While the barn set up has been easy to work with (as far as handling sheep) over the years, we have battled air flow in the "inside" stall, especially in the summer months and especially when it's been super rainy or super hot - check off and check off this summer.
We've talked about taking down the wall between the two stalls forever, but never did it for who knows what reasoning. It's down now and I can't believe we didn't do this years ago. The barn is so light and airy and much more comfortable temperature and air quality-wise.
The view from the outside.
The new view inside. And by view I mean view! I can stand in the aisleway and not only see almost any sheep in the barn at any time, but I can also see sheep in the side paddock, like Auntie Lila and Bullwinkle. Yes, there are still some blind spots, but man what a difference!
We obviously weren't going to take down any supporting beams and the outside addition is slightly higher than the inside floor so we replaced the wall with gates. I can still shuffle sheep from the inside to the outside and down to the working pen just like the old days.
And we didn't take out the old wall feeders because everyone likes to use them as pillows and standing blocks. Woolliam and Woody on the far right.
And the gates make good pillows, too :-). Andy. And Woolliam, who would just like to Go To Bed Please!
The "assigned seats" got jumbled around a bit for awhile, but there are still most of the familiar faces here. Keebs, Renny, Burrnie, Ewen, Boudreaux are all accounted for. Woolliam got knocked down the wall for a couple days, but he's now back where he wants to be ;-). Somehow Chocula managed to make every picture, day and night, all over. That's his butt in the gate pillow pic.
* * * * *
The Tour de Fleece is rolling right along, too. Well, some team members are rolling better than others, but we are all having fun. It's
not too late to join and even if you don't want to spin, you can still
follow along and cheer lead!
