Barn Work.

I managed to get back out to the barn today.  We moved the horses off of the orchard and into the barn lot.  They want to make a dust pit in the corner near the road, not very much soil there and the plant life is already dying.  So we started sprinkling that area.  I may have to hit it with the tractor, remove all the rocks, level it and plant some grass seed.  It isn't a very large area so it would probably only take me one day. 

One of our sheep miscarried today ewe #11 had a stillborn boy during the day.  We remembered tonight that there is a dead pine tree with needles still attached out in the orchard.  Pine tree needles can cause miscarriages.  So tomorrow I will go out and torch the dead tree to get rid of the pine needles.  Not supposed to have babies for another 1-2 months minimum. 

I made it out to the barn.  It took me three hours to get all the crap out of the outer wall, scrape the floor clean (section is only 4 feet wide x 50 feet long) and sweep it clean.  I am going to install 2x6 on the bottom part of the wall one foot high to keep the crap out and provide a sturdier barrier.  Once that is in place I will fix the walkway with a new floor.  But tomorrow it is burn the pine needles and fix the fence.  Once those are out of the way I can work on the barn. 

The lady who we gave our bummer lambs to, had a cougar get into her pens and kill five sheep, two lambs ran themselves to death trying to get away from the cougar.  So far no livestock kills for us.  I did hear there is a raccoon in the neighborhood again this year.  So tomorrow I will buy some black sunflower seeds.  They make great raccoon bait and the cats don't like them so they will stay out of the live trap.