Black Willow Farm

11/25/2024

Hey guys, happy Monday! We forgot to post our Horse Supplement Black Friday Sale coupon this past week with the little in the hospital, but we wanted to still be able to get everyone a discount, so feel free to use the code at the bottom for a 15% off your next order.

For our Canadian friends who order, I'll remind you that Canada post will move a little slower, but be patient, they'll get it to you.

If you want to know what got us started with this amazing brands, we can tell you our own personal success story. We got our Belgian draft horse, Sam, who struggled with his hoof condition from a previous laminitic episode and inflammation of his joints due to arthritis. We did our research and decided to start him on their Camelina Oil. It was a night and day difference! We loved it and have been using it ever since. The picture below is of him before (bottom) and after (above) we started using it. They also have a version for cats and dogs...you can even give it to your chickens for higher omega 3 eggs! If you're intereated in it for dogs, I can send you info or you can check them out on their website.

Even if you don't try them, do your research on the benefits Omega 3 has on your pets, and how often its neglected in feed products. Dogs, like humans, don't make it on their own, and need it supplemented in their food.

If you do want to try it, use my code BLACKWILLOWFARM15, for 15% off of your first order. Smart Earth already takes care of us, this is strictly a discount for you. If you try it, let me know how it works for you! ❤️

11/22/2024

Looking back on some of these pictures, its hard to believe this was only weeks ago! Our fields are starting to get bare, with winter grasses in--dark and uninviting lol Its almost like the entire farm gets into the winter mood as it gets colder

11/22/2024

Thanksgiving is coming up, and all I can say is....

🤣🤣

11/18/2024

The best thing about being a farm and a breeder who values responsible and ethical breeding is partnering with amazing companies for the betterment of testing, genetics, and processes. I'm over the moon to have been chosen to participate in a research panel with our genetic testing company, Etalon. We love and support companies who do what they can to improve their brand with the feedback of their customers in mind. ❤️

Unlock the story behind your horse’s pedigree with an Etalon Equine DNA Test🧬🐴

Dive into their ancestry, uncover hidden traits, and discover what makes your equine partner truly unique. Start exploring today and connect with their roots.🌟

11/18/2024

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you're hsving a wonderful day today ❤️ We have been so busy lately (mainly with school work, ngl) and getting some last minute cleanup stuff done around the farm before frost and snow/cold wet grossness. 😅

I do want to make an aside: if anyone who has bought birds from us before is interested, we ONLY have toms left.

Moving forward, we will not be selling chickens, hatching eggs or turkey hens this late in the year. I know people want to prepare for the Spring, and the only exceptions I will make are previous customers/farms who I know have established containment areas for birds AND those not breeding to sell. (Again, this will be moving forward in the Fall/Winter months, we do not have extras now for anyone.) We have been approached by many first time owners for Fall birds, but we also replace our birds through hatching, which we will do with our layers in Spring. We cannot really take away from our flock in the cold season, not knowing if anything will happen between now and then. We will most likely get started early next year, and will be happy to accommodate people again in Spring.

Finally, we are very discerning who we let laying birds go to, and we do NOT sell them often. Normally, at laying age we fold them back into our flock. The financial burden of raising birds is front loaded, when all the money for feed is spent raising them and you get nothing in return. If we sold our laying hens once they're of age, we would run a deficit all year. We sell them at 3 months or less unless we have extra. This is our normal policy. It keeps prices down, and doesn't leave us with a huge feed bill.

Sorry for the long post but it will helps us filter out a lot of questions if we answer the most asked ones first ❤️

Hope you all have a lovely rest of your day!

11/11/2024

I want to say thank you today for the freedoms which were made available to me through the sacrifices of our veterans and active military. I hope that all of you have a wonderful day today, and linked below are a list of restaurants that are offering discounts and free meals for veterans and active military.

https://www.military.com/veterans-day/restaurants-veterans-day-military-discounts.html

11/11/2024

This past week has been a whirlwind of things, and to be present we took some time from social media to appreciate it. Yesterday the Mr. Farmer celebrated his birthday, as we all did ❤️ What have you guys done the past week? We are having the vet out for Archie's booster shots to be done, and then to get out of this rain!

