Winter prep

As well as going to the sheep market this weekend, we also had straw delivered from a neighbour farmer. 300 bales. We don’t have the buildings to store the modern large bales, nor is the road here compatible with having deliveries by truck through the winter. So small bales that go into the loft are necessary to keep horses on the property, even if it’s a lot of work a few times a year. It takes about an hour at breakneck speed to get 100 bales up, tall guy throwing up with a fork, me blue in the face climbing up and down the stack.

Since I now only have the two senior ponies left, I’d prepared an empty stall with pallets for storage as well, in case the delivery rate got a bit overwhelming, also I have more hay in the loft this year because last winter the mice ate into about 20 of my wrapped(fermented) hay bales. Once the plastic is broken on those, it rots in no time.

I stack so that the dry hay is enclosed in straw, this prevents it from moulding, which happens with humid air contact. The straw doesn’t mould for some reason, so it insulates. So it’s a bit of a construction job at the same time.

This year I decided to try with a paper facemask, since I normally have breathing problems after a session like this, a week of lung pain and lots of slime and coughing. It seems to have helped not get much dust inhaled at least, altough of course it does not help with oxygen levels in a closed loft or the dry throat.

And most of this week I’m guessing will be very low key. I want to give the ponies a bath, trim big brown pony’s hind hooves if my back and hands agree and harvest my weld. I can’t seem to find the twine with gloves on, so it’s all barehand, ouch!

Yeah, hammock and library books sounds pretty good in fact…

first load
first load
half way
half way

halm3

Vinterforråddanish

Weekenden stod bl.a. på halmleverance, 300 småballer skulle jeg have, da vi ikke har lagerplads til de store, og vejen herned egner sig ikke til lastbilleverancer i vådt føre. (eller i det hele taget, de kan ikke komme om til stalden)

Det er tre timers hårdt arbejde for to personer, en lang til at kaste op og lille mig blå i hovedet der piler op og ned af stakken… Jeg havde dog også forberedt den tomme boks med paller i bunden, nu jeg kun har de to gamle ponyer tilbage. Så når jeg blev lidt overvældet, kunne gemalen traske ind og lægge et par stykker derinde imens.

Jeg havde også lige 100 høballer der skulle jongleres deroppe, sidste år bed musene hul på næsten alle wrapballerne i ly af vinteren, 20 måtte vi smide ud, da de rådner så snart der kommer luft til. Men høballerne holder sig fine uden svampesporer, hvis man pakker dem ind i et lag halm som isolering. Men det er lidt af et puslespil, når pladsen er trang og ballerne vælter ind af lugen.

I år forsøgte jeg mig med maske, da jeg ellers får nærmest lungebetændelseslignende tilstande, kraftige smerter, hoste og slim op til en uge efter. Det hjælper ikke på iltmængden, men jeg er faktisk ok (bortset fra træt, øm, skrammede arme og smadrede hænder 😉  Jeg kan selvfølgelig ikke finde snorene med handsker på…)

Så jeg tror det bliver en stille uge, ville gerne have givet ponyerne et tiltrængt bad mens det er lunt, beskæring af baghove på den store brune bisse må vi lige overveje. Faktisk lyder hængekøje og biblioteksbøger også ret besnærende.

16 thoughts on “Winter prep

  1. Hold da op et knokle arbejde !! Og det er med bare 2 heste !
    Synes næsten jeg kan dufte hø/halm duften, som jeg holder meget af 🙂
    Fornuftigt at bruge maske !

    1. Pyha du er tidligt oppe. Jeg havde godt nok en anelse besvær med at rulle ud over sengekanten kl. 6.45 i morges, og jeg sidder stadig og gaber.

          1. And that never happened. When my nails are long, we’re talking an extra 2 mm. But enough to make clickety noises.

          2. They probably need clipping too. In fact I clipped the horse’s nails as well, left the filing for later. Good thing it never occurred to me to become a farrier, that is seriously hard work!

          3. Yes! And hot! I went through a vet stage for a while, and even worked for a vet when I first left school. I used to go out on visits and assist with operations. I was less squeamish then!

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