BORDER FARM
You can feed the highest quality food/forage to your animals, have the best free choice minerals, offer additional herbs, ancient sea salt with trace minerals, and STILL have mineral deficiencies.
Welcome to the mineral circus! Balancing nutrition in the summer time is easy, pasture and wild forage, moisture from rain water or moving water sources, easier access to the earth and its minerals. But come winter, it is chasing one mineral to fix another, to block one, to add another, and the circus lasts through spring.
Primary mineral issues are usually a factor of low quality food/forage and incorrect minerals. This can cause all kinds of issues including loosing valuable conditioning in animals, but also easy to fix.
Secondary mineral issues are usually water issues, very hard water or sulfur water to be exact. You see when there is too much – iron, calcium, magnesium, or sulfur, it acts as an antagonist to other minerals like copper, zinc, and selenium. Issues with coat, skin, hoof, fertility, vulnerable to parasites, and conditioning of an animal are all at risk.
What is an antagonist you ask? It is a mineral that blocks the absorption of another mineral.
Almost all well-water in Montana is labeled as very hard water, and this reeks havoc on animals. From ranches to farms, if there is something that is a common thread it is winter-time zinc and copper deficiencies.
Installing a R.O. system to fix this water issue is usually not affordable or practical – whether a program is using 50 gallons a day or 20,000 gallons a day, the solution needs to be sustainable and affordable.
We’ve used RV filters for the last little while to help out with water quality, and it has helped, but we are changing our water system this year. We have been researching and watching videos all winter and think we have a good solution. A bit of a MacGyver project, but we are excited to get it going, and so are our animals!
Part of farming is doing what you do best, and the other part is learning how to figure things out, hopefully with valuable solutions. Stay tuned for updates!
SATURDAY FARM MARKET – We will be at the Fairgrounds Farm Market this Saturday from 9-12pm – Kefir, Duck Eggs, Shrub, and our lovely Tea Blends! See you all there, it is a great time of year to support your local farms and ranches!
CLASSES
March 7th (2 spaces remaining) Sourdough & Wild Yeast Class – An afternoon of grinding our own grains, making starters, going through the entire process of sourdough bread making, trouble shooting, and equipment. We will be talking about the nutritional benefits and sampling different breads. All wheat berries and flours that we use are local.
Goat Milking, Goat Camp, and more
PAWS & PEOPLE
Adult Female Onset Aggression
Yes, yes this is a thing.
About twenty years ago any trainer worth their salt could tell you that female dogs coming out of a shelter environment had a higher rate of aggression towards other dogs (mostly).
Why? Well there was a study done and it came down to when an adult female dog was spay. You can spay a female dog whenever you like, but it turns out where she is in her cycle counts for a whole awful lot.
Intact female dogs can be (not all) super aggressive/intolerant towards other dogs during part of their heat cycle, fact. But why were spay females coming out of shelters showing signs of deep aggression?
The canine heat cycle isn’t just a week or two, it is about six months long, but it is the two to three weeks of bleeding and standing-heat that seem to be the issue. When a female dog is spay, if it coincides with the peak of hormones during her cycle, and she is a queen or has a more forward temperament, it actually causes a behavioral change, permanently, not to mention future health issues. It is said that it is because of the drop in estrogen and oxytocin which assist in calming.
Leaving a dog intact is your choice (or the shelters). Having a female dog go through multiple heat cycles does give her a better chance at a healthy system, but mood swings do come with that, as well as meticulous management. When you want to spay, it is optimal to spay 3 months after her bleeding has stopped, that is her lowest hormonal point in her cycle.
TRAINING
MARCH Puppy/Adolescent Class – 11am
MARCH Adult Specialty Class – 11am
We are scheduling February thru June right now. If you are interested in group classes, phone appointments, Coaching, or more – please consider registering in advance.
If you would like to work with us, we would like to work with you and your dog!
