Spring building

It was a productive day today. First we split the main run (the metal pole by the black dish is the new fence line) to give the breeding pens that are soon to come more run space. Then we added a bunch of roosts to each run so they have more areas to explore and get off the ground when it's muddy.

New fence and start of roosts

Carter checking out the new vantage point.

While we were building in the coop Estelle had to come check it out to make sure we weren't doing anything wrong. She has often stood at the outside of the run and looked in like she wanted in. I guess she couldn't pass up the opportunity of the gate being open.

Supervisor visit

Our next project was giving Estelle an area where she could have access to pasture without giving the goats the same access, but still be able to get her back to the stall for morning milkings. Here is the final result. The fence used to continue from the gate to the stall separating the horses from the cow. We moved the fence to the other side of the barn, adding the stall to the pasture and separating the goats to their own area. The board across the opening keeps the horses out of the cow area but lets the cow come and go as she pleases. The goats are going to miss their stall but they had pretty much already lost it to Estelle. They went back to sleeping under the tack room. They also have a large dog house full of straw. That might get moved to the meat bird pen eventually though. If so, we'll need to figure out something else for them. 

Next task is to add a mini stall in the stall for a calf. Since we aren't going to bottle feed or take the calf off Estelle, we will need to lock up the calf separate but near Estelle during the night. Once we milk her in the morning we will let the calf out to spend the day with mom.