# The Lupin Farm Thread: Photos, Stories, Rambling..



## lupinfarm (Aug 21, 2009)

Basically I'm dedicating this thread to photos of the horse, goats, chickens, ducks, dogs, farm life and such.

I'm starting with this one I took today of Luna grazing out in the field... Tetley had gone off to take more huge chunks off of my salt block LOL


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## lupinfarm (Aug 21, 2009)

This is one of our feral-adopted barn kitties from the Toronto Humane Society. This one is Spots, even though he really has no spots but infact a triangle.






And more horse photos...






It's dinner time


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## lupinfarm (Aug 21, 2009)

Spots and Smokey often sleep in the front flower bed.. We call them Cat Flowers


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## big brown horse (Aug 21, 2009)

Love the photos!!  Why is it kitties always look mad?   I like Spot's markings, very unique!

Look at the rump on Luna!


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## lupinfarm (Aug 21, 2009)

Hahaha... Smokey ALWAYS looks angry... I have a photo of him...







Luna has a huge rump  compared to what it was when she got here, it's a nice big Quarter Horse rump..


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## big brown horse (Aug 21, 2009)

I love the Russian Blues!!  Nice lookin cat!


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## 2468herdsrgr8 (Aug 21, 2009)

Beautiful photos Lupin ! Good for you for adopting from the T.O Human society ...!!  Years ago I use to donate to them ....before I could have critters of any kind ...the commercial/T,V program  would get to me ...


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## lupinfarm (Aug 21, 2009)

Oh my, I just received an email from one of the families that bought a Mini Labradoodle puppy from us this year. They've named him Ziggy and he is doing well BUT... They took him to the vet for his 2nd visit and the vet has projected he will reach 40lbs! ... This is highly unusual since we have projected them to reach no more than 15-20lbs and so far we have been right! ... I realize with this cross (they are F1B's) that there are exceptions, BUT I think the vet may be wrong. Like children, horses, and most animals there are slow and fast growers. He may just be a faster grower


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## lupinfarm (Aug 23, 2009)

I went into the garden to pick some green pepper for our hamburger helper tonight (LOL, we keep it on hand for when we run out of other food) and this is what I came back with!! ... 20lbs of Tomato and Green pepper


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## Bronco Hollow (Aug 23, 2009)

No pictures.. made some piece between two neighbors, worked inside the house cleaning, marinated ribs, drying jerky, and I am tired, need to go to bed and haven't cooked dinner yet.  New medication causing side effects - I can get enough air.  SIGH!

OK I'm done with my pity party!


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## lupinfarm (Sep 1, 2009)

Sigh, I got an email today from one of the families who bought one of our Mini Doodle puppies. His puppy had a seizure this evening and has been taken to the vets for observation. We're waiting to hear the updates, but as it stands, there is no way to "test" for seizure positive animals and thus the best we could do for him is offer our regards for his situation. 

He did the right thing, if it turns out that Peaches is a carrier or produces puppies who have seizures/epilepsy (and one seizure does not mean epilepsy, this could have been caused by a food change, poisonous plants, etc.), we will be taking her to be fixed and she will become a pet and that is all. 

Just worried eee!


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## 2468herdsrgr8 (Sep 1, 2009)




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## lupinfarm (Sep 3, 2009)

Ziggy is still down, he is still at his owners vet's office under observation, he is unconcious and is now being treated for a secondary infection. The suddeness of his illness says to me poisoning, especially since he lives in Etobicoke where there have been cases of dogs being poisoned by anti-freeze and other poisons (Anti-freeze can show in seizures and unconciousness) and considering he is only 5 months old, he would be taken down faster by something so serious. 

I forwarded an article about recent poisonings in Toronto, his vet is running blood tests and hopefully they can catch it early. The secondary infection could infact be Cocci because it will/can attack when a dog is already down with illness or severely stressed.


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## lupinfarm (Sep 4, 2009)

You will be remembered fondly Ziggy...


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## ksalvagno (Sep 4, 2009)

So sorry to hear about the dog. When you sell dogs, do you have them sign a contract? You could put in that contract that you aren't responsible for .......


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## lupinfarm (Sep 4, 2009)

ksalvagno said:
			
		

> So sorry to hear about the dog. When you sell dogs, do you have them sign a contract? You could put in that contract that you aren't responsible for .......


