Diego’s Friends Farm Sanctuary

18/12/2024

Chief greatly enjoyed the sun today and some extra special grooming from his favorite girl ❤️

We are overjoyed that his pain meds are working so well! Even with all this rain and snow he’s walking confidently, lying down, and being active. Our farrier said he’s like a new horse and he’s gaining weight at a consistent pace too! What a change since September. ❤️❤️❤️

13/12/2024

Did you know different breeds of chicken lay different colored eggs?

If you raise chickens I’m sure you know 😅, but most people have no idea that chickens have different breeds let alone that each breed has a specific egg color and size.

Please don’t buy eggs from massive operations. Those poor hens aren’t treated well and live in horrid conditions the vast majority of the time. “Cage free” just means living in a room their whole lives, often overcrowded and underfed. “Pasture raised” is usually better, but the overall best option is to support a local farmer or family who dedicates plenty of time, attention, and care to their chickens.

Not only are the chickens happier and healthier when kept in smaller, sustainable, backyard flocks, but the eggs taste a lot better too!

Eggs you buy at the store can be weeks old by the time they arrive to the shelves. Backyard eggs are fresh every day! When unwashed, fresh eggs can sit on your counter for 2-3 weeks, but once washed need to be refrigerated and used within a few days.

✨Fresh eggs are covered in a protective layer called the “bloom” that keeps the egg’s porous shell safe from bacteria and dust for weeks, but once washed with water the bloom is removed. ✨

Chickens are a bit of a learning curve too, so if you’re interested in starting your own flock and need some tips, just reach out! (Always check your city and neighborhood ordinances and laws before purchasing/building a coop and getting chickens)

08/12/2024

Dog Orphans is a wonderful dog rescue in Douglas, MA. Let’s help Candy find her furever home by Christmas!

Please reach out directly to Dog Orphans to schedule a meet and greet or get more information 🙂

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/hhuvQU3mipgZEQ9w/?mibextid=WC7FNe

07/12/2024

Our sweet Helga is at the end of her battle with chronic renal disease. All we can do now is keep her comfortable and warm. She wants to be with her flock mates and becomes stressed if we remove her to be inside, so I sat with her for about an hour and held her while she rested.

If you could say a prayer that her passing is peaceful and gentle, we would greatly appreciate it. She’s a sweet girl, and even though we caught it early, chickens usually don’t show symptoms of anything wrong until it’s too late to do anything.

(This isn’t anything the other birds can catch. This is due to an issue her kidneys have with processing uric acid in her blood. The condition is called visceral gout and unfortunately very common in high level egg laying breeds. We take every step to prevent it happening but we can’t always stop it from occurring.)

04/12/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/ue1UyfqQF63PWcqj/?mibextid=WC7FNe

Local friends! These two Rottweilers were found about 25 min away. If you recognize them the Blackstone Valley ACO has them!

04/12/2024

Good morning from Samurai!

Samurai is one of our senior cats, we’ve had him almost ten years and we adopted him when his family moved cross country and decided to leave him outside their apartment 😭

When you get an animal, you commit to their lifetime of care. Of course we understand emergencies happen and sometimes an animal needs to be rehomed, but abandonment is never the answer.

Cats are often overlooked for proper veterinary care as well. They’re generally very stoic and since they’re so small they tend to get pretty sick or show significant signs before owners seek help, especially if they’re outside cats. Their stoic nature is a massive reason it is so important to have yearly wellness exams on every cat (and every animal honestly).

Sam has had a heart murmur since he was 2, and having a yearly exam is what allows us to track its progression (along with updating any necessary vaccinations). His appointment today showed his heart murmur has gotten a little worse, so we are running a full blood panel to see if there’s anything else going on that we need to begin addressing. If something shows on the blood work we will schedule him for a full echocardiogram.

If we didn’t do these yearly checks, we wouldn’t know there was anything beginning because he doesn’t act sick or lethargic like a dog often would.

