A Veterinary Visit

This past Thursday our Farmyard veterinarians were here to check on the critters. Dr. Cannedy and Dr. Mozzachio arrived early on the chilly Thursday morning.  Full physicals will occur in April, but Lightning needed some blood taken to see how his Cushing’s disease is progressing. While here, our old goat Chummix got checked out and so were the pigs. Miss Piggy looks great according to Dr. Mozzachio, but she took photos so she could compare body condition in a month or so.Read more
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QuikPic: Max gets weighed

The Keepers, have been using the new scale in the farmyard to get weights on the animals. That means a lot of training for Max: getting a leash on; walking “nicely” without pulling Kent around; no side field trips to eat plants; get all four feet on the scale and hold still… Success has occurred. Any guesses as to how much the heaviest animal at the Museum weighs?Read more

It’s the Little Things

Our Jersey steer, Max, is a picky eater. Unlike most bovine, which will eat anything you hand them, Max really only eats his hay and steer chow (breakfast cereal for cattle). Keepers Kent and Jill and I have been working extra hard since last summer to sneak extra pieces of training foods into his giant mouth, just to get him to try something new. For training reasons, it’s a good idea for Max to learn to eat foods that are moreRead more
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Sheep Update

Since the arrival of our 4 alpacas, we’ve had many people inquire about our sheep. A member of our farrier‘s family (the man who comes out to trim Lightning’s hooves) was very excited to provide the retirement home for our old ladies. They now live about an hour from Durham on a few acres of grass with a roomy stall they can access at any time. Their only jobs are to mow the lawn and to look pretty. Our farrier,Read more
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Trimming Duck’s Wings

Have you ever wandered into the farmyard and asked yourself, “Why doesn’t the duck simply fly away?” There are three answers: He does, sometimes. As you can see here in an older post. He seasonally has wing feathers trimmed to help keep him down on the ground. At nearly 11 pounds, he’s a little bit too chubby to really get off the ground.   In the early spring and fall, Ducky molts (loses) his old feathers and grows a niceRead more