Well, once again Mother Nature had other plans for us! The barn building is still on hold, while we clean up from Hurricane Matthew. We were extremely lucky here.....just a lot of rain and wind. Limbs down, wet everywhere, but no major damage (thank goodness!). Animals and humans are all fine. This blog would be a good time to review what to do for your animals in an extreme weather event, such as a hurricane.
When you are faced with a weather event, you have to weigh a lot of things, to see where your animals will be the most protected. Do you leave them inside? Do you leave them outside? Do you evacuate them? Etc, etc, etc.
When you are considering your options, take into account the stability of your barn, if there are trees or potential debris that might come down (like electric wires) during high winds, is the shelter on high enough ground that it won't flood, what is the likelihood of flying debris that might hit them, etc.
If you decide that the animals would be safer inside, be sure to give them plenty of water, hay and bedding, in case you can't make it back to the barn for a day. If you decide to leave the animals outside, they will need the same access to water and hay or grass. Be sure if you do leave them outside, that they have identification on them, in case fences come down and they get out. If you leave a halter on them, be sure it is a break-away halter. These halters are designed to give way, if the horse catches them on a tree branch or some such thing. The halters are to break first, instead of injuring (or killing) the horse. Perhaps put a fly mask on your outside horse as well, so it will help keep the wind from blowing dirt into the horse's eyes and/or ears.
You can also use a neck tag/strap for identification. These are like the neck straps you would see on cattle....they work on horses too. You can write on them with a permanent marker. Put your name and phone number or your vet's phone number on the straps. That way if your horses do get out, when someone finds them, they will hopefully still have the strap on, so you can be contacted. Here's just one link to this type of product. http://livestockconcepts.com/en/identification/2969-ritchey-15-neck-bands.html
If you have a well that supplies your water, be sure to fill up as many water tanks/buckets as you can, in case you loose power (wells won't work without electricity to them). This way you can water your horses until the power comes back on. Have plenty of hay on hand as well. We've found if our horses have hay to munch on, that keeps them busy and they don't fret about high winds as much.
Make sure your emergency first aid kit for the animals is up-to-date and stocked. Have blankets and towels on hand. Better to be over prepared, than not prepared enough!
If you are thinking about evacuating your horses, have a plan on where you are going first. Call ahead and find a stable that you can shelter in. Make reservations for your horses, just as you will for yourself at a hotel. If you have more horses than you can fit into your horse trailer at one time, take that into consideration as well. Do you hire someone to haul them for you? Remember, there may not be someone available to do this for you. Can you make several trips to move the horses? If so, start early and don't wait until the last minute to move them! Better to have moved them early and end up not needing to evacuate, rather than waiting until the last minute and having a mess because you get stuck in traffic of others trying to leave or you need to make more than one trip and the weather turns too dangerous for you to haul a trailer, so you can't go back and get the 2nd load and so forth.
This brings up some other ideas you should have in place on a regular basis. Check your truck and horse trailer tires regularly. Check your horse trailer floors for safety. Do normal maintenance on these vehicles, so they are ready in case of emergencies. Keep a binder of current coggins tests for ALL of your horses, not just the horses that leave the farm routinely. You never know when you may have to haul one to a vet in another state and would need a negative coggins to cross state lines. In that same binder, keep printed out directions to the most frequently used horse emergency vet locations. Your GPS may not work and having printed driving directions will take some of the tension out of an emergency situation. Also keep a printed out version of your horse's health history, including vaccines, wormings, etc. in that binder.
Of course these ideas can be used for all livestock, not just horses. Hopefully you will never need to implement any emergency responses. We send our thoughts and prayers to all affected by hurricane Matthew.
Next blog will be posted on Halloween Day.....Oct 31st. That blog will give you an interesting look into our 186 year old house that we live in!!
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