Farm Rhythms- Summer

As I worked on this entry I realized that I'm a few weeks behind on our blog posts, but that's pretty much par for the course around here at the moment. Summer on the farm means long days! These days the sun is usually peeking in my window before 6AM and giving us light to work by until after 9PM. It's great for productivity but not so much for getting enough sleep. Summer keeps us on our toes.

On the horse side of things, I'm doing a lot of ultrasounds to monitor pregnancies on our spring-bred mares. We were blessed to have cooperative mares and excellent conception rates on the big group of mares that we bred early in the season which removes the weight of tracking additional cycles and breeding those girls a second time. We have a handful of girls that, for one reason or another, foal in the middle of summer so we're not yet done with foaling season and I continue to monitor cycles, collect stallions, and try to breed these mares back as quickly as possible to get them foaling earlier in the year. This is our first year offering shipped semen on a stallion (Boone) so we also have days where we collect him to ship the semen off to other breeders for their mares. The foals that were born this spring are growing and developing so we make time to work on foal lessons and also keep track of their requirements for deworming, vaccinations, hoof trimming, etc.

There are quite a lot of farm chores that don't involve direct work with the horses. The biggest summer project is making hay to feed in the coming winter. With our big herd of large horses we find that we often go through around 350 big round bales (each of which weighs around 1,000 lbs!). Making hay is not my favorite project but is very important. We also try to keep up with mowing fields to cut down on weeds and maximize grass growth. In the heat of the summer day I can often be found inside working on my administrative tasks such as chatting with folks who are looking for horses, filling out registration applications for foals, tracking farm income and expenses and more. Dehan works full time (12 hr+ days) in the summer with a residential tree trimming business owned by a friend. He loves using a saw and playing with all the fancy toys that the business owns but it can also be challenging to work a full day in the sun and come home to an endless list of chores on the farm. He has such a great attitude about the dawn to dusk schedule of summer life!

Alongside the farm chores and busy days we have been blessed lately with visits from a lot of family and friends. These are good reminders to appreciate the fun parts of summer even when we never seem to be quite caught up. Soon enough, the days will be shorter and the babies will be off to their new homes and we will be waiting for the cycle to start again. Right now, we spend as much time as we can snuggling baby horses and trying to set everyone up for future success!

Knowledge is Meant to be Shared

Lately I've been thinking about the amazing feat that is farming. There is SO MUCH to learn and know. Speaking just on the horse side of things you can spend a lifetime amassing knowledge about topics such as breeding and genetics, nutrition, training, health, deworming, stable design, pasture care, grooming, and the list goes on. Add in extra tasks such as making your own hay, maintaining farm equipment, keeping farm and financial records and you quickly realize that no one person can be an expert in all (or even most) of these areas!

We have been blessed to be raised in communities that value supporting one another and sharing the things we've learned. I think most of agriculture is like that, although at times you run across pockets where secrets are heavily guarded to maintain a competitive edge or people feel the need to tear one another down in order to feel like their program is better and these things are incredibly discouraging to me. I love it when those who have been doing things for years can share tips and tricks with those starting out, and also when old timers can appreciate the fresh insights that new enthusiasts can bring.

Lately, we've benefitted from advice from several friends on the best way to get hay dried and baled properly. I've also been enjoying videos from a fellow Brabant breeder on some very impressive training techniques. When faced with dilemmas on getting mares bred or handling tricky customer service scenarios I have several groups on Facebook where I can get feedback from trusted individuals. On the flip side, I enjoy being able to help others when they have questions about horses they have purchased for us, the breeds we raise, or processes such as importing or parasite management. At times, both sides of the coin come together such as when a past customer was facing a training issue with her colt that I couldn't help with but a good friend and our personal trainer was more than happy to weigh in with some ideas to pass along. All in all, it's a beautiful thing when we can help one another along and work together rather than against each others.

With that in mind, what are you an expert at that you can share with others? We can't all know everything about everything but we certainly have the topics that interest us and lead us to learn more. As you learn, be sure to pass along the knowledge you've gained to others who are facing similar scenarios!

Chasing the Blue: Part 3

This is the final installment in our mini-series looking at the high demand for blue roan Brabant foals and the challenges involved in breeding them. We started by taking a big picture look at color genetics in Brabant horses (here) and then explored the probabilities of getting a blue roan foal when crossing a variety of different colored horses (here). In the end, we found that the odds of getting a blue roan foal sired by our stallion Ash and out of anything other than a blue roan mare do not go above 50% and are often significantly lower based on the mare's genetics. With that in mind, what's a Brabant lover to do to get the horse of their dreams???

The first step is to take time and evaluate the priority of color in the horse search. For some people, their purchase of a blue roan Brabant is a long time dream and nothing else will do. That's totally fine, but also needs to be met with the realistic expectations that it could take longer to locate this perfect horse than it would to buy another color. Other people will decide that their dream of being a Brabant owner simply can't wait and that they are open to other colors as well. In the end, there truly is no bad color for a good horse and the power, majesty, and grace of these creatures is evident regardless of their coat color. Simply being aware of the realities that blue roans are in high demand and are one of the more challenging colors to produce is a good starting point when evaluating what are 'must-haves' and what are 'wishes' in searching for the perfect horse.

For those who are set on getting a blue roan another option is to pursue importing a horse from overseas, where the number of Brabant horses are higher and therefore the number of blue roans available are also higher. This is an option that I always lay out with a lot of cautions because importing is an expensive and time consuming process and can have unfortunate results if not done carefully. The truth is, with blue roans in such high demand many breeders choose to keep their high quality blue roan foals to produce more in the future. This means that often the blue roans for sale are not the best horses, but ones that the breeder did not feel met their standards. While this is not the case with every horse and it is certainly possible to find quality blue roans it does mean that if you're shopping based on color you must pay particular attention to all the other aspects of the horse (genetics/inbreeding, temperament, health conditions, conformation, etc) in order to select the best foal. A good blue roan foal is also going to command a premium purchase price in addition to the substantial costs of importing.

Another way to go about finding a blue roan is to consider American Brabant horses with a lower percentage of European blood. By crossing a blue roan stud such as Ash to black horses, such as Percherons, the odds of getting blue roans increase as there are no dominant Agouti alleles coming into play and turning a black based horse into a bay. We've written in the past about how the percentage of European blood affects the look of a horse (here) but for those who are looking for a colorful horse with the Brabant mind and are less concerned about the European style/build this can be a great option. One other quick note about the percentage of European blood... We find in our herd that once the horse's percentage of European blood reaches the high 80s or 90% level they look and act very much like a full, 100% Brabant. We often get folks that are adamant that they want nothing less than a 100% percent foal. Again, if this is your preference we are happy to help with that but I often encourage these people to be openminded about high percentage Brabants rather than holding out for the true 100% horses, simply because there are so many more options to choose from. Once again, it comes down to knowing what you are truly looking for and how to sort through the various color, gender, percentage goals to find a horse that will make you smile every time you see them in the field :)

Our blue roan mare Beech- we love her for much more than just her color but she's got the look to go with the mind and the build of the perfect Brabant horse

Photo credit goes to Foxglove Photography