Paige’s Page

I spent the day chopping down cherry trees!  OK, so I had a chainsaw rather than an ax, and they were wild black cherry trees.  There are a number of them in the pasture, and they are poisonous for livestock.  They are only poisonous for the first couple days after a limb falls, because the leaves emit cyanide during the time that they are wilting.  The cyanide breaks down quickly, though, so they become harmless after the leaves are done wilting.  So I’m erring on the safe side and just getting them cleared out so I don’t have to worry about it.

I’d say there are about two dozen of them in the pasture, so this is a pretty big job.  Right now I’m just focusing on getting them cut down so they can get past that dangerous period, then I can start the big job of cleaning them up.  I allow Paige to be out there while I’m out there so I can keep an eye on her, and she doesn’t seem interested in the fallen cherry trees.  I’m not taking any chances, though, so she gets locked out of the pasture when I leave it.  I took down about 1/3 of them today.  Hopefully I can get the rest of them down in the next couple days so I don’t have to worry about them anymore when Cassie gets here Friday!

I hate cutting down live trees, but thankfully there are a number of other trees out there that will remain.  There are mostly sycamores, elms, and cottonwoods, with a few mulberry and walnut.  I considered cutting the walnuts down as well, but there are so few of them and the research that I’ve done on them is that live trees in the pasture aren’t so much of a problem as walnut shavings mixed in with bedding.

Paige needs a feet trim, so I am still persistently working with her.  I am working on her front feet for longer periods of time.  She has to let me clean them out completely before she gets her treat.  If she pulls it out of my hand, she has to pick it back up and let me finish, then let me place her foot down.  Then and only then does she get her reward.  For the back feet, she has to let me hold her lower leg without kicking it around, and place it back on the ground nicely before she gets rewarded.  I don’t like to use punishment very often, especially since she has a completely justifiable fear about her feet being handled.  Tonight, however, she was throwing her back foot around when I was trying to hold it, so I smacked her on the butt and sternly told her to cut it out.  Then I calmly asked for her foot again, and she was very nice about it.  I guess sometimes you have to be stern, just as long as you don’t overdo it.

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