4,777 answers about horses & farm animals
Horses and farm animals run on routine — feeding schedules, hoof and health care, safe fencing and calm handling, in all weather. This page gathers the horse and farm animal library of KinsLe Answers in one place, organized by topic from daily care to travel and senior animals. Every answer is original, written by KinsLe, and tied to a real KinsLe feature.
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687 answers in Choosing & Adopting — page 16 of 29
A pet pig is one of the longest and smartest commitments in the smallholding world — pigs are clever, strong, ruled by their stomachs and devoted to rooting, so a lawn will not survive them. Expect a pot-bellied pig to keep growing for several years and to live well into its teens, needing a wallow or shade in hot…
Goats are clever, social escape artists, and getting them goes well only if you plan for that from day one. Fencing has to be goat-proof rather than horse-proof, because a goat tests every gate, climbs anything climbable and squeezes through gaps you would swear were too small. They are herd animals who pine alone,…
Before getting ducks, know that they are water-loving, messy, long-term birds: they need daily access to water deep enough to dunk their whole head, a secure night pen against predators, and feed with enough niacin, which chicken rations alone may not supply. Plan for mud around waterers, eggs from laying breeds…
Start with the rules: many towns restrict flock size, set coop distances from boundaries, or ban roosters while allowing hens — and hens need no rooster to lay. Hens lay best in their first two years, then taper while living five to ten years in total, so decide now what retired layers mean for you. Housing must beat…
Know that the purchase price is the smallest part of horse ownership: feed, bedding, regular farriery, routine and emergency vet care, tack and lessons continue for the horse's whole life, and daily time runs to hours a day. Buy for the rider you are now — a calm, experienced schoolmaster teaches a beginner more in a…
Know that adopting a mustang means gentling a genuinely wild horse, not just training an unhandled one. Adoption programs usually require approved facilities first — a sturdy corral with fencing around six feet high for an untrained adult, plus shelter — and title typically comes only after a compliance period, often…
Know that you are adopting an athlete mid-career-change, not a finished riding horse. Ask why this horse retired — sound but slow is a very different prospect from retired with an injury — how many starts it had, when it last raced, and what soundness assessment has been done since. Expect a let-down period of weeks…
Point of lay means a pullet around 18 to 22 weeks old, on the verge of laying — look for a bright eye, clean nostrils, smooth unblemished legs, a clean vent, and a comb that is growing and reddening. She should feel solid in the hand, with a breastbone you can feel but that is not sharp, move actively, and breathe…
Start with herd health: ask whether the keeper tests for the common infectious goat diseases, whether the herd is closed, and about any recent unexplained losses. Then examine each goat: bright eyes, decent covering over the ribs, sound unsmelly feet, a clean rear end, quiet breathing and no abscess lumps along the…
First, check the passport belongs to the horse in front of you: the identity pages describe its color, sex, markings and whorls, and the microchip number printed must match a scan of the horse's neck. Check the ownership section is complete and matches the seller, and that vaccinations show a continuous influenza…
Ask about the daily routine first: turnout hours across the seasons, whether horses go out in herds or individually, and whether staff will catch, rug and hold your horse for vet and farrier visits. Ask what hay and bedding are provided, whether your own feeding routine will be followed exactly, and how worming is…
Work through five areas: why the horse is for sale and how long the seller has owned it; its health — any lameness, injuries or ongoing management, and whether vaccinations, teeth and worming are current; its temperament to catch, shoe, clip, load and ride in traffic, alone and in company; and what level of rider it…
Put temperament first: ask whether the pony has genuinely been ridden by children, of what ages and ability, and how it behaves alone, in company and at shows. Ask about ground manners — catching, leading, grooming, loading, and any biting or kicking — because your child will handle it daily, and ask for its health…
Ask why the horse came into rescue, how long it has been there, what is known of its earlier life, and whether it has been rehomed and returned before. Ask for its full health picture: soundness and lameness history, any long-term condition under management, vaccinations, dental care, worming and the state of its…
For a small backyard, choose a breed that is genuinely small and calm as an adult: Kunekune pigs graze more than they root, stay compact for a pig, and are famously easy-going, while Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs are smaller still but need firm, consistent boundaries around food. Avoid any pig sold as teacup or micro,…
Budget for the year's rhythm rather than a single purchase price: forage and hard feed every week, bedding if he is stabled, the farrier's visits in a steady cycle through the year, and routine veterinary care — vaccinations, dental checks, and parasite control — before anything unexpected happens. Add the kit that…
Keeping a horse at home puts every job and every decision on you — feeding, mucking out, turnout, fencing, and arranging cover when you are ill or away — but gives you complete control over his routine and usually the closest daily contact. Livery hands the yard work to staff in exchange for a boarding arrangement:…
These two goats were bred for opposite jobs: the Nigerian Dwarf is a miniature dairy goat, small enough to handle easily and built around a productive little udder, giving rich milk out of all proportion to its size, while the Boer is a large, heavily muscled meat goat bred to grow fast and convert feed into body. A…
A miniature horse is not a small pony — it is a horse bred down in size while keeping horse proportions: slim legs, a refined head, and a body shaped like a full-sized horse on a smaller scale, standing far below riding height. A pony, by contrast, keeps the stocky build of its kind, with short legs, a deep barrel,…
The dividing line is height: a pony measures 14.2 hands or under at the withers as an adult, and anything taller is a horse — but the label is about build as much as the measuring stick, because ponies are scaled differently, with shorter legs, deeper bodies, and thicker coats than a small horse of the same height.…
A pullet is a young female chicken, from chick through her first months until she starts laying — usually classed as a pullet until she is about a year old. A hen is the adult: a female that has come into lay and settled into the steady work of producing eggs. The distinction matters when you buy, because point-of-lay…
Goats and sheep look like cousins and are often pastured together, but they eat and behave almost oppositely: goats are browsers that prefer leaves, brush, and weeds up high, carry their tails up, and climb anything climbable, while sheep are grazers that crop grass close to the ground, carry their tails down, and…
A stallion is an entire male horse — uncastrated, with the hormones, build, and breeding role that go with it — while a gelding is a male horse that has been castrated, usually as a youngster, which removes the drive to breed and settles his behaviour for ordinary riding life. Stallions need experienced handling,…
A foal is a young horse in its first year of life — the term covers the newborn, the suckling at its mother's side, and the weanling after it leaves her partway through that year. A yearling is a horse between its first and second birthdays: no longer dependent on milk, growing fast, and usually handled,…
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