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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372 answers in Young Pets — page 14 of 16
Pick a mild, dry day and treat the first outing as a short visit, not a move: a secure pen on short, untreated grass, with one part in shade, a shallow water dish they cannot fall into, and solid cover overhead and at the sides so the chicks always feel a roof is within a dash. Stay with them the first time, watch for…
Teach the two new things separately, and teach them in autumn rather than in the first storm: bring the youngster in for short, pleasant stable stays with hay and a calm companion nearby, and practise rugging with a light rug in the yard until putting it on, doing the straps and taking it off are all boring. Build the…
Compare the kid with its siblings: a kid getting enough milk looks round-bellied after feeds, sleeps contentedly and keeps up in size, while a short-changed kid stays hollow in the flanks, cries persistently, stands hunched and feels cool around the mouth and ears. Weighing the litter regularly is the surest early…
Start creep feed while the piglets are still on the sow: from about a week old they will nose at a shallow pan of starter feed in a creep corner she cannot reach, and those nibbles teach the gut to handle solid food before milk becomes their limit. Keep the creep fresh and water topped up little and often, letting the…
Prepare a foal for his first cold season by protecting the coat he grows himself: keep him living mostly outdoors so it thickens properly, give him a run-in shelter for wet, windy spells, and brush out mud so the hair keeps lofting. Skip the blanket unless he is underweight, unwell or soaked by wind-driven rain — and…
The earliest sign is a fading appetite — a calf who hangs back from its dam or the bucket, drinks weakly or goes off milk is telling you something is wrong. Read the body next: hollow flanks instead of a rounded milk belly, a dull staring coat, sunken eyes, skin that stays tented when pinched, watery scours dirtying…
Before collecting weaned kids, have the pen finished: woven-wire fencing with no kid-sized gaps, a secure night pen against predators, and a dry, draught-proof shelter bedded with straw. Stock the feeding corner with hay, a shallow feed pan, reachable clean water and a dry tub of loose goat mineral, and bring home…
Young sheep wintering outdoors need shelter that stops wind without sealing in damp: a three-sided shelter or barn corner with its open side turned away from the prevailing wind, a sound roof, and a built-up dry floor. Bed them deep in straw so a lamb can nest down to the belly, keep the top layer dry, and leave…
The safest first pasture is a small, flat, dry paddock you have walked with a foal's eye: smooth visible fencing with no gaps he can slip a hoof through or roll under, no barbed wire, a low stable trough he cannot climb into, and no machinery, twine or debris left in his path. Keep the herd away at first — even…
Safe brooding heat rests on two-point hanging: suspend the lamp from a chain or wire fixed to something solid, with the clamp only as backup, so a slipped fixing cannot drop it into the bedding. Give the brooder a warm end under the lamp and a cooler far end holding the feed and water, and let the chicks vote with…
For a simple monthly foal record, take four measurements the same way each time — height at the withers with a stick, a weight-tape reading, a body-condition note based on how easily the ribs are felt, and the amount of feed and forage he is getting — then add three visual checks: leg straightness and any swelling,…
A young horse grows steadily when forage does the heavy lifting: good hay or pasture in front of him most of the day, a ration balancer or a youngster feed to supply protein and minerals, with salt and clean water always available. What pushes growth too fast is energy, so keep concentrates modest, split them into…
The order follows what the foal is developmentally ready for, and each step makes the next possible. First comes accepting touch all over and wearing a halter; then leading beside the dam, walking and halting on the rope; then standing for grooming and giving each of the four feet; and finally, as weaning approaches,…
It looks like unhurried contact while the piglet is small enough for everything to be easy: sitting in the pen while the litter investigates, hand-feeding part of the ration, and turning the skills an adult pig will need — following a target to the weighing area, standing for a health check, walking up a loading ramp…
Short, calm and mostly about manners. The farrier meets the foal where it lives, with the dam in sight and you holding the rope, runs a hand down each leg, picks each foot up for seconds rather than minutes, and rasps only what needs tidying — ragged edges, a long toe — before stopping while the foal is still relaxed.…
Weaning works from the rumen outward: kids that get hay and a kid starter within reach from their first weeks nibble early, and that nibbling is what grows the stomach that will run on solids. Begin stepping milk down only once a kid eats starter and hay keenly, chews its cud and keeps gaining — then drop one milk…
Prepare a week or more ahead, not when the doe starts pawing. Set up a clean, draught-free pen bedded deep with straw where she can settle away from the herd, hung water she cannot foul and no bucket a newborn can fall into, and gather one kit within arm's reach: towels, gloves, lubricant, navel care supplies, a bulb…
Start weeks before you need to lead the calf anywhere. Let it wear a correctly fitted halter for short, supervised spells in its own pen, paired with scratches and hand-fed treats, then teach the core idea — pressure and release — in tiny steps: gentle steady pull, and instant slack the moment the calf steps toward…
For most backyard breeds there is no trustworthy answer in the first days: vent sexing at hatch is a specialist hatchery skill, and wing checks only work in crosses deliberately bred for them. The reliable sequence runs in stages — cockerels' combs typically grow faster and redden from around four to six weeks,…
A chick is a flock animal from its first hour, so a lone hatchling needs you to supply the company its siblings would have given it. A mirror and a soft toy or feather duster to huddle against, frequent short bouts of gentle handling, and a brooder placed where household voices are part of the day all blunt the…
Battles begin when the first real appointment doubles as the first rehearsal, so practise each professional's job at home in the weeks before anyone is booked: pick up and hold each foot, lift the lip and rub the gums, and let the youngster stand for a stranger's hands. Book first visits at quiet times, tell each…
You will never stop ducklings splashing — dabbling and dunking their heads is how they keep their nostrils and eyes clear — so contain the water instead of fighting the birds. Set the drinker on a panel of wire mesh over a shallow tray, so everything they fling drains down and away from the bedding, and keep the water…
Bloodshed almost always follows a face-to-face introduction, because an established flock reads strangers as invaders and negotiates rank with beaks. Let the two groups live side by side behind wire for two to three weeks first, so the youngsters become familiar furniture, then mix them during supervised free-ranging…
A foal that ducks behind its dam is not being stubborn — hiding is a young prey animal's first defence, and it eases with quiet, predictable contact rather than capture. Work in the mare's pen at her pace: sit or crouch nearby without reaching, let the foal close the distance itself, and end every session before it…
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