Arabian Gelding, The Sorcerer, Zory

A few years ago I wrote a blog post about a wonderful horse I owned back in the late 1980's, his registered name was The Sorcerer, but for short we called him Zory.  I had sold him and the last I had heard was that he had been sold again and his new owner was not particularly good to him, showing him so much that he was looking very unhappy in the ring.  I wrote about this in my blog post and assumed that was the end of the story.

Myself on The Sorcerer, I think he was 4 years old in this picture.

Then, just last year (December 2014) I got a comment on that blog post.  It seems that a lady, Elain, who had purchased him (presumably from the owner I had heard about) just had a feeling to do a search for her horse;s online and found the blog.  She bought him when he was 8 years old and had owned him ever since, actually retiring him from the show ring with a proper ceremony when he was 19 years old.  He was now 31 (a good age for a horse).  She invited me to see him.

Years later as owned by Elain

 It was the middle of winter and although where he was stabled was only about an hour from my home, I decided to wait until spring.  She had told me that he had arthritis (typical of older horses, especially those that had been used in English pleasure), but was otherwise in pretty good shape.

She sent me photos of him which showed his progressive steps into going gray (this is normal for horses with a gray gene).  He looked beautiful and happy!  She told me that when she got him he was scared and not a real happy horse at all, but that she was able to bring him around to being his former self.   She told me she had often heard about how much I loved him.  I looked forward to seeing him, and meeting her, in the spring.

Sadly only three weeks after our initial talk she sent me a shocking e-mail.  It would appear that one evening he had suffered a heart attack.  She raced to the barn to be with him and although he did struggle to get up, he was unable to, and did pass away.

At that point I was able to drive up and meet with her, we shared our tears and talked about the life The Sorcerer had and she showed me her other horses.

Years later and playing with his friend "Mover"

Elain impressed me a lot with her love for Zory, especially as she did not own the farm where he was kept and actually paid board for him there.  Not too many people are willing to pay board fees for an old horse they cannot even ride, but she said he had more than earned it.

Although I am obviously sad that I did not make it up to see Zory when he was alive I was thrilled to know that in the end he did find a wonderful owner and did have a great life.

Sheep out in a Summer Snow Storm

This week Alberta was hit by a freak summer snow storm. I do not recall getting snow so early before but I do have memories of late snows in May and June.

The trees still have leaves and many are bent over and some are breaking. The animals are not particularly happy about it either. The roosters are not even smart enough to go inside and are roosting on a branch with no shelter above heads. The cats are unimpressed.

The sheep are pretty well adjusted, the snow is not too much for them, they can still dig through to the grass. 

It is that time of year to sell them though. I had a buyer who was all lined up to come two weeks ago, but when he went to leave his place he noted something was wrong with his trailer, I think he said an axle was broken. He was going to fix it and come the next day. The next day he had bought the wrong axle and was going to have to try again a few days later, but after repeated trips to Canadian Tire, or wherever you buy new trailer axles, he was having no luck getting the right one and eventually said for us to go ahead and sell to somebody else.

This was frustrating, but understandably not his fault, unfortunately I had turned 3 other buyers down in the process, two of which I did not get their phone numbers. Thankfully I did get the e-mail of one guy and he is coming right away for a ram lamb. Well, I should say, he is waiting for the weather to improve then will be here. He has selected a nice brown Katahdin ram so we are holding that one for him, but we do have an interesting bunch of rams this year including one with four horns and a really neat looking tri-color hair sheep.

I am not happy with the weather, I am not a big fan of the cold. I have aches and pains, and it is hard to take. It is one thing to get winter weather in winter, or even in the fall, but again, this is still summer and we have 2 more weeks go to before it is fall.

I love Alberta, but sometimes I think I am crazy to live here.

The Most Money Spent on an Auction Trip Without Buying Anything

What a year!

Normally I would post an ad for sheep for sale and they all would be gone in a matter of weeks.  This year was a funny year.  The hair sheep ewes sold very quick but the rams were just not selling.  I had some people call and claim they were going to come, then cancel for one reason or another.  I had a lot of people call and ask if they could "butcher them on the farm" which I do not allow.  So as such I had 6 ram lambs and 3 ewe lambs left to sell. 

With only ten acres and a small barn it is not possible to keep more over winter and the rams were fighting each other as it was.

The only other option was to go to the auction.  Every Easter and Canadian Thanksgiving (October) there is a large 3 day auction about 1.5 hours away from where I live, Friday is sheep and goat day.  So we made plans to take the sheep down to the auction, but there was a small problem; the truck was not wired for trailer lights.

