 November 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The official newsletter of Horses for Clean Water, http://www.horsesforcleanwater.com
Message from Alayne: Winter Solstice
This year’s Winter Solstice is little more than a month away on December 21st. Anyone who has attended my classes or farm tours knows that this day marks the annual HCW Winter Solstice Chore Efficiency Test, in which you play a game to determine how efficient your horse property really is. The winter storms currently hitting much of North America make it an especially good time to take the test. Several veteran HCW participants have already emailed me to say “all this rain—but no mud here!” Good for you, and good for your horses and the environment, too! The Chore Efficiency Test is simple: After work on December 21st (or since it’s a Sunday, at the time you would usually get home from work), go through your horse chore routine to see if you make it through with ease. If you do, you pass the test with flying colors. My reasoning is this: if you are set up to be chore efficient on the shortest day of the year, then horse chores will be a breeze come summer! Want some ideas on winterizing your horse property? Check out the HCW Tip Sheet, Fall in Place: A Checklist for Preparing Your Horse Property for Winter. This year we have some exciting new winter suggestions that will benefit not only you, your horses, and your farm, but HCW as well. You may have noticed some additions to the HCW web site. When you click on those links and make purchases, HCW earns money at no extra cost to you. All you have to do is make your purchase through those HCW links. In this TGH we have some chore efficiency tips have links to products via HCW affiliate companies, thereby supporting our free online programs. My favorite part about Winter Solstice is knowing that it truly is darkest before the dawn, and that the very next day the light is a little longer, the darkness a bit less. May you and your horses stay warm, dry and mud-free. Happy Thanksgiving!
Pigeon Fever In Washington and Oregon StatesPigeon Fever, a disease usually associated with hot dry states such as Texas and California, has recently made appearances in Oregon, Washington and several other Western States. The disease gets its common name because the bacteria, Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis, causes abscesses in the chest area, causing the horse’s chest to swell much like the chest of a pigeon. Horses usually recover from the disease and there are no vaccinations for it. Veterinary treatment usually consists of hot packing the swelling until an abscess has formed and is ready to lance. The bacteria is spread by flies, so if one horse on a property is affected, it is likely that this highly contagious disease will be spread to others nearby. Since flies spread this disease, a good manure management and insect control program will be your best ally in avoiding it. See HCW Tip Sheets for help on getting rid of insect habitat by reducing mud and manure. Find out how easy composting can be in 5 Easy Steps to Compost Learn how to fight mud in Goodbye Mud And Dust. Follow up with natural ideas for insect control in Natural Solutions for Fertilizers, Weed Control and Pest Control and other fly control ideas in the May 2004 The Green Horse. For more information on Pigeon Fever in Washington and Oregon check out the article Widespread Pigeon Fever Reported in Oregon at TheHorse.com.
Leaves and Needles: Natural Mulches for NaturescapingLeaves piling up from recent wind storms? Mulching plants in the fall with natural materials is a great way to protect your naturescaping investment, and Washington, the “Evergreen State,” is full of natural mulch. The pine needles and leaves dropped by Washington’s many trees at this time of year make a great winter mulch. A 4 to 12 inch layer of leaves around the base of plants or across gardens acts as insulation and a protective blanket. Mulch prevents alternate freezing and thawing that may heave shallow-rooted plants out of the ground, a special concern with dense clay-like soils. Mulch can also protect the soil from the impact of heavy rain, avoiding drainage problems or soil erosion. Mulches are a labor-saving device for gardeners any time of year. A layer of needles, leaves, straw, or other mulch materials can prevent the germination of many weed seeds as well as reduce the need for cultivation, extra waterings or the use of herbicides. Mulch also improves the soil by adding organic matter as it decomposes. It also may encourage the growth of worms and other beneficial soil organisms that improve soil structure and the availability of nutrients for plants. For more on choosing the right native plants for your horse property see Horses for Native Plants in the December 2004 issue of The Green Horse.
