Unfortunately, tossing food and food items over the fence into farm animal pens can be harmful to the health of the farm animals. In recent months, Loma Vista Farm has experienced many dangerous situations where food is tossed into pens from the street. This activity has led to:

• Placing many farm animals at risk
• Illness of farm animals – in some incidents, situations have been so severe that the Farm’s Veterinary has had to rush to the farm to care for the animals.
• Unexpected expenses - in a few situations animals have had to be taken via emergency transport to local veterinary offices and care facilities. Emergency transport of ill farm animals can be, and is, very expensive for larger animals.
• Loss of our beloved friends - sadly, a few of our farm animals have been lost through the years because of foods and items tossed over the fence and into their pens.

Loma Vista Farm is reaching out to the community with a request for support. Over the past months and years the public has been tremendous in supporting animals with gifts of food items. It is not uncommon for anonymous donations of food to appear in the farm animals pens during the day or during the night. Unfortunately, this activity can be very dangerous for farm animals.

Farm animals are much like people. Similar to people, we watch what we eat and in what quantities, this applies to farm animals as well. Remember the old phrase "don't feed chocolate to dogs" because their body cannot digest chocolate. All farm animals have limits on what they can and cannot eat safely. Recently we've lost a couple of farm animals because of colic and acidosis, which are more commonly caused by over-eating the wrong foods.

Tossing food into animal pens or feeding animals the wrong foods leads to many avoidable situations. If items or food tossed into animal pens were to stop completely, the below could be avoided:

• Sickness and illness for the animals
• Farm animals suffering in pain because of eating foods they should not eat
• Excessive $ expenses to Loma Vista Farm cause by Veterinarian care
• Emotional sadness for the Farm staff and students when animals are suffering or lost

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN FOOD IS TOSSED INTO PENS
Similar to people, when farm animals eat the wrong foods they can get food poisoning and ill. Same as people, when farm animals over eat they don’t feel good either. Farm animals are not people. Farm animals all have different digestive systems which operate in different ways. For example, a cow has 4 different stomachs, in comparison people have only one single stomach. Concerns include:

• Many times farm animals don’t know when to stop eating
• Farm animals will eat or attempt to eat almost anything
• Farm animals don’t know not to eat some things

THANK YOU!
Loma Vista Farm is fortunate and grateful for neighborhood and community support. Loma Vista Farm wouldn’t and couldn’t exist anywhere else but in Vallejo, California, next to Loma Vista Elementary School and MIT. For over 35 years the citizens and students of Vallejo and the neighborhoods immediately surrounding Loma Vista Farm have been generous with their outreach feeding the farm animals. This activity has, at the same time, helped keep Vallejo “green”. We all feel good when we can avoid waste and recycle everything from left over food to cut grass from the lawn. For years, “food” and items have been tossed over the Farm’s fences into the animal pens. This activity has helped avoid wasting left over foods, breads, garden vegetables, lawn clippings, etc. Unfortunately, tossing foods and items over the fence into farm animal pens can be very harmful to the health of the animals.

HOW YOU CAN HELP!
We thank the community and many citizens of Vallejo and the surrounding area for thinking of Loma Vista Farm as a place to express and practice the importance of keeping California and Vallejo “green”. Loma Vista Farm strongly supports recycling compost able goods and left over food items ranging from vegetables to tree leaves. At times, these donations help lower animal feed costs. At the same time, many of these donations have placed the well being and health of our farm animals at risk and in extreme danger. This in turn has led to higher operation and health care costs for the farm animals.

Our focus at Loma Vista Farm is in line with the “green” concept. Whenever possible, our farm staff always leans toward organic care for gardens and animals.

DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS – The best way you can help is by not feeding the animals. If you see someone tossing food over the fence, ask them to please stop what they are doing. Advise them to bring the food into the farm and give it to the farm staff.

It is admirable for the public to express a good heart when tossing food over the fences into farm animal pens. The thought of doing this is a good thing. It seems harmless enough, and helps ensure food is not wasted. True? Unfortunately, this is false, it can be very harmful. In the past months, veterinary expenses associated with harm to animals which eat in-appropriate foods have costs the Farm hundreds to thousands of dollars, and put the animals at risk.

CURRENT SITUATION EXAMPLES - In May 2007 upon feeding the animals in the evening it was discovered that someone had tossed a large amount of leftover vegetable scraps over the fence into the Pygmy goat pen. We almost lost Gooseberry. She ate what seemed to be a new treat for her. Unfortunately she became very ill and almost died.

Several times in July 2007, visitors were observed during farm hours walking into the farm with bag(s) full of produce and left over food items from their home. Farm staff was quick to approach to advise to not feed the animals just anything, but by the time they talked some bread was already being fed to one of the pygmy goats through the fence by the visitor’s child.

