What shoes are you wearing outside?

[Araucana Nest]

I should have mentioned I am always barefoot inside so my shoes are slip ons.
I have Avenger shoes with composite toe and boots with steel toe protection but I don’t have livestock right now just dogs and chickens mainly and there is no way I would wear them in Florida in the summer if I didn’t need to protect my toes specifically.
Chronic hot flash meltdowns will prevent me from using socks in the summer too so my options aren’t that many.

 

[Waves]

I use rain boots, because they're comfy in country works and i feel safe from snakes (that can be a lot in this season).

 

[Outta Here]

Typically snake bite boots, but they’re $$. I don’t necessarily need to wear them all the time, they’ve just become my go to. Sometimes I just throw my rain boots on. I’ve been known to go in the back with flip flops, flats, or sneakers too. I like to have a bit more coverage though in case 1. I step in a fireant hill 2. I encounter a snake 3. So I’m not wearing poop covered shoes when I go out and about

I live in the desert of Arizona where just day before yesterday I shot a 4.5' rattlesnake in my yard. I was barefoot, like I am all day, whether cleaning the coop, hanging out in the yard with the chickens, walking in the desert. And there are ant hills on my trail, but I just sidestep them. I built my entire chicken pen barefoot. Barefooters learn to be quick to jump from a fallen tool or board! Of course, if I worked in construction or other heavy labor, I'd wear protection. People do need shoes, but barefoot walking forces a natural human gait and strengthens muscles, especially arches.
But the reason I can go barefoot in snake country is what I tell all my city grandchildren (their country cousins already know this): No matter what shoes you have on--snakes can bite through canvas, rubber, and most leather--you just make sure you can see four foot clear on either side of any body part where a rattler could be.That includes sticking your hand in the flowerbed to weed, walking by a bush, climbing on rocks, even stepping out the door onto the porch. And never, ever go wading through tall grass. I wouldn't feel secure without snake boots up my thighs! But I don't own any. I just go barefoot but stick to open ground....
If I lived in lush vegetation, I couldn't do this, but out here in the desert there are large open dirt areas and roads between what vegetation we have.

 

[Outta Here]

P.S. After I wrote this, I took my barefoot walk. I just love monsoon time in Arizona! I passed 8 fire ant hills, lots of red velvet mites, cows and horses, and one tarantula! When I got home, I let the chickens out, who promptly raided the worms in the flowerbeds!

The poodle is the same color as the mud!

I passed 8 ant hills!

Mesquite thorns are about the only stickers I've encounted on my trail, but they are easy to avoid.

Yes, even barefoot in the cow pasture!

Red velvet mite comes out after rain...

So do the worms!!!

 

[CaroleW]

Brave Barefooter! I almost always wear my rubber concrete boots on the farm so I don't have to worry about what I get on them in and out of the coop. Too many ant hills, wierd bugs, black widows, wild animal scat and snakes, and rabbit/mole holes along with stickery weeds and sharp rocks just under surface at my place.

Oh and the previous owner was a metal worker/foundry worker... Lots of HUGE rusty nails, barbed and unbarbed wire - I drag the driveway with magnets from time to time.

 

[electrycmonk]

Outside shoes? For coop duty or for everything around the house? Here are my 2 current beat up pairs. Shoe goo repairs them… they go through the washer every so many weeks and sit atop it to dry…. Been that way for a few years now. Previous pairs have gotten ‘round files’ over the last 6 months….



These were a pair of $9.99 specials at DSW “shoe wear house clearance rack.” They we’re good and comfy for about 3 years of occasion “work use” then shifted to yard duty for the last couple years…. The blue twin pair died last fall. This pair might have another 6-12 months left in them?

 

[electrycmonk]

Red velvet mite comes out after rain...
View attachment 2770916

so I gotta ask for a size comparison of scale for this bug.
Next time perhaps?

 

[topochico225]

Barefooter here! I also use Mesh Beach Shoes at night when there's creepy crawlies out or if I don't want to get my feet super dirty.

 

[Weeg]

Barefoot, who's needs shoes! Why would you want shoes, it just keeps the chicken poop from squishing up between your toes. Why would you want to miss out on that. I go barefoot 90% of the time. In and out of the run, over snow and ice, bike riding, sometimes horse riding if I'm going bareback.
I've heard that Muck boots are the best, though I've never used them. If I'm not barefoot I'm usually wearing flip flops, usually in the winter, so I won't be be much help.

 

[Pasha838]

I usually wear old and badly worn army boots, something like this.

On the photo, the shoes look decent, the same ones that I wear - usually badly worn and even torn. I have a habit of wearing shoes for a very long time, until they fall apart completely.
Sometimes I make something like slippers out of such boots, cutting off all unnecessary things (especially if they are deformed and begin to rub my foot badly).