The Snippet

September 2011

It’s fair season for livestock exhibitors and with it comes all the dangers of travelling on the roads; Interstates and otherwise.

FOR HORSE AND LIVESTOCK HAULERS:

Before heading out on the road, take some time and check your vehicle and trailer over carefully. If the trailer has been sitting for any length of time you might need to grease the bearings, check the flooring for signs of wear, check the lights, look over the tires (including the spare) for signs of dry rot or other wear stress and make sure your inspection and registration are up to date. Look over your hauling vehicle as well. Does it need to have the oil changed, is there plenty of washer fluid available, is the truck correctly matched for the weight of the trailer, is the hitch in good working order, do your lights work, are brakes working properly for the load your are towing,  is the vehicle inspected, insured and registered? Do you need to have US DOT numbers on your tow vehicle? Do you check the amount of heat in your tires after you have been on the road for a while, or the air pressure?

Have you packed enough feed for all of the animals (with a bit extra just in case), are the health papers packed, do you have the registration papers, medical supplies, halters, lead ropes, bedding, grooming equipment, feed and water buckets, etc. ?

Is your suitcase packed and in the vehicle, show clothes, boots, prescriptions, maps, hotel information (including the confirmation number), are all of the people there?

All of these simple, yet important checks will help ensure that your trip is a safe one, even if you are only travelling a few miles to a local show. One of the most important factors frequently left unchecked is the health of the driver. Are you ready for the haul ahead, do you have clear map routes planned out, fuel stops (vehicle and people) planned, rest stop areas for the trailer, are you in a rush? Never leave for a trip if you are over tired, too rushed or overloaded. Those are sure fire factors to having an accident.

Having a checklist for the tow vehicle, the trailer, people and animals will only be helpful if you use them each and every time you travel.

Something you can’t load on the trailer is being aware of “the other drivers” on the road.

FOR THOSE WHO DRIVE CARS:

Livestock and horse trailers are not trucks that are just longer, it takes us far longer to stop or slow down than it does without a trailer or in a car. So when you pull out in front of one of us and we lay on the horn, it’s because we have the lives of several animals behind us. Stopping or slowing down suddenly throws our animal charges back and forth in the trailer. We cruise down the highway on a straight away, but we have to slow down around curves and corners so we don’t throw the entire weight of the trailer, “stuff” and the animals to one side all at once (and possible get sideways or worse, rollover). Let us into a lane when we signal, we need lots of room to make that change and can’t if no one lets us in.

I know it’s a pain to follow one of us down the road, you can’t see over us, you need lots of room to pass us and sometimes the animal bedding flies out over your windshield in small wisps. It can’t be helped. Please don’t cut us off, use your directional lights so we can plan too, and if we pass you, please let us know when it’s ok to cut back in, it makes life for both of so much easier!

The rules of the road are different for those who haul trailers, be safe, be careful and good luck at the shows!

June 28, 2011

Washing, braiding, grooming, fitting, brushes, fans, pitchforks, stands, feeders, hay, blowers, buckets, show clothes and judges.

Have you ever admired the livestock exhibits at a county fair? Did you ever wonder what goes into making those animals look so great and why in the world would anyone want to bring several animals to a show?

Showing one’s livestock at a county fair or any other show for that matter is a source of pride for the exhibitor, a comparison model, a marketing tool and a source of small income.

Show season begins when an animal is born. Will this be a good representative of my farm, will it be shown as a market or breeding stock animal? Those are decisions that may change over time as the young animal grows out, but feeding and providing a space for optimum growth, preventing and treating any disease or illness are all crucial factors in raising livestock.

Several weeks before the first show of the season, livestock producers begin trimming the coat/fleece of the show group, put them under fans during the hot weather and begin training. Training?! Show animals are handled on a regular basis and teaching them to stand for periods of time will prepare the animal for the actual show day when it may be several minutes before their turn with the judge. An animal that has not been worked with much won’t behave well in the show ring, get antsy and won’t allow the judge to fully appreciate their potential. Livestock are taught to walk as they would have to in the show arena, are felt as if being judged, and learn to stand and set up in the correct manner. Of course, no matter how hard one works with their animals before show day, Murphy’s Law states that, “what can go wrong will go wrong”!

Before leaving for a show, the animals are washed and fitted (groomed for show) at least once before being loaded on the trailer. Washing one animal requires a minimum of 30 minutes and fitting can take an hour or more (after the initial bath and trim job).