So.. first thing we had to do was to take the truck fitted with a light plug for the trailer.  We took it on Monday but the mechanic was busy so we did not get it back until Tuesday.  Fine.. great.. ready to go!

Wrong.

On Wednesday we hooked the truck up to the trailer and noted that the lights were not working on one side of the trailer.  It has been at least 2 years since we have used the trailer so we hauled it to the mechanic on Thursday.  He phoned to say the wires were a mess but since it was an old trailer he would do a "cheap" repair rather than putting too much effort into it.  Well the cheap repair was not cheap, $250.. but at least we were ready to go!

But...

As we were driving to the auction something caught my eye, It looked like the tire flap was shredding and falling off, but soon I realized that it was something different; a flat trailer tire!

We pulled over, being in the middle of nowhere.  We had no idea how to lift the trailer to change the tire so called road side assistance.  They came and put the spare tire on.  But it was flat - so they pumped it up and we were on our way.

By the time we arrived at the auction, already late but at least they had not started selling sheep yet, we noted the tire had gone flat again.  We unloaded the sheep and went straight to the nearest tire place.  They got us fixed up, the spare tire was not even repairable, so we had to buy 2 tires as we did not want to drive home without a spare!  That was $300+.

Now we still do not know how much the sheep sold for and just are hoping it was a good price - but what a heck of a time that was.

All told, plus gas and lunch, I think we spent over $700 just to get the sheep to the auction!

Deer Almost Trapped in a Bird Aviary

A few summers ago my husband built two starplate aviaries for us to use to keep pet birds in.  We have used the aviaries for ducks, pheasants, and pigeons.  This past fall we sold the pigeons and since then the aviaries were left open, I figured the cats would enjoy going in there.  I never bothered to clean out the last of the pigeon feed as I thought that eventually chickadees and other birds would come along and eat it up the seeds.

I did not expect to see a deer eating the bird seed though.

That was until a few days ago when we had a small snow fall and in the early evening my husband happened to notice there was a deer in one of the aviaries.  We often have deer visit in the winter, they come to steal the hay.  However it appeared this particular deer somehow realized there was oats and seeds in the shelter left over from the pigeons and she was standing in the aviary eating quite happily.

The deer was aware of us watching her, but we were in the house, and she clearly was not worried about us, I got worried though.

I know horses can get founder from eating too many oats when they are not use to it, and once had a lamb swell up after getting into the chicken scratch and eating a handful (the lamb lived), so I was concerned that deer might have problems too.  I chased her away.

The deer was a white tailed deer as that is what is common in the area.  Sorry for the poor photo quality, my husband took the picture from inside the house.  

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Other Reading

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Thorsby Critter Auction Buying Pigeons

The Thorsby Auction market is located in the town of Thorsby, Alberta.  It is an auction market that holds cattle sales once a week (Mondays) and horse sales once a month.  They also hold an odd and unusual critter auction in which sellers bring many odd and unusual livestock animals and exotic pets (mostly rabbits, caged birds, and guinea pigs), and interested buyers can bid on them.  These auctions are in the spring and fall.

They auction off the birds first, often chickens, peafowl, ducks, pigeons, and so forth depending on what people have brought.  After which they sell goats, pigs, sheep, llamas, alpacas, miniature horses, donkeys, and some cattle.  Every auction is different,  you really never can be sure on what will be there, and what the prices will be.

The first year we attended laying hens were selling for fifty cents a piece.  There were well over 40 birds, Isa Browns I think.  After that year I never saw laying hens so cheap again, one year there were only 5 laying hens in the whole auction (there were other hens sold as a pair with a rooster, or specialty breeds such as Silkies).  In some cases laying hens sold for over $15.00 a bird.

King Utility Pigeons

We have seen llamas sell for $20 a piece but at one auction the auctioneers were paying people a dollar to take a llama. 

You see it all at these places, including some signs of neglect, such as donkey's with neglected feet.

Sometimes you get a bit of information on the animals (such as the miniature horses) sometimes you do not even get their name. 

In the past we have bought and sold sheep at the Thorsby Auction Market, I find the prices tend to be rather low, as such fewer people bring sheep to sell than in the past and many opt for private sales, or take them to other auction markets where "meat" prices are high. 

This year we sold a bunch of farm equipment that we were not using and bought 2 pairs of pigeons.  In the past we have purchased laying hens, but this year we want to take a bit of a holiday and to have fewer birds to look after in general.  Although hens are great to have, they are more work than pigeons.

Tumbler Pigeons

One pair we bought were King Utility Pigeons, apparently people eat them; not us, they are pets.

