Looking after your animals with Farmcraft
Posted on Sunday 24th June 2018
There’s a lot to consider when you’re taking care of your animals, whether you’re breeding strong and healthy horses for racing, maintaining your supply of organic breakfast eggs, or just looking after your friendly, furry house companions.
There are also a few things you should invest in to help you take good care of your animals—including feed, fencing, housing and health products—but just a few simple tricks can make it a lot easier to keep your animals content and healthy.
Farm animals
One of the first things you need when you’re keeping farm animals is to ensure you’ve got adequately secure fencing.
To keep your animals safe from harm and away from your gardens and plantations, your fencing could be anything from plain, barbed or sigh
ter wire, or specially fabricated wires and netting. You also need to consider how you’ll provide ample shade and water, especially in the harsh conditions of Queensland—whether that’s shelter with roofing, or the right water troughs to allow access to cool, fresh water.
With a little professional advice on the best fencing and housing solutions for your animal types and property conditions, it’s not too hard to safeguard your animals from extreme weather. The right stock feeds are incredibly important for maintaining the health of your farm animals.
Just a few minor changes in nutrients can generate significant results, and it’s important to get the balance right if you’re going to give your cattle, sheep or pigs a long life—and expect high-quality end products. If your beasts aren’t performing the way you’d hoped, ask for some professional advice on supplements or specific feed formulations—seasonal and weather changes, and pest attacks, can cause any number of dietary deficiencies, but they’re often easily resolved with a temporary boost or regime change.
At Farmcraft, we also carry a wide range of animal health products to prevent diseases and parasite infestations. Ask our friendly team at any time for advice on things like vaccines and worming pastes, salt blocks and nutritional supplements, and we’d love to help you improve and maintain the quality of life and performance of your animals.
Horses
Horses are a valuable asset, and a big investment, whether they’re for your local pony club or professional racing.
Keeping your horses in perfect form means choosing high-quality feeds and raw grains, as well as thorough grooming and parasite protection. There are a number of manufactured feeds available that can support your horses’immune systems, and help them meet the highest levels of their dietary requirements.
But if you prefer to mix your own rations, raw grains, lucerne hay and chaff, oaten and wheaten chaff and molasses can add valuable nutrients to your horses’ diets, and address deficiencies that can cause poor health and performance.
If you suspect your horses need supplements but aren’t sure what they need, ask our friendly staff at Farmcraft for a free diet analysis, and we’ll help get them back to top health. Grooming your horses is one of the most im portant ways to protect their health.
It protects their skin by removing dirt from their body hair, mane, tail and feet that can cause rubbing, removes hair that they’re shedding, prevents many skin conditions, and gives you a chance to check for any injuries or parasites.
You should also allow your horses to roll in dirt or sand occasionally for their own comfort, particularly after they’ve been exercised. How often you need to groom your horses will depend on how often you ride them, and whether they live outside or in a stable, so make sure you do your research on the best routines for your horses’living situation.
And as with any animals, worming programs are important to prevent parasitic health problems. At Farmcraft, we stock an extensive range of worming products, so ask us for free advice and worming schedules and we’ll be happy to help.
Poultry
Keeping poultry has many benefits, including giving you a constant supply of fresh eggs. You can keep poultry even if you’re living in suburban areas, and they make great pets for kids. Even when their laying days are over, chickens can help you protect your horses and other animals by eating pests like flies, grubs and other parasites that attack your paddocks.
Chickens are low maintenance animals, but you need to ensure they’ve got secure coops to roost in at night, a variety of feed, clean bedding, fresh water, and a place to scratch around.
Because Queensland is prone to extreme temperatures, you need to choose the right poultry breeds for your area. You should always ensure that your poultry housin g is secure from predators, gives off a decent amount of shade and heat protection, has clean and comfortable nesting boxes, and won’t be overcrowded.
They should always have access to cool, fresh water, which should be placed out of the sun, and away from roosting areas where it can be contaminated with droppings. There’s a wide variety of feeds available to help maintain the health of your poultry, but they’ll get plenty of nutrients from your kitchen scraps as well.
At Farmcraft, we stock high quality feed brands including Barastoc, Kewpie and Avigrain, and a good range of metal and plastic feeders and waterers to ensure your poultry animals are always well nourished.
Your chickens and other poultry can suffer poor health and reduced egg production when they’re deficient in nutrients or affected by parasites, so ask our professionals at Farmcraft for advice and treatments on worms, lice, or supplements, and we’ll help you keep your poultry happy and laying.
House pets
At Farmcraft, we’re experts in farm animals—but we love to help take care of house pets as well. We stock a large range of pet food and supplies from reputable brands, and we can offer expert advice on your companion animals, whether they’re cats, dogs, or birds.
Giving your animals high-quality food will help to keep their digestive and immune systems healthy, giving them a long and healthy life. At Farmcraft, we stock top brand dog and cat food, as well as a range of high-quality birdseeds, which are available in value packs to help you cut the cost of taking care of your pets.
If your animals have specific health needs or concerns, talk to a professional about the best dietary options for them. It’s important to protect your house pets from parasites, particularly if you’re living in rural or bush areas where they can be exposed to dangerous insects like ticks.
Depending on their size and breed, your pet might be suited to flea and tick collars, or spot-on treatments. Regular worming regimes are essential for all cats and dogs, so if you’re unsure of what’s best for your animal, ask the friendly staff at Farmcraft and we’ll be happy to help.
At Farmcraft, we’ve got everything you need to keep your animals happy, healthy and productive. Drop into any of our stores to view our broad range of products, or to speak with an experienced and friendly professional for the best advice, and we’ll be happy to help.