Our dog and vet team (along with our horse, goat, and chicken vets) is amazing and we love how detail oriented, patient, kind, and knowledgeable they are. If you’re new to the area or need a vet recommendation, we can’t recommend our incredible vets at Uxbridge Animal Hospital enough!

04/12/2024

Farrier day for Misty and Inola!

Did you know horses need their hooves maintained every 4-6 weeks depending on the horse?

Finding a great farrier can be challenging, and is definitely one of the major things to keep in mind if you ever want to get a horse of your own.

There’s also a major difference between shod (shoes) and barefoot horses. All of our horses are kept barefoot. There’s a lot of debate in the horse world around shoes, but we much prefer not having them. Inola came to us with shoes and her feet were in really bad shape because of how poorly they were fitted. It’s taken about 6 months but her hooves look excellent now!

Misty has some interesting hooves but after years of proper farrier management and slow corrections she’s finally growing her hoof in the proper shape and thickness.

Chief’s hooves are a challenge due to his size and inability to stand on three legs for very long, so we do his fronts on one visit then his backs on another. He takes about 30-45 minutes to work on just two feet, and we do small trims and smoothing between farrier visits. (For reference, Misty and Inola take an hour combined to do their hooves.)

We are blessed to have an awesome team of farriers with a ton of experience, patience, and knowledge!

02/12/2024

Massachusetts followers, below are the dates that you can expect to hear/see/smell gunshots and hunters in the woods. Please please always wear orange vests and bells or anything that makes noise when out on trails or hiking. It doesn’t matter if you’re walking alone or with your dog/horse/friends/ etc you must take precautions to make sure hunters won’t shoot at or near you.

We personally just avoid all the trails during hunting season, and make sure to post private property signs since we have many families of wildlife wander through here, but please make sure to protect yourselves and your animals.

01/12/2024

Never Give Up Animal Rescue needs help saving Mr. Magoo (Goober’s) life!

Goober is the foster dog of a wonderful family we know here in Massachusetts. His foster family and sponsor rescue is working to raise funds as fast as possible for his emergency stomach surgery.

Goober has the same medical disorder as Karma called Pica which makes them eat things they shouldn’t. Goober is currently at an emergency vet awaiting stomach surgery to remove his intestinal blockage.

This is his direct Go Fund Me. I will contact the rescue and see if they’re able to take direct donations instead as well. Please share the link and donate if you can!

Hi everyone, I’m reaching out today with a heavy heart and a hopeful ple… Jocelyn Young needs your support for Support Mr. Magoo's Life-Saving Surgery

30/11/2024

Good morning and happy Saturday, friends!

Today, I want to discuss LGDs, Livestock Guardian Dogs

LGDs are a fantastic way to protect your goats, chickens, sheep, pigs, horses, etc. However, a ton of the medical emergency posts I get tagged in are due to dogs attacking the livestock they’re meant to be protecting. So, let’s dive in to proper LGD training and why this happens far too commonly.

Certain breeds are predisposed to being fabulous LGDs. Great Pyrenees, Anatolian Shepherds, Kangals, Kuvasz, Tibetan Mastiff, and Maremmanos are amongst the top LGD breeds. They do well in all weather (so long as they have proper shelter, food, and water), they’re strong but calm dogs, their coats are usually self maintaining, and, very importantly, they’re all large and intimidating to predators. That being said, these breeds need A TON of training. Months and months of specialized training. Just because a breed has the natural Instinct to protect doesn’t mean you can just get a puppy or adult and throw them with a flock and expect they’ll know what to do.

✨Mixes of these breeds are also fabulous. I am obviously a huge advocate of rescue and rehabilitation. Trooper is the only pure breed we own and that’s because as a puppy he was thrown from a truck on the highway and my friend’s rescue happened to find him. Always look to a rescue or shelter before a breeder ✨

LGDs need to be slowly integrated with the animals you want them to protect, and they always need to work in pairs. One of the worst things I see people do is get a singular LGD who then gets overwhelmed with predators and either gets hurt themselves or stops doing their job all together.

