About two weekends ago, it was really nice weather-wise at my farm.  We had beautiful, sunny days in the 50’s.   The horses were feeling good and in turn were starting to rub on every little corner and edge they could find to get rid of their winter coats.  The dogs were starting to do the same thing except inside our house (Dyson vacuum sweepers are wonderful).   But this weekend, we had 8 inches of snow on the ground so the blankets were back on the horses and the dogs tend not to spend as much time outside doing their business.

Where I live in Ohio, this is normal weather.  Like the old saying “if you don’t like the weather we are having, wait a little while and it will change”.  So what do you do with animals that cannot control their environments like chickens in their coop?  I have sliding windows high and low in my chicken coop.  As it becomes warmer, I can slide the upper window open to whatever I think is needed.  When it is cooler again in a few days, I can easily close them to help regulate the temperature.  When it becomes much warmer in the summer, I can open all the windows to help with temperature control (but I make sure that the wind never blows directly on the birds).  And when it is warm and dry enough to haul my horse and llama manure to all the neighbor’s gardens, I will remove all the old bedding in the chicken pen too.  But up until that time, I will keep adding fresh, dry bedding to the pen so I do not stir up all the dust and ammonia which without enough ventilation could hurt the birds.

My next door neighbor down the road is the local 4-H rabbit club advisor and basically follows the same procedure with their rabbit pens.   Even though the pens are above the ground and there are several rabbits under one roof with a pen for each rabbit, the same principles apply.

And remember all animals may be affected by the warmer weather too.   We watch the dogs as they go out the main door (to go to a 4-H meeting or a show) for we use salt to help keep the ice under control during the winter.  Until April showers wash away most of the salt, we keep a careful eye on the dog’s feet.   The Shelties have the hair between their toes trimmed for showing but we try to wipe their feet as they come in and out of that door to remove all the salt we can.  Or even the bigger animals like horses can be a concern.  As it becomes warmer, even though we clean the stall daily, some of the urine penetrates into the ground.  Warmer weather increases bacteria activity that will release more of the ammonia.  I use a product like Stall Dry or something similar that is not an ag lime to help control the smell when the stalls are heavily cleaned.  It helps control the quality of air at their level, but does not affect their feet.

So as it becomes warmer… then colder….then warmer again, we must remember to adjust our animal’s environment with actions that will help them.

I was going to give my horses their 8-week rotation of dewormer timed just before the first big frost of the year.   As I got ready for the by-monthly disagreement with Skippy who hates any flavor or brand of deworming paste I give her, I looked at the large, colorful syringe and hoped this new product was going to make my afternoon go a little better.    

I usually rotate between a Safe-Guard® and an ivermectin family product.  This time I thought I would try something different.  As I finished giving the dewomer to Skippy, I noticed the “plus” after the name.    I was not sure what “Plus” meant on the brand name I had heard and read about many times.   The syringe was the same size.  Dose was the same, same smell, similar flavor (Skippy still did not like it and made sure I was wearing some immediately after she was dosed).

After the seven horses and three mini-donkeys were done, I found my glasses in the feed room and tried to determine what “plus” meant.  In this case, it was an added drug (praziquantel) for tape worms.  I thought dewomers got rid of worms, all the worms….so I did some investigating.

Horses usually get large and small strongyles, ascards, pinworms and others that the market’s standard products take care of.  But for some reason, the standard products do not affect tapeworms.  I discovered that tape worms attach themselves to the intestine only by their head and grow inside the digestive tract.  By doing this they do not eat blood like most worms.  They, instead,  eat the food that the horse is trying to digest.    Most common dewormers are absorbed into the blood, the worms eat the blood which contains the dewormer, and the worms die and leave the body.  Since tape worms do not eat the blood, they do not get any of the dewormer.  Thus, the “plus” is a compound that stays in the digestive tract where the tape worm will eat it and die too.

I am not a veterinarian and highly suggest that you work with your equine health professional to design a health program for your farm including a deworming program.  This would include taking fecal samples to the vet on a regular basis to see what kinds of worms your horses may have.  Tape worms are not found that often in horses but it is always a good idea to check.   

If your horse only needs the standard type dewormer and you have a “Skippy” in your herd, Hubbard does have a Safe-Guard® dewormer that can be fed instead of putting it behind the tongue (which is a nice change since Skippy can’t spread it all over me).  The product is Safe-Guard® 0.5% Crumbles (#8K18) with the feeding rate of 1 lb per 1000 lbs body weight.

You can visit our Hubbard Life Equine Tips & Tools section for more information on deworming and more horse health information.

I know you’ve all heard the famous little song called the Twelve Days of Christmas. 

But do you know when it originated?  1780.  And where?  In England

And what for?  It is said that it possibly began as a Twelfth Night “memories-and-forfeits” game in which a leader recited a verse, each of the players repeated the verse, the leader added another verse, and so on until one of the players made a mistake.  The player who erred had to pay a penalty such as offering up a kiss or a sweet.

So, it’s an interesting concept.  Why don’t you try that little game with your family and friends this Christmas when everyone is done eating and napping?  However, let’s make it more interesting and challenging.  I’ve made up new lyrics which we will call the Twelve Days of Christmas…for Animal Lovers for the purposes of this Hubbard Life blog.

I’m just reciting the twelfth and final day in print here, but you know how it goes by starting out at the first day…and repeating it by adding one more verse each time until you get through the twelfth.

Here it goes: 

 On the Twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me:

12 Eggs to gather

11 Heifers grazing

10 Bags of sheep feed

9 Rabbits hopping

8 Horses neighing

7 Bales of Hay

6 Goats a kidding

5 Bags of kitty litter

4 Cats chasing mice

3 Squealing pigs

2 Barking dogs

And a Rooster crowing in the yard

How about that for a new twist?  Should test the memory a little…good luck and have fun with it!

And remember, if you have some of the critters mentioned in the lyrics then you can find Hubbard Life Quality Feed products for your animals at a Hubbard dealer near you or on our website:  www.hubbardlife.com. 

Happy singing and have a very Merry Christmas!