Farm Sitters galore

We are so lucky to have so many willing and ABLE bodies to help us out. This weekend is the Alberta Society of Fiddlers winter camp at He Ho Ha and right after that Rigel and I will be heading down to Belize, with Marten and Kevin following two weeks later. And we have so many farm sitters that I just know I'm leaving things in great hands.  Here is the chore list I sent them:

Farm Sitting Instructions for Good Note

Cows:  Xixi and Yodel are the only ones here and they both need their hay feeder filled twice a day from the large round bale; Once before 10:00 am and once again at night at the same approx. time.  If there is not much of that bale left and you can lift it, you can put the whole thing into their feeder. You can either roll in a small bale by hand, or use the tractor to roll in one of the big ones.

Clean up any larger loose plops, using the pitch fork, and onto the manure pile about once or twice a week. You can use either the wheelbarrow or the blue sled, depending on snow/ice. Add straw from under the white tarp, as needed.

Goats: Fill their hay feeder at the same time as cows. You can add straw to their bedding as needed. Keep your eyes on the waterer and make sure it is filling or that it isn’t empty at least. Both cows and goats need access to water.

Chickens: Clean waterer by dumping it out on the manure pile to west of coop door.  Then refill using bucket and outside pump. Open pump slowly so as to not shock pipes in the house.

Fill self feeders every three days or so from grain bin north of coop. Give them one can of sunflower seeds (half inside and half in greenhouse), located in green barrel close to chicken coop door. There should also be oyster shell and grit in the other compartments. If these need filling, the extra is in the green barrel, under the sunflower seeds. Try collecting eggs twice in the morning to reduce losses due to egg eaters and keep them clean. You can use the black basket in the bathroom to collect and after washing them they can dry in the stainless basket to left of sink. There are cartons under the sink, and you can either eat them all or give them away to your friends.

Dogs: Bins of food are in the garage, just left, inside the door. Lady’s bowl is blue and Loki’s is Stainless steel. They each get one yogurt container and Lady gets hers sprinkled with half a tsp. of Glucosamine powder. She doesn’t like it, so make sure she doesn’t give up on hers and go after Loki’s.  The powder is in the house in the bathroom. Lady likes to lay down while eating, so once she is down she’s likely to stay and finish. Let them in the house when it is colder than minus 5. And every night as their barking upsets the neighbours (not to mention Kevin!)

Cat: Tootles stays outside and his bowl is filled about once every three days or so. It is in the future cheese room as is his heated box. He helps himself to water from the livestock waterer.