THE HORSES are dying...and the stress on America continues.

reply to post by stargate73


Try a bug zapper.
You can get one made to feed fish that drops the bugs below the light.

Its not only horses that are having problems surviving... I haven't seen any wild hogs, coyotes, raccoons, opossum, rabbits or deer in months... Even feral house cats and stray dogs that are dropped of out here by city dwellers aren't seen around here these days... I have a trail around my wooded acreage I like to take morning and evening walks on but it's not the same when I don't see critters.

reply to post by loam


Maybe i'm thinking short term.
However i know for a fact i can get about 350$ for a horse at a local place.
Mark my words they will be slaughtered if this continues.
When texas had a law against selling horses for meat i was dodging them on the road.
Now it's legal to sell them for meat to be transporting them to mexico.
If the economy continues to crumble then mexico may have a shortage of horse meat cause people can pass it of as beef.
IT HAPPENS

What i'm saying to you is that as we decline and can't feed these animals they will be eaten by someone for the most part as long as there is a hunger.
I'm sure that some will starve a bit but that is nothing new it's the same old neglect.

Look at the bigger picture here,

The Jet Stream has been outta whack for the better part of 11 months now with no sign of returning to normal. This is part of what is driving this drought and much of the weird ass weather being experienced throughout.

And where its dry in one place it's sloshed in another. It will get very interesting very soon if this goes unabated for much longer. Most of it is the fun parts of the bible.

Hey All, I hail from Missouri, and have had and dealt with horses all of my life, so I have a bit of understanding of how things sometimes have to work. As far as the picture goes, yes, its obvious the horse is starving, and probobly parasite ridden too, and according to the Ruesters caption is currently at a rescue where the photo was taken. Some of you stated the horse was being held in a tiny area and being starved to death this is not the case.
If you were to realease this starving horse onto the nice pasture in the background-it would eat itself to death literally. Horses, unlike mules and Donkeys who will stop eating when they are full, a horse will if hungry, or tempted by a rare treat eat until they overload thier system and die. So the safest thing for the rescuers to do is keep the horse contained, and feed him minimal amounts until he can handle more. When they eat until they nearly kill themselves it is called foundering, and can cause permanent unrepairable damage.

As for the drought conditions, and the livestock markets in Missouri that I know first hand- Its dry, in 47 years Ive never seen it this dry, or this hot for so long, it is now beginning to cool some, but no real measurable rain as of yet. What we do get is short quick, and soaks in so fast the dust is flying again in 30 minutes after its over. There are horses for sale everywhere, due to the lack of hay, and or no money available to unemployed owners to feed them. as far as horses being loosed, yes, it does happen, as far as horses going over fences to find food, yep is happening, and even happens in good years, this is all nothing new.
What I find odd is that for nearly two weeks now I have been hunting for a couple of good horses to buy, but they arent out there. All I find are horses that folks are asking upwards of 1000.00 for, and they arent worth it at that even. More often than not, the horses are untrained and unhandled, and folks are just giving them away because they can no longer afford to feed them.
I looked at a horse this weekend on a farm with 44 other head of horses, all being fed hay because all of the pasture surrounding them was down to dirt, eaten that way by that many untrained, and now useless horses. Its a crying shame when REALLY nice horses are left to stand unused in a pasture, until the now unemployed owner has to try and find SOMEONE, ANYONE who will take them.

Alot of the current state of the livestock in our state has to do with the owners inability to plan in advance, drought or not, and to use good judgement in the keeping, training, and use of the livestock. You cant overload a pasture with livestock on a good year, and expect it to be a good year from then on.
You must consider the land available, and what it will sustain on a bad year, and not overload it, plus you must plan on how you will handle said livestock if the year turns out to be a year like we have this year- Advance planning is a must,that way you can deal with small emergencies when they arrive, rather than just throwing up your hands, and opening the gate and hopeing they all disappear in the night.

reply to post by deadeyedick


I understand exactly what you are saying, while I dont agree with eating horses, many countries do still today. But I can say that when the slaughter market was alive and well in Missouri, alot of the bad bloodlines, and just plain worthless (not my point of view) horses went that way rather than just standing in a pasture starving. I personally would rather see them put down, and go to some good use rather than stand in a barnlot and suffer through starvation

