Paige Murray shares recipes, stories and life on the Texas TY Ranch
Hello From The Funny Farm
Oakley is growing up with animals learning compassion, empathy, responsibility, patience, respect, companionship, understanding of different personalities, love, loyalty, and bout life and death and the circle of life. These lessons are invaluable and the animals are the ultimate teacher.
– Paige Murray
Old McMurray had a farm should probably be the theme song of the TY Ranch funny farm. When I met Ty the only animals who lived on the ranch were about 12 horses and 500 mama cows and calves with about 10 bulls. As you can see below, boy has the animal population diversified. I have always loved animals and I earned a bachelors degree in animal science from Clemson University.
All our of animals have their own personality and we have learned so many things from them! Research suggests that social, emotional, and cognitive development is enhanced when a child cares for a pet.
DOGS
Pete
Pete showed up on the ranch one night in February, 2022. He was extremely skinny and the pads on his paws were rubbed raw. He has been a part of the family ever since and is the best dog I've ever been around. He is a Black Mouth Cur which are tough, resilient working and hunting dogs. Fearless and relentless in the wild, these dogs are known for their courage, loyalty, and strength, though they are also quite sensitive and are highly intuitive when it comes to knowing how their humans are feeling. Around children they tend to tone-down the play and become more mild and protective. They are outgoing, affectionate and very protective of family members. Black Mouth Curs are smart and curious canines. Old Yeller was a Black Mouth Cur dog.
Sister and Blue Dog
These two are brother and sister from the same litter. They are Rough Collies, like Lassie. Rough Collies have a sweet, appealing personality and keen intelligence. They are generally very loving, loyal and trustworthy. These dogs are the sweetest and just want cuddles and attention!
CATS
We have 5 male cats! They love to explore and know baby chicks and our pet rabbits are part of the family.
- Thumbs is the boss of them all (and probably of all the animals on the ranch). He has three extra toes on each paw. He lost his tail in the fan belt of the truck. He is tough, grouchy and makes sure he has a food bowl all too himself. He loves to follow along when we go on hikes.
-Jack Jack is a rescue. We took in an older stray cat who died two weeks later from cancer. We were so sad but the vet called the next day and said "We have a kitten who needs a home." That was Jack Jack and he is a very cool cat.
-Pickles is a rescue from the local shelter. He was found in a ball field. Jack Jack went missing for about a month so we picked out Pickles and shortly after Jack Jack showed back up thank goodness! He is a mischievous teenager.
- Dodo is a Maine Coon and the biggest of the all, yet he is the most docile and never wants any trouble. He is at the bottom of the pecking order.
-Snow Kitty is also a Maine Coon and is beautiful. He is very picky about who he lets pet him but he loves me and Oakley.
MINI HORSE & DONKEY
Blondie & Lola
Blondie is Kase and Oakley's first mini horse. I love donkeys, so we bought Lola as a companion for Blondie.
Fun Facts:
- Donkeys are very intelligent with a good memory. They won't do something they deem unsafe which is why they are called stubborn. They are very strong. Many ranchers turn a donkey out with their herd of animals to protect them from coyotes and other predators as they are territorial and will fight and chase them away.
-Mini horses are considered small horses, not ponies.They are very social and tend to live longer than horses.
BIRDS
We have many different kinds of birds.
Chicken facts:
-You don't need a rooster for chickens to lay eggs but you do need one to hatch baby chicks. The rooster helps find food and protect the flock. The chickens go to roost every night by themselves in their coop. During the winter when the days are shorter, they stop laying eggs which allows them to redeposit calcium back into their bones instead of forming a shell. They don't venture much further than 100 yards from the coop.
Guineafowl Facts:
Guinea birds are native to South Africa. They act as watchdogs and they help keep snakes away. Since we've gotten guineas we have not seen one snake in the yard. Unlike chickens guineas like to mate for life. They have a sense of loyalty and protect each other and their flock.They can be very noisy and do not go to a coop at night but instead roost high in the trees. Our guineas run toward anything new to inspect it.
Peafowl Facts:
Only the male birds are called peacocks. The females are called peahens. The peacock does not grow his brilliant tail feathers until he is 3 years old. At the end of the mating season (spring) the peacock will molt and lose all his tail feathers. He will start growing his tail feathers back and they will be almost fully grown by Christmas. The peahen is very picky about picking a mate and the peacock will display his tail feathers and shake them to get her attention. They can fly and they roost high in the trees at night like the guineabirds. We had to keep them penned for about a year so they would not leave home. They have a much larger roaming range than chickens.Ours are now free range and don't leave the yard!
Turkey Facts:
Wild turkeys can fly but domestic turkeys are usually too heavy. Ours roost in a low branch in the tree at night. You can tell their emotions by the color of their head, changing from red, blue and white depending on how excited or calm they are. They are very curious and friendly and often want to be right beside you. They have 3x better vision than humans. The males snood (They long red flap covering the beak) is for attracting a mate and doesn't extend all the time.
RABBITS:
Bunny FooFoo, Teddy & Marshmallow
We have three bunnies, a Flemish Giant rabbit and two lion head bunnies.
Rabbit Facts:
-They can be trained to use a litter box and can be trained to understand certain commands.
- I have tried to free range them with no luck so we have a nice large pen for them and they love having the companionship.
- Lionhead bunnies are smaller and known to be friendly and well-mannered but they can be quite skittish if they don't feel safe.
-Flemish Giants are the largest breed of domestic rabbits weighing 15-20 pounds. They tend to be calm, docile and sweet and are known as the gentle giant. I got Bunny FooFoo when he was about 5 weeks old and continued to bottle feed him and I've found that to be the best way to keep them very gentle.
RODENTS:
Humphrey and Elsa
The ranch is also home to two pet rodents, Humphrey the hamster and Elsa, the rat. Yes we have a rat. Kase asked for a rat a few years ago for Christmas. I called the pet store and they only had frozen rats (eek to feed to snakes). I found the DFW rat rescue and I was so hesitant but once I realized they could live outside (because the males' urine was kind of stinky), they became a really cool pet.
Hamster Facts:
- Rats and hamsters only live about two years which is a downside.
- They hoard their food in their cheeks which they can stash an equivalent amount to their body weight. Their cheeks can also inflate with air to help them float in water.
-They are nocturnal and play all night.
-They are solitary creatures and prefer to live alone.
Rat Facts:
- They are very intelligent and social creatures. They can also be trained using positive reward-based methods to do things like respond to their own names, give 'high-fives', fetch a ball and roll over.
-They are very clean and spend hours grooming themselves.
- Rats remember if they've received help from another rat and will help others in the future. The more help they receive, the more they will help other rats. They also share their food with others, and will give the biggest share to the hungriest rats. If they're given a choice between receiving their own treat and their companion rats also receiving a treat, they choose the option that ensures their friends also get a treat.
- Giant African pouched rats have been trained to detect tuberculosis in humans and help fight wildlife crime by sniffing out the scales of the pangolin, thought to be the most poached animal in the world. They've also been trained to sniff out explosives and have safely located thousands of landmines in Tanzania, Mozambique, Angola and Cambodia so they can be removed.
“Animals are reliable, many full of love, true in their affections, predictable in their actions, grateful and loyal: Difficult standards for people to live up to.” – Alfred A. Montapert