Have an amazing start to your week all!

11/04/2024

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you had a lovely weekend ❤️ Today is a bit overcast, and the birds are a bit restless. I wonder why that, with the lack of sun, they're more spry than the chickens who have slowed their laying for the year?

These birds have surprised us this past year with the sheer amount of egg laying that went on. Our hens finally started to peter out by September 😅😨 It was a record for all of them, with the previous years birds and our meat birds being slow to lay. Its so interesting learning all the things about our animals!

We ended up damaging two tires the other week on a pothole, and now we have a bent rim. Thankfully we have a full sized spare, but today I'll be calling around to find a repair shop who may be able to salvage this slight bend at the rim. Wish me luck!

Have an amazing morning! ❤️🍂🍄

11/02/2024

What can I say, I absolutely love being out in the country surrounded by wildlife ❤️

Story time: I had an interesting conversation with a delivery driver a couple of weeks ago in regard to our property. I know many people love the idea of having a large property, this person included, and they made it pretty apparent they thought our farm would serve us better as an investment opportunity, and though thats not exactly wrong, its not right either. We hope that through the years we invest in this farm, it grows in equity.... you never really know when you need it, and if this dream ever sours, we will need a contingency plan. More importantly, this property is an investment of time and love, and represents so much more than the dirt beneath it.

When we spoke about logging the property to earn extra money, however, we vehemently refuse. As much as many of our community members have granted loggers to log their properties, we try to maintain safe areas for wildlife to live, and to reproduce. Though these guys like to eat all of our young fruit tree saplings, their presence reminds me of why we chose to allow the trees to stay.

This guy is one of a couple we had frequent the band of ladies we have running our property, and was kind enough to pose for the camera before running off into the woods. ❤️

11/02/2024

Instead of costumes this year, we took the advice of our friends, That MidLife MaMa Donna, and made custom shirts for the kids to wear out for trick-or-treating! We ended up spending lots less, and they enjoyed being able to make their costumes themselves. It was such a fun alternative! We did realize a LOT LESS people participated in Halloween than normally uptown Martinsville, where we go. Did you all find the same?

11/01/2024

So, It is still , so we wanted to share about one of our favorite animals, the Turkey! And though we pardoned our toms, we still are having turkey this year (don't tell tell the birds! 🙈😅)

11/01/2024

Sometimes horse therapy is the best medicine, until the doctor says it isn't...then you replace the doctor because you don't need that kind of negativity in your life 🤣 Happy Fri-yay!

10/31/2024

10/28/2024

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you guys have a great start to your week ❤️ Homework done, Sheila in better health than yesterday, I hope that this week continues to look up, for you too! We have lots to do this week, including trick or treating. We don't really have neighborhoods near us to trick or treat, but there are local trunk or treats. What does your family opt for?

10/27/2024

Happy Sunday everyone, hope you are having a good day today! We have been MIA today, as we have been dealing with a colicy horse, and had a pretty decent scare. This tends to happen every year atleast once, for whatever the reason, so here's hoping this was our first and last for the year. She's doing fine, it was Sheila, Archie's mom, and we gave her some Banamine to help reduce inflammation and pain, and shortly after she was pooping and had gas like normal. These are the reasons I am not keen of winter, especially when feeding over-wintered forage and more grain.

Colic can happen in many types of ways: sand intake, improper switching of feed, gas, compaction, intestinal distress/twisting of intestines, and unlike humans, its hard to alleviate gas because it doesn't come back up. Horses process foods in one direction only--so if gas gets stuck it can cause major problems.

I have lots of homework to get to today also, so I hope all of you have a great end to your week! ❤️