Becky: Welcome, to the Homestead. I am Becky. Today's show is going to be about a little bird feeding station, putting a big draft horse in some stocks and putting pulling shoes for competition on them. Also, I want you to notice the beautiful tobacco barns that have been converted into the stables, that will take place in Kentucky. And then I will be reading a few letters from my viewers. So, let's go and look at the bird station.
Having a bird station on the homestead is a really enjoyable way to attract the birds when you are sitting on the patio, you can enjoy the different variety of birds in your neighborhood.
Here is a nice example of a bird station. If you like to attract birds on your homestead, this is a really good example of what you can build. It's very simple. It's 3, 4x4, 8 feet long and then the top one pasted it. What's nice about this is the birds land on the top of this and hop back and forth and you can attract lots of birds at once.
The different kinds of birdfeed that are being fed here are suet, thistle, cracked corn, sunflower seed and then wild bird seed. And that attracts, of course, almost every bird there is in this area here.
This is a large metal bird feeder and you fill it from the top. There's a little thing back here, you pinch and then you just raised the lid which makes it really easy to feed. I really like this feeder.
This is a little plastic feeder and it looks like several birds can land on it at once and it would hold the little tiny seed because the holes are really small. And this one looks like a Roadrunner bird feeder but it's still perfectly good. You fill this one through the top and what's nice about this one is, it has the glass, so you can see when it needs more seed. And then up here is the suet, it's just a little suet cage and the woodpeckers land on that and peck it. So, if you like to attract the birds, this is a really good design you can try.
Wasn't that a nice idea? I just think that works out so nice and attracted such a variety. It was very enjoyable to sit and watch the birds. Okay, off we go to the converted tobacco barn to look at the draft horses, get their competition shoes apply. That is a really nice trip, so let's get started.
[Music Playing]
Female Speaker: My mom and dad decided they were going to trying raising horses when I was 10, so --
Becky: Then how hold is this, a yearly?
Female Speaker: She is a -- she will be technically a year old in January,-- shall be a year in January.
Becky: How old are they when you are weighing them? What age do you lie to weigh them?
Female Speaker: I would like to weight them when they are six months.
Becky: Yeah, they are like 6 months, now.
Female Speaker: 5 or 6 months.
Becky: Some people do when they are 5 some people do it 4.
Female Speaker: Well, I do it depending on the mare. If the mare is getting too thin, time for baby to go.
Becky: Right. I am here at Full Circle Farm in Kentucky with Denise who breeds and raises thoroughbreds to fowl. She makes here living doing this and then her hobby is with the big heavy draft pullers. How long does a horse carry a baby?
Female Speaker: About 11 months -- 11 months and 10 days, technically what they say. We try to breed them once a year, usually a month after they have had their fall.
Becky: Oh! They breed right back, a month after they delivered a baby.
Female Speaker: Yeah.
Becky: Oh! Interesting.
Female Speaker: Well, in the 3rd of April, the earlier the baby the better, because they alter a year old on January 1st so once more in May, he is technically only 6 months old, but according to the everybody else he is a year old.
Becky: So he is behind, basically.
Female Speaker: So he's behind. So, we want January -- a lot of people on January and February falls,
Becky: So that's what they are shooting
Female Speaker: So that's what they are shooting, obviously you try to breed them as quickly after they have had one to get that; well, try to keep early close.
Becky: That make sense.
Female Speaker: The blood line can actually make or break you. I mean you have the best looking horse standing here in front you and if it's not by something that people like, or if it's by something that people just absolutely don't like.
Becky: So, are they going more off the paper or more off the look of the horse?
Female Speaker: It's kind of varied. There has been years where it was like all pedigree, and you could have a horse that looks like nothing, but they had the pedigree and they bought -- and then there's been years, so they kind of switch towards that was more just the horse itself, and they are kind of coming back to us, medium now.
Becky: 50-50.
Female Speaker: Yeah.
Becky: You would think.
Female Speaker: For the horse got to have the look, but then especially, if you're buying filly's, then -- they are looking for residual value.