Even if a dog was a LGD at another farm and for some reason was sent to another farm, they must still be slowly integrated with the new animals. They won’t recognize just any sheep or goat as “their animals”

Far too often people rush the integration process and animals are injured or disappear by wandering off too far. It takes months of supervised interaction for LGDs to learn the property boundaries and how to gently but firmly correct their flock from leaving the boundary or fighting amongst themselves. We WANT dogs to growl and snarl and give audible cues before they bite or lunge. I’ve seen way too many people give the LGDs shock collars or no bark collars that trains this behavior out of them and then freak out when the dog bites and “they had no warning”.

LGDs are LOUD dogs by design. Their bark is meant to scare off just about anything except a pack of wolves or a bear. Please don’t get angry at them for using their built in alarm system. If they’re barking, there’s a reason and it should be checked. LGDs need to be able to trust that their humans will respond to them and come to help.

LGDs also need proper vet care. Yearly shots, flea and tick prevention, joint support, and a whole slew of other specific vet care for each of these giant breeds. If you get a LGD please research the breed and anything they’re predisposed to getting as they get older.

LGDs need their own space to get away from the herd that is just theirs. They need a safe place to rest and eat that isn’t getting trampled or taken over by the other animals. LGDs are by nature, very territorial. I’ve seen peaceful LGDs snap at an animal because they kept stealing their food. It’s very common to have an elevated dog house, a barn stall, or a separate fenced area that only the LGDs are able to get to so they have some area that is just for them.

Also important to note: while LGDs love THEIR people, new people need to be aware that it will take time for the dogs to realize you aren’t a threat. Dogs are not required to like everyone, and that’s a good thing. If you have a new person in your life, or a volunteer or employee, please make sure that anytime the new person interacts with the LGD that you’re there and giving the dog rewards or positive interaction so they can associate this new person with not being a threat.

Trooper is, by nature, a fabulous LGD. In the six months we’ve had our goats on property he has interacted with them through the fence multiple times. Due to his giant size (125lbs) we did not let him interact without the fence when the babies were very small. Over the last few weeks he has been going out with Lance and I at night to do evening checks and make sure everyone is secured at night and had their food/water topped off. He now associates this as one of his “jobs”.

Today was the first time he’s been allowed fully into the goat area with them roaming around. Because we did this interaction so slowly and so calmly, none of the animals acted out of character. He went right up to his favorite goat (Lily) and started licking her face. She just laid down and enjoyed being with him. He then proceeded to check the entire area like he does at night, then realized he could also check the goat house. He got a little squirrelly doing so because it was new, but overall, he did so so well.

Over the next few months we will allow him more time to be with the goats and by summer I imagine he’ll be allowed to stay out all day with them (if he wants. None of our dogs live outside.)

Also please note, just because a dog is a LGD breed doesn’t meant they’ll be a good LGD or enjoy it. As I’ve said before, not all dogs want a job or enjoy being around smaller animals. LGDs are not a beginner dog breed. It’s not impossible but these dogs are stubborn and need someone who’s not afraid of them. They need to feel supported and safe too. There are so many beautiful LGDs in shelters around the country because people get overwhelmed with their size or training requirements. Please do research into the breed well before you get one.

As always, if you have more questions or need advice on how to find a trainer or a rescue specific to these breeds, you can always message us directly ❤️

Thanks for reading and have a great rest of your Saturday!

29/11/2024

One of these mares is a precious angel baby who’s never done a thing wrong in her life.

The other is a felon wanted in three states.

Guess which is which 😑

27/11/2024

It’s a gorgeous day today and the goat babies are feeling great! We let them in the yard for a bit to get some extra energy out. They had all the zoomies!

