so who has totally worthless (to the homestead) pets?

No pictures...I need to figure that out....but I have a useless, loud 12 year old blue and gold macaw that I hand raised when we lived in Central America and brought back to the States with me. The only thing he's good for is entertaining visiting children.

We also have a large boa and a smaller ball python. I shouldn't call them useless, really. They are who eats the culled chicks, ducks, rabbits, etc. so those aren't wasted! We also use live catch mouse traps at the rabbit barn, and the python eats those, too.

Oh, and a couple cats who were supposed to fill the cat niche on our property so the local feral cats would stay away. Yeah, right. They call all their pals in to share the cat food. Including any possum who looks hungry!

That's about it...everybody else has a couple jobs!
Meg

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Edayna! I have a "Guido", actually named "Shadow" for the shadow of radio fame! The Shadow knows... ! Purgatory to rats and squirrels! He "supervises" household females (dog and me) from the top of the jam cupboard! ldc

Here are my 'useless' critters.

This is Redawg and Bear, doing what they do best:



And this is Odie, joining in the fun:



As you can see, the entire place is ran for their safety and comfort.

Puppy Dawgs! Gotta love 'em!

How about a parrot, a donkey and a lame horse?? 3 dogs & a bunch of chickens??

On second thoght, the parrot talks & makes me laugh.
The chickens antics are funny, plus they give me eggs to sell - although they'll never pay for their insulated coop
The dogs and donkey alert me to everything and the horse is just a love muffin.

So, I guess, everything is worth something.

Two horses that are just pasture ornaments, 3 dogs that haven't hunted a day in their lives (except shrews and mice), and five cats that have never hunted more than flies, spiders, or the occasional moth.











Not great pix, but they are recent at least. Sorry, don't have pictures of the cats uploaded (is there a way to post them without having them uploaded - like upload directly from my computer to the board?). Does it count if I'm surrounded by 3 of them at the moment? :Baby04:

We have lots of other "useless" animals (wildlife). At least my husband sometimes thinks so if it isn't hunting season. Moose, fox, coyote, stray cats, and I don't think I've ever seen so many different species of birds in one spot as I've seen around our place!

hoofinitnorth, I like the horse that looks like he sat in a bucket of paint.

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I have a bunch of loose buttons running all over the house. More work that way, but they are so amusing and I love to hear them call each other. One says "Where ARE you?" and another answers "right HERE" and then scurries off to meet each other. They are moral boosters so not useless. All those toms in the pasture, OTOH! At least they are edible tho LOL.

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Cyngbaeld's Keep Heritage Farm, breeding a variety of historical birds and LaMancha goats. (It is pronounced King Bold.)

Thanks ladycat - he's 27! My little air fern. He has hardly any teeth anymore so gets a mash diet twice a day. I've cut him back so far to keep his weight down I'm afraid he isn't going to get enough cubed hay for proper gut function & warmth this winter!!!

Well, would my 8.5' Bermese python count as a useless pet? Sorry I don't have any recent pics. Also my stallion is a pasture ornament with breeding right as he broke his leg 6 yrs ago and has 9 pins and 2 plates holding him together. 15 bantam chickens, 4 lazy house cats. A Bernese Mt. Dog that is scared of everything and a Boxer pup that puts you in mnd of Scrappy Doo.

We have 20+ barn cats (only 8 left to fix!!) At least they catch rats and mice, and birds, they were getting good at grasshoppers too, LOL
Heidi

hoofinitnorth - I've never seen dogs wearing house shoes before. Is it to keep their nails from scratching your hardwood floor? And how did you teach them not to naw them off?

Angie

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The little booties are really just fleece with velcro. I bought them at an ASPCA Thrift Store and I'm sure they were donated from someone that made them at home. They were probably used as turn-out boots to keep snow & ice out of the feet.

My dogs didn't need much training - I just put them on and if they started to pull I said NO! and that was it. They sulked for a bit but then started to enjoy sliding around the floors.

The booties do come off every now and then - usually if they step on one with another foot.

And yes, it is to allow the dogs to keep their VERY SHARP AND HARD claws for outdoor use but not kill our new hardwood floors.

Our Snowball (a brown tabby with a snowball blotch on her nose) is not exactly useless - she's our furry alarm clock. At 7am every day she gets on the bed and starts licking DH's armhair or kneading my (head) hair. She's learning how to mousehunt, and caught one last Monday. She carried the thing around in her mouth for a bit and the DH tried to take it awy from her to dispose of it. Quickly dropped it when he found out it was still alive. The silly cat just sat there looking at him, like, "Well, you catch it now..." It's been hiding out in our living room and watching it scamper around to different hiding spots. I told her the only way she'd get more catnip was if she caught the mousie...

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"A mind once stretched by imagination, never regains its former dimensions." ~ Anonymous

Cool photos & posts, everyone! I enjoy seeing how other folks keep their "stock"!

NONE! All nine dogs, six cats, five horses, three chickens and the duck are worth their weight in gold!

The dogs are great companions, the best medicine there is for high blood pressure and stress, plus they catch field rats and other critters, warn us of snakes and intruders, etc.

The cats catch rats/mice/grasshoppers/etc. We haven't seen a mouse in the barn since some of the cats moved into it.

The horses do a great job mowing and providing me with fertilizer for the garden.

The chickens and duck provide me with eggs and are wonderful at turning kitchen scraps into fertilizer.

HORSES:
Rose, Angel, Jasper and Shiloh -


Cheyenne (with my son-in-law) -


DUCK and CHICKENS:

Lucky Duckie -


Randy the Rooster, Aunt Bea, Aunt Betsy and Miss Scarlett (who passed away this summer) with Riley when he was a pup -

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And the rest...

DOGS:
Angus, Bonnie and Tom looking at a chicken snake (the snake went free after the photo) -



Eight-year-old Drake (black) compared to eight-month-old Brawn (white) -


Katie and Tom -


Riley (when he was a pup) and Molly -


Tippy (the pack leader) -


CATS:
Hermione -


Crookshanks -


Casper (the ghost) and Charlie -


Harley -


Esther (taken when we rescued her) -


Whewwwww...I'm done now!

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http://hickahala.blogspot.com/

Heck, my dogs are the reason I bought my homestead-to-be! I took one look at the fenced-in acre and said, "I think I'm home!" (also bought the car with the dogs in mind).
Cargo the Gordon setter isn't useless, because he helps me teach obedience classes.
Echo the Brittany isn't useless, because she is an all-around pick-up-objects off the floor/ warm the feet/ entertain visiting kids dog.
Cheyenne the Irish setter, welllllllllllll....... she's the reason there is an Invisible Fence inside the nice woven wire fence that came with the house. She is also the reason that the potato bin has a lock, and there are no plants in the backyard. (sigh)

We also have 4 cats, 3 purely ornamental, one who will actually catch mice.
Lin

ME TOO! I was living in a 1300 sq. ft. house on a 4000 sq. ft. lot and was running out of room for my three dogs, 20 or so cats and one husband. I love having the space now just so I can rescue critters in need and not worry about stupid city bylaws, like not being allowed to have a goat or pigs or chickens or ...

Lisa.

I have two miniature donkeys. However, I have noticed that when a dog is on the road in front of the pasture, that the two jennets will position themselves between the dog and the sheep. They keep a stare down going, with the sheep milling behind them, until the dog(s) goes away. So, I guess they are expensive security donkeys. We have four ducks for eggs, but most of the eggs are being laid in the pond, so that pretty much negates their usefullness, except for the bug eating.

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3.5 lbs of sheer terror guard dog LOL

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