Farm Life Archives - A Southern MotherA Southern Mother

Do You Know What’s In Your Pet’s Food?

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #CheckYourPetFood #CollectiveBias

Do you know what’s in your pet’s food? For many years, I had no idea how to read a pet food label; to be perfectly honest, I didn’t know how to read my food labels. I generally fed my pets based upon recommendations from my friends and family. It wasn’t until my grandmother’s dog developed an intolerance to several pet food ingredients that I forced myself to learn how to decipher pet food labels. It’s obvious that you would be cautious about feeding certain ingredients to a pet with allergies or an intolerance, but it’s also important to be knowledgeable about labels to ensure your pet’s overall health and quality of life. A quality dog food, regular exercise, fresh water and training are all integral to having a happy, healthy dog. Today I’m teaming up with Purina® and Meijer to share some tips for reading pet food labels, and to answer some common questions about feeding your dog.

Snow Day On The Farm: Highland Cattle

I haven’t been posting as much, because I’m tending to my baby daughter. She isn’t very fond of me using my laptop or taking a shower, if the truth be told. The updates about our lives on the farm have been few and far between since she was born. It snowed here last week; I had my husband entertain our daughter long enough for me to venture out and take some photos of the snow. It seems like everyone really enjoys updates and photos of our Highland cattle. They seemed right at home in the snow and winter weather. The breed is native to the Highland region of Scotland, so they were well suited for the temperature change.

Please enjoy this glimpse of a snow day on the farm with Ali and Hali:

Prepping Your Pets For Vacation

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #PurinaMysteries #CollectiveBias

One of the very few things I hate about traveling is all the packing involved; if you own pets then you have to pack or prepare them for vacation regardless of whether they’re going with you, staying at a boarding facility, or being tended to by a pet sitter. Your vacation can be equally stressful on your pet, but it doesn’t have to be. Here are a few tips for prepping your pets for vacation and a checklist of items to help you pack for your pet.

Do-It-Yourself Shingle Roof: #RoofedItMyself

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #RoofedItMyself #CollectiveBias

Shortly after we moved into our house, my husband decided to build our Rottweiler Chief a “dog house.” His previous owner had lived on a cattle farm too, but he spent the bulk of his time outside when he lived with him; he seemed to prefer being outdoors. I’ll elaborate that this wasn’t your average dog house; it was more like an 8×8 shed. Chief was unusually tall for a Rottweiler and my husband wanted to make sure he had plenty of room. My husband used supplies that were already on the farm or things that were leftover from house construction. It had a raised floor and insulation. The exterior was recovered barn wood and he even used leftover trim around the door. My father in law had an old truck bed cover that was used to make an insulated roof. Chief thought his animal house was a mansion, but it quickly turned into an eye sore. It was one of the first things that visitors would notice when they pulled into our driveway. I decided this past spring that I wanted to spruce up the small shed. It needed a new roof, a good coat of paint, some landscaping, and maybe even a barn quilt. Here’s an overview of how we removed the old roof and replaced it with a new shingled roof with GAF Timberline® shingles on our do-it-yourself shingle roof project. Later this week, I plan to show you the completely renovated project including paint and a tutorial for a 2×2 barn quilt that will adorn the side.

How To Keep Produce Fresh Longer: Rubbermaid FreshWorks

“This is a sponsored post for SheSpeaks/Rubbermaid.”

Our household goes through a lot of produce. I like to purchase a variety of things so that we have it to cook with or snack on. My son loves strawberries and pineapple and I prefer melon, but we both love a good salad. My husband likes produce when it’s fried or smothered in something to disguise the taste. We have lots of farm animals that will eat produce that has started to go bad, but to me that’s just really expensive chicken food. I’ve tried hard to tame our grocery budget; I’ll have to cut back on work when our new baby arrives this summer and work has already been slow due to pregnancy complications, so money is tight. If I can use produce before it spoils, I can save money on our food budget. The new Rubbermaid FreshWorks containers can help keep produce fresher, longer, and I’m going to share how they work today. You can also enter to win a three piece set of Rubbermaid FreshWorks containers at the end of this post.

Three Great Products For Cat Owners

Three Great Products for Cat Owners post is sponsored by Single Edition Media on behalf of Ceva Cat.

I’ve owned a dog most of my life, but it wasn’t until I was in my my 30’s that we acquired our first cat. The past few years have been a learning experience for me. I thought that most of my worries would be which food to buy or how often to clean a litter box, but I quickly realized that was just the basics of cat ownership. Cats are much quieter (or least most of the time) and agile than dogs, so I struggled with keeping them off countertops, kitchen tables and other forbidden areas. I was perplexed when our indoor only cats suddenly had fleas; how does an indoor cat contract fleas? Today I’m sharing three great products for cat owners and a few of my woes as a relatively new cat owner.

Tips For Grooming Your Dog Like A Pro

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #TheDogumentaries #CollectiveBias

I was in my early twenties when I began exhibiting Rottweilers in AKC dog shows; I had no idea what I was getting into nor did I realize the time, money and effort it took to create an AKC Champion. Dogs have to be trained, physically conditioned and groomed. Once they’re ready to hit the show ring, the owner will have travel expenses, show entry fees, and fees for a professional dog show handler if they aren’t exhibiting their own dog. Once they become an AKC Champion, owners have the option of trying to earn enough “points” to gain a coveted invitation to the prestigious Westminster Dog Show. I haven’t exhibited a dog in close to 7 years, but I still visit a show from time to time. Today I’m sharing tips for grooming your dog like a pro and information on how you can win one of hundreds of prizes from Purina and Petco.

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