Becky: Right, it's right.
Female Speaker: Then she has got to have a little pedigree because you might say, well, is she worth breeding once she is done running.
Becky: So, we will now raise this mare on the track when she is down raising on the track then they will breed her to have the babies for the next.
Female Speaker: For the next right, when we get done taking care of all these mares and babies, our hobby is pulling horses.
Becky: Oh! And I think Dave is putting some shoes on, so let's head over there and have a look at that.
[Cross Talk]
Becky: I am here with David, Denesse's husband and he is here working on a heavy horse. How many horses do you keep here on the farm the heavy draft?
David: 11, nearly 10 or 11, if we could afford to keep them, we would have 25 or 30 but we try to pull in competitions with ours, so they're not just standing out on the field. We don't do any farm work. We got a 7-8 mile race track and our wheel drag, the track with a chain I had labeled it, well, that's all the farm work that we do, we strictly pull them for competition horses.
Becky: Well, that's exciting and how many shows you go to per year?
David: Well, in the last -- in 2007-2008 we made 65 shows.
Becky: That's a lot in showing. Now I have to let David explain how much the weight, these big horses can pull, because it is so much I didn't even believe when they told me. So, can you describe like a horse this size up here, how much they pull in a competition?
David: Well, a pair that's ready to pull and they have been trained and everything done, they pull two-and-a-half to three tons of body weight so they weigh 4000 pounds at a good competition. We pull 27 foot 6 inches on the slab, pulls most of the time they are to be able to pull 10,500 to 12,000 pounds depending on the ground. The track plays a lot into it. On the far side, a sand track like in New York where it weighs 3,325 and weight pull 10,500 distance.
Becky: Wow! Imagine 10,000 pounds being pulled by two horses that is impressive. So, would you take a minute to explain what all of this is here behind us, I am going to step back so you can get a good shot and also Dave could explain it.
David: Well, this is a chicken coop stop. I am not willing or able to stand and hold their feet up so, I use to stop I use the strap, and I will pull the foot up right here and the back feet and pull those up and lay them in layer and strap on them and chains around them so they can't get out and get hurt and the chain's out, so they can't fall around, and get hurt, they are designed for them to be safe and not be able to get out or hurt and so --
Becky: In order to pull 10,000 to12,000 pounds, these have huge cleats on them, so those horses can get trapped and then it sticks on the ground like that. But Dave can explain the procedure he does to put the shoe on the horse.
David: Well, first of all you got to decide what shoe you got this, I don't know if can see it but the toe lined out, this is the front shoe and this toe is more straight down and this is the back shoe. A drafter was to pull on his toes in the front and in the back they pull flat for it, so that's a reason for the difference in design because the front foot goes like this and the back this way.
Becky: Alright, interesting.
David: On a draft horse, the biggest problem with these things is you hurt their tendons, the front tendons and the back tendons and their hocks, so you trim them, and you want to leave all hair you can leave and pull the shoe back as far as you can and when you do that, when you leave all the 10:33 and you pull the shoe back as far as you can, you'll elevate the heels and lower the toe and they will take a shorted stride. You don't want to drive the horse to over straight too far because they can't, it's momentum, they can't keep their momentum. If you take a short stroke they have more power.
Becky: I notice today that Dave did something that I have been wanting to do as a non-professional career, but I didn't know I could so here is Dave's tip.
David: I will just use a regular 16 ounce roofing hammer, less strokes, less time you hit the nail, it's less evasive when you are up on your elbow and your shoulder.
Becky: And a real theory on hammer. They are suppose to use is a little tiny hammer it has a little metal head on it and it has a little short handle and I have never have been comfortable with one of those. And now that I see Dave uses a regular hammer, that's what I am going to do in the future.
Well, I want to give a big thank you to David and Denise for letting us come and show us around their homestead here in Kentucky. Off the photo we go.
We are back from the farm, that was fun. Thank you Denesse and David. Now, what we are going to do is read a couple of letters from some of my viewer. This the first letter, is from Todd, who is an administrator at the Community Building Initiative in Chicago, and Todd writes, Thanks for the video on building a small checking cube. Are you in a warm climate? Do you have predators trying to dig under the fence?
