horse, Uncategorized

A horse named NOT-Waylon

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Of course we are crazy.  Anna saw a listing on a pony club related email about a free horse.  Of course she replied, we had a conversation with the owner, and 2 days later, we drove about 150 miles (each way) to check him out.

Here is what we knew from the owner:

9yo, 16.1hh, bay, gelding, barefoot, OTTB.  Off the track 3-4 years ago and obtained for the daughter.  Did some jumping, cross country, hunter riding, but was too high-strung for the daughter.  Put out to pasture about 1.5 years ago with a herd of 3 geriatric horses over 30.  The other horses have all since passed away and it was time for the horse to go.  His name is NOT-Waylon.  Supposed to be completely sound, with no track injuries.

The description seemed pretty accurate when we arrived, except he was closer to 15.3hh.  Also his hooves hadn’t been trimmed in at least a year, but probably the entire time he was in pasture (1.5 years).  Since he also hadn’t been saddled in 1.5 years, we decided to roll the dice and bring him home (since he was free, it’s not a terribly expensive gamble).

He is definitely high-strung, however, he seems to calm considerably when he is with other horses (or can at least see them).  I trimmed his hooves, and saddled him up, only to discover bilateral lameness.

Lameness in a horse can have many causes, so I started with some of the most obvious to see how bad it was.  In this case, NOT-Waylon had severe thrush infection in his hooves. So, I gave him a nice, new set of Easy Care Gloves on all 4 hooves, and bada-bing, bada-boom- a sound horse!  On Friday, we went for an hour and a half trail ride.  He did great (other than being a little out of shape).

Why did we get another TB?  Why not?  Actually, since King is almost 19, we don’t really want to over do it with him and jumping.  Anna and I would like to do more hunter paces in the future, so a younger, fast paced TB, would be good.  Besides, this actually gives us 2 bay TBs, 15.3-16hh, both with a white stripe down the face, and a single white sock on the back left leg.  Now, we just need one of our TBs to be brave enough to lead the way.

So, what’s his name?  Well, we have determined it is NOT-Waylon (which is what he was previously known by).  We all thought Thunder was a good name, but since even Devil picks on him, he isn’t really Thunder material.  So right now, Milo is what we think.

Do you have a name idea?  Leave a comment.

hunting, kids

Life lessons in the woods

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Today at work, I ended up with an unexpected open afternoon. Cold snap last night, bad weather coming tomorrow, first week of November, and Alex was out of school! I headed home at lunch and loaded my new (off Craigslist) 2 seater ladder stand in the truck to take Alex out for a hunt, his second with me this year. Earlier in the season, I had hunted a new property and found a promising area that I was saving for this new stand. However, when we got there, I was disappointed to find another stand in the same area. Ok, we can find a different spot on the property.
However, I also found a pile of apples and a corn feeder. While I am completely supportive of baiting, I limit my baiting to legal areas only. This bait pile is illegal. I’ll let the landowner know (because I know he didn’t put the pile out), but it gave me the chance to discuss with Alex the legal and ethical aspects of hunting.
It was disappointing that I won’t be hunting there anymore, but it was an excellent teaching opportunity for my young hunter wannabe.
I’m sure he will explain it to his sisters when we get home since they were both disappointed that they didn’t get to hunt this year.

chicken

Wesleyan Local Food Co-op

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The Wesleyan Local Co-op was started in 2011 to help students gain access to more local food.  The first year, the co-op had thirty members who received weekly deliveries of local produce.  In 2012, it expanded to 100+ members with 86 produce shares, 46 egg shares, 25 dairy shares, and a few meat and tofu shares too.  The co-op is student run with the help of our food service provider, Bon Appetite’s Production Manager, Ernie Arroyo, and Matt Couzens, who operates Horse Listener Orchard.  The co-op has a pickup every Wednesday in our student center, and all co-op members work two hours over the course of the semester to help with pickup while a leadership team of six people deal with logistics.

Sawyer Family Farm is happy to have joined other farms in supporting this student organization with farm fresh eggs!  I believe we are providing about half of the eggs consumed by the co-op.

Uncategorized

Hurricane Sandy – Part 2

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The winds and rain have passed, thankfully ending earlier than expected. We were lucky and never lost power. We have heard 75-90% of our town is out.
We survived the storm with very minor damage. Our Shelter Logic tractor shelter is a complete loss. There was 1 tree that came down, but it is in the woods and doesn’t impact anything. We have a few branches to clean up, but otherwise, no issues.

Uncategorized

Hurricane Sandy – part 1

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This past weekend was very busy BEFORE we needed to prep for a hurricane.  Saturday was working to set up at a horse show, Saturday evening we took the kids and friends to the Haunted Submarine at Nautilus and activities on Base.  Sunday was spent working at the horse show.  By the time I got home to help Anna get working on storm preps, it was 3:30.

We got the turkeys moved into our mobile coop and housed under the deck.  They will be off pasture until after the storm.  Anna and the kids did general clean up of loose items around the farm.  Extra wind break boards were added to some rabbit cages.  The horses were all put into their stalls with the doors to the paddocks left open (they are normally left outside all night).  We have about 600 gal of water for the livestock, the big and little tractor are full of fuel, we have lots of spare gas and diesel, and plenty of food to last a few months.

So, around 9:30, we declared the preps as good as they would get and settled in for a movie.

So far, the rain hasn’t been too bad, but the wind is definitely going to take a toll.  We just came in from the first round of animal checks, topping off water buckets, adding hay, etc.  While we were outside, the wind destroyed the Shelter Logic 12’x24′ that we use for the Kubota.  I could tell it wouldn’t make it through the storm, and took the tractor out only 5 minutes before the shelter gave in.We also saw a 15″ oak tree snap off while we working in the horse barn.  There are a number of limbs down around the property, but so far, none on the fences.  There is a birch that I do not expect to survive the storm which will likely take out a post and 2 sections of fence.  We will do another quick round right before dark, but, I doubt we will still have power at that point.  More updates to follow.

 

4:45 – I occasionally hear a shotgun type blast outside.  It is the sound of another tree snapping.

goats

Making Yogurt

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Earlier in the year, our family developed an expensive food habit: yogurt.  We were using yogurt on cereal at breakfast, for snacks, in smoothies.  In fact, we were easily spending over $60 a month just on yogurt (normally Stonyfield and Chobani).  Since we have all our own milk, we decided to start making some yogurt on our own from goat’s milk.  It’s very easy.

1. Pasteurize the milk.  While we drink it raw, we pasteurize it for yogurt to ensure only the desired culture grows.

2. Add 3-4 tablespoons of plain yogurt from the store per quart of milk.  (We tried purchased cultures, but didn’t like the flavor and for the cost, it’s cheaper to just get a little from the store.

3. Pour into pint jars. We sterilize the jars first because when we didn’t, other cultures started to grow after about 3 weeks of storage.

4. Load into Excaliber Dehydrator.

5. Cook at 100F for 6-8 hrs.

6. Refrigerate.

The consistency is much more liquid than store-bought yogurt, similar to European yogurt.  Anna is fine with that. I found that it was only a mental issue to get past and now enjoy the yogurt just fine.  Alex and Vicki stay away, but they were really only eating the yogurt in smoothies anyways. Amanda will eat whatever Anna and I eat, so she’s happy.

The story of our lives with horses. And goats.