Friday Farm Fotos: Barn Cleaning

Hubby, Big Red, and the Poop Wagon. (Manure Spreader.)

It's probably the least glamorous job around here... cleaning out coops and barns. 

But if you have animals, you know it's a fact of life. 

It's a stinky chore~
especially after it rains, or in the hot summer months when the flies are horrendous; 

but on the flip side, you always have lots of valuable fertilizer at your disposal. 

I don't mind it too bad if I have Hubby there to help, 

and he doesn't mind it too much anymore since we got the little tractor
with the very handy front end loader. 

It makes quick work of what used to be lots of back-breaking shoveling.

First, the sheep have to be locked out of the barn.

They do not like this, because we have disturbed their afternoon nap.
:)

Then, all the waste is shoveled away from the walls
and from underneath the feed trough and manger.

Ew.

 Next, Hubby scoops it up the with the loader.

Easy peasey!

It's dumped into the manure spreader.....

And with some help from Big Red, Hubby takes it to the pasture. 

He has to engage the chain drive that spreads the manure...

Then back on the tractor and away it goes!

Nice. 

This will make the field beautiful and green next spring,

  

In the meantime, I finish cleaning the barn down to bare dirt.

Then we spread lime all over the entire floor.

 This not only gets rid of the odor but it also absorbs new waste.

Hubby does a very neat job at this.

Once we're finished it not only looks and smells better, 

but it's healthier for the sheep to not have all that stuff under their hooves.

"Can we come back inside? I have to go to the bathroom."

*Sigh*

Happy Friday, everyone!