The other pair we bought were Tumblers, these being pigeons that fly and then "tumble", it would be cool to get a video of them in flight, apparently though this also puts them at risk of being taken by hawks.  I am not sure I fully understand the behavior, why they fly this way, but it sounds interesting.

I took pictures of the pairs, I should like to get better pictures in the future, as the colors on the Tumblers did not show up well.

At this particular auction I managed to purchase the birds for less than $10.00 each. 

The Thorsby Auction market is less than an hour south west of Edmonton and has unusual critter auctions every spring and fall.  To find out the dates call the Thorsby Auction market at 780-789-3915.

Feathered Winter Vistors, Pine Grosbeaks

This winter has been pretty good, temperatures were actually well above normal, there was not much snow (I know, I know, bad for crops), but that all changed two days ago. A cruel cold wind blew in snow and drastically cold temperatures. We went from +5C to -20C in a matter of less than a day.

The wind also seemed to blow in some new guests, birds that we have not really seen here in the past, although they are not uncommon in the area.

We normally have black capped chickadees, waxwings, nuthatches, and blue jays, but over night we had a group of two new arrivals, redpolls (small birds), and some very attractive, robin sized birds.

At first we had only the female birds. I had a hard time identifying them because the bird book I have only pictures a male, and the females had what I would call an orange head, and the bird book said the females have an olive head (to me olive is greenish). So I thought I had a mystery bird at the feeder, eating sunflower seeds so fast I had to fill up the dish several times throughout the day.

It was not until the afternoon that male arrived (no surprise) and I was able to make an accurate identification; Pine Gosbeak, perhaps Alberta's equivalent for winter beauty to the cardinal, a bird that is rare to see here.

From what I read, Pine Grosbeaks are a forest dwelling bird most of the time but enjoy mountain ash trees (which I have always wanted but still have not gotten around to buying). They are slightly larger than finches and the defining feature is the white bars on their wings, which the females do have also.

The location, for anyone who is interested, is central Alberta, about 1 hour SW of Edmonton.

Other than the new birds, there is not much happening, the weather is frightfully cold so everyone is trying to stay warm.  I gave a whole bunch of chopped up apples to the sheep this afternoon, they liked that.  I suspect the birds might like some too, I shall put some out tomorrow.

Pictures are copyright © owned by me.

Free Cats for Farmers

Farmers often have no problem getting “free” cats for their barn, but many do not bother to vaccinate their cats, or to spay or neuter them, as a result they often have more kittens than they need, or have sick cats.

On the other side of the coin there are always cats surrendered to animal shelters that are not suitable for adoption in most homes. Cats who are not using their litter box for behavioral reasons rather than treatable medical ones, are normally euthanized as “unadoptable” by most shelters.

Most of these cats would make suitable barn cats, or good shop cats, and as such many shelters are now trying to saves as many of these cats as they can by offering them up in such a way.

The Edmonton Humane Society is one place that has recently started a “Barn Buddies” program to give these cats a second chance. The cats are free (but donations are always welcome) and come vaccinated, chipped and spayed or neutered. They are also friendly. To note, some shelters do adopt out feral (less friendly) cats to farm homes as well. The Edmonton Humane Society requires interested people to apply with them for this program.

Potential adopters are required to have:

• A barn or building where the cat can find shelter from bad weather.
• Food for the cat. Note that a well fed cat is a better mouser.
• The right attitude to make sure the cat is cared for and receives veterinary attention as needed.

If you are bringing home a new cat to the farm or shop, it should be kept in an enclosed space with food and water for several days to help it bond to the area.

If you are a farmer who could benefit from such a program please contact your local animal shelter to see if they have cats available under such a system.

The information for the Edmonton Humane Society's Barn Buddies program is here.

The Grass is as High as a Sheeps Eye

The first seven months of 2011 have been nothing if not wet, and cold. Winter was long, snowy, and colder than typical. Anyone who thought spring would make up for it was wrong, anyone who thought summer would make up for a terrible winter and spring, was also wrong.

Winter was cold and wet, spring was cold, wet and windy, and summer continued the trend. The gloomy cloudy days made everyone miserable, the wind tore most of the sheet metal off my shed and the rain made everything soggy. Weeds were pretty happy, and the pasture did look greener than every.

Two years ago there was a drought in the area. Pigeon Lake, nearby, was way down from its usual, and even 2010 did not bring it up to where it should be.

We sold a few sheep in 2010 due to the drought, pasture was very poor that year, and rather than go through the same worries again it was just easier to sell a few sheep. In the spring of 2011 we sold Baby Katahdin, the ram, and all the lambs, so we were left with 8 ewes, Aggie the donkey, and Crystal, the llama. This seemed like a reasonable number of sheep.

