More Progress On The New Goat Paddock

Today, Shawn is home from work... he's sick... sicky sicky poo poo and I'm the very sympathetic wife, blah blah blah... yeah right. :) He was sick in bed all morning, woke up to have some lunch and then is likely heading back to bed. It's just a cold, at this point, I'm sure he'll be fine.

Anyhow, while he was lying around being all sicky poo poo, I was running around getting stuff done. I moved 11 rubber stall mats from near the feed building to the new goat paddock near the machine shed.

Moving these rubber mats involved 2 "C" clamps and a long piece of yellow rope. I put the clamps on, ran the rope through and dragged them to the new location. Of course, its not as easy as it sounds.... there's no straight, "as the crow flies" path from the feed building to the new location that's passable. The snow is too deep, some of it will support you on top but some of it won't... not fun.

So to start, you have to pull the mat up the snow bank that heads towards the current goat pen. Its steep and has some iced in footprints you have to follow.... oh and watch out for the tpost sticking out of the ground about a foot that might be in your way. Once you're up on top, then you continue walking towards the current goat pen. This stretch is mostly flat and easy going.

Then just before you get to the current goat pen, you have to make a sharp right turn and go down the hill towards the machine shed. The path isn't as wide as the rubber mat, so its best to approach and maintain speed so the corners don't get caught up! This really means you must run down the slippery slope and turn the corner at the same time. Once you're at the bottom, don't stop running as now its a bit uphill again and if you stop, its hard to get the mat started again. At least the path here gets wider... pretty much wide enough for the mat to fit.

Run about 70 feet, then watch the patch of ice in front of the machine shed. You need to get stopped and make a very sharp right turn into the pen. The fence panels are open JUST enough to squeeze through. Try not to knock down the panels as you go through.

Now you're inside the new pen and you have to figure out where to put the mat... straighten, adjust... try to breathe after your mad dash!! Now repeat another 10 times! Whew, do I know how to have fun or what? :)

Anyhow, so I worked hard and all that... in the end they have an area about 12 feet by 12 feet that's raised up on pallets. There are another 4 rubber mats that are just on the ground and not raised up. There is a narrow track around the inside of the fence that's not matted in case they want to actually touch some dirt or something.

I hoisted the shelter on top of the raised platform alone... twas hard, but I managed. I go inside the shelter and because its narrower at the top, I jam my shoulders under the frame and lift with them. Its remarkably heavy and Shawn and I just about died last night carrying it up the snow bank hill. I was walking backwards up there and actually fell down on my butt (feels great with the all the icy bumps, lemme tell ya!) and had my end of the shelter sitting on my legs. I didn't get hurt, but man it was a cow to move.

We're hoping that all this work will make it nice and dry for them to live while all the snow melts... if we get more flooding on top of the hill than the pallets are high, we're all in trouble... and goats having wet feet or bellies won't be the biggest issue! Heck if that happens, I will get another dog crate and move them into the house, assuming we're not under water!! :)

Anyhow, I think I'm going to head back out and get the roof ready for assembly... I don't think there's very many other things to do other than bed the shelter before the goats could be moved over.

Their current pen has a deep puddle by the gate of nasty manure water that freezes at night and thaws during the day... the front half of their shelter where they eat and drink is squishy... and there's a big poo puddle forming at the back of the shelter on the outside... I think the only reason they are not flooded is because I haven't cleaned out their shelter in weeks and I keep adding bedding.

Its so deep in the back that I can no longer stand there bent over and fit... I'd have to get down on my knees... but luckily they are little and still fit! So clearly, its getting to be time to move them... blech. It'll be a lovely mess to clean up once spring really arrives, but at least by then I can get the lawn tractor and cart out and load all the mess into that and drive it away. That's the plan, anyhow.

I added more pics of all my work to the album I started yesterday, if you're interested in seeing all my heroic efforts! :)
-- L