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I'm wondering how those of you with outdoor cats approach their safety? Do you take any particular precautions to keep them safe and at home? We have 5 working cats. I consider them an absolute necessity as we had plenty of rodent problems beforehand we adopted the first cats three years ago...

My fantastic, year-old kunekune boar, Thorin, went from perfect to total crap in two days. :eek: He was totally normal appearing all Friday. Saturday (yesterday) morning, he was *maybe* just slightly less pushy with his mate at breakfast time. (Usually he pushes her away from the food, but he...

A few days ago, we brought home our first ever horses, a 9 yo gelding (Mowgli) and a 21 yo gelding (Audi). These guys came from our former lesson barn, which closed down. Mowgli was new to the barn, having arrived from another facility in Nov or early Dec. Audi had been living there for a...

Our new horses are coming home in just a couple days! 😁 I think we’re pretty well ready for them, but there are some things that only come with experience. That said, anyone have some good tips, tricks, or money saving ideas for life with horses?

We currently have a few head of cattle + goats on our property, and we are bringing in some horses soon. Right now, I leave out both cattle minerals + goat minerals (and baking soda + DE) for free-choice consumption. Occasionally the goats nibble the cattle mineral, and I assume the cattle get...

First time we’ve had this problem, although I know it‘s a common one. :mad: A big bull just showed up on our neighbor’s place. Usually he borrows a bull from down the street to breed his cows, so I’m hoping the problem is temporary. I have 1 dairy cow & 2 beef heifers, all open. The bull is...

I’m pretty new to horses, having begun weekly lessons with my children & a highly regarded trainer fewer than 18 months ago. For the most part, I really love our trainer & lesson barn. The trainer is helping us move right along in our riding, and *nearly* all of her lesson ponies are gentle...

I am planning to purchase a nice looking young cow with a calf at her side. Before I bring the pair home, I am going to have some disease testing done. I want to ensure the raw milk is safe to drink and that I won’t be buying any problems that can affect the rest of my farm. The cow is Bangs...

Not sure if this is pink eye or just irritation from... something? We purchased two crossbred calves about 2 weeks ago. They're 6-7 months old, half sisters. They were weaned shortly before we brought them home. No vaccinations yet. They both looked fine the first two days after we...

I'm in way over my head when it comes to hay! First, I'm pretty clueless regarding deciding *when* to make hay. Can someone please explain that to me, in layman's terms? I know I cut way late last year. Our bluestem was higher than my waist and had started dropping seeds already. That was...

We hatched out some eggs a couple months ago, and ended up with two bantam calico cochins, one cockerel and one pullet. These birds are gorgeous and friendly, but I'm just not sure whether it's worth keeping them. The rest of our flock currently consists of 25 standard size birds. Some of...

We "inherited" a beehive when we bought our new property last year. (How cool is that?!) The former owners admit that they never really "got into" beekeeping after hiving their bees. The hive is in good shape. We've confirmed that there are eggs + brood of various ages, and the hive is...

We moved our hive from the waaaay back of our property closer to the house this weekend. We used the forced reorinentation/branch in front of the entrance method, and it seems to have largely worked. We've confirmed that we have bees returning to the new location loaded down with pollen. Yay...

Any idea what this is? This particular doe has had these bumps on her ears for quite awhile now. I've never seen any indication that they bother her. Her 10 month old daughter has one or two, as well, although none of the other goats have developed them. They're slightly raised and a little...

One of our young does, age 10 months, went off her feed the other day. I do think she needs wormed, but in addition, I checked her mouth today and noticed that one of her teeth is rotated about 90 degrees, and I suspect that might have caused her to stop eating. I know that goats lose and...

Anyone ever milked and/or tasted milk from a Boer? We have a handful of Boers. Honestly, I have no real use for them. They clear *some* brush on our place, they are *kind of* useful in our grazing system, and we *might* sell some eventually, but they essentially came with our place and are...

I have 2 puppies. German shepherd mixes, 9 months old. They've been on our farm since they were about 4 months old. Both pups did well around our pastured chickens until recently. I wasn't ever 100% sure they were chicken-safe, but they certainly seemed to be heading in that direction. At...

We were going to have our hay cut a couple weeks ago-- and honestly, it was probably a bit too mature then-- but the weather didn't cooperate, and it never got it. Now it's quite mature, with fully formed seed heads and the seeds already starting to drop off. Is it worth it to make hay at this...

We're going to have some hay cut next week on two of our paddocks. The pasture is mostly native grasses and forbs with a little bermuda thrown in. The only toxic weed that we have, as far as I can tell, is silverleaf nightshade. We have a couple of significant patches of it. Before we get...

We're considering an unconventional option for a farm truck, a 2008 Honda Ridgeline. Looking for thoughts. This is going to strictly be a utility truck; DH and I both have nice daily drivers. The truck will typically: -Tow the Tumblebug to haul round bales around our property -Take a *small*...