July 28, 2011

The problem being that we had nothing but rain so the pasture did nothing but grow. All of central Alberta, and southern Alberta did much the same, although parts of northern Alberta experienced fires that left the town of Slave Lake ravaged (later it flooded).

You might think the animals were thrilled with all the grass... but no, they were being eaten by mosquitoes if they were not being pelted by rain, the shed had not much of a roof left so they mostly stayed in the old barn poking out only rarely to get something to eat, then going back to get away from the bugs. I have been here now 6 years, the mosquitoes were the worst I have ever seen.



July 28, 2011



For almost one week in July we had sun, but it was tempered with thundershowers at night. The lucky thing being this was the week our cochin chicks hatched at least they had some sun. I am not so sure if there has been a day with no rain, or not.

The sheep cannot keep up with the grass, and nor can we, lawn mowing is a never ending chore. The mosquitoes are not quite as bad and the grasshoppers are assisting in chewing down the pasture. Aggie is getting fatter and fatter (donkeys get fat on their necks) and we see the sheep now from time to time when they poke their heads up above the grass.

If you have been following this blog you know the sheep are Patsy in the front (with 5 horns), Mrs Brown Katahdin, Diamond, with Mrs White Katahdin tucked in behind, Girlie and her mom, Dark Brown, and off to the left is Favorite Sheep.  Blackie is only see in the above picture, where Aggie is also getting in on the shot.  Crystal is actually behind Aggie rolling in the mud/dirt.

To compare I will show you a picture taken in roughly the same spot two years ago.

Patsy in 2009 - same pasture as above.

Innisfail Odd and Unusual Animal and Bird Auction Sheep and Goat Day

Twice a year there is a great three day auction held at the Innisfail Auction Market in Innisfail, Alberta.  This auction market holds regular cattle sales, as well as horse sales, but is also host to the Odd and Unusual Animal and Bird Auction.

Every Easter and Thanksgiving weekend a three day livestock and farm equipment auction is held in Innisfail.

On the first day (Friday) of the sale Goats and Sheep are sold.  Typically the sale opens with the bottle babies being sold - both goat kids, and lambs.  Then goats are auctioned off, followed by sheep.  Very often a few bags of feed are sold and a few other items related to sheep, and/or goats. 

Later in the day antiques, and caged pets are sold, with birds (including house birds as well as poultry) selling Saturday, and larger mammals on Sunday (horses, donkeys, bison, llamas, cattle, and so forth).  Tack and other large animal equipment is usually sold at the start of the Sunday sale. 

The sale is very well run, the animals penned so that people can look prior to the auction and make note of which animals they wish to bid on.  The sheep and goats are generally NOT run into the ring in numerical order but rather by gender. 

The auction sees many breeds of goats and sheep.  Fainting goats tend to be very popular at this auction sale as are hair sheep.

If you plan on attending as a buyer it is good to arrive early to have a look at the penned goats and sheep, as well you will want to get a good seat. 

If you plan on attending as a seller you will need to arrive extra early and get into line up to unload your animals.  Typically the animals well sell in the same order they arrived.  Birds must be in good boxes and you need to write a description on the box, it is best to do this at home prior to arriving.  Sheep require a CSIP tag.

If you are selling bottle baby goats, or bottle baby lambs, it is generally a good idea to bring a bottle and a days worth of formula powder to supply to the buyer of the animal.

For Innisfail Odd and Unusual Sale Dates and Contact Information - click here.

They Came for the Hay

This winter has been long and hard (here in Alberta at least).  Our temperatures have been well below normal for the month of February, and now March.  The snow is still deep and due to the strange weather cycle we had this year, it is very hard for wild animals to dig through to find grass underneath.  As such deer have recently discovered our hay bales and have been coming for free meals. 

One day while my husband and I were home (March 7, 2011 to be specific) several deer came up the driveway for lunch.  Our donkey, Aggie, must have seen them as she started baying. 

The deer did not stick around for long.  While we did not intentionally scare them away, they must have heard the door open as we tried to take many pictures. 

I am sure they will be back, perhaps at night, or another day.

This is not our first invasion by wildlife, we have had skunks visit, coyotes (we chase them off of course), porcupines, and even a moose!  Read more about our Wild Friend's Visits.

If you should encounter a fawn resting - without a mother - you will want to know that it is best left alone - read more about what to do when you Find a Fawn.

If you are a deer, or know a deer, with wild deer issues Click Here.