It’s a beautiful Winter Wonderland out there, and while it adds it’s own challenges to getting around and getting chores done, it’s still beautiful and the animals really don’t seem to mind.
The Weather Forecast is saying it’s a 100% of a White Christmas! Which brings this ole song to mind…
I love this ole song, and I guess if we can’t change then we have to accept this white stuff! Right?
Sadly, we lost Holly to old age a couple months ago, and that’s left a hole in our hearts, and has left Roscoe missing his companion. So, now, Maple, our new Farm Dog, has come to Briden Farm.
Our Dogs, which are treated like family, definitely fill an active role at Briden Farm. The help pull the toboggan, bring in firewood, protect the animals and herd the animals, and more! They live active lives and their help makes it easier for us, and helps to keep things move smooth when it comes to moving the animals.
One thing we’ve noticed over the past few years is that there is an incredible side benefit of having Briden Farm Goats and Livestock on Your Property! We know that the regenerative benefits of turning burnt out hay fields into beautiful productive grassy pastures is awesome! The weed eating animals help get rid of weeds, and in woodland pastured these incredible animals help prune and groom and turn woodlands into pasture and with a little help, even gardens! All so beautiful and impressive I never get tired of seeing it.
However, what we didn’t know, but have suspected for some time now, is all this work also help to eliminate Ticks! You know… those nasty little, creepy, crawly, blood suckers! When we first take our animals into a new pasture area we get covered in them! Often finding 20-30 or more every day! On ourselves, dogs, animals, etc. Then, over time, that number reduces! As the animals turn the old growth into new productive pastures, and the grass, weeds, and invasive plants become fewer, and more manageable, so do the Ticks! Reducing the number of ticks from 20-30 a day to maybe that number, or fewer, in a week! That’s a reduction of about 80-85%. Incredible!
If You’d like more information about having Briden Farm Goats and Livestock on Your Property please call Brian at BridenFarm.com 902-907-0770
The Weather Forecast was calling for just 0.3 millimetres of rain, per hour, scattered throughout the day! Yeah Right! This Video shows…
It was much more than that!
What the Video doesn’t show You is me, out trying to move Briden and Joe, our now 6 month old, bottle baby lamb (no longer on the bottle) and his Dad. This time of the year, here in woodland pasture, there’s little growth, and I’m moving them about every 2-3 days. Today, with even the rain, and lack of grass and forage, I knew they’d potentially get out if I didn’t move them. I had a spare, electric netting fence sitting beside their pasture, and so I started putting it up for their new pasture. As soon as I did the torrential rain started! Uh huh! I got absolutely soaked!
After I managed to get the fence setup, and Joe and Briden moved, the rain let up! So, I being already soaked through, continued on with our chores… next come feeding our 640 lb Berkshire Sow (Momma) Pig and her daughters, they’re half Red Mangalitsa and each about 350-400 lbs.
Well, Lara, the Big Momma Pig, she likes to put the Loven on to Me! She does that by rubbing herself up against me, kind of like a big ole she Bear scratching herself up against a tree! So, because Lara outweighs me nearly 4 to 1 and because we live and farm in a hillside, I had to brace myself! I mean really brace myself or I would have ended up over the hill and across the Powerline and sitting in Franklin Brook! Ok, maybe not quite! But You get the picture! Right?
So, now, I’m soaked, and also covered in mud from Lara’s lovens (yes, I knows it’s misspelled)
So, I decides it’s no good quitin now! I grab the feed for Sophie and Lucy and head over to Karen’s ole field, where they’re now pastured. Just hoping they’re still there! We just moved the. There yesterday! They usually stay in their fence, unless they get to hungry, bored, or sometimes too wet! Usually they only try to escape when they’re hungry or bored though! Theys good ole gals! Thankfully they were still there, waiting and happy to see me, or their feed at least!
Then we goes and delivers some hemp seed feed, just over the road a bit, Then we runs into this torrent on the way home again! I’m thinking someone in the Weather Office made a mistake and typed 0.3 and hour, when it should have read 3.0.
Of course, truth be known! It’s really my friend, Skip’s fault! He messaged me early this morning, wanting to do a video chat because we like to do that, and because it was raining hard where he lives in New Brunswick, near Salisbury. I told him then that we were only getting showers here today! That why I sent him this video first, along with a few select words! Calling him a S. Oh, You get the idea! Sort of like a female Dog on a hot scent! Lol 😉
