I love this show and get a big kick out of Chip and Joanna Gaines of the DIY show Fixer Upper . So why the photo? To go with the post title of course. I got in and did some serious demo work in the doe barn the last few days Chip would have been proud. Note the photo below the far gate and existing division are no more. No small feat considering that there was a 4x6 with a 4x2 piece added to both ends and buried under about 6 inches of dirt and attached to both end post and a strip of fencing. Like I said I think Chip would say "you rock!"
Note that I left for now the second post on the left which was installed only for the gate but I find having the panel on it useful for hanging water buckets which tends to keep the water cooler in the summer and not as likely to freeze as in the winter. The post to the right of it is load bearing and I like to keep my roof on so it will stay put. It is also sunk about two feet down in cement. Not going any where.
First I kicked the barn crew outside. It is next to difficult trying to do anything with Pyrenees and goats in the area of intent. The Pyrs want to lie on your feet and the goats have a need to inspect every inch of what you are doing. I am sure they are checking to see if we are up to code. I hope they don't ask to see my building permit!
Then after that was done I cleaned the entire area including the smaller pen to the right of the third photo. I then leveled out the area and gave it a spray of water enough to get it to stick together but not enough so as to leave surface water puddled. Then I moved pallets , feeder and lastly brought in a whole bale of straw to cover the entire area.
So everyone has a nice even surface to be on the dust is down and they have new sheets on their bed so to speak.
I also changed out my fly trap system . I found it at
https://www.enasco.com/farmandranch/
you can purchase them and other essential livestock supplies online. I took a series of photos so you could get an idea of how it works and it is the 1000 foot roll. I usually find the need to replace the roll only once each year. We do have a cattle ranch across the road and the cattle free range. The flies tend to become an issue only during times when they need to be penned in close proximity such as branding times. Other wise we have the least fly population we have had in years at the other two locations that were much closer to neighbors.
The unit starts at the entrance of the barn and continues around in a U until it ends in a similar unit that it rolls onto. After replacing the full unit and all the nasty no good very bad flies go back into the box that held the new tape. The original unit that is now empty is put in place to become the receiving unit and the new roll is attached to the beginning point.
All in all a very well spent two days. The girls are tucked in for winter and to test it out we are waiting on some snow today. We had a low of 19 at six in the morning and had a good hard freeze. The clouds are gathering the temp is currently about 30 and another cuppa is in my future.
