Winter Preparation ......continues !

Guess who !!......this photo is taken with a good camera !....and a skilled photographer....not me !

The babies......Zirrius, Zoretah, Zimushka, Zadi~Blanca and Zirrianna !!

Chickens do the strangest things !!...I was visiting Anna and one of her chickens 'Sadie' decided to sit on my bonnet !!

Me and some of the gang......

I have been busy with some winter preparations....

Today I received most of my straw that will be needed for the winter. I have spent most of the afternoon re-arranging the barn moving various bales of hay and straw that were opened out of the way in order to make room for the new straw which I have stacked, packed and put back the stuff that was being used......so I now have a full barn once again....there is 24 bales of hay, 12 bales of straw in the main barn on one side....along with the adult boys and the Nick Nacks on the other side......of one half of the barn, the other is always open for the horses to use as they need to....

Now, in the new wooden barn extension....there is 36 bales of hay along with 4 bales of straw...on one side....and across from the entrance to the main barn is where the girls and the babies live......basically we are full to capacity....!!

Just as well we managed to get the extension done on the wooden barn in time for the onset of winter.....

All that remains for me to do is stack some 'rapeseed straw' that will make a good wind break for my Highland Cows to provide shelter for them over the winter months.....its a bit of an idea I had to make a shelter for them......and tonight I had delivered 24 bales of this stuff....so if the weather is dry.....I shall be busy placing this in a strategic position.......that's providing the cows haven't trashed it overnight.......!!

Dougal has a bit of a habit of sticking his horns into any hay or straw....and he often wears it on his head.....I will find out tomorrow...if he has been playing with the bales....or if they have been rolled round the field overnight !!

I have wanted to do something for them for the last couple of winters.....as its really quite bleak when the wind is blowing at minus what ever temperatures.

I have managed to chop about half of the logs ready for the winter...and when I get a spare hour, I shall be trying to get the rest of them chopped and stacked.

Also on the 'to do' list is mucking out the boys side of the barn.......before I start to deep litter the horses side for the winter......

As its now November.....it will only be a couple of weeks before I get the chance to have a look at the Haylage......then I will find out if it has been a disaster or a success.....mind you, the horses are not needing to be supplemented at the moment.....so it might be slightly longer before I actually break into the bales......I'm really quite interested to find out....just how it has turned out........I do hope its a success for Molly more than anyone else.....as she is my horse that seems to have a dust allergy !

I have treated myself to a new wheelbarrow.......as there was a big hole in the bottom of the other one.......which I had patched with an old feed bag.....and my mam was having a bit of a moan at the state of the wheelbarrow when she was here.....so we are all posh now with a shiny new galvanised one.........I can't complain as the other one had done lots of work.....and it had seen better days !!

A bit like myself.........I guess !!