All I needed was three more days to clean out that last corner of the barn. My Nubian doe High Reaches Pamela presented me with a new barn kid before I got done.
Of course, the corner still piled high with old manure was the place of choice. My only consolation was the thick, dry layer over the top of it.
Cleaning the Barn In the Heat
Heat stroke is not something I enjoy at all. July was hot and humid. By noon the sun was too intense to be working outside.
My morning routine was to milk fast and a bit early. Put up the milk. Run the goats out to pasture. Move in with the tractor and start forking out manure. Two loads took me to noon.
It still seems unreal how much bedding and manure ten goats can put down in a winter. This last winter was wet, so I couldn’t keep taking the surface layers out each week.
New Barn Kid
Pamela’s little buck kid wasn’t concerned. He moved right into his corner. His mother was at his beck and call.
Within a day this kid was up exploring the barn. Tractors did not phase him. Being moved out of the way was only an annoyance easily overcome by begging for attention.
Loss of manure pile was annoying. His corner kept shrinking until it was gone. Even that was fine as soon as fresh straw arrived to soften the cement.
By three days old this new barn kid has taken over the barn. He defies any of the goats to get in his way or push him around. After all, he has his mother to back him up and she is a big doe.
The world is a bigger place for this little boy now. His mother takes him out into the barn lot every evening as she is hungry and the new hay hasn’t been cut and baled yet. That’s fine with him too.