Save Washington State’s Horse Farms:Potential Rule Change Effects Horse Property Ownersby Save Our Washington Horse Farms The Washington State Department of Revenue (DOR) is considering changing its interpretation of an existing law (RCW 84.34) which will no longer allow farms that board horses or provide training, riding and schooling activities to qualify under the Farm and Agriculture tax classification of the Open Space Taxation Act (WAC 458-30-200). To retain Farm and Agricultural tax classification, the DOR will require horse farms to breed and sell horses. Horse farms, especially those in suburban areas, face steep tax increases, and in many cases, retroactive tax increases for up to seven years! These farms are small, individual and family-owned businesses. Many have operated under the Farm and Agricultural tax classification for almost 40 years. The inevitable result of the DOR’s action will be the loss of open spaces as more horse farm owners are forced to sell their land. In addition to the loss of open spaces, the DOR’s rule change will have other negative consequences. It may encourage excessive breeding of horses that will contribute to the current problem of too many unwanted horses. It will threaten the livelihoods of hay and grain growers, hay haulers, farm supply stores, veterinarians, riding instructors, trailer dealers, horse transporters, and many others who service the horse industry. Wholesome educational activities such as Pony Club, 4-H and therapeutic riding activities will be threatened. You can help save our Washington horse farms:
Please speak up in support of our efforts to preserve family horse boarding and riding farms and preserve the open spaces of Washington. Thank you, More information on this topic, see the recent article in TheHorse.com. ADDITIONAL NOTE: And additional hearing will take place Dec. 4 in Yakima. For more information or to comment on the issue, contact Marilou Rickert at the Department of Revenue, Interpretations and Technical Advice Division.
Book Review: The Worst Hard TimeReviewed by Alayne Blickle Those of us who strive to manage our farmlands in a conservational and sustainable manner will find The Worst Hard Time dramatic and convincing. This non-fiction piece is about the Dust Bowl, or Dirty Thirties, and farming techniques of the American Great Plains states. Timothy Egan weaves a compelling story, told through the experiences of survivors, about the many contributing factors to the Dust Bowl such as poor farming techniques, government policies which encouraged westward expansion and extreme drought. It details the enormity of the situation; some dust storms traveled from the Great Plains of the Texas Panhandle all the way to Washington D.C. and New York City, turning day into night in those major Eastern cities. The Dust Bowl was an ecological and human disaster, affecting over 100,000,000 acres and hundreds of thousands of families. Racing at 50 miles an hour, dust storms blasted paint off of houses and covered fences, trees and buildings with soil that often drifted into 50-foot dunes. The static electricity of these storms could knock a person down or stop a car. Children died of dust pneumonia. Livestock suffocated on dirt. Women hung wet sheets over windows, taped doors and stuffed cracks with rags. None of this really worked as housecleaning, in this era, was performed with a shovel. Starving, the people of this period pickled tumbleweed, and ate yucca roots and road kill. The Worst Hard Time is also about the formation of the Soil Conservation Service (now the Natural Resources Conservation Service) and it’s local allies, Soil Conservation Districts, and other works of the New Deal Era, which helped to slowly heal the wounds of the land and bring about change. The importance in this book for farm and ranch owners of today is not only a look at history but to recognize the failings in agricultural practices of this era and learn from past mistakes so we aren’t doomed to repeat them. Timothy Egan, a national reporter for the New York Times, is the author of five books and the recipient of several awards, including the Pulitzer Prize. The Worst Hard Time won the 2006 National Book Award in the nonfiction category. He lives with his wife and two children in Seattle, Washington.
Educational EventsTime to fall in place for winter! Discover great ways to reduce mud, handy ideas for composting, exciting ways to encourage birds—and more! Check out the web site, www.HorsesforCleanWater.com, for new events added regularly.
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If you have any questions or would like to submit an article for publication in The Green Horse, please e-mail info@horsesforcleanwater.com. |
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to help get horse chores accomplished in style
in paddocks to pick up manure in your stalls and confinement areas?
are the ticket.
