What?

[gene]

Do you think an upholsterer owns this farm?

Gene

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSBHpJmjk9k&feature=PlayList&p=8A9EA106DA825A92&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=79

[Mojo]

No idea Gene. But those are some pretty brave goats.

You wouldn't catch me walking across that thing. There are no hand rails to hold onto. :)

Chris

[scott_san_diego]

I'm sure it is OSHA approved.

[mike802]

I had a goat when I was a kid, that thing could climb ladders :o  If that farm is owned by an upholster I hope he, or she is a better farmer than I am.  I have been trying to grow all my vegetables for three years now and everything I plant either dies, gets eaten by critters, over grown by weeds or rots because of to much rain.  This year has been the year of the woodchuck for me, there everywhere and they can climb fences. I really hate to kill them but trapping them with a have a heart trap was not productive, so I started smoke bombing them, but there are so many of them they keep coming back.  I am thinking of changing my forum name to Black Thumb  ;D

[fragged8]

hiya

whats a woodchuck ?

Rich

[wind_rose_2]

a gopher..groundhog varmit

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

[ragtacker]

Woodchucks are marmots, and pests, no matter what they are called! >:(

Goat saddles????

[bobbin]

He'd chuck as much wood as a woodchuck could, if a woodchuck could chuck wood!

Wood chucks are bigger than gophers.  They are digging machines with voracious appetites for vegetation.  And they can be the scourge of any vegetable farmer.  I'd say they can weigh up to 20-25 lbs. and they are more than capable of holding off a dog when they're cornered and frightened (ask me how I know these things).  They are also bad news in fields and pastures where horses are kept (lots of holes that are deep and pose an injury threat). 

They swell up and get bloated quickly when hit by a car and left to bake in the sun for a day/two, lol. 

[JuneC]

[quote author=bobbin link=topic=8646.msg70005#msg70005 date=1279233948 I'd say they can weigh up to 20-25 lbs. and they are more than capable of holding off a dog when they're cornered and frightened (ask me how I know these things). 
[/quote]

Seriously???!!!  :o   I thought they were the size of squirrels!  Happy we don't have them around here.  Iguanas were the scourge of S. Florida - till the big freeze this past winter.  Most of our pests are normal sized critters - at least till the owners of pythons started setting them loose in the Everglades when they got too big for their cages.   

June

[gene]

I have a house once that had moles in the yard. I actually found a book in our library about how to skin moles and make clothes out of them. Moles are very small. I did not borrow the book.

I tried a lot of ways to get rid of them. The only solution is to get rid of the grubs in the grass. Grubs in your grass are a good sign that you have healthy grass. I didn't want to pour chemicals in my yard.

One day I was standing in my front yard with a bow and arrow, pointed at the opening of a mole hole. I didn't notice the county sheriff drive into my driveway. He approached me with his hand on his gun. He asked me to put down the bow and arrow and turn around very slowly.

He said he had been standing there for 5 minutes and I hadn't moved an inch. I think that's what convinced him that I was telling the truth.

LOL

Gene

[Mojo]

I had a lab that would kill moles. I would take her to a mole run and she would start tracking it. When she got close to the mole she would begin ripping the sod off the ground and would grab the mole and kill it. My yard looked like a Marine Corps fighter jet squadron dropped some ordinance on it. :)

She also hated woodchucks and would kill those as well. She did get bit in the neck by a muskrat once and that cost me some bucks at the vet as it got infected.

The only pests we have here at our house is poisonous snakes and scorpions because of the woods out back. Florida has an abundance of Rattlers and coral snakes but the nasty one is that dang water moccasin. They wont back down and are mean as heck.

The joys of pests.

Chris

[mike802]

Around these parts people actually eat woodchucks, cant say as I ever had the urge to try one.  When I was a kid we could just shoot them.  Today so many houses have been built around our field that we can no longer fire a gun there.  Next year there will be an explosion in the fox population and they will thin out the chucks.  Up here in Vermont people who would fit the southern description of red neck are called woodchucks, but the red neck term is becoming more popular with the younger crowd due to Jeff Foxworthy I imagine.

[bobbin]

Seriously, June!  They're really pretty amazing creatures, they're sort of squat and low slung (along the lines of a badger), with heavy, clawed feet that are capable of breaking through tough ground and underground roots with ease.  They dig long tunnels and that's how you spot 'em in a pasture... look for piles of debris around the entrances to the tunnels.  That, and a lot of damage to your vegetable garden and perennial borders, lol.  I frequent a lot of gardening forums (my recreational passion) and everyone is always asking how to get rid of them.  You kill them because if you don't they'll be back!  While I find them fascinating and admire their adaptability I "take no prisoners" with woodchucks or voles.  Moles don't bother me much; I've only seen a couple of the big Star Nosed Moles in the nearly 20 yrs. I've lived here... they eat earthwornms and insects and do little damage to the lawns, so they're "cool". 

Our first dog was about 75 lbs., Lab. x Shepherd, and she was pretty tough.  She went after a 'chuck in the garden and cornered it... the frightened animal went immediately on the offensive, charging, grunting, and snapping at her.  Definitely "got her attention"! and since there was no way for her to get it by the neck and snap its neck she backed off.  The dog at the nursery where the husband works was lightening fast and went for the neck immediately.  She used to grab 'em and shake and that was pretty much "all she wrote" for the woodchuck.  That dog was about the same size but Shepherd/Collie.  One tough dog!