Shovelling sh!t

On a farm you spend a lot of time moving manure from one place to another and today I moved sh!tloads.   After picking up the 3 horse boxes and the arena, I took a barrow load of discarded hay to the chook pen, cleaned out the cage and nesting boxes, then picked up another 2 barrow loads of discarded hay from the goats.    It is a common misconception that goats eat everything, they are actually fussy eaters and waste a lot of hay.  This soon gets messed up as they don’t seem to be conscious of where they go to the toilet, usually just going where they are standing and eating.    Just add a bit of rain and it soon turns into a slimy mess.

With the young guinea fowl still caged overnight at the southwest of the property and the new sheep settling in 700m away in the north east, the farm routines are taking up a fair bit of the day and I am walking quite a few extra kilometres.  Thankfully, I am a creature of habit and love a life of routine.   I actually enjoy picking up the horses boxes in the mornign, I find it quite meditative and get a lot of ideas popping into my head.  (Thanks to Louis Hawke who managed to capture the joy of picking up manure in this photo)

During autumn and winter, the first round starts around 6.30am

• Let Dog Out
• Feed Dog
• Feed Horses
• Feed Goats
• Check Goats Water
• Rugs off horses
• Let Horses Out
• Pick up Manure
• Water garden/greenhouse

The second round starts at 10am

• Walk Dog
• Let Young Guinea fowl out
• Give Goats some shrub/tree cuttings for browse
• let chickens out
• Feed Sheep

The afternoon routine starts around 3pm

• Walk Dog
• Feed goats lucerne hay
• Milk Goat
• Check Sheep

Evening round starts before 5pm

• Feed Chickens and lock them in
• Bring horses in
• Feed Horses
• Check Water
• Check Mouse/Rat traps
• Put young guineas in
• Feed mature guineas
• Put rugs on horses
• Weed Garden
• Feed weeds/cuttings to goats
• Feed Dog
• Feed People