First condition to have animals should be that you love them. It is like having children, they need to be loved to have a good life and a healthy development. Children and animals require nearly the same approach.
Our guards and our support
On Finca Libertad you can find our dogs Alma and Gringo. Our cats (pussies) Cato, Mia and Pepa. In our chicken house and sometimes walking over the finca you can admire our 5 chickens and a fantastic and beautiful rooster. They all can enjoy a very big land to live on and also they are fed with love, attention and good food. They need to eat proper food to stay healthy and energetic. Just like we do. Our neighbor offered us a little donkey and although we really would like to take this offer, it is better to wait a while until we have more focus to give the right attention to the donkey. Everything you do needs to happen in the right situation and the right moment.
The dogs are really great guards, they accompany us when we leave and welcome us when we get back on the finca. Also when there are strange noises or smells, perhaps a wild boar is near, they bark.This is our alarm. As for the cats, they keep the mice away. A good prevention since we have a lot to eat on the finca. Every month there is a choice between fresh fruits.
The animals of nature
Apart from the big animals we choose ourselves there are also salamanders, spiders, centipedes, mice, little scorpions, little snakes, frogs and …. a lot of bees! Walking over the bancales with all the herbs and flowers on it, you hear them buzzing. It is a beautiful sound, it makes me happy having so many bees on the finca.
Unfortunately we have to remove ticks from the cats and dogs on a daily basis. Of course this is now because of the time of the year. These bloodsuckers are really strong and are able to multiply their original size many times. We have the insect removal pen right around the corner in the kitchen.
Often, during guided tours or other moments, people ask me why there are no cows or sheep or animals like that. Looking around us there is no grass and the trees would be easy victims for sheep or goats. So unfortunately, those animals are not an option. Thinking about fresh milk to make my homemade yogurt for example would be awesome! But, let’s not get greedy. Be happy with all the beautiful options we already have.
Responsibility involved
Because we travel regularly to the Netherlands to visit our children or, like last year, a wonderful visit to Morocco, we need to make sure that good care will be taken of all the animals. Under those circumstances the animals are the most important and precious we leave behind, second place is the finca itself and the amazing richness of trees, plants and our vineyard.
Dangers on the finca
Living in the country means that you need to cope with a lot of small uninvited animals, like I described earlier. Some are cute, some could be painful or even poisonous. But there is a third category and those are the bigger animals from outside ourfinca like wild boars, foxes and wild cats. They can do harm to our animal population. So, our neighbors many times faced the fact that their complete animal population of geese, chickens and other small animals got killed. Perhaps you would ask, why can this happen, they have their guard dogs? Nevertheless, those wild animals work very quickly. Before the landowner can take his measures to scare off the intruders, the bad work already has happened. What’s left are dead bodies of animals, covered in their own blood. Luckily, until now, we haven’t had such an experience. The finca of our neighbor seems to be at the track these animals follow from the mountain. We are just a bit further away from that track. Additionally we fenced off the entire (!) finca and put all fence in concrete to form an extra obstacle for entry.
But, some weeks ago we were really puzzled about how wild animals could have entered our land. What happened? One of our chickens was found on her back, still living, but badly injured. You must know we have them some hours out of their gated area to walk freely on the land, the super plus happy chicken idea:).. So, this one I found under a tree. The others were already roosting in their house. We treated the feathered lady and gave her solutions to survive, but knowing that birds develop so much stress, we could have known that despite our efforts she wouldn’t survive.
After she died we removed the feathers (dip her in hot water and it is easy peasy) and discovered that worms had already entered her body. Right on the spot where she had had her wound and had been laying on her back under the tree.
In the weeks after the sad incident we were guessing what it could have been. We had suspicion on the cats, but in the end it appeared that our youngest dog Alma had targeted the chickens as toys. In the evening my husband found our youngest dog Alma, she is only seven months old, with another chicken between her paws. He was just in time to free the chicken and she was without any injury, so really right on time. From now on, the chickens have their hour until sunset to walk over the finca and Alma is at that same moment for an hour on the leash near her beautiful and cozy doghouse.
Because of the fact of a dead chicken we also studied how to prepare a chicken. For the case that. Nothing better than our own fresh meat, if possible. Without hormones, without anything added and of course without worms already eating it. Just meat. It is rather simple, you can do it in an animal friendly way. The animal friendly way is secondly very important to prevent the chicken from having stress, bad influence on both taste and texture. And also a detail is that you need to prevent once the head is off, that the body of the chicken will run over the finca. A headless creature. So, for us, always keep your head on your body and use it. Use your brain on a daily basis:).
Concerning the chicken, we stick to the fresh daily eggs. Daily catch is 5-6 eggs, wonderful!
Enjoy the weekend,
Warm regards,
Mónica