# Tips for farm living



## toadnmeme (Jun 7, 2014)

Hi all. I have an (almost) 2 year old and a 13 month old. We recently purchased a 100 acre cow farm in the Blue Ridge mountains of VA and are relocating soon. The dogs are LOVING all the land and space, happily chase us on the 4 wheelers and love exploring and tromping through the streams. 

They often find cow skeletons and have found a few deer antlers. My question is: are the cow bones safe for them to chew? They are usually tendon and meat free. They brought me a huge femor bone recently, it was quite amusing to see them carrying it around. I take them away from them when they proudly bring them to me. I am not sure if they are safe. Any advice for this? And for farm living in general?? 

Thanks! Here's a picture of my boys enjoying the 18 inches of snow we got recently


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## my5wee-ones (Apr 1, 2015)

Congratulations on your farm purchase! I cant speak for cow bones, but I can tell you that our dogs seem to find something dead to roll in, chew in, bring home on a daily basis. Honestly its usually deer carcasses where we live. Our last dog did the same, and I don't know how to curb it. We keep them updated on their shots and give them baths ALOT. So far we haven't had any problems but it does disgust us. ;-) Good Luck!


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## toadnmeme (Jun 7, 2014)

Oh yea, the younger one LOVES to roll in dead stuff! 😁 My parents live on the river and the older one likes to roll in fish guts!! Ewwww!


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## gingerling (Jun 20, 2015)

We have a weekend farm, so I can relate. Tips?

1) Make sure all farm chemicals are always safely away.

2) Make sure your V's wear hunter orange, coats and/or collars, always. They look a lot like deer. Keep a close watch on them most especially during hunting season...I do not let them go out unsupervised during season, find out when then that is in your area. 

3) Be mindful of the coyotes and wolves, all wild life, actually...bears, moose...it's not suburbia! This is especially true during the early spring when newborns come forth and mama is especially protective and likely to attack.

Don't let them eat dead stuff....the issue with bones is when they're cooked, they get brittle and can splinter and puncture. The issue in the wild is freshness...old bones are still organic tissue and there's all kinds of truly nasty bacteria and parasites on them that your domesticated Vizsla cannot deal with.

Enjoy the serenity of rural life, it facilitates the bond with your V...


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## einspänner (Sep 8, 2012)

One rule of thumb for raw feeding which you can apply to bones on your property, is to avoid weight-bearing bones of large animals. So femurs, and other really big, dense bones are out for chewing.


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