that make me happy 🙂
Such as a swinging, lockable gate at the back of the barn!!! There has been a hog panel back there for longer than I care to say. To shut it, I had to wedge it between the barn wall and a huge stump and hope the ewes didn’t push it open while I was putting hay in the feeders. As far as locking the sheep in the barn – well that is just laughable!!! I was so happy when this went up I felt like doing a happy dance.
Also, notice the nice footing?
This wasn’t such a small task, but oh so nice!
This is what the back of the barn looked like. With lambs due shortly I was having nightmares of going out and finding lambs stuck in the mud up to their bellies. So, I had a load of hog fuel delivered and spread it really thick behind the barn. I swear a few of the ewes smiled at me when I let them out of the barn 😉
We also set up the maternity ward! Now comes the waiting…
Stories from the Farm 
You are soooooo right, it is the little things that make a HUGE difference!A gate instead of livestock panels, who’d have thunk? I am waiting for lambs too.I am surprised to not have any yet because my rams were with the ewes in August and I thought there would be at least one or two lambs by now. Maybe the ewes knew we would have a warm streak of weather right about now….
What is hog fuel? I need some!
Hog fuel is an unprocessed mix of coarse chips of bark and wood fiber. Pieces run between a coarse grade of less than 5″ to a fine grade of less than 2″. It is AWESOME!!! The best part is that the driver of the delivery truck was able to dump it right where I needed it.
Kathy – Everyone I have talked to in the Northwest is later lambing this year than in the past. I thought we would start this weekend, but that girl looks like she re-cycled and will be due in a couple weeks, so the next girl is due at the end of this coming week. We always have January lambs.
Nice Shannon! What a difference in your work one little gate can make, eh? So glad you have something to make life a bit easier on you. 🙂 I also really like your hog fuel idea… It looks really nice too! Looking forward to your lambs!
Hog fuel is very popular here in Washington where it rains so much and gets muddy. Your place looks so nice and neat with the new gate and the new footing. I don’t think you can ever have to many gates… We are still waiting for lambs here also, later than I thought it would be.
Oh, that’s what you were talking about it the other day – but why do they call it hog fuel?
I suppose that is the same thing that the power companies chippers produce around here.