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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385 answers in Safety & Lost Pets — page 15 of 17
Rats settle in a coop for two reasons: feed they can reach and gaps they can squeeze through, so lasting control means removing both. Move poultry feed into sealed metal bins with tight lids, sweep up spilled grain every day, and block entry points with welded hardware cloth, because a rat can pass through a gap the…
Work through every identifier your horse carries — microchip registration, passport details, and any freezemark — and check that the phone number and address attached to each one still reaches you today, not the you of three yards ago. Update them the week you move yards, change numbers or take on a sharer, and keep…
Plan the evening like a storm: most horses are safest stabled before the first fireworks go up, in their usual box, with plenty of hay, a radio playing, and the yard lights left on to soften the flashes. Check stable doors, bolts and the perimeter fence earlier in the day, keep feeding and mucking-out times exactly…
Most horses cope far better stabled with company, hay and a radio playing than turned out when guns or a hunt are close, so bring the flighty ones in before the first shot and keep the yard's routine as ordinary as you can. Find out the shoot or hunt dates and rough timings in advance, double-check field fences and…
Treat the feed room as a strongroom: a horse that gets in will eat until it makes itself seriously ill, so the door needs a bolt a horse's lips cannot work, backed by a second, different latch as insurance. Fit the main bolt where muzzle and teeth cannot reach it, keep bins lidded and latched inside the room, never…
The single biggest protection is timing: be there to shut the pop-hole before dusk settles, because a fox makes its rounds in the fading light, and hens still out at that hour are hens at risk. Back the routine with a run a fox cannot dig under or climb — a mesh skirt at the base, a covered top, proper bolts on doors…
Build for strength rather than cleverness: a badger can dig under a run, lever up a loose slab and tear through thin hexagonal chicken wire, so night housing needs solid timber, welded mesh and bolts it cannot nose or claw open. Stop the digging with a mesh skirt buried around the perimeter or slabs laid flat against…
The reliable answer is a numbered or coloured leg band on every bird, matched to a written record — memory alone fails within a month in a flock of same-breed hens. Band pullets as they come into lay, photograph each bird from the side showing her band, comb and any quirks like a bent toe or speckled neck feathers,…
Speed in an evacuation comes from practice, not urgency: decide in advance which horses load first, keep a halter and rope hanging by each stable door, and make sure every horse loads quietly in the dark and in a hurry, because the horse that will not load costs you the whole evacuation. On the day, work your plan in…
Keep animals in until you have walked every fence line of the fields they will use, because storm damage hides: a tree resting on a top rail, wire sprung slack at a corner, a gate latch bent by flying debris. Check posts for lean or snap, rails and tape for breaks, electric lines for broken insulators and fallen…
Walk the whole field slowly, in rough grid lines, before any horse grazes it, looking first for ragwort: flat rosettes of lobed leaves close to the ground in spring, and tall yellow-flowered plants once summer comes. Also scan the boundary and ditch lines for hemlock, foxglove and bracken, check beneath oak and…
Stay calm and move slowly: a loose horse reads your body language, and running at him waving a lead rope will only push him further away. Take a bucket with a little feed, a halter and a lead rope, approach at an angle toward his shoulder rather than head-on, and let him come to the bucket before you slip the rope…
Protect sheep and goats by making every water source escapable: shallow edges, gentle slopes and rough surfaces animals can grip when scrambling out. Choose troughs with lower rims for smaller stock, and place a secured block or ramp inside deep troughs as an exit step. Walk every ditch after heavy rain, when banks…
Teach the cover a matching system, not a memory test: every field is identified by name and photograph, a written turnout list matches each horse to his field, and the cover's first turnout is supervised before they work alone. Pair each horse's name with his photograph and his field's photograph, so similar-looking…
Put the full notice set on every version: his description — height, color, markings, sex and age as known — clear photographs, where and when he was last seen, how to approach him, and your contact details. Ask people to move calmly, speak to him, and never chase a panicked horse, since a chased horse runs farther and…
Work the first hour in order: make the survivors safe first, gathering the remaining birds and shutting them in securely; then check for injured birds, with wounds protected, not treated at home, and a veterinarian or rehabilitator reached the same day. Count heads third, so you know how many birds are unaccounted…
If you come across a loose horse or donkey on a road, protect people first and do not chase it into faster traffic. From a safe place, warn other road users if you can do so safely, keep distance, and contact the police and local animal authorities promptly. Keep hi-vis handy, but never act at risk to yourself.…
Make every water point either escapable or unreachable for spring youngsters: choose shallow troughs or fit an inside step or a secured ramp a fallen youngster can scramble up, keep water depth modest, and fence ponds and deep ditches off completely during lambing and kidding. Place troughs on firm, drained ground,…
Proof is a bundle assembled before anything goes wrong: clear photographs of her from both sides, her face straight on, and close-ups of every marking, scar and whorl; a marking diagram noting where each feature sits; her purchase and ownership documents; and her chip record, held privately and never posted in public.…
Give field-kept horses and cattle access to a low, sturdy shelter they can enter freely, placed on well-drained ground away from isolated tall trees, raised ground and the ends of wire fences, and large enough that animals are not crowded or trapped in a corner. Before storm season, walk the field and note where water…
The identification that suits each farm species follows how that animal is handled and recorded. Horses are identified by microchip linked to their passport, cattle by ear tags linked to their passport records, sheep and goats by ear tags, pigs by a slap mark or an ear tag, and poultry may wear leg rings where birds…
Each sheep's ear tag or flock mark links to your holding number, the number for your premises, so an official who reads a stray's tag can trace it back to your holding. Keep the flock register current — births, deaths, and movements on and off the holding — because that register proves which sheep are yours. Report a…
Stage a halter and lead for every horse on a hook by the yard gate, and keep the go-bag beside them: feed and water for the first day, copies of documents and clear photos of each horse, and first-aid basics. Keep the trailer fueled, hitched-ready and practiced, so loading is a rehearsed routine rather than a first…
People come first, plainly: never enter floodwater or a burning building for an animal, however strong the urge. The plan itself sets an evacuation route to higher or safer ground practiced in advance, halters and leads kept at the stable door, trailer loading practiced before it is needed, and identification on each…
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