MLHR Cork welcomed staff from Teamwork who did a stellar job of ridding the fields of Ragwort, keeping them safe for grazing ponies. Our Cork crew had a fantastic day out at the Ballygarvan Show on 27 August and to say we were proud of our former residents and their adopters is an understatement!

MLHR Ben won 2nd place in the lead-rein class and 1st place in the ridden rescue class. MLHR Jensen took 2nd place in the ridden class and 1st in the led rescue class. Jensen went on to win Overall Champion of the Ring. It’s incredible to see how far these boys have come and wonderful to see them with their adopters, so loved, so well cared for, confident companions and now champions!

Wondering where you can chat with us in September? We are so excited to see the return of the MLHR Ranch to Electric Picnic from 2-4 September. Our volunteers and some of our party-loving animal residents will be strutting their stuff at Stradbally Hall. If you’ve bagged your ticket to EP please do come and say hello!

We’ll have a few days to catch up on our sleep before we hit the road again to set up our stall in Marlay Park at Pups in the Park, Ireland’s ultimate dog-friendly festival. This event takes place on 10 and 11 September and tickets are availble from www.pupsinthepark.ie . We are delighted to be part of the “Charity Focus talk” with our good friends at Husky Rescue Ireland and PAWS Animal Rescue Ireland. 

We think of swallows as our birds don’t we, native Irish who like to head South for Winter to sunnier climes just as many northern Europeans like ourselves often like to do. 

We think of them heading off to Africa as the cold weather sets in here and then returning home each Spring to nest and raise their young in the relative warmth of our Irish Summer. 

Yet these beautiful songbirds are actually not Irish in origin at all but African. They come here to escape the intense African sun as opposed to heading South each winter to escape the harsh cold. As the temperatures drop here on our shores, many insects which they feed on die off or hibernate so the swallows must leave our shores to survive until those long cold months are over and the insects are in abundance again.

These long distance migrants have long fascinated us and become as much a part of the reawakening of the Earth for us as the snowdrop and the daffodil. Their song is quite distinctive, high pitched and sweet, a chirp, a whine, followed by a glorious gurgle at the end. Swallows are so agile and graceful in flight that watching nesting pairs swoop and glide as they hunt for insects is pure delight. How wondrous they are, these tiny little birds who have travelled such distances and weathered such trials along the way to make that huge journey twice a year. During migration they fly during daylight hours, flying low to the ground, covering anywhere upto 200 miles each day over well known routes that their ancestors have been flying for hundreds of generations. At night they all settle down together in huge flocks, perching deep in reed beds which have become their traditional stopovers. It’s like us returning each year to the same spots we have grown to know and love on our travels. Swallows feed in flight so they are constantly munching as they fly and don’t really need to fatten up too much before they take off. Yet sadly many of them do die of starvation along the way. They travel down along the coasts of western France and Spain, then onto Morocco before crossing the fiery vastness of the Sahara Desert and the Congo Rainforest before finally reaching their other home in South Africa and Namibia.

They are an amazing sight and what these tiny creatures can endure is phenomenal. They migrate through instinct and memory alone. For those that do accomplish these journeys each year they can live for anywhere up to 16 years. 

Fear, terror, alarm, this is what we see in so many of their faces when we find them. 

Having to live in a state of constant dread of danger and pain because it may be all they’ve ever known, so much so that even when they are faced with kindness they don’t know how to react. 

Sometimes they curl up tightly into a ball trying desperately to escape the harshness and brutality of the world around them. 

Sometimes they lash out at the hand that has come to save them because all they know is cruelty so how could they possibly understand that this human is different, this human is here just for them and will stay with them until they’re safe and loved.

The facts

There are three groups of breeders out there:

1. Private Individuals – this is anyone who breeds one litter a year and only sells a maximum of five puppies from that litter. They don’t have to register as a breeder but they are responsible for microchipping the puppies and they can only sell 5, even one extra puppy for sale classifies them as a breeder and then they would have to register as such. 
2. Registered breeders – once you sell 6 puppies or more in a year you are legally a breeder and you have to register, maintain certain standards and keep records.
3. Dog Breeding Establishments – once you have six or more female dogs breeding then you are an establishment requiring proper licensing from your local authority, sufficient staff, correct record keeping and veterinary care for all medical issues that require it. 

Yet someone is buying from these people and they are churning out thousands of dogs every year and those dogs are being sold to members of the public. Everyone wants their dog to be special, to have come from that ‘good’ breeder who ‘only’ breeds from a few dogs and looks after them and cares for them and retires them from breeding before they’re too old to enjoy a life of not being constantly pregnant or nursing or getting impregnated again. But breeding dogs is a business, to make money, to make a profit from the sale of the puppies. After all, the puppies are not free. There is a market value attached to each and every transaction and how well the mother is or isn’t looked after still does not take from the fact that she is being used for profit and her puppies are being bred and sold for profit.

Think of your family dog and see can you answer these questions:

How many litters would you say it was okay to make her have in her lifetime? 

Would you think it was okay to have her impregnated every year?

What age would you think she should be retired from giving birth?

How many months after her puppies are sold should she be impregnated again?

If she had a difficult birth, how soon do you think she should be impregnated again?

If she was very ill after a particular pregnancy should she be impregnated again or allowed to retire?

To truly care about the mother of the puppy we’re buying we need to be asking the right questions.

Ask to see all the other breeding mothers belonging to the individual you are buying your puppy from.