We sell with a 2 year health guarantee, it doesn't include seizures. We called Julio, and my mom said he was in tears. They really want another puppy, but we don't have any litters right now (not until the spring) so my mom said that they should wait until then, and see if they still feel like they want another puppy because another puppy is not going to replace Ziggy (he was like... their life), and if they should decide at the time that they do want another puppy, then to call her and she can arrange something for them. 

The vet still doesn't know what it was! ... I personally think he was poisoned.


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## ksalvagno (Sep 4, 2009)

How did the other people manage to get a settlement from you when their own kids killed the dog? I would think a judge would just throw out the case! So even in Canada people manage to win when they shouldn't?


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## lupinfarm (Sep 4, 2009)

Pretttttty much. They didn't get as much as they wanted, and the judge made sure to state that it was not because my mum was required to pay them, but because she was doing it out of the kindness of her heart (okay, so she kind of was required to do it). 

For a puppy that they paid $400 for, they got in the end about $1400

They wanted my mum under housearrest with an ankle bracelet because she might go "back to her home country", my mum is from England... The judge found that hilarious considering the people were Greek ex-pats.


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## ksalvagno (Sep 4, 2009)

I'm suprised they got that much. I know in Ohio people wouldn't get more than they paid for the dog. The court system sees animals as property and you won't get more than you paid and you have to have proof of what you paid.

That is a shame. Hopefully the people with Ziggy will just be happy with getting a puppy next year.


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## Blackbird (Sep 4, 2009)

Two YEAR health guarantee? The puppy business must be a dog eat dog world!


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## lupinfarm (Sep 5, 2009)

Yep, 2 year, a lot of purebred breeders will give you a 24 hour health guarantee, but what does that really say about you and your breeding pracitices? It almost declares "my puppies are unhealthy!"


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## ksalvagno (Sep 5, 2009)

About 10-12 years ago my sister got pure breed German Shepherds and the breeder guaranteed their hips. My sister had to get an xray done at a certain age (something like age 2)  to see how the hips were. Both dogs ended up with good hips. Not sure how the breeders do it now though.


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## lupinfarm (Sep 5, 2009)

Yeah, most guarantees are for hip displaysia and retinal displaysia which are the two most common in dogs (mostly in large breeds, might I add). We guarantee against both for 2 years because at 2 years is when the dog can be tested (and it costs a huge amount of money to test btw). Our dogs haven't been tested themselves, but have had vet tests which have come back clean. Quesa is CKC registered so she is guaranteed against it from her breeder, Peaches is not CKC registered, but is from a CKC registered kennel, Kitty is not CKC registered but both her parents were (we bought her at a native reserve in Saskatchewan, she is of unusual colouring... a toy red parti poodle), and Nacho can't be registered since he is a F1 Mini Labradoodle.


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## pebbles (Sep 10, 2009)

I adopted Ziggy from "lupinfarm's" parents. I was surprised to see her topic about "Ziggy died" while I was googling. We feel the pain of losing a wonderful dog. We also see the Lupin's concern about the cause of the puppy's death. 
     The Lupins are nice people. They are sincere and were genuinely concerned about the dogs condition. I believe them and they had nothing to hide. They were accomodating but behind all this, I didn't know they were stressed about getting sued. The stress is unnecessary.We are not suing......in fact we are going to adopt another dog from them!!!


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## ksalvagno (Sep 10, 2009)

Good to hear. I'm glad there are no hard feelings. Sometimes things just happen and there is no way to know it or stop it. Sounds like this will be a happy ending.


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## lupinfarm (Sep 10, 2009)

pebbles said:
			
		

> I adopted Ziggy from "lupinfarm's" parents. I was surprised to see her topic about "Ziggy died" while I was googling. We feel the pain of losing a wonderful dog. We also see the Lupin's concern about the cause of the puppy's death.
> The Lupins are nice people. They are sincere and were genuinely concerned about the dogs condition. I believe them and they had nothing to hide. They were accomodating but behind all this, I didn't know they were stressed about getting sued. The stress is unnecessary.We are not suing......in fact we are going to adopt another dog from them!!!


Wow, Hi! ... I should say, you and your family are more than welcome to come over at any time before any of our other litters are due. You can meet the dogs, and get a better idea of where your puppy comes from too


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## lupinfarm (Sep 10, 2009)

WELL, the last week has been good. Its been kind of crazy-insane here lately. Recently we had our neighbour come by to bale and take our alfalfa for his cows. He noticed we had a bunch of old hay from last year hanging outside the barn ready to go to the compost pile and asked if he could have it for the cows, so, being that we're on 8 acres and getting rid of it without the place looking gross is difficult, we said of course! In return he has offered to drill some post holes for us with his nice and sharp auger, as well as plough up our top fields and help us seed it with pasture seed for the horses/goats. He is also going to bushhog the driveway sides for us.

