Dixie Chicks

[BriardChickens]

can't complain that only 2 that made it to lockdown didn't hatch. The rest are healthy little buggers.

sorry about the 2 that didn't hatch... how many did hatch?

 

[vehve]

I like my steel toed boots too. They're not that comfortable to walk long distances in, but they have the best grip of any shoes I've got. You can walk on wet ice without slipping in them. Or oil.

 

[minihorse927]

sorry about the 2 that didn't hatch... how many did hatch?

18, I think. Have to count when I get home.

 

[perchie.girl]

Deb, I think the composite versions might be something for you... and they can take quite a lot of weight. I think amputation might be nicer though, easier to join two intact things than to make something usable out of ground beef.

Been stepped on a total of about ten times and I used to hang around horses with tennis shoes but rode in cowboy boots.... Worse one was when i got off my horse to let her climb a bank with me in the front walking up it. she came up over the top of me... and she was shod. she hit my instep. No bones broken but Gawd it was fun getting my cowboy boot off when we got home.

Nope no steel toes for me. Even if the crushed steel toe is an urban myth.

deb

 

[Razadia]

Green snot?
Hope you don't have a sinus infection raz

Thankfully no. It was yesterday, but pretty clear today. Still a gross subject.

Talking about shoes, I only have one pair. A pair of steel toe Tac boots. I figure they wouldn't wear out as easily as the skateboarding shoes I prefer. I go through those (unless they're Vans, those last me about 5 months) in about 2 months. I've had these boots for almost 2 months and they aren't falling apart yet.

 

[Razadia]

Quote: Shortly after I got my Mustang he stepped on my toes. I was wearing open toes sandles. He broke a few of the wooden beads on them, but my toes were fine. I am so glad my toes are double jointed.

 

[BriardChickens]

Ouch... I only got stepped on once as a child so far. Was wearing my black leather dressage boots. She was a heavy horse, some draft in it for sure. My toes were blue and sure for a few days but other that I was lucky.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote: Shortly after I got my Mustang he stepped on my toes. I was wearing open toes sandles. He broke a few of the wooden beads on them, but my toes were fine. I am so glad my toes are double jointed.

My girl is a percheron and I had some riding shoes that were made by Miller. Bought them second hand. so they were half a size too big ... She casually turned and stepped down on the tip of my shoe and stood on it.... Bwhahahahah. I was too close to her now to push on her.... "get off" I said and smaked her with my hand.... She turned and looked at me.... "What?!" I hit her harder again.... "Ooh that feels good ma and she leaned toward me.... Do it again.." Then I started laughing... I stepped back with the other foot and gave her a shove....

"Oh you want me to move?" and she picked her foot up. My first horse that didnt move away from pressure... But i felt like one of those blow up punch bags...

She still doesnt move away from pressure. I think its the Draft physiology.... they were bred to "dig in" for pulling and stuff.

deb

 

[Beer can]

That's all seems very valid. But there are a lot of careless breeders too... Taking poor stock and creating poorer and poorer stock....

The most careless breeders are hatcheries. Any good breeder selects only the best, culls the rest. Much the same as what would happen in a natural environment. Deer and turkeys have a limited genetic base, their not going to the next town to find a mate, at the same time though their options are only the smart and strong, the ones that survive winter, predators, diseases. In a environment where deer have little or no predators, no hunting they are more diseases, and sicker weaker deer. The only places chronic wasting disease has been found in deer is where they are heavily populated and haven't been naturally culled. New York State has a ban on feeding deer to help prevent it.
Backyard chicken breeders I think can witness purebreds being inferior because they are dealing with low populations of the breed they have so culling is much more limited.
Then you have the 'show type breeds' that have been bred for looks and not production. Marans could be experienceing reduced hatch rate from 'breeders' focusing on their dark chocolate eggs instead of egg production, quick growth, feed conversion ratio, fertility, hatchability.
From what I've read it takes years and thousands of birds to truly improve a breed, 50-100 years ago we had chicken farmers doing this with what we know now as 'heritage breeds', today only 2 or 3 breeds have that much focus.
Most of us just figure they eat what they eat, lay what they lay, produce x amount of meat in x amount of time and leave it at that, most of us are not breeding in a production frame of mind.

 

[Ravynscroft]

@perchie.girl I agree on no steel toeds around horses... experienced a 'leaner' as well... my aunt rescued a beautiful bay Tennessee Walker when I was younger... she had foundered really bad, so it was either she got put down or an experienced rehabber took her... my aunt nursed her back and she lived a long happy life... but she was an awful pain to keep in a fence... she leaned on anything til it would break, then calmly step over it and go where she wanted... if she stepped on you, she'd just keep leaning on you... only way to get her off was to get her leaning so far into you that when you leaned away, she'd take a step off you... bruised the heck outta ya, and a broke toe once in a while, but sure didn't want steel above my toes, lol...