After 2 years of procrastination, it is finally happening, Nicky and Norman are tidying up the barn and farm.
The encouragement to make it happen, coming from our fabulous staff and family, that get tired of moving our “treasures” around the farm!
As you might imagine, theres lots of old horse treasures, including driving harness, saddles of all types, blankets, halters, bandages etc etc etc
We have tons of new and used chicken supplies, including portable roosts and lay boxes, feeders of all sizes etc etc
Then there are the used tubs, planters, buckets electric fence stuff etc etc.
Even a few bits of furniture!
There is lots & lots of lovely antique furniture, some in need of repair, but with good bones as they say, An addiction to old and good stuff would be a kind way of describing it
The garage and barn sale will continue during our open hours, more stuff surfacing all the time!
This year, we have changed so much, 21 lambs born on the farm, a first for us, also 3 calves increasing our herd to an all time high of 9. We market some of these well loved and cared for animals as meat through our farm store (lamb pre-orders being taken now).
The gardens are flourishing under the attention of the next generation of the family, doing an amazing job, on both vegetables and flowers, marketed in the shop as well as out in the world as the Rambling Bloom, seen at some of the Sidney street markets.
We are still involved with breeding Thoroughbred foals, but at arms length so to speak, at farms in Alberta and Ontario. Having been hands on raising & selling race horses for 30 plus years we are very appreciative of the hard working & talented folk managing our animals for us now. Our horses continue to thrill us, as they race & win across Canada, with 2 winners on July 5th both raised on the farm by Maggie (pictured below) now at 26. ALL the babies she raised are winners.
This summer sees us introduce a new line of feeds that provides some new options like Fibre Plus, a low-sugar high-fibre mix of soyhulls and beet pulp that is popular horse product.
The company is a BC company which is important to us.
Their Harmony horse feeds are corn and alfalfa free for horses with allergies.
We have also brought in the Chatterbox line of non-GMO poultry feed, to give our customers another option alongside the non-GMO Natural Harvest line that we currently carry.
The selling of quality Washington (non-dusty) compressed hay has been a good thing for us and our customers, as we can offer such a wide range of hay types for so many different livestock and horses of all breeds and needs. See our hay inventory and tests HERE
We have an amazing staff here in Michael, Chanel and Benson that is supporting us this summer and I am making the most of it to sneak away with Norman from time to time and explore our amazing island, knowing that the farm is in very capable hands.
Buy 10 Step Right feed bags and get another for FREE
We’ve had a great time this week learning and sharing the Enhanced Step Right Horse feed line that has finally arrived. These products take a long time in the planning — from getting each change approved by the CFIA and testing palatability, to a new state of the art production system, new bags and a line that reflects the needs of today’s horses.
As the old extruder mill is retired, after 30 years of leading equine feed production, it’s been replaced with a vacuum infusion process, allowing the Step feeds to continue evolving as the best in the industry and remain the only Canadian feed using non hydrogenated vegetable fats for their balanced Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids that keeps our athletes healthy. They’ve also added a double conditioning pelleting process which keeps the feeds highly digestible and palatable in a way we all are used to whilst optimizing the very important forage portion in our horse’s diets.
An extruded kibble is still a feature of the Step 6 Senior and Step 2 Peak performance. All the changes have been made to reflect the current science when it comes to feeding horses, from a highly available marine based calcium to help protect the stomach, to top of the line minerals and Vitamins in the most available forms for the horse.Find out all the details in the new Step right guide below.
We will be closed on Saturday March 30th for the Easter Weekend, though open on Good Friday 29th for those of you with fence projects in the garden or to keep all the livestock in and predators out.
We have put up a new hay page that I hope is clearer for those needing hay and all the tests associated with those hays
Spring lambs [20 from 9 ewes so far] with one more ewe keeping us waiting for a final tally, are out enjoying the newly fenced pasture.
The smiles are big around here with springs warmth, new life and blossoms.
Though our grass is good, as are the different hays we all feed, never forget your breed specific minerals, so things like poor birthings and white muscle disease don’t affect you.
Set up for success with the correct nutrition, it is money well spent and far cheaper then livestock losses and vet bills.
Ask us about the tried and trusted options available.
The snow came and the dogs didn’t mind.. see further below for a closer up of our dogs.
In getting ready to participate in the upcoming FARMER TO FARMER at the Fairgrounds on Thursday February 15 I realized how much has changed over the last few years.
