A family business…
This is a family business. Our whole family is involved in the everyday chores of the operation. When we say that a good disposition in our livestock is important to us, we truly mean it, because our “crew” consists of the people who mean the most to us! Our kids help us with feeding, gate opening, and stall cleaning… they are in the barn during stallion collections, mare checks, foaling, calving, vet days… They can regularly be found running past the feed bunks, climbing on hay, and riding bikes past pastures. We are working hard to teach our kids to respect the risks associated with farm life and livestock, and are always reminding them how to safely move around the horses and cattle. However, we also don’t hesitate to cull animals that we can’t safely handle.
There are plenty of successful operations that work differently and accept different dispositions. I won’t argue that some programs are going to benefit from aggressively protective cows or mares, but that’s not what we are after in our program. Our calves are often tagged with the whole family along for the adventure. I love when it works out so that my kids can observe the wonder of watching a foal stand to nurse for the first time. While you always have to respect the animals and be smart about it, it’s nice to know you’ve got a reasonable animal to work with while working alongside your kids. The past few horse breeding seasons have really helped me appreciate my own mares more. I’ve had mares come in that can’t be safely caught or tied, mares that try to jump out of the breeding stocks, mares that kick violently and do all they can to try to bite me. There will always be risks involved when working with horses and that risk is amplified when working during breeding season with a bunch of mares in heat. Looking ahead, instead of dodging snapping teeth and fixing broken boards, I’m going to be more selective at working with outside horses and quicker to send mares with handling issues home. Please know that this doesn’t mean you don’t potentially have a great horse - it just isn’t a good fit for my house at this time. There are lots of programs I can recommend that are better equipped to handle tricky horses - but right now, while I do want to do my best to get your mares in foal - my top priority is keeping this barn a safe and fun experience for my family. Check back in a few more years and maybe we’ll be a handier crew, but for now we are going to be pretty selective!
Our barn is one of our favorite places to be! (Photo credit: https://jturnerfineart.com/ )