Farm Fresh Blog

Terri's Pal asked if managing the dogs was more trouble than managing the livestock.  YES!  That's a BIG FAT YES!!

This morning:

Cowboy is shuffled inside and Ranger is shuffled outside. They cannot be together because they fight. (Grrrr. . . I WARNED Other Half about bringing home Cowboy, but he fell in love with the dog and still adores him. Ranger, however, does not. Cowboy taunts Ranger in an Eddie Haskell manner. It can get ugly, so we keep them apart.)

With Cowboy secure in the house, put Briar in cattle trailer so she doesn't eat Oli. She doesn't like Oli. Something in Briar's genes tell her that Oli is not to be trusted with sheep. Ya think?

Start Mule. Trace, Lily, and Ranger play Three Stooges to get in front seat. Lily wins. Ranger gets in back. Trace runs along beside. Dillon crams a tennis ball in his mouth and trots along. Ice maintains a heel position as she trots along. Oli madly circles while barking like a crazy person and occasionally darts in and attempts to bite tires.

I shout "Don't bite the tires!"

Lily shouts "Don't bite the tires!" 

Ranger falls out. He then circles with Oli and prevents her from biting the tires.

When Oli is about to pass out from heat stroke, put her in kennel run with water. Put Trace in another kennel run beside her. Put Dillon and Ranger in another run. Put Ice in house with Cowboy. Take Lily to go feed livestock.

     Feed horses and lock them in barn. Move sheep. Move goats. Feed cattle. Horse flooded the pasture with float valve again last night! (They say Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. Why, oh why did I turn the water back on to the pasture before I went to work yesterday?)

Vow to keep water turned off while horses are loose. Fill up tanks. Play fetch with Lily. Bring Ranger and Dillon into pasture. They all swim in pond while water tanks are filling. Pond is nasty. Dogs all smell like a swamp, but are happy.

Return to house, hose dogs down and stuff them in cattle trailer. 

    Take Briar and Ice for a walk in pasture to turn off water to tanks. Note that Lily has lost ALL 3 of her dog tags beside pond. Thank God they are on ground and not lost in water.

     Turn horses out to new pasture. Sheep are now in yard, happily mowing. Goats are trimming trees in pasture. Cows see horses in good-grass pasture and start to bellow. Promise them that I will move them in there this afternoon.  No more problems from livestock. All are happy.

     Ice comes in house. Briar joins her sheep. Dillon, Lily and Ranger scream in cattle trailer to remind me they are wet, covered in wood shavings, and now wish to come in the house. Oli is spinning circles in her kennel run again. She has gotten her second wind. Trace is racing back and forth in his kennel run while watching Sheep TV in the yard.

 God love him, but Trace is one step behind Oli in the "So-Obsessed-He's-Lost-His-Marbles" department.

     In 4 hours, this routine must be repeated before I leave for work. Return Sheep and Goats to their paddock. Move Horses. Move Cattle. Drive around in Mule to exercise dogs.  Bring dogs into air conditioning to cool off. Feed them. Put them in kennel runs/or cattle trailer/or yard. Leave for work. Do an 8-14 hour shift. Come home and repeat.

Other Half is sleeping a nice hotel room with no dog hair in the bed. Now I ask you - is this fair?