The Chodove People

You know how they always say things happen for a reason? Well, things happened to us and we found out the reason. We moved from our house in the city of Regina of 12 years to a beautiful 10 acre farm near Strasbourg. It was a big decision but upon seeing the place we were sure. You see, we live about 500 feet from Last Mountain Lake! Between us and the lake is a bird sanctuary. And we are the last house on the road, which actually turns into a turkey trail, so traffic is unheard of!

I, Paulette, had been looking on messages boards and reading information about the terrible atrocities happening at slaughterhouses and farms around Saskatchewan. It had been a bad year for bales. See, when people sell their land, and others buy it just to say they have the land and such, they don't worry about farming it as they are off to their high paying job or too busy working in another province. Not much hay/straw was baled this year. The animals and the farmers suffered.

Herds of cattle were being put down and a fight to end slaughterhouses in Saskatchewan had begun. I joined an online message board that caters to horse lovers of Saskatchewan. I asked if it would be a good idea for my husband and I to start a farm animal rescue in the spring.

Yes I did say spring.... we had moved onto the farm in September. Not enough time to clean up the horrible mess that was left behind here. A bit of history... the number one reason we started all this was due to the gross farming done here before us. There was sheep sh*t a foot deep in the barns, with grain being tossed on top in the corners, and no straw for bedding. There was also a tonne of sheep wool left in bags that had split apart and become a climbing/pooping apparatus for the sheep. The fences, if you call them that, had all been intertwined with a few different kinds of fence (barb wire, page wire, chicken wire and snow fence!) and then driven over a few times for good measure. The place was a disaster zone.

Back to present. The question was asked.... should we start one? Well, within hours I got many replies saying that it was a noble thing to do and desperately needed. I also got a private email telling me about a woman out by Dinsmore trying to do something with her horses as she was running out of feed quickly.

We talked with the lady and told the kids that if they wanted the animals sooner, the cleaning would have to be done sooner! They were exceptionally wonderful about it and knowing how much they all wanted horses, they started cleaning with a frenzy.

The main barn took quite some time to clean... even with hubby and I pitching in. It was hard work digging up petrified poop a foot deep. But we managed.

Getting the first horses here was another story all together. Each time we talked with the lady and had a date set for their arrival, it would snow or blow or both and sometimes with a -50 windchill.

Next week... our first arrivals!