GOOD NEWS! A SOLUTION? …. COMPOST! - Loma Vista Farm will happily continue to take all left over food items people may choose to donate. All scraps, left over food items, vegetables, breads, leaves, etc...will never be wasted when donated to Loma Vista Farm. All items have huge value as compost. The farm has an active educational program for kids throughout the year on how compost works and how valuable compost is to gardening.

WHAT YOU CAN DO! - Please follow Farm guidelines for donating food to the farm for the animals. Please give all food donations to farm staff in person, during normal farm hours. The best food donations for the animals are the feeds which can be purchased at the local feed store, which are a part of their normal diet. Please ask the farm staff which feeds are used before purchasing feed to ensure your animal feed donation is optimal.

FOOD GUIDE FOR FARM ANIMALS!
Similar to people, what’s good and OK for one animal to eat may not be good for another. Even truer, what’s good for one horse to eat, may not be good for another horse to eat. Using students in a class of 20, it wouldn’t be uncommon for one kid to be lactose intolerant while most others love to drink milk. And one child may just dislike the taste of broccoli while others will love it. One child can be allergic to bananas or tomatoes while most others are not. Farm animals are the same way. One duck may love eating corn, while another does not. And one pig may just love apples but another, who loves them as well, has an allergic reaction to apples.

The farm care takers know our animals so well that they know what’s good for them and what’s not. When you visit your local pet food supply store you’ll notice that puppy food is completely different from mature dog food. The same rules apply to many of the farm’s older farm animals that today have different diets than they did when they were younger. Farm animal health and care is important at Loma Vista Farm. For this reason we spend a lot of time to ensure all farm animals eat appropriate foods for where they are in their lives. Younger animals can tolerate eating many odd things without problems or issues. That may not be the case with all younger animals, and as the years pass by, tasty and optimal foods change as well.

As a helpful tool, typical farm animal diets are show below, followed by some of the special dietary requirements of some of the farm animals at Loma Vista Farm.

Horses – one of our favorite animals and man’s best work partner!

A normal diet for a horse may include: grass, hay, grains (especially if they are show horses or being worked), supplements in their diet, salt lick, minerals.

Other acceptable foods include carrots, apples, sugar lumps (although not normal). Horses will also nibble on certain tree types if other foods are not readily available. For a treat, horses love: carrots, apples, alfalfa.

Dangerous foods for horses include: anything gassy or any vegetables that cause gas in humans, for example broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, asparagus, beans, sweat peas, zucchini, or anything moldy. Also dangerous for horses is anything in extreme abundance.

Albert – horse. Albert eats alfalfa hay with a special diet of equine senior food supplements especially designed for older horses.
Meet Albert under the “Meet The Animals” tab on the home page.

Bobby K - miniature horse. Bobby K can eat only oat, rye or grass hay because he has Laminitis. Once a horse has this condition, watching the diet is imperative to ensure the horse doesn't get lame or experience other painful problems. No treats are allowed, including carrots and apples.
Meet Bobby K under the “Meet The Animals” tab on the home page.

Gypsy – pony. Gypsy eats only pelleted food (per the veterinarian). Gypsy has bad teeth and cannot properly chew hay that's why he needs only pelleted food. He also receives a special supplement of equine senior foods.
Meet Gypsy under the “Meet The Animals” tab on the home page.

Cows and Cattle – the great producers of milk and beef!

Cows and cattle usually eat grass during the summer months and forage or hay in the winter. Forages may be supplemented with cereals and other by-products for the animal’s health. A cow’s normal diet includes: hay, grass, corn, grains, supplements, salt lick, and minerals.

Although cows can eat leafy vegetables such as onions, it’s not recommended.

Harmful foods: bread in large quantities, all and any food in large quantities, decaying or rotting grass/hay, wheat, anything moldy.

Sheep and goats – their (sheep) wool used for clothing and their (goats) eating habits are used for fire control.

Sheep and goats spend less time indoors than cows. Their diet is similar to that of cattle. Barley and other cereals are usually fed only to pregnant and lactating ewes and to young lambs. Goats are browsers and prefer trees and brush but because they are so adaptable they can do fine on hay and grass.

Normal goat’s diet: goat chow. Goats can eat just about anything. They eat the many things other animals will not.
Normal sheep diet: grass, goat chow, forage/hay. A special treat is roses or rose petals.
Harmful to eat: cotton, clothes, gassy vegetables (same as horses). Anything in excess, mowed grass from the lawn is unsafe to eat.

