[near horse]

I remember reading a study looking at the quickest and most humane way to put down a horse. A well-placed bullet was deemed the quickest (ie most humane). That said, I agree with Jim that the vet should be willing to come out and put the dog down at the owner’s home.

[near horse]

The risk with windfalls I’ve heard mentioned usually have to do with the root ball rolling back into the hole after it’s free from the rest of the tree. The hazard was related to kids/dogs climbing in or around the root mass – shouldn’t be there in the first place during cutting but stuff happens. Also, I know of one case where the ball rolled back at a later time well after the tree was released. Obviously, many fo those masses are heavy enough to crush a human or dog …..

[near horse]

I’d also add that being observant of “changes” in our animals’ behaviors is another lesson. Often times it’s nothing but they are creatures of habit and can tip us off to a “problem” by changes in their activity.

Glad your old guy is back on his feet again!

[near horse]

Hi Sean,

There are some knowledgeable D-ring users here who can assist you but I’m not one of them : ( Stout looking horses – I like ’em! My limited observation was that the harness looked pretty tight in the first pic (Whisky?). I’ll be interested to hear what others have to say ….

Nice horses.

[near horse]

Hi Kat,

Welcome – you and I are almost neighbors. We’re down east of Pullman/Moscow.

[near horse]

Hi Kevin and Robert,

Midwest Leather, a Pioneer distributor in UT, makes it up to SFJ and has brought some equipment to demo (and sell). This last year I know they brought a walking plow w/ one of the Kvernland bottoms on it – usually see those bottoms on the riding plows. They were out in the field at the fairgrounds testing it out and allowing those interested to “have a hand at it”. Might shoot them a line to see if they’d make sure to get one on the truck this year. I’ve got their e-mail somewhere but surely it’s in the vendor stuff here on DAPNet.

[near horse]

Merry Christmas to the DAPNet family. We used to make reindeer hoofprints using a stamp I’d carve out of a potato. Never tried to trap old Santa though.

Carl – it would have been funny if they caught something else in the Santa trap during the night. That was a pretty big trap.

BTW – where’s the snow in that picture? We don’t have any here either. Cold enough but no ppt.

[near horse]

@Carl Russell 31154 wrote:

If there are other objectives such as wildlife habitat, or soil protection, or aesthetics, then the term “overstocked” is out of context.

It is a pet peeve of mine because it sets up a finite expectation for people in how they look at biological communities. Life is a continuum, where extremes are attained, collapse/mortality occurs, and recycling and regrowth follows. Restricting certain extremes from occurring has its place, such as in fire suppression, but on a whole I think we need to allow for more appreciation of broader ecological goals. In my mind letting sections of forest attain an overstocked condition can have very important impacts.

Carl

So here’s another naive question regarding the idea of managing for other or multiple objectives. How do you integrate things like what we called “woodpecker trees” – good for woodpeckers but probably loaded w/ beetle grubs. Would you be more prone to designate “areas” for leaving such trees or would it be more X number every acre or so? Or would you not leave any – assuming habitat is one objective.

Thanks

[near horse]

Just wondering – did BA replace DBH (diameter breast height) as a more “functional” tool? They are essentially the same thing except that BA converts DBH to an area (I think).

[near horse]

IME – the presence of other horses that know their business and have a relationship with you certainly helps a newbie horse figure out the ropes.

[near horse]

@Countymouse 31059 wrote:

More clues. I set a couple live traps baited with chicken livers. One near the place I found the chicken and one near the coop. In only a couple hours after dark, the livers were gone from the trap close to where I found the dead chicken. No animal in the trap though. The animal dug underneath the live trap and reached up from underneath to pull the liver out from though the floor of the trap. I can’t think of many animals with the smarts, dexterity, and size to do this. I think it has to be a raccoon. Thing is it’s not news to me that there are raccoons around here. If I catch one, who’s knows if it was the “perp”…

What type of live trap did you have? Like a Hav-a-Hart.. Since we don’t know what were dealing with size wise, the trap might not catch the culprit. Example – those traps big enough for a raccoon could allow a weasel/mink to get in and out w/o trouble or a small trap could allow a raccoon/skunk to reach in and grab the bait ……

I like the game camera idea from Scott.

[near horse]

It should be ready to roll as it was used last year to seed some barley and alfalfa. We just modified the tongue back to center for my team. The friend I got it from (“Santa”) used it w/ 3 abreast (mules) and went to a wider drill – 12 ft. He felt that when using the grass seed box it worked better just allowing seed to fall freely to the ground rather than using the seed tubes. His experience was almost no emergence when using the tubes – could be a seed size issue (ending up too deep).

[near horse]

With regard to sawyer fatigue, I like to use the log help support the saw while limbing. I know some folks walk along the top of the log and limb (longer bar). I’d be interested to hear what you all do.

[near horse]

Perhaps it was a cult carrying out a ritual killing. Andy – your farm might be located at a portal to the “other side”. So keep your eyes open for zombies and get out the garlic …..

[near horse]

@boulami 30998 wrote:

Or Colonel Mustard in the dining room….
Mike

I was thinking Colonel Sanders in the kitchen with the deep fat fryer …..

Seriously, I have seen a feral cat stalk and catch a pocket gopher and first thing after killing it was crunch off and consume the head. Surprised me. But since they don’t bite with their front teeth but use the carnassial molars, they need to be able to open their mouth wide enough to crush the skull. So it might need to be bigger than a weasel although I’ve never seen a weasel eating something that large.

We need to get some DNA samples back to the lab – stat. Andy?

[Author]

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