HELP...Spent hay and Poop piles...

Sher · #1 04/14/07, 06:39 AM

April 14th..yeah..USUALLY by now..we have burned the spent hay accumulations..and USUALLY by now..we have scraped lots and sheds down to the cement.

NOT THIS YEAR....if its not raining...its blowing. If its not blowing..its snowing. I can't set fire with the wind..but if I wait for the wind to die down..it rains again and wet spent hay does not want to burn..lol.

I am tired of the "squish" noise and feel everywhere I go on this place. I feel so bad everytime I look around. I am depressed. We usually fill the neighbors poop spreader and do his fields..heck..can't do that its too wet. And if we don't do it soon..its getting so late that when it does get dried out..the guys will want in their fields and there wont' be TIME to get it out there ahead of them.

For my own well being..I have to ask..are we the only ones? Or is someone else ready for breakdown over spent hay mounds and poop piles?

Okay Haven..put on your "thigh" waders

tie a rope around your waist

and we'll get er done!!

I NEED SPRING WEATHER.. or :baby04: I may go over the edge..lol.

joysmom · #2 04/14/07, 07:48 AM

No you're not the only one... we're tired of winter too... we even had snow for the first time in close to 20 years... every time we get ready to do something like work on fencing etc, it rains, sleets, etc, so I'm with you on the tired part... we haven't gotten to our barns either. But hang in there... they say spring is coming...

HilltopDaisy · #3 04/14/07, 08:20 AM

I can understand how you feel. Not just squishy here, it's deep mud, and we are supposed to get a tremendous amount of snow tonight and tomorrow, possibly 2 feet. I actually fought back tears this morning when I fed my outside animals. I cannot fathom a blizzard this late in the year. We had a few nice days a couple of weeks ago and I was able to get the chicken coop cleaned, but I dread cleaning in and around the goat shed. Probably take me two full days, or more.

Something I did one year that worked really well for me ~ I piled all the cleanings from the sheep/goats and planted right in the pile. It was about 6' wide and 20' long, and I stuck in seeds. I got a bumper crop of watermelons and winter squash.

moonspinner · #4 04/14/07, 08:30 AM

Welcome to the club! Here in western NY it's been the worst season I can recall and just won't quit. I have been slogging through deep mud and water for months now and mud is on everything. Not to mention temps way sub-normal and a snowstorm on the way. I've been in tears with frustration dealing with this. Actually around here the past two years have been extremely wet - even summers.

Sher · #5 04/14/07, 08:45 AM

Wow..misery loves company and I'm so glad to know that I'm not the only one. My spent hay is layer on layer..and I guess its a good thing that its there...it keeps em all up outta mud and water.

FANTASTIC IDEA Hilltop Daisy. I always need a place .. other than the garden to put the watermelon and squash...I am seriously thinking about following your lead. Thanks a heap!! LOL..pun sorta intended.

Oat Bucket Farm · #6 04/14/07, 08:52 AM

Well your definitly not alone. Everytime we go to do something it rains or snows. I am so sick of this weather and so sick of the mud that is everywhere. If it doesn't turn spring pretty soon, I'm moving to Hawaii or south America, or somthing.

Great idea for the pile planting Hilltop Daisy. Gonna try that this year.

CountryHaven · #7 04/14/07, 09:40 AM

Quote:

Something I did one year that worked really well for me ~ I piled all the cleanings from the sheep/goats and planted right in the pile. It was about 6' wide and 20' long, and I stuck in seeds. I got a bumper crop of watermelons and winter squash.

Daisy that's a FANTASTIC idea. I did that one year with an old goose pen and had tomotoe plants up to the rooftops -- literally! I can only imagine what all the goat um... stuff. . would do. LOL

Sher-I'm feelin ya. You just can't get anything done out there in this weather. It's just like that here too... either too windy, to rainy, or freakin' snowing! Yesterday was beautiful, but too wet from the previous days, and today it's gloomy and threatening to flurry again. UGH.

Take heart--it's SUPPOSED to be nice from tomorrow on. We'll see.

No matter what--we'll get'er done for sure on Wednesday! Yippeeeeeeeeee it's getting here!

lilly foote · #8 04/14/07, 11:47 AM

I'm soooooo depressed it has poured for 2 days and before that it rained too a few weeks ago it was 85 now its 25 I have most of my garden growing in the house on the left we have tomatoes on the right we have loofahs and a flat of broc. behind that i started a tray of green beens that should have gone outside about 10 days ago
not only do i miss the sun i miss my living room HELP!!! ok im better now mostly
oh ya and 1 dumb goat that stands in the rain i've put her up and she runs right back to the picinic table

CountryHaven · #9 04/14/07, 11:59 AM

haha Lilly--you have a picnic table goat too? I have a goat that lounges on top of the picnic table. It's her favorite spot to lay and sunbathe (when the sun is out of course). I drove out of the driveway yesterday and got a glimpse of her up there with her front legs crossed just chewing her cud and looking pleased as could be.

A'sta at Hofstead · #10 04/14/07, 12:03 PM

I just keep telling myself "It's good for the ground water, no drought this summer"...... Over and over again, it makes me feel better, though I too have almost shed a tear about this Nor'easter to come.

