January 18, 2022
A New Year, a New Roof, life is good. Blessings to the wonderful person that organize a wonderful gift giving in memory of Betty White for her 100th birthday. Betty was a lover of animals and supported many animal care facilities. The plan was to give $5 to animal care and rescue homes in her name on her birthday. The Sanctuary received over $400 on January 17th. Rising costs of feed and fuel always keep the budget tight.
There have been worse storms than the first one this year. It still is not easy to move snow from doorways and Tony’s stalls. Tony is our resident Llama, I haven’t checked the records but he is close to his 20th year. He has his own paddock with 2 shelters. This time his feeding shelter was full of snow. When Tony is unhappy with his shelters he will not use them. He will stand outside, telling us that it is time for a cleanout. Maxine and Melanie cleaned out most of the snow and bedded it down with a bale of straw. In he went and laid down. We haven’t dug out a path to his 2nd shelter yet, always looking for volunteers to do that.
Storms, and high winds have kept the herd in quite a lot. Especially when the winds are from the south and East. There is not a lot of shelter from those winds. The herd will go into the grove for shelter, but that means they will not be spending a lot of time eating. That does not suit me, they need the fuel to keep warm. There is a problem with having them in. A few of the oldies will be coughing more than I like. In the barn our routine is to sweep out their mangers daily. They get a cup of Joe’s seaweed, garlic tablets and we wet their feed and their hay. It is a challenge to deal with airway disease, it is much easier when the herd is outside as often as possible.
At the Sanctuary we feed whole flaxseed to the herd. It is easier to store as a whole seed. It is valuable to our nutrition program as a source of fat in the form of Omega-3’s. It improves the skin, hair coat and body condition and definitely improves hoof health. Our source comes from Manitoba, we use a 100lbs a month (2400lbs a year). I wish it was a rotational crop in PEI. It requires special storage because it is an oil seed. Too much heat or moisture and it will become rancid. I am sure that half the cost of Flax is due to the transportation costs. We will dedicate the Betty White donations for the Flax.
Public gyms are closed for the next couple of weeks. Yogi’s private gym will continue with the exercise program of moving the poo, carrying feed, carrying water and it looks like there will be some snow removal exercises as well. Our public programs will be on hold for a while, weather and Covid permitting will be the watch words.
The majority of the herd wear halter for easier tie up in their stalls. They are rope halters in the winter. I started doing this about 20 years ago. It prevents frostbite from regular halter metal pieces.. So tonight I will be making a couple replacements. Not as easy as it use to be. I did a lot of Macrame in my middle years, but the Fiador knot is proving to be a challenge. Wish me luck. Keep well and shovel easy this winter, whether it is snow or the good honey in the barn.
Love and hugs from Yogi and the herd.