Well, we are in warm climate because we live in North Florida. And we did have a problem with, I think, it was a raccoon trying to dig under the fence. But how we solve that problem was really easy, we cut like a one foot piece of wire, and the wall of the chicken coop came down and we just simply attached that flat on the ground to the PVC pipe. So, the predator would be standing on the wire and couldn't dig and they weren't smart enough to lift it up with their nose and get under it and dig. So that works how perfectly and it was an easy thing. Thanks Todd.
This next letter is from Erica. She writes, Hi! Becky, I just love your series. I happily subscribed, can't wait to see more. Your log cabin series reawakened my love of log cabin. I am in 22 and have started to planning for home ownership and I love the idea of a log cabin kit. What pride you must feel about building your own home? It must be great.
Well Erica, a log cabin kit has worked out really, really well for us. I am the primarily builder so a girl can do it and it's not a problem so I encourage you to go ahead and save and get your kit.
Okay, this next letter is from Joan and she writes, I have been interested in homesteading for years but as a single woman, don't want to go too far out in a rural area. Things are very difficult financially right now, but I am trying to save a little to buy some land and build a cabin. I wanted to buy some land in a warmer area. I live in New Jersey. So, I could garden year around. I am growing some lettuce, spinach and parsley indoors under grow light.
It seems like areas where the prices are lower have no water or electrical hook up or are extremely cold. Do you have any temperate areas you can recommend to look for land which don't get hammered with hurricanes, tornadoes, pollution, and scorpions?
Okay, let me try to answer these questions one by one. First of all, that you are a single woman, I think that's fine. Joan, I think you got still accomplish a lot, so just take your time and read, make sure you educate yourself before you tackle a project. I am sure you'll do fine.
Next, I wanted to answer the question about land and the cheaper land not having water or power on them already, and that's fine too Joan, because that's exactly how we purchased our property. It didn't come with -- excuse me any well or power on it. So, a lot of times when you are homesteader, you have to take things step by step especially, if you don't have a lot of money. In the end, it worked out fine for us, so I am sure it will for you too.
As far as recommending land, I mean everybody is so different and what they need and want. The only thing I think was a good idea is choosing somewhere warmer where you could garden year around. I think that's a great idea for a homesteader.
I have a little story to tell you because Gloria talks about not wanting land where there is scorpions and pollution, hurricane. When we first came to our property, we were walking around looking at it and of course, it was all wood and unbeknownst to me, a scorpion crawled up my pants and bit me on the belly button. So I almost had a fit when that happened. I was screaming and yelling and trying to get the thing off me. I was sure the neighbors thought the new lady was crazy.
And after that we were living in this really, really radial camper it was just a little pop-up that we had borrowed from a friend of ours. Well, early, early in the morning, my son was sleeping I went inside and my husband and I was sleeping on the other, my husband had gone off to work and my son just called me in a most terrifying voice. He is like mom. So, I jump up, of course and I run over there because we all know our kids voice when they are in trouble.
So, I go over there and I said, What? And he said, There's a snake on me. And I am looking but it's kind of dark still, it was just fairly dawn and like, kind of leading all the way I am saying, where? He was afraid to move, he was stiff as a corpse and he said, right there.
So, when I leaned over a little further, I saw the snake head was literally like looking at him. It was his face and the snake looking right at them, so by me leaning over though, it had frightened the snake and it was about a four foot snake and it had crawled the way somewhere to the camber.
So if you want to be a homesteader and kind of start from scratch, you will have little interesting things to deal with. We did end up looking up at the library, I did what kind of snake it was and it was just a harmless Florida pine rat snake. So, we did go to bed the next night not being too worried about it.
Well, thanks for all your letters and it's nice to hear from everybody. Happy homesteading, bye.
I am here with David, Denesse's husband and he is here working on a heavy horse. So I am just going to ask him a few questions about the draft. And I forgot the first question. What was it? Alright.
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