2012 to about 2016.
Chop Wood Carry Water Plant Seeds

I wonder if we could move everything from say 
  #115224 Replied by  Ona Kiser  on topic  Sam's practice log  
"Ask the Amish to build you a barn to keep livestock and horses in!"
to a Chop Wood Carry Water  (or Farm and Garden) topic?
Feel bad about squatting in Sam's practice log

(That's awesome Dusko!!)

Thanks to whoever moved everything here!

Dusko, you are a man of considerable creative energy! What a great adventure.

I hear you about animal death, and expense.  The first time I lived in the country 40 years ago we had a pond and city friends who hatched a gosling and ducklings as a homeschooling project gave them to me in their adolescence. So I surrounded them with chicken wire. I was totally naïve about what raccoons are capable of, they're like monkeys on a terminator mission. They reach into the pen, pull a bird over to the fence and eat them through the fence.

Later we made a chicken & duck coop that we called Fort Dux. For 2 years we loved and enjoyed our birds as the raccoons tried unsuccessfully to break in until finally they figured out how to trip the latches that are supposed to require opposable thumbs. I had seen up to 3 dozen raccoons in the tree over the coop. Once in, it was total carnage in one night.

There was no internet then, and we were just winging it. Probably some excellent youtubes available and I have neighbors with experience. But they keep their chickens contained. If we want to let them range freely, as my family probably would, some will surely be killed by visiting dogs or foxes. They might even lure the big Eastern U.S. coyotes ("coy wolves"), we sometimes hear, up from the valley.

Then there's increasing climate extremes. And possibility of less than 100% commitment to the care required. Boy I'm a person of considerable creative worry.

I guess we'll have to give it a go, and we have to do well with our feathered friends before we think about taking responsibility for any mammal cousins. What did I write about not holding to beliefs and opinions in my log?

I'll see if I can be open to different perspectives.

Design was fine until Blogspot changed something in their general code so stuff moved out of alignment. I can’t bother fixing it as I’m not blogging anymore. 

Thanks yes it sure was a blast … while it lasted … but all things come to an end. Anicca 101. 

Ive had around 16 chicken and 6 ducks and one night I forgot to lock their hatch leading into the stable so … next the morning I see them all slaughtered. The Fox managed to take away only 3. 

I know how that feels! 

I mean Ive had bees who didn’t survive the winter and it’s a sad scene to see them all dead at the bottom of the hive. All death sucks. Or maybe all sense of loss sucks. 

Death is such a big part of a farmers/homesteaders life. 

Aw, there are so many good things, too! I find it a joy just to watch animals doing their thing, and in the quirks of interacting with each of them. Several friends with ducks or chickens have made elaborate habitats for them, a friend raises rabbits for meat but has chosen a rare breed of rabbit that is also very friendly and beautiful. Another keeps livestock guardian dogs to protect poultry. The horses will defend themselves against dogs and coyotes - I've seen them try to kill ignorant dogs who wander into their pastures, and they all watched carefully when a coyote passed by in the distance. They also fight among themselves sometimes, so you have to organize their pastures so the ones that hate each other don't have to live together! But they are so loyal, too - when my one horse was very sick the leader of her pasture group stood vigil outside the window of her stall all night. I find animals to be good company.