Poland | Swietokrzyskie | Monthly Report December: Farm Animal Service
Sadlowice. We are cutting the claws of two cows. They are too long.
Dabrowa. We are checking on the teeth of a stallion.
Sadlowice. The doghouse is in a poor condition. We oblige the owner to either fix or replace it.
Mosty. The box has been renovated and looks a lot better than before.
Zlotniki. Finally, the dog is allowed to run around freely in the yard instead of being locked in the small barn.
Zlotniki. We are trimming the hooves of a 30-year-old mare.
Our Farm Animal Service (FAS) team is called to the farm in Dabrowa where two stallions have problems with eating. We are checking their teeth. They are very sharp, and we must trim them. During trimming we discover that one of the stallions has a wisdom tooth that needs to be removed as well. After the treatment our team is visiting another farm.
This time we are returning to a farm that is interested in joining our FAS programme in Sadlowice. During our last visit we informed the owner that the dog’s chain is too short and that he needs to change that. When we arrive, we are disappointed to still see the short chain. The owner tries to explain that the dog runs free most of the day. She is only tied up to the doghouse when the gate is open. We can understand that, but we are still insisting to enlarge the chain immediately, otherwise we are not going to sign the contract. After a couple of minutes, the owner replaced the chain so that it finally has a proper length. In the barn, the claws of two cows desperately need trimming. After we finished this task, we notice that the claws of a couple of more animals will require trimming soon. Afterwards, we are signing the FAS programme contract with the owner. The owner has agreed to build or fix the kennel for his dogs, after he finished this task, we will come back to trim the claws of his remaining animals.
This December, we are signing a second contract at a farm in Debniak. There are one working mare and two dogs on the farm. The mare is tethered; therefore, the owner needs to prepare a separator in the stable so that she can be untied.
Our next visit takes place a farm in Mosty. Since our last visit the owner has modernised the boxes in his stables. The walls have been covered with a new surface and painted in white. The stable looks much better now. He only needs to renovate the two other boxes now. As a reward we trim hooves of three horses.
On the next farm in Zlotniki we are happy to see the dog outside. It appears that the dog is no longer locked away in the small barn. Today, we are trimming the hooves of an almost 30-year-old mare. During our work the owner starts to complain that he is running out of hay. Nearly half of his supply is mouldy, and he needs to organise new hay. He is very poor but never asks for help. However, we will visit him next month to see if he needs additional support.
Additionally, we are visiting several farms that we used to work with a couple of years ago. We want to check if they still have animals. We find out that most of them gave up on animal husbandry. The farmers who are still keeping animals seem to be interested in our FAS programme and we provide them with additional information about our programme.
In December, we visited 28 farms in total. Our team trimmed hooves of 16 horses and the teeth of two horses. We also trimmed the claws of two cows. Moreover, two new farms decided to join our FAS programme.
