Wow…It’s been over a month since our last Husky Report!  There are many things going on, but the catch 22 is that that limits the time needed to type this blog. 

  • Rose’s puppies are 8 weeks old, and 6 of the 7 are in their new homes!  We welcome the Brennan, Tuggle, Ross, Karacia, and Wolfram families to Frosty Meadow!
  • The one remaining puppy is sold, but scheduling is causing a small delay in the pick up.  A special thanks go out to the Coleman’s, for adding to their pack!  They are the owners of Cheyenne, and are getting her a little brother.  Time will tell if the new pup sees as much of the world that Cheyenne has in her travels!
  • We got some disturbing news a couple weeks ago.  The State of Ohio Fair Board has eliminated ALL poultry from 2015 Fair competition throughout the state.  The bird flu has raised considerable concern, and they want to limit the spreading.  While I completely understand their stance and applaud there foresight, I also know they left a LOT of upset and disappointed kids in their wake!  Many folks cancelled their chick orders, so I know the area hatcheries took a major hit as well.  Here, we went ahead and pushed forward.  We have already sent 23 of our turkeys off to processing.  They were still relatively small, averaging around 11-12 lbs.  We decided that that is a good meal size.  Thanksgiving and Christmas birds are usually bigger, but for normal meals, we wanted to size them down a bit.  We still have 7 more that we are growing much larger.  We hope they will end up in the 30-50 lb range, and they would get sectioned at processing.
  • Meanwhile, our 25 baby chickens have arrived.  We figure to grow these and then order 25 more before the summer is over.  We should be well stocked by winter!
  • Our new corner stalls are finished!  They are working out great so far.  In these stalls, we are working on a new concept for “litter box” training.  Seems funny I know, but so far we are having a very positive reaction.  Basically, we sectioned off a corner of one of the stalls with a box, and filled it with pine pellets.  We’ve always known/observed that they like to potty in only certain areas.  We are using that to our advantage to train them to only go in the “box”.  The cleaning process would be very similar to a cat litter box.  So far, Kallen and Rose have taken right to it.  However, Miya seems to think it’s a bed.  We may need to work with her a bit more!
  • What a crazy year weather-wise!  Although we’ve gotten less rain than many other areas around us, we’ve still had plenty.  The biggest issue:  The hay field.  Normally, the first cut is around Memorial Day, up through the first week of June.  As of today, June 30th, it has not been cut.  When cut for horses, hay needs to be cut and completely dried before baling.  If it molds, it can seriously harm or kill a horse that ingests it.  Cows can handle it, but horses can’t.  We’ve now told the farmer that cuts it to go ahead and cut and bale and keep it all.  He has cows, so it will be ok for them.  It needs to be cut soon or it won’t be good for anyone!
  • It’s been slow for a while litter-wise, but we anticipate a very active late summer and fall!  Litters expected before the end of year include:  Aleu, Lula, Josie, Ember, Iris, and Phoenix.  We appreciate everyone’s patience!
  • Meanwhile, the rest of the summer won’t be the same without the fair!  We are likely to attend for a day, but not being able to participate will be tough!  It’s been a part of our lives for a number of years now.  Perhaps we will see more of it now that we won’t be so busy during it!