Tuesday was a very slow day. I did the usual morning clean-up, sorted wool (this is a very long task because it has to be moved from one end of the barn to the other, weighed, etc.), and helped with demos by holding chickens and watching kids. It was also a fairly sad day. One of the pregnant cows aborted its fetus a month before it was due and we had to discard of the half-formed calf while avoiding little kids.
Wednesday moved quite a bit faster than Tuesday. A lot of school groups passed through the barn. I also helped prepare for Working Dog Weekend which is coming up in two weeks. I removed the writing off of the plastic poles used to make weave poles using lacquer remover. The whole barn smelled like acetone for a good part of the day. I also stayed an hour later to feed the animals at four. This also meant I got to play with Maddie and Tot for while.
Thursday I had the opportunity to finish the weave poles by adding colored tape to make them look like candy canes. After this was finished, I helped my sponsor, Ann, wrangle some goat kids from the barnyard that were being sent to a new home. The first goat kid was easy because he came right up to us and didn't have the opportunity to run away. But, goats are like water and slip away easily. It took a lot of effort to get him from the barnyard to the Well Bred Shed while he flailed about with his hooves and horns. The second kid needed a little bit of encouragement, so we lured him into a corner with grain in order to catch him. After catching the two goat kids from their pasture, we also had to catch and weigh two piglets. They were much easier to corner yet much heavier to lift and move. They also squealed and screamed bloody murder while being held and transported. But, in the end, everything went relatively smoothly.
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