Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The best way to keep rodents, skunks, opossums, and raccoons from being attracted to
your horse farm is to keep things tidy: garbage containers should be secured, pet food and
water bowls should be put away, and barn doors should be closed during cold weather and
at night.
BIRDS
If you leave you barn door open, it will be an invitation for birds to nest. A few nesting
swallows helping with fly control is a nice thing, but when your barn is invaded by spar-
rows or pigeons, the health hazard and noise will be extreme. Bird droppings carry sal-
monella, and birds often carry mites, fleas, and lice. Screen openings and keep doors and
windows closed during nesting season; your barn cat can also help control birds.
Mud Management
Mud is home to bacteria, fungi, and other organisms that cause diseases such as thrush,
rain rot, scratches, and abscesses, and flies and mosquitoes breed in mud and puddles. Mud
is damaging to the environment, so avoid overgrazing, use gravel in high traffic areas and
pens, divert rainwater from traffic areas, and pick up manure daily.
An old wives' tale suggests that if you have a horse with poor-quality or dry hooves, you
should let the water trough run over to force the horse to stand in the mud. While the basic
notion might sound logical, in fact mud can be harmful to hooves. Excess water absorbed
by the hoof weakens the layers of hoof horn and results in soft, punky hoof walls that peel
and separate. A weak hoof can spread out like a pancake. Too much moisture also makes a
horse's soles soft and susceptible to sole bruises and abscesses.
The effects of repeated wet/dry conditions are even more damaging. Research has found
that the condition of hooves worsens during hot, humid weather, especially where horses
are turned out at night. Typically, horses walk around in dew-laden pastures all night and
then either are left out where the sun will dry the hooves or are put in a stall where the
bedding dries the hooves. Horses that receive daily baths or rinses or those that repeatedly
walk through mud and then stand in the sun experience a similar decline in hoof quality. In
both cases the hoof is undergoing a stressful moisture expansion/contraction that results in
cracks, splits, and peeling.
If you want a firsthand example of how drying such situations can be, stick your fingers
in some fresh mud past your fingernails and let them dry. Your “hooves” (fingernails) and
“coronary bands” (cuticles) will probably show signs of drying and cracking after just one
episode! Mud has the effect of drawing out moisture and oils and tightening pores—as in a
poultice or a mud facial.