I finally got around to putting a new light fixture in my brothers bedroom, but when I got his fan down I realized it was a big beyond my skill level (3-wire wiring, but I couldn't figure out which one was the switch) so I actually text messaged my neighbours son (same neighbour as the alfalfa) who is in school to be an electrician. He came over before classes and put my light up and changed my light switch! The light looks great, and most importantly I didn't kill myself!!

In not so awesome news, I sliced my finger open! I was doing the electric fencing for the fenceline that butts up against Jim's land and I was rolling the roll of poly rope out and I dropped it. The plastic roll sliced open my finger on my left hand in 2 places and it kills! 

Aside from that though, things are finally getting done. Quesa is going to be bred soon, the ducks and chicks will be coming up for point of lay, the goat house has floorboards (and by the end of the month hopefully should be framed in). The picket fence is almost done, and I'm planting my daffodils for the spring.


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## 2468herdsrgr8 (Sep 10, 2009)

Wow ! You have been busy!!  Hope your finger mends fast...


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## lupinfarm (Sep 11, 2009)

I've been busily working on updating our farm website, I have changed the layout and 'theme' of the website and IMO, it's looking a bit more professional and sorted out. 

www.lupinfarm.com


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## ksalvagno (Sep 11, 2009)

Taking it easy on the thumb? 

When are you not busy when you have a farm?


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## lupinfarm (Sep 11, 2009)

Hah, Yeah..

Today we had an issue with the hay loft when my mum fell through the floor of it (kind of). She was thigh deep in the floor on her left leg. I think we've made the decision to retire the barn for good, and just build 3 stable blocks by the house, use one for hay (we get 50 bales at a time) and two for horse stalls. 

I want to move the well pump to its own building eventually, but for right now it is stuck in the barn.


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## ksalvagno (Sep 11, 2009)

Glad your mom is ok. I guess if you are moving everything out of the barn then your water pump does have it's own building!


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## lupinfarm (Sep 12, 2009)

I had to take Accio (our housecat) to the vet this morning. A few days ago he had bloody urine, and strained to pee. He had his shots, and the vet gave him a shot of antibiotics to see if it helped with the bloody urine. Vet is unsure as to what is causing it, likely urinary crystals but if it doesn't clear up on it's own, Accio will go back and spend the night and they will take a sample of his pee (he had an empty bladder at the time, so no sample could be taken). 

He's clearly not feeling well, he peed himself in his crate and he doesn't usually do that, he also drooled... another thing that is unlike Accio. He has been very quiet, sleeping, which is all out of the ordinary for Accio. 

Also, the goats got their CD/T boosters today  Boy were they not happy! Cissy was a terror, but Hermione after I straddled her let me quickly prick her. 

I talked to the vet about getting some Tetanus Anti-toxin, but he said it doesn't last long in the fridge, is extremely expensive, and really unnecessary in our area if your goats have been vaccinated. I'll leave it at that.


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## lupinfarm (Sep 17, 2009)

Gosh, I'm supposed to be posting photos here but all I have been posting is journal-type entries! I'll have some photos tomorrow though, I caught Smokey sitting on the fence post all cuddled up earlier and took a photo 

Well, the vet came today to look at Luna, give her her EEE/WEE, Rabies, and Tetanus shots. She behaved relatively okay for the shots, except the vet gestured and she pulled back and up but otherwise was alright. The vet reckons she was abused before she got to the auction and to Christine. He said she has awful feet (bad angle, and needs corrective trimming, but we knew that and we are going to be working that into her trimming) and she has awful conformation, another thing we knew. He did mention she DOES have a clubfoot, which again, we figured, and that he thinks she certainly does have arthritis in her back end. He recommended adding MSM to her diet as he has had some good results with it, and putting her into light work to build up her muscle-definition in her back end. He said she can and should be ridden lightly at least once a week, trail riding, walk-trot. 

Otherwise though, Luna is happy and healthy!


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## lupinfarm (Sep 18, 2009)

We got our first EE egg today, it's a seafoam green!







And, I caught Smokey scouting out mice in the field the other day, doesn't he look content?


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## ksalvagno (Sep 18, 2009)

He still has that mad look going on!


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