Farm News 08-14-05
Sunday morning, after chores, 64°
Docile Dog
Last week I wrote:
Temple Grandin tells about a Russian researcher who started breeding foxes for docility. After twenty-two generations of selecting only for docility, he ended up with foxes that all looked like Border Collies. Temperament and appearance seem to often be coupled in animals.
Dr. M, the veterinarian who has promised to do any future heart surgery I may require, responded:
My son, Stephen, and his family own a truly docile dog. Atlas is a Bernese Mountain Dog, similar to a Newfoundland but slightly smaller. When a stranger enters the house Atlas opens an eye, usually. He seldom bothers to lift his head. When someone he likes comes to visit he will wait until they are seated, then slowly stand up, amble over to them, flop down, put his head on the visitor's foot, and return to dormancy.
The only activity which Atlas seems to enjoy is waking up Liam, my teenage grandson. All you have to do is say, “Atlas, wake up Liam,” and Atlas goes into action. He walks briskly to Liam's room, pushes the door open, and starts licking Liam on the ear. Once he is sure that Liam is awake he returns to a favorite spot, flops down, and returns to dormancy.
As anyone who has raised one should know, adolescent males are subject to 'morning weakness', a condition which makes it very difficult for them to waken before noon. When Stephen was a teenager I tried a great many methods for waking him, possibly that is part of the reason that when he reached adulthood he moved about as far from Kansas as he could go and still be in the lower 48. None of the methods I tried, though, were nearly as effective as Atlas's ear licking.
Possibly, when Liam reaches adulthood he too will move as far as he can from his parents' home. Unfortunately, that isn't Kansas, but someplace on the opposite side of the continent. He currently lives in Oregon, so I sort of expect him to move to Georgia. Too bad, he is a nice sort of person and I enjoy his company.
Anyway, if the Russian researcher who bred foxes selected for docility had been able to continue the experiment for another twenty generations, he might have ended up with foxes that looked like Bernese Mountain Dogs.
A Good Read
Down the Santa Fe Trail and into Mexico is the diary of Susan Shelby Magoffin, who, at the age of eighteen, accompanied her new husband on a trading trip from Independence, Missouri, to Santa Fe, then on down to Chihuahua, and finally to Matamoros, where they left by ship to return to the United States. They left Independence in the Spring of 1846 and reached Matamoros in the Autumn of 1847, fairly well coinciding with the duration of the Mexican-American War. They traveled with or near military protection after Bent's Fort in what is now southern Colorado.
Susan was the granddaughter of Isaac Shelby, the first governor of Kentucky, and was accustomed to wealth and comfort. She was modest and refined, which meant that she wore big dresses, not pants, and she rode a side-saddle. She walked a good part of the way to Santa Fe, finding it more refreshing than being bounced around in a carriage. She then mentions a miscarriage in a brief line or two, and carries on. My impression was that she was an admirable young lady, an impression also held by the army officers engaged in the Mexican-American War, which was underway at the time. She visited and recorded her impressions of Americans from Gen. Zachary Taylor to innumerable Lieutenants and the same range of Mexican officers.
She understood the importance of learning Spanish and was already able to shop for household goods using Spanish by the time they reached Santa Fe. They spent some time in Bent's Fort, Santa Fe, Saltillo, and Chihuahua, and she carefully describes the houses in which they lived and the general arrangements of the towns.
Susan's diary is available in the Oskaloosa Library, donated by Helen Weaver.
More on Moving Turkeys
Julie, a turkey fancier and oddball, mailed in another way to handle turkeys who nest in strange places.
I've tried that and it works fine unless the nest is where the goats can reach it. Goats are second only to horses in destructiveness and will cheerfully destroy almost any cage you put in their pasture. If the cage has a top they will want to play king of the mountain on it. If they can't climb on it they will try to push it over. If they can't push it over they will simply bang their heads against it until it crumples.
RAIN
The rain started Friday evening, by Saturday morning we had received 2.8”. After one day of being dry except for some footprints filled with water, the pond is now about 8” deep in the middle. Saturday, I realized that I need to put marks on the outlet to indicate the water hight (and depth).
E-mail Subscribers: To subscribe, unsubscribe, contribute stories, complain or send a gift subscription, send an email to FarmNews@GeezerNet.com . The editor reserves the right to steal ideas submitted, rewrite submissions, and sign false names to them whenever it strikes his fancy to do so.
Docile Dog
Last week I wrote:
Temple Grandin tells about a Russian researcher who started breeding foxes for docility. After twenty-two generations of selecting only for docility, he ended up with foxes that all looked like Border Collies. Temperament and appearance seem to often be coupled in animals.
