Recent farm happenings

I've come to realize that, if I only write about things that have happened in the past in my attempt to "catch up", I never will actually catch up! So, I've decided to start posting two blogs each time, one "catching up" story and one current event story. This way, eventually, I will finish with the catch up, and be able to focus just on the updates!
So, yesterday I mucked out the sheep stalls for the first time! Fortunately we only have two sheep stalls, so it wasn't that big of a deal. Besides, I generally clean up all the fresh droppings every day or two, so it keeps things pretty clean. Normally I would only clean it out completely once or twice a year, but after a month I discovered that there were a couple of trouble spots in the stalls that seemed to be holding moisture and not draining well. The straw in those spots was getting packed into the softened dirt. I got out as much of the straw from those places as I could and then layed down sand to try to build the areas up a bit and allow for better drainage.
Right now we are not bedding them down in the barn at night. Instead we are letting them stay outside the barn, under the over-hang where they like to hang out. Greg fixed up a real nice area for them there, and they seem to like being out there. That will allow the stalls to dry out really well, and we can get more straw for the winter, when we want to bed them down inside the barn again.
Greg thinks sheep poo is better than horse and donkey poo because it is a lot smaller...but it is a lot harder to clean up, I think! It's gonna make for some great garden fertilizer for next year, though! I found the best thing for cleaning it up is little hedge rake, a stand-up dust pan, and a bucket...if anybody is interested in how to clean up sheep poo!