Dolly, Molly, Deanna, Ricki, Eli, Gooseberry, Sarah, Rocky, to name a few - Sheep and Pygmy Goats - They eat alfalfa, oat, rye or grass hay. If they get fed too many treats all of the animals are put on oat hay by the Farm/caretaker staff. The vet explains that oat hay is to the animals what soda crackers are to humans - it's easy on the stomach(s).
Meet Dolly, Molly, Deanna and all the farm animals at Loma Vista Farm under the “Meet The Animals” tab on the home page.

Pigs – with noticeable presence! Not to mention bacon, sausage, and ham. Yum!

Pig diets usually include cereal grains, and other by-products of the human food industry. Pigs reared outdoors may also be fed root crops such as turnips and garden vegetables.

A normal diet for pigs: just about anything from the garden such as grains, corn, carrots, potatoes, potato peals, cucumbers, onions, broccoli, melons, watermelons, salads, cantaloupe, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, squash, red beets, turnips. Also good are donuts, dog treats low fat, and many other things. All in moderation.
Treats: apples, peaches w/o stones, oranges (some pigs will not eat oranges), low fat dog treats
Harmful to eat: bag(s) of sugar, bag(s) of salt, anything in large quantities, any thing with over 13% protein content, dry rice, dry beans, dry wheat

Lucy, Bonnie, Clyde - pigs - They eat special pig food pellets supplemented with Calf Manna and fresh fruits and vegetables. They receive daily Vitamin E, Selenium, Flaxseed oil, Glucosomine/Chondroitin and supplements. Treats are kept to a minimum.
Meet Lucy, Bonnie, and Clyde under the “Meet The Animals” tab on the home page.

Poultry, Ducks, & Turkeys – Eggs by the dozens! Feathers so soft in pillows. Plus our Thanksgiving feast!

A normal diet for poultry - chickens, turkeys, quails, ducks and geese - typically include cereal grains, especially for those chickens reared in poultry houses. Free range poultry, geese and ducks in particular, will also graze on grass.

A normal poultry diet: grains that have been processed or crushed, laying mesh, laying pellets, ground corn, insects (flys, grass hoppers, garden insects), oyster shells are very good from the beach as chickens use them to make egg shells, recycled egg shells are great for chickens to eat when they are laying eggs (they can recycle the egg shell), chickens can eat just about anything.
Special treats: chickens typically love lettuce, collards, green vegetables, watermelons, cantaloupe, kale, cucumbers, and tomatoes.
Harmful to eat: dry rice is fatal to most birds (if they eat enough, it expands in their stomachs similar to cooking dry rice on the stove top), dry wheat, dry beans, hot dogs (oddly enough, like humans, they can choke on hot dogs)

Chickens - They eat a special laying crumble mix and a cracked corn mixture as well.
Learn more about the farm animals at Loma Vista Farm under the “Meet The Animals” tab on the home page.

Ducks/Geese/Peafowl - All ducks, geese, and turkeys at Loma Vista Farm eat cracked corn. Farm visitors are welcome to feed the ducks and geese bread. Meet George, Tom, Turkey Lurkey, Polly and Knothead under the “Meet The Animals” tab on the home page.

Rabbits – oh so cuddly!

A normal rabbit’s diet includes: lettuce, leafy vegetables, carrots, rabbit pellets, supplements of Calf Manna, weeds, fresh greens, bananas in moderation, apples (sliced)
Harmful: bread, donuts, any sweets (for all the animals)

Rocky Road and Metallica – Rabbits. Rabbits at Loma Vista Farm eat special pelleted food. They also receive supplemental Calf Manna and a special food supplement to help deodorize their urine and feces and a special vitamin supplement for their water. Petromalt once a week for hairballs.
Meet Rocky Road and Metallica under the “Meet The Animals” tab on the home page.

Water! So refreshing on a hot summer day!

Water - As with humans, farm animals must have fresh water available at all times.

DANGER – THINGS TO AVOID!
Harmful for any farm animal to consume: bones, hamburgers (meats are inappropriate for any farm animal), poisons (for example poison left out to control rat or mice, rodent bait, etc…).

Things fatal to most any farm animals when digested include: alcohol, fuels, gasoline, engine oil, electronic parts, plastic, paint, paint thinner, metal parts, plastic components from toys, pesticides, plastic, drink cups, aluminum cans, and glass.

COMPOST – everything has value!
Compost is the ultimate solution to capturing the value from all food donations not appropriate for animals to eat.

Appropriate for compost:   vegetables, fruits, bread, donuts, leaves, mowed grass, wood (chopped into tiny pieces)
Inappropriate for compost:  dog poop, cat poop, metals, plastics, fuels, oil, gasoline, pesticides, paints, cans, jars, drink cups, glass, Styrofoam, toys, clothes, newspapers, magazines, books, cooking frying grease and oils, fats