Looking for Poop in All the Wrong Places

We went down to feed the animals today with a second mission in mind.  But first of all, see how nicely everyone is behaving in this new cohabiting relationship?  We didn't even have to halter the horses to keep them away from Sara and her food.  Everyone just ate nicely in their own place.

"Got D.E.?"  Instead of a milk moustache, they sport a DE moustache when they're finished eating.  DE is short for diatomaceous earth, a natural, organic product that we have been mixing in all the animals' feed daily for several months now as a preventive de-wormer.  When we were up at the Dexter show in late June, one of the women farmers was quite scathing in her denouncement of DE--doesn't work, totally useless, studies have proven it.  When I mentioned it to Hero's vet the other day, she said categorically that it doesn't work.  And yet . . . many organic farmers use it, including Nature's Harmony Farm where we will be attending Farm Business School this weekend.

So what's the acid test?  How do you know if it works or it doesn't?  You take stool samples!  Since we can't give the animals a plastic container with a screw-on lid and send them behind a bush, it's up to us to do the dirty work.  So after they finished eating, we wandered around the pasture looking for fresh "cow patties" and "road apples."  Then out came the inverted plastic bag and presto!  A vet-ready sample!  Angel was convinced that anything Herb was carrying around so carefully must be good to eat!

As we headed back to the house with our "doodie bags," Hero came racing across the field to catch up with us.  He's always a delight to watch--especially when the action made him realize he needed to make a pit stop in the field right in front of us so we could mark the spot!

Unfortunately, by the time we got through the pasture gate and over to the general area, it was hard to pinpoint the exact spot.  Hero and Zephyr watched us hunt, but they certainly weren't telling!  So we spent about 10 minutes wandering around, baggies in hand, until I finally struck gold!  Well, not literally; I didn't actually step in it!  At least we had a good chuckle about looking for poop in all the wrong places!

And meanwhile, we're waiting for word from the vet to see if the animals' doodie says that DE has done its duty!