Normally I am impatient for one of my goats to have her kids. Not this time. My Nubian doe High Reaches Pamela is due anytime. Please wait, Pamela!
Cold, Wet Winter
I know I should keep taking the dirty, loose bedding out of the barn all winter. That way it doesn’t mat up into an icky mess many inches deep by spring.
It was too cold. It was too wet. I was busy. So many excuses.
Wet Spring
The barn needs to be cleaned out by the end of June when fly season goes into high gear. It kept raining on days I was home or the mud was too deep. The bridge washed out and need patching. So many excuses.
And July Arrived
Pamela will have Terrill Creek Huckleberry’s first kids here at High Reaches. Her due date is about August 1.
The barn had over a foot of wet, matted mess on the floor. This is definitely not good for kids, the herd either.
So the race is on. It is hot, too hot for me to clean barn by noon. I can get two loads out before then, loads dug out with a pitchfork and piled on the tractor platform. This clears about two feet of barn floor.
It will take another three days to finish cleaning out the barn. The goats are complaining as they have no bedding, only cement to lie on.
Tough. New bedding must be taken out before I start to clean. The cement – a big headache for barn floor – must dry out.
Please wait, Pamela
Only one corner is still piled high. I hope three days will get the last of it out. Manure is deceiving. Taking a load out should make the pile look smaller. It doesn’t.
But I do want that barn floor covered with fresh bedding before those new kids arrive. Hang on, Pamela. I’m working on it.