Then there is loading the trailer with all of the grain, hay, bedding (for animals), buckets, feeders, pitchforks, animal blankets, grooming equipment (this requires its own large box), stands, halters (restraining devices that fit over the head), medical supplies (just in case), hose, shampoo, blowers (like mini vacuum cleaners that blow air instead pulling in air for quicker drying), table and chairs (for the exhibitors), people clothing, show clothes, boots, veterinary health papers (which require a veterinarian visit planned well in advance of the show), directions, hotel reservations (or camper permit) and food (for people). Loading the trailer requires a plan to ensure everything will fit and come off of the trailer in the right order. The act of loading a trailer can be the source of many a family argument as something is usually forgotten (one show we forgot the halters!)

Travelling to the show can be the easiest part of the show (as long as I’m not driving) and once arriving at the show grounds all of the aforementioned must be unloaded and put into a functional order. Now the work begins. Animals get bedded down, washed and groomed again. The exhibitor’s area is kept neat and clean for the general public’s appreciation and animal areas are kept freshly bedded and free of most of the manure. The paperwork gets logged in at the show clerk’s desk and the fun begins!

There is a lot of visiting amongst the exhibitors, swapping of stories from over the winter months, showing their stock to prospective buyers, sharing of meals and talking while fitting the animals late into the wee hours of the morning. The livestock exhibitors are a tough crew, even after spending hours late into the night working, they are up early the next day to feed, water, re-bed, wash and exercise their animals.

During the show there can be a lot of tension, not only from the exhibitors, but from those with a vested interest in the final placing as well. There might be some grumbling about the judge’s abilities and disappointment in some faces, but after the show the visiting continues, usually there are no hard feelings carried over and good-byes are said until the next show. After the show, everything is packed up, all the animals are loaded and everyone either goes home or stays on the road to the next show.

So the next time you are at the county fair, please don’t take offense if an exhibitor doesn’t hear your question over the brrrr of the clippers or doesn’t stay and answer all of your questions, they have a job to do.

Livestock Exhibitors Take note: Spend a few minutes now and then explaining the process of showing your species, the general public wants to know and you are their only source of information at the show. Make your time there count for something positive in the livestock industry!

June 21, 2011

Just three months ago, those of us in central and northern Dutchess County had a horrific ice storm which wrecked havoc on trees, power lines and the landscape in general. With the advent of summer now upon us it’s difficult to see the actual damage to trees as we now have full foliage. A word of caution as you are out haying or utilizing new pastures; there may be some dying/dead trees or limbs that could fall into a hayfield or onto a fence line without warning so please recheck the edges of your fields before your full attention is drawn to the tasks at hand (moving animals or driving the tractor).

I read a national article the other day about a woman who had been killed by a cow (mature female bovine), not a bull (mature male bovine), a cow. My first thought was, of course to the family, but my second thought was why she was in a pasture in the first place and with a toddler feeding ears of corn to the cows with calves? Was she a passer-by or from a farm family? The article didn’t address that part, but it doesn’t really matter. Livestock, all livestock, have the potential to hurt us, especially when we let our guard down.

Indulge me in a few stories to illustrate my point.

I am reminded of the time I had had been out deer hunting, it was chore time; the sheep were baaing for their dinner. I was in a hurry and forgot that I had on camouflage clothing. So what, you ask? I went into the pen of adult rams (mature, breeding male sheep) and one ram (Slugger) totally lost his cool…he jumped over the four foot doorway and tried to jump the five foot gate. He was petrified of me, dressed in hunting garb.

Fast forward 9 months. It was breeding season (the rams were out with the ewes (female sheep), none of the girls in one pasture were in heat (ready for breeding) and the ram had taken particular interest in becoming aggressive towards me. One day it was pouring rain so I threw on a camouflage raincoat. I fed one pen of ewe lambs (female sheep less than one year old) and the raincoat didn’t bother them. So I went on to the next pasture with Slugger. His reaction wasn’t as drastic this time, but he did not take his eyes off of me as he was eating his grain. I kind of chuckled to myself. The next pasture had the aggressive ram in it and I had to walk to the other end of one field to let the ewes and the ram into their night pasture. Well the ewes didn’t give me a second glance, nor did the guard llama, but that aggressive ram took one look at me and ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction!

I laugh about it now, but in retrospect both of those rams had become so panic stricken that they were willing to go over or through anything in their way to escape and that includes people. Imagine, 400 pounds of panicked ram running over you! The reverse can happen as well, something can trigger an animal to attack just as easily. These are animals that are worked with or who see humans everyday of their lives.

We had an old ewe once, which was as docile as they come, unless she had a lamb.