Ask to see their breeding licence and make sure all their record keeping is up to date.

Check with your local council and the Department of Agriculture to make sure they are registered.

If it’s just that ‘one’ accidental litter then ask to see proof when their dog is neutered. Accidental litters can only be prevented by neutering.

If you do go to visit the home that your puppy is supposedly coming from, you shouldn’t go only once and you should also go at other times when you’re not expected. Anyone can put on a good show when they’re expecting visitors.

Never agree to meet the breeder at any place other than where the dogs live and get a good guided tour. 

Good breeders should not have any issue with staying in contact with you after you return home with your puppy so stay in contact with them both in the run up to your visit and for as long as you like afterwards. 

Gus was a real character and he is so missed on the farm since he passed recently. 

He’d been surrendered to us with his friend Willy the year before from a lady who was very ill and needed help caring for them. They were both lovely goats but while Willy was quite content to head off and join our ever growing herd, Gus was more of a loner and content to spend his days exploring our farm…and the neighbour’s farms too when it took his fancy! He was very much his own little man, always wandering off in any direction that took his fancy, probably knowing full well that search parties would be out later trying to find him but completely unconcerned at the upheaval to routine farm life his disappearance would cause. Goats are usually only concerned with their own routines, not anybody else’s. 

The weekend before Gus died he had gone missing. Nothing unusual to this so a couple of our farmies went off in search of him towards the end of the day. This time though something was wrong. When they saw him, he didn’t start trotting towards them or running off again. He was on the ground and he couldn’t get up. Once they got him to his feet though he seemed better and walked back home with them unaided. They kept an eye on him and he seemed fine but then a couple of days later it was obvious that something was off with him. He was standing around with his head down, not being his usual happy self at all and making no attempt to beg food or head off out into the fields. So we got our vet out to see him and it turned out after some investigation that he had some sort of bacteria which was not allowing him to absorb protein. This caused lots of complications and there was no real cure for it so in the end it was decided that rather than have him suffering, we would let him go. This was not an easy decision to make and it came as quite a shock to everyone too. Gus was not an old goat and everyone loved him so much and knew him quite well due to the fact that he hung around the yard so much with us all. 

Did You Know?  – Mad about Mules and hinnies

If “stubborn” is the first word that comes to mind when you think of mules and hinnies, then perhaps we can persuade you to change that perception. At the main MLHR farm we have the privilege of caring for Mules (our beautiful hinny Blake Lively was recently adopted). We are on a mission to dispel and debunk the old and often unkind myths about these amazing animals. We tend to say someone is stubborn when they refuse to do something we want them to do. But who among us has not dug their heels in when met with an unreasonable demand?

It’s unthinkable to us that mules’ lives are often considered to be “less valuable” than horses and donkeys, with no appreciation of the central role they have played in the development of civilisations for thousands of years. In fact, the mission of the American Mule Museum in California, USA, is to “tell the story of the contributions of the unsung hero, the mule, and the people who have worked with mules throughout history”.

Physically, mules appear to have the body of a horse with the extremities of a donkey, whereas hinnies appear to have the body of a donkey and the extremities of a horse.  Mules commonly have what is known as “hybrid vigour” (we call it their very own superpower). This was observed by naturalist Charles Darwin as far back as 1839, when he wrote “that mules should possess more reason, memory, obstinacy, social affection, powers of muscular endurance, and length of life, than either of its parents, seems to indicate that art has here outdone nature”.  

Mules are amazing. They learn very quickly and have excellent memories – we also happen to think that they are born comedians! They need mental stimulation and companionship and the mules in our care live happily with other mules, donkeys, horses and goats. We can certainly attest to their incredible intelligence, their curiosity and their sensitivity. It cannot be overstated that they have the most glorious and soulful eyes and that spending time staring lovingly into them is time very well spent indeed.

We were delighted to welcome so many of our supporters to the grand reopening of our vintage Charity Shop and Tack Shack on Saturday 6 August. MLHR co-founders Deborah and Martina Kenny marked the occasion with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and some tast treats … what’s a celebration without cake!? 

Our wonderful volunteers Dorothy, Edel, Ruby, Georgia and Alex put their hearts and souls into redesigning the shop and creating a space that is warm and welcoming, colourful and chic. Treat yourself to a leisurely browse, take some time out in our gorgeous book nook.  We have fashion to suit everyone (horses included), beautiful collections of jewellery and homewares and so much more!

We are seeking Volunteers for our shop. Duties include sorting donations received, preparing stock for display, replenishing shelves and rails and assisting customers. If you can spare one day or one half-day a week please email [email protected] – we would love to hear from you. Find us from Tuesday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 5:30  p.m. at 81 JKL Street, Edenderry, Co. Offaly.

CBD Science Ltd. has been incredibly generous in gifting products to the MLHR residents and in sponsorsing our newsletter. Their lavendar and eucalyptus healing salve is a particular favourite with the animals in our care. Not only does it smell amazing but it is made from natural and organic products, oils, and beeswax and is infused with 10% broad spectrum CBD – perfect for soothing irritated skin and scars.

Our donkey friend Gramps is prone to dry and lumpy skin on his nose and ears which can become cracked and sore. Since using this product we have seen huge improvements in Gramps’ skin and the lavendar and eucalyptus healing salve is now a part of his daily skin-care regime. It’s amazing on human skin too so please do check it out!