As southern Manitoba continues to experience hot weather, the owner at Kismet Creek Farm Animal Sanctuary is working to provide the animals with extra shade and watering holes.
The last two months have produced record-breaking heat in Steinbach and Karl Schoenrock is busy helping the farm animals stay cool.
“Like with the big pigs that I’m staring at now, it's about digging down their little mud hole a lot deeper so they can actually really sink themselves in the water to keep cool that way because without that, they would just overheat,” he says. “I do have a sheltered area for them but that's not as cool, it is better for them to be in cold mud or cold water that helps keep them cool.”
Karl Schoenrock tours visitors through the farm, explaining how the pigs came to Kismet Creek.The hot weather has also been a challenge for the cows.
“I might have to fill their pond so that they can go and relax that way, but they're also standing near the smoke smudge right now, just trying to keep the bugs off them. Because with the heat comes the biting flies, and this spring has been fairly bad for horse flies.”
Schoenrock points out that each animal is affected by the heat in different ways, and they have different requirements during hot weather.
The goats and donkeys like to cool off by standing in the water sprinklers. Using sprinklers also helps the grass to keep growing, which provides food for the animals.
With the expectation of hot weather for the rest of summer, Schoenrock is planning additional shade structures.
“Hopefully the goats stop eating all their trees, so they live,” he says. “They're starting to lose some of their tree cover because goats love to eat pretty much anything, or at least the bark because there's a lot of vitamins and minerals in it.”
As the tree cover decreases, Schoenrock plans to build shade structures. He would prefer to have the animals in a very natural environment but says they need shade.
“I want them out in the open, in the free air, no confinement of any sort and just looking free and natural. But you got to think ahead and what's best for them and how to keep them cool.”
There are over 100 animals at Kismet Creek Farm Animal Sanctuary.
“I get animals all the time. I have three new baby goats; I’ve got a couple of baby pigs, and they just keep on coming here from all across western Canada.”
It isn’t just the animals that are coming from across the western provinces, Schoenrock notes visitors are also stopping in from various parts of the country.
“The visitors are coming from all over Canada, some from down through the states, I've had a few recently come from Europe so it's great to see that. I'm trying to pick up my German, again, so I can start speaking to some of them, and learning some new languages as well.”
He is also noticing an increase in the number of Winnipeggers coming to the farm, to enjoy the outdoors and spend time with the animals.
Schoenrock says the biggest change he has noticed is the number of people from Steinbach and area visiting the sanctuary and he appreciates meeting each person.
Education is a big part of what happens at the farm with various signs that provide some interesting facts about the different animals who make Kismet Creek their home. Schoenrock says it’s important for the younger generations to learn about farm animals and how they live, what they need and how to care for them.
Schoenrock finds his inspiration to educate by looking at his young son.
“A place like Kismet Creek should be around every community, just to be able to educate the kids, to get them closer and get them to understand and appreciate (farm animals) more, because it just seems more and more governments in different countries are attacking farmers, that they are the ones that are doing the worst for the environment, when they're not in any way, shape or form. I think we just really need to reeducate the future generations on actually all the knowledge that that we've gotten so far and some deep debunk some of the knowledge that has been passed on to us that isn't true.”
In the party room at the farm, there’s a big stand with crosswords and word searches from Agriculture in the Classroom.
“I'm downloading off their website and utilizing some of those tools that they have to further help educate kids. It is about knowledge, it is about training the volunteers that that come here, and learning as much as I can myself. I don't know everything, there's too many different animals to be a specialist in all of them, but every day I learn something, and I just pass that on to the next generation, and to the generation that I live in as well. There are a lot of people don't know what some of these animals are, some of the differences, some of the things that they need to be cared for.”
Kismet Creek was extra busy a couple of weeks ago when the farm hosted a farmers' market.
“That was a great success,” Schoenrock reports. “We had a lot of great vendors here; a lot of people came out to see it. And that's one of the things that people want to see, a farmers’ market on a farm.”
Schoenrock says there are many volunteer opportunities at Kismet Creek, and he welcomes people of all ages to join his team.
“There's a lot of things for people to do, but one of the main things is cuddling; cuddling all my little my little buddies here.”
Sun, May 12, 5:00 PM
Agriculture, Full-time
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