Heidi's_Goats · #11 04/14/07, 12:27 PM

Not Hawaii!

You gotta move to Alaska.

*singing* "I can see clearly now, the rain is gone".

We are now getting almost 15 hours of daylight, 40-50 degree weather. Snow is almost gone. Now it's mud season.

I'm a Vermonter. I feel your pain!

Heidi

Sher · #12 04/14/07, 01:15 PM

Aaaaaaaaahhh...I feel my paranoia receding a wee bit. I thought it was just me..lol.

It spit a few flurries here..then quit..is cloudy..but the sun is supposed to be out by 5:00. Alrighty then. We are supposed to be at a wedding at 5:00. That'll be the next thing..when it finally DOES get nice...there will be one hundred and thirty seven things that somebody would "like" me to do or somewhere they'd "like" me to go...nevermind that I have set here all winter...lol..when its finally nice to work outside..the phone won't stop!

Hark...is that my garden space groaning out there? Under PILES of manure and hay? Why yes..it is!!

Freeholder · #13 04/14/07, 01:44 PM

I was planning to spend today planting all the trees and such that I've gotten, but it's been rain mixed with snow all morning. However, I have to count my blessings. For one thing, we ALWAYS need the snow-pack for summer water (it hardly ever rains here during the summer). And, this winter has been better than the last two, as far as mud goes. We have very clayey, slippery, gooshy mud -- the kind that your feet come up a pound heavier with each step. I've lost track of the number of times I've pulled a foot out of a boot that was stuck in the mud, and several times I've slipped and fallen in the mud because it's greasy as, well, you know what. I sure do get sick and tired of mud.

Kathleen

dosthouhavemilk · #14 04/14/07, 02:31 PM

I hate having visitors this time of year! Mostly because wintere her is always rough and things are sooo built up. Our dairy cows stay in the stanchion barn most of the worst of winter and we put down a lot of straw for kidding in January. There are two people on here that have seen this barn at its worse! I hated having either here at that time but it had to happen. Hopefully both will make it back when the goats are all out on browse and pasture.
I finally finally got down to the floor around back where we kidded out the 20+ does. It will be cleaned down again before the goats are all at the goat pen come June and it was cleaned out a couple of times this past winter. Most of it made it out onto the field but at least a spreader and a halfs worth is still sitting out on the platform.

What I really can't stand is the wet and mud at the goat pen. We are a bit crowded currently. The herd expanded a bit quicker than we could handle and the herd can't just accpet 80 acres as enough and insist on going to the neighbors so we have to work on fencing.

Rain, snow and wind here. We've had some nice days and the ground has been solid enough at some points to spread on our hillsides, but the weather has been rough.

Jcran · #15 04/14/07, 02:33 PM

POURED rain last night; sunny then rainy, then sunny then rainy, on and on and on. Gooshy, mooshy, pasture and pens; BUT the rest of California is going to be in a drought situation so I am not complaining (ok, well, maybe I just was, but am not anymore!)

mousebandit · #16 04/15/07, 09:51 PM

When you guys muck out your stalls, is the muck from the lower levels already pretty well composted? When you spread it out on the fields, is it ready to till under and plant over, or does it have to sit out there for a while?

I've only got a couple of month's worth of much to take out (plus the 6-8 mo. old manure from the previous owner's horses), and I've been thinking I'll have to build a huge compost bed for it.

Any other suggestions on how to use it? We've got fields, and gardens, and compost bins. Think it would be "ripe" enough to plant melons and squash's in it, like someone else was talking about?

THANKS!

Tracey

Jcran · #17 04/15/07, 10:59 PM

My brother (god bless him

came and took a ton of old bedding from two shelters and the box stall. His plan is to put it right on new raised beds. He said that it is already "settling" and then he's going to plant right in it when the weather warms up in May. He said he's already got a HUGE raised bed area that he is putting right at the base of a terraced hillside (I don't have 4-wheel drive so haven't been to his property this Spring-it would kind of be like one of those ancient African movies where they go straight up awful rutted roads. He's happy, though, and so am I since I didn't have to clean the poopy pens!

northstarpermie · #18 04/15/07, 11:57 PM

I would like the ground to thaw, have nights above freezing, and get lots of rain.

I just hauled the first layer of unfrozen hay, straw, and goat pewp over to my garden beds. I plan on using it as part of my deep mulching this summer...but like the idea of watermelons and other vines growing out of it. Time to fence in another area to keep the deer at bay.

HilltopDaisy · #19 04/16/07, 04:01 AM

We've got 6-8" of new snow this morning. Yuck.

My bedding is mostly old hay with poop mixed in. It is 18" deep through the entire building and surrounding area outside. I don't find the bottom layer to be "composted" but it has begun to break down some. I put it right into the raised beds, too, and I use it for mulch to keep weeds down and moisture in. I'll tell you what, that stuff is great for growing vining crops in. The roots never even made it to soil, all those melons and squash got their needs met from poopy hay!

In the late fall, I will take the bedding off down to the bare floor and spread that stuff in the big garden, and it has time to decompose before spring planting.