Creating Dry Lots for the Goats

The goats live in the barn. Both the girl’s stall and the boy’s stall have doors to outside pens. It allows them to go out and get some sunshine and have a little room to move around.

Now that the rain is here we decided to “dry lot” those outside pens. What that means is we cover the ground with wood shavings , chips, or sawdust. It covers and eventually kills all the grass. In the grass there are parasites (naturally occurring) which thrive in the rain. If the goats decide to eat fresh grass then they will ingest worms. Too many worms can kill them.

Creating a dry lot allows them to go outside without the risk of ingesting parasites. Over the winter Michael will fence in the upper pastures and create at least three separate pastures for the girls. Beginning in the spring we will rotate them between the pastures. Allowing at least three weeks before they return to the same pasture gives the parasites time to die off.

Fortunately we found a place about forty-five minutes away that was selling units of sawdust for only $35.00. Our dear friends loaned us their awesome hydraulic dump trailer for the weekend. Thank you Richard and Nancy!

Michael picked up a total of four units. They were very generous units as well. He and the boys were up when it was still dark outside to begin the back and forth transporting of the sawdust. We wanted it to get done in one day so an early start was necessary. I didn’t take any pictures. I was still cozy in my bed. Sometimes you just gotta let the men do the work.

Here is what the pens looked like before we changed them. OK, before THEY changed them. I was awake but doing inside chores.

Girl’s pen                                                                  Boy’s pen

They mowed down all the grass before spreading the sawdust.

Here are the boys having fun bringing in the sawdust.

Based on some of the things you’ve seen ALL my boys doing on this blog I feel it necessary to tell you that they didn’t ride the entire forty-five minute drive home in the trailer like that!

Love that hydraulic lift on the trailer.

And here is the finished product…

Girl’s pen                                                                   Boy’s pen

They also made a path from our front yard to the barn. Now it won’t be so muddy. Being lighter in color will also make it easier to see in the dark.

Here are my boys playing so nicely together. Nicholas seems to be enjoying his brothers shenanigans.

Oh look, big brother took it a bit too far….again.

Thanx for following along on our journey. Don’t forget….we welcome visitors 🙂

Toodles from the farm,

Karen