For the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, Christ Episcopal Cathedral has for years had a beautiful service for the blessing of the animals. A perfect day for the outdoor service.
The Bureau of Land Management manages wild horses and burros to oversee that they thrive on the rangelands. The BLM manages a vast area of Heard Management Areas, they strive to maintain a healthy herd population on these lands and when they exceed the appropriate management level they are removed and sent for adoption or to off-range pasture. The herd can double in size every 4 years. This adoption was held in Salina, there are adoption site all around the country. Along with the adoption, there was a wild horse show.
All wild horses and burros are branded with a freeze mark. The left side of the neck is shaved and the symbols are applied with an iron chilled in liquid nitrogen. The mark uses a series of angles and alpha-symbols that can not be altered. The hair on the neck will grow back white.
No, I didn’t adopt anyone.
The day is starting out with lightning to the west of us as a cold front is approaching. I’m out feeding the horses, goats and donkey. It’s nice that they know which feed bucket to go to. Everyone has their head in their feed bucket.
Wylie is waiting for his breakfast!
Will and Bill dining
Chili is always done before anyone else and will push his way into the goats feed buckets.
Have a wonderful weekend. Enjoy the autumn weather and all the fall festivals that are being held in your area. I’m headed out to find some windmill blades!!
The Hall’s Japanese honeysuckle is in full bloom. It’s an invasive medium-fast growing vine, but I have plenty of room for it and I absolutely love the smell. The double knockout roses have so many blooms that occasionally a hen will pick one, but they really don’t bother them at all. Whenever I plant anything the hens gather around in search of any worms that I dig up. I put small river boulders around the base of each plant so they won’t scratch underneath the plant. Other plants in the run are, Butterfly Bushes, Vitex (Chaste Tree, which is really not for this area zone 6-10, but I love them and it’s worth a try), Cotenester, Hollyhocks, Maple tree, Pampas grass, other various grasses, and of course numerous weed.