Our llama doesn’t bother with us, but bring someone new into the field and she is right there to investigate.

Animal behavior can be unpredictable and it is our job to ensure that stay aware whenever and wherever we are when working around livestock. Even chickens you ask? Even chickens! Hens can jump/fly up into your face and their feet have nice pointy claws at the end. And let me tell you about roosters! Roosters have spurs and claws and they are quite sharp.

How do I know, we had a rooster and some hens for several years and that rooster became my nemesis. He was so dangerous that I wouldn’t let my 7 year old (at that time) daughter in the pen to help collect the eggs. His name was Nugget (yes he was named for chicken nuggets). He was hatched for a school project and my daughter would pick him up every night. He was treated with lots of love and affection as a chick (baby chicken), but as soon as he matured he became this monster. He once hit me in the knee with his spurs and tore my jeans. I’m not sure why he was so particularly nasty, he just was. He even trapped a friend of ours in the henhouse for 20 minutes until his attention was drawn elsewhere (the friend was just feeding the chickens while we were away). We still chuckle about it, but it all goes back to watching your back when around animals.

As the fair season approaches, those of us with livestock need to take extra care to ensure not only our own safety, but of the fair audience safety as well. I’ve seen mothers push strollers, with a baby inside, under the belly of a horse, people using their hands to play with a mature ram on the head, reaching through the bars of a pen to pet a goat, feeding horses and so many other dangerous behaviors that could be disastrous for all involved. Remember to educate the general public as firmly as needed without offending anyone’s sensibilities and watch out for yourselves as well!

Best of luck on the upcoming show season!

May 17, 2011
Most people do trim their fingernails, file them with an emery board or even bite them off. If we didn’t trim our nails we would have ragged edges that catch, rip and could cause us pain (if torn past the quick). The practical side is that we can’t do much if our nails get too long, the vanity side is that we appear more nicely groomed when our nails are neat.

So what do our nails have to do with livestock? Fingernails, livestock hooves and horns are all comprised of the same protein, keratin. Although formed for different purposes, hooves and fingernails are very similar in actual composition. Cows, horses, hogs, sheep, goats, llamas and alpacas will all benefit from regular trimming of their feet, just as we need to trim our fingernails. If we walked on our hands, would we still need to trim our fingernails? Let’s look at why we trim livestock hooves first and then we can surmise the answer to that question.

The hoof of a farm animal protects the underlying sole of the foot. The sole is far more tender than a hoof but tougher than the pads of our fingers. The job of the sole is to assist in circulating the blood up and down the leg to oxygenize the cells of muscles, tendons and ligaments. Every animal walks differently and processes their diet differently just like humans.

If you look at the sole of your shoes, you can see how you walk, the heels will be worn in different areas for different people. Some people grow their fingernails faster than others do, its an individual thing. Farm animals will walk differently than others of the same species and will have areas of their hooves that are not worn down or grow more quickly and will need to be trimmed off. Horses sometimes will have shoes put on, especially those that exercise (are worked) or have hooves that aren’t strong enough to stay “barefoot” (unshod).

Farriers (blacksmiths) and hoof trimmers are usually paid professionals who come to the farm on a regular basis to trim hooves. Their knowledge extends to conformation of the hoof, diseases of the hoof, how the animal currently walks (and wears down the hoof) and how it needs to be corrected. Their knowledge is an invaluable tool for the sustainability of any livestock operation. The old saying, “No Hoof, No Horse” bears true, if animal can’t walk properly it won’t be able to eat properly or be a productive part of the operation. The tools that hoof trimmers and farriers use are similar to our fingernail trimmers and emery boards, just larger and more substance to them. The amount of trimming that must be done varies from species to species, some just once or twice per year, others every 4-6 weeks, depending on what is being corrected, how much wear happens and the age of the animal.

Like our fingernail, livestock hooves can be trimmed without pain. Livestock must be properly restrained during the process to avoid nicking the quick (which can be painful) or causing injury to the trimmer or the animal. Just because an animal is vocally objecting to the entire process doesn’t mean that it is a painful process. In fact, the restraints or positions that are used for trimming were created for the safety of all involved. Trimming hooves is necessary, without it disease, lameness and sore soles would prevent the animal from being productive.

So why am I bringing all of this up now? The wet weather we have been experiencing can cause faster than normal hoof growth (especially with the available lush grass growth), softer hooves and onset of hoof diseases. Getting hoof trimming done sooner rather than later will prevent more serious issues mid to late summer. Put hoof health at the top of your to do list.

Useful Resources:

http://hooftrimmers.org

http://www.americanfarriers.org