All week there are fabulous field day workshops taking place at different locations in the South island, fingers crossed i can steal away from here to get to the odd one
Due to all these changes we are madly trying to update the current web site to better reflect who we are in 2024, it is a lot different then it was 10, 20 and 30 years ago, change being the one constant.
When we aren’t serving our community of customers, we are getting ahead on cleaning out our back barn for lambing season, which then means we’re busy making soil, the most valuable asset on this farm. This lovely November weather is keeping us hard at it around the farm, such a pleasure digging for worms.
We have now included the Alfatec alfalfa timothy cubes as well as the alfalfa cubes on at $19.95 a 20kg bag, take another 50c off if using cash type payment, so now $19 49 a bag
We had an exciting moment when our mare Chilli Chines’ yearling sold as the Sale topper in Alberta. This makes only the 2nd time we’ve done this, once with Mascarettas yearling in BC, many years ago. That was a big celebratory moment for our little thoroughbred breeding operation! Thanks to everyone that made this possible.
Counterforce Gelding Tops Successful Alberta Yearling SaleThe CTHS Alberta Yearling Sale saw marked increases across the board and a gelding by leading second crop sire Counterforce topped sale.
A son of Canada’s leading 2nd crop sire Counterforce topped the CTHS Alberta sale at $46,000 on Sept. 22. (photo courtesy Highfield Investment Group, Inc./L. McLennan)
The Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society’s Alberta yearling sale, held September 22 at the Agricenter East, Westerner Park in Red Deer, realized hefty increases across the board.A bigger catalogue of youngsters saw 44 sell for gross sales of $635,800, up from $443,600. The average price of $14,450 was up from $11,080 and the median price more than doubled from $4,750 to $10,500.A bay gelding by Canada’s leading second crop sire COUNTERFORCE (Smart Strike) from the older mare CHILLI CHINES, by Katowice, topped the sale at $46,000, paid by Curtis Landry. The gelding, consigned by Highfield Investment Group Inc., agent, is a half-brother to Grade 3 stakes winner Herbie D.The top-priced filly was a daughter of Canada’s leading sire FED BIZ, who stands in Alberta, from the mare Tell Me Lies, by Captain Bodgit, who brought $40,000. Everblack Cattle Company bought the filly from Bushido Stables. Tell Me Lies is a multiple stakes winner and half-sister to nine stakes horses.
Fed Biz is the sire of four of the top seven yearlings by price.TOP PRICES – 2023 CTHS ALBERTA YEARLINGS$46,000 – g. by Counterforce – Chilli Chines, by Katowice (consigned by Highfield Investment Group, Inc, agent) – purchased by Curtis Landry$40,000 – f. by FedBiz – Tell Me Lies, by (consigned by Bushido Stables) – purchased by Everblack Cattle Company.$34,000 – f. by Fed Biz – Anstrum by (consigned by KRT Stables Inc.) – purchased by Tallie Racing$30,000 – POCKETFULOFDREAMS, f. by Always Dreaming – Scarlet Fire, by (consigned by Starline Thoroughbreds) – purchased by Chris Duggan$30,000 – g. by Fed Biz – Swaying, by (consigned by Highfield Investment Group, Inc.) – purchased by Curtis Landry$28,000 – f. by Sungold – A E Phi Sensation, by (consigned by Moonshine Meadow Ranch) – purchased by Curtis Landry$26,500 – f. by Fed Biz – Heartless Sofiya by (consigned by Highfield Investment Group Inc.) – purchased by Hurley Racing Stable
ALFALFA CUBES Fall down in price for the month of September,
$19.99 OR DOWN TO $19.49 bag when puchased using Debit, cash or e transfer.
At White House Stables we are trying hard to get costs down for our community of customers, as all around us prices go up & up.
The 50c “cash” discount has been a popular idea keeping their costs lower on all their feed and hay purchases
The droughts and fires are a big concern re the 2023 hay crops hence our efforts have been put into the ESSENTIAL hay and hay substitutes like cubes. Because we farm and feed animals ourselves, we understand how hard it can be to source quality, reliable sources of fibre, so we changed how we ordered compressed hays to get the prices down as much as possible whilst still providing a variety of tested quality hays that we always stand behind
CLEAN SWEEP
Prices climbed so high on these astonishing Amish made brooms that we ordered a pallet of them direct from Pennsylvania. No longer at a high of $72 we are able to sell them at $49.99
That is almost 50% less No strings attached!!!
So as the Labour Day weekend approaches, remember we are closed Saturday September 2nd so the September special start tomorrow, Wednesday August 30th.
White House Stables 