We hope all of our followers and their families have fantastic Thanksgiving day shenanigans and travel safely!

What are you and your family doing for the holiday? Any exciting traditions you’re looking forward to?

25/11/2024

We received a wonderful and greatly unexpected donation today from an anonymous donor.

Whoever you are, thank you for your generosity and love ❤️

✨This is a hard season for rescues and shelters around the country. Please, donate to your local shelter and help them get the animals and themselves through the season. If you have questions about finding a shelter/rescue/sanctuary donation near you let us know and we can help you find a reputable charity✨

25/11/2024

Table scraps generally aren’t great for pets, but if you must give your pup something, please make sure it is a dog safe food and only in extreme moderation!

Always verify the food is animal safe. If you don’t know what’s in it, don’t risk it.

24/11/2024

Finally we have some sun!

It’s been nothing but tons of rain and wind for the past two and a half days. As you can see, it’s pretty muddy out here. Thankfully, this area dries really quickly so by tomorrow it’ll be just about fully dried, but getting the tractor in to move the hay to a higher spot was slippery work 😅

We’re scheduled for a big storm starting on Friday. Freezing temps, snow, wind, ice, all that good stuff. Who’s to say if it’ll actually happen as we all know how New England fall can be, but we’re going to prep like it’s happening regardless.

Horse blankets are out of storage, goat area has been reinforced, chickens had their coop bedding refluffed and windows secured, water heaters are tested and working well, fences have been reinforced and extra supports added, and we have plenty of animal feed for everyone.

If it’s dry enough and we don’t have any more rain between now and Friday, I’m going to scrape the fields again and try to get some of these muddy ridges flattened out. The less we have to worry about slipping and sliding ponies the better.

Chief is looking forward to the cold and snow, it’s his absolute favorite. While in the summer he prefers his stall with personal fans, we cannot get him in the barn in winter unless it’s a really bad storm 😅, and even then, he wants to stay out for as long as possible.

Inola has been greatly enjoying the mud. She’s rolling and stomping and acting like a little kid playing in it. I’m hopeful I can get a video of her later today. The other horses are staying relatively clean but she’s determined to get the best mud mask possible.

22/11/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/qxgAHghBYYLGPiBD/?mibextid=WC7FNe

So true! Our horses should be loved and cherished regardless of their ability to be ridden.

In modern culture this phrase "ride or die" means to be completely loyal to someone, no matter what the danger. Its funny because, in the equine world it means the exact opposite.

A chronic problem facing the equestrian community as a whole is the disposable culture we have for our equine partners. No matter what they've done for us or given us throughout their lives, the day they can no longer be ridden or work, they are treated disposably. This pushes people to use their horses well beyond ethical use. Riding sick, old, or lame horses just because they must keep working. Often the day they stop, this path ends at a slaughter house. Even if you give your horse "to a good home" that good home may run out of money, time, or care for a horse they can't ride, and pass them on, and on, and on.

The painful reality is that humans often show very little loyalty to their horses, though they expect complete loyalty back. With horses "ride or die" is quite literal, if we can't "use" you, your path leads to death.

Horses like Zephyr, 10 years old, beautiful, bright, happy and smart, but too neurological to carry a rider or do any work. At any normal farm he would have been euthanized on diagnosis, because he'll never have a future career. But he can live a full life of love and fun. His quality of life is only mildly irritated by his discoordination.

Horses are chronically forced to ride/work until the end of their life, so long as they're able they keep working them. They are frequently disposed of, either by passing them to the next owner or euthanizing them, or worst, dumping them at auction for slaughter buyers to pick up.

We need to change equestrian culture. The change is beginning, but we need to keep pushing. Horses are no longer "ride or die". There are too many ways to love your horse without riding or labor, there are too many ways to keep a horse enriched and their life full even when their career is done. There is no more excuse for treating horses disposably. Horses are a choice, a leisure, treat them with the same loyalty you expect from them.