Dr. M, the veterinarian who has promised to do any future heart surgery I may require, responded:
In my experience there's no such thing as a docile Border Collie. They are WAY too driven to work! There are some docile Golden Retrievers, plenty of docile Pit Bulls, and tons of docile German Shepards (the American bred ones anyway). People would do well to note that the traits that we breed for in all animals carry with them other "phenotypic markers" that may or may not be desirable. These include deafness in merled animals, low sperm count in many stallions, cancer eye in Hereford cows, and most importantly for meat producing animals, a decrease in immunity as we lower fat content and increase lean muscle mass. Breeding comes at a price.
Dr. M
My son, Stephen, and his family own a truly docile dog. Atlas is a Bernese Mountain Dog, similar to a Newfoundland but slightly smaller. When a stranger enters the house Atlas opens an eye, usually. He seldom bothers to lift his head. When someone he likes comes to visit he will wait until they are seated, then slowly stand up, amble over to them, flop down, put his head on the visitor's foot, and return to dormancy.
The only activity which Atlas seems to enjoy is waking up Liam, my teenage grandson. All you have to do is say, “Atlas, wake up Liam,” and Atlas goes into action. He walks briskly to Liam's room, pushes the door open, and starts licking Liam on the ear. Once he is sure that Liam is awake he returns to a favorite spot, flops down, and returns to dormancy.
As anyone who has raised one should know, adolescent males are subject to 'morning weakness', a condition which makes it very difficult for them to waken before noon. When Stephen was a teenager I tried a great many methods for waking him, possibly that is part of the reason that when he reached adulthood he moved about as far from Kansas as he could go and still be in the lower 48. None of the methods I tried, though, were nearly as effective as Atlas's ear licking.
Possibly, when Liam reaches adulthood he too will move as far as he can from his parents' home. Unfortunately, that isn't Kansas, but someplace on the opposite side of the continent. He currently lives in Oregon, so I sort of expect him to move to Georgia. Too bad, he is a nice sort of person and I enjoy his company.
Anyway, if the Russian researcher who bred foxes selected for docility had been able to continue the experiment for another twenty generations, he might have ended up with foxes that looked like Bernese Mountain Dogs.
A Good Read
Down the Santa Fe Trail and into Mexico is the diary of Susan Shelby Magoffin, who, at the age of eighteen, accompanied her new husband on a trading trip from Independence, Missouri, to Santa Fe, then on down to Chihuahua, and finally to Matamoros, where they left by ship to return to the United States. They left Independence in the Spring of 1846 and reached Matamoros in the Autumn of 1847, fairly well coinciding with the duration of the Mexican-American War. They traveled with or near military protection after Bent's Fort in what is now southern Colorado.
Susan was the granddaughter of Isaac Shelby, the first governor of Kentucky, and was accustomed to wealth and comfort. She was modest and refined, which meant that she wore big dresses, not pants, and she rode a side-saddle. She walked a good part of the way to Santa Fe, finding it more refreshing than being bounced around in a carriage. She then mentions a miscarriage in a brief line or two, and carries on. My impression was that she was an admirable young lady, an impression also held by the army officers engaged in the Mexican-American War, which was underway at the time. She visited and recorded her impressions of Americans from Gen. Zachary Taylor to innumerable Lieutenants and the same range of Mexican officers.
She understood the importance of learning Spanish and was already able to shop for household goods using Spanish by the time they reached Santa Fe. They spent some time in Bent's Fort, Santa Fe, Saltillo, and Chihuahua, and she carefully describes the houses in which they lived and the general arrangements of the towns.
Susan's diary is available in the Oskaloosa Library, donated by Helen Weaver.
More on Moving Turkeys
Julie, a turkey fancier and oddball, mailed in another way to handle turkeys who nest in strange places.
Dear Geezer,
When I find turk hens in a weird spot with a nest, I have a temp cage that I drop down around them and leave them in place. It's a circle of hardware cloth (about 4' dia) with a top on it and an access door. I just drop that over then hen where she sits and make sure I take feed and water.... That way her kids cannot get away from her and she is protected from predators till she is done with her hatch and I move her.
:)julie
I've tried that and it works fine unless the nest is where the goats can reach it. Goats are second only to horses in destructiveness and will cheerfully destroy almost any cage you put in their pasture. If the cage has a top they will want to play king of the mountain on it. If they can't climb on it they will try to push it over. If they can't push it over they will simply bang their heads against it until it crumples.
RAIN
The rain started Friday evening, by Saturday morning we had received 2.8”. After one day of being dry except for some footprints filled with water, the pond is now about 8” deep in the middle. Saturday, I realized that I need to put marks on the outlet to indicate the water hight (and depth).
E-mail Subscribers: To subscribe, unsubscribe, contribute stories, complain or send a gift subscription, send an email to FarmNews@GeezerNet.com . The editor reserves the right to steal ideas submitted, rewrite submissions, and sign false names to them whenever it strikes his fancy to do so.
posted by The Geezer at 8:07 AM
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