Sadly the picture of that Horse isnt that bad, compared to some of the Horses ive seen here in Arkansas, Farmers not having enough feed, no rain for months.The fact that many people who own these Farm animals, including cows really just look at them as a money maker, no more, no less. If the animal is doing bad , BAM a bullet to the head, I know many farmers who use the back 10 acres of their land as a grave yard for animals like this, Makes my blood boil. Bones littering the landscape.

reply to post by Kastogere


Excellent find there Kast. The heat and humidity here in Apple Valley Ca have been close to unbearable.
We are suppoised to be the custodians of the earth. I can't help but share the blame for the suffering and it really does get to me.

We would not be having all these issues if more farmers began using more sustainable agricultural practices. Here is a thread on permaculture if you want to learn more about what you can do.
Permaculture

reply to post by randyvs


The worst is yet to come my friends.....it has yet to come. Expect a hell of a winter...if my climate model is right...expect shat you aint ever seen before.

Originally posted by Kastogere
reply to post by randyvs

 

The worst is yet to come my friends.....it has yet to come. Expect a hell of a winter...if my climate model is right...expect shat you aint ever seen before.

would you mind sharing this climate model?

I know!
they can send the big tankers to the pole
and bring back the ice.

OH! its All melting very fast.
So No globle weather problems.
Obama will be saying "burn baby burn"

you had your chance and now its to late.
a Lot of people are going to die in the so called Civilized world.
your goverment could do some thing about it.
but they will not do it untill you start dieing off.

what will You do when your tap runs dry?

reply to post by loam


Thanks for the info~~

I knew last year the cattle ranchers were in bad shape in Texas but I didn't stop to think about other animals, such as horses. So sad.....

The media just now mentioned how the Mississippi River is also low. Actually I think I read about it on a thread first and a few days later, CNN finally mentioned it briefly.

The Weather Channel seems to be the only TV media that has covered the severity of the drought pretty often.
If I'm not mistaken, they said that about 2/3 of the country was experiencing a drought.

S&F

reply to post by GareyGaia


Indeed sharing the model is most imperative. Now that the cat be loosed.

Kast

The worst is yet to come my friends.....it has yet to come. Expect a hell of a winter...if my climate model is right...expect shat you aint ever seen before.

You are already right about this.

reply to post by Kastogere


Wow.... pretty good video.

When you put all these global events together like that, back to back, it does make you think hmmmm.... eerie.

Definitely global climate change is in the works, no doubt.....

You ought to create a thread using that video for Fragile Earth and record all the strange events say in the past year or so from all around the world. Just a thought......

Thanks for the video.....

Tough seeing such majestic creatures perish, but they have a better chance of surviving in the wild than they do in captivity where they will not get fed. Domestic horses have it tougher than mustangs do. Mustangs have had 500 years to adapt to conditions in America in the wild.

This has major ramifications for everyone here in North America and globally as well, I won't do a plug for my thread but here are a couple of links pertaining to the shortage of feed and what this will mean for us the consumers/eaters.

www.steinbachonline.com...

www.rep-am.com...

A Very good thread Loam and thanks for the information.

S&F
Regards, Iwinder

reply to post by Kastogere


What climate model? I'm interested in knowing your thoughts. My bf was telling me last night to expect a harsh winter because of the jet stream, he said to "mark his words".

I'm in Tennessee and have friends who train horses, make a living doing so and of course they have horses of their own. They were just talking about the drought problem and the problems their seeing with horses last night.... Just so sad!

reply to post by loam




If a photo of a skinny animal can part you from your money then you deserve to be taken advantage of by
the HSUS, PETA and their ilk (reading listed below).
FWIW Canada had a bumper crop of hay so feed is out there.

Ranchers have livestock/crop insurance for this sort of event and the poor thin horses well if feed going up 20% causes the owners to have to let them loose to starve they weren't very good owners in the first place.



humanewatch.org...
activistcash.com...
www.consumerfreedom.com...

Originally posted by cloaked4u
Yeah, i can see the effects of the drought in the picture you posted. Notice the green grass in the far background of the picture. This is called animal cruelty and should be reported imediately. Where was this pic taken?

Maybe this is another wag the dog...this is interesting!