Taking care of the Animals on a winter day

Robin and Willow

This morning is cold, its the kind of cold that chills you to the bone as soon as you walk outside. I greeted the Horses who are always glad to see us come down because they know they are going to get their sweet grain, Badger will whinny in excitement and then bite at her gate until she gets her grain, Willow whinnies and then gets aggravated with Badger biting at her gate. While the horses eat their grain, we feed and water the Chickens, Turkeys and our flock of Meat chickens and open the door to the coop to let everyone outside. The Rabbits are next, we fill their feeders and collect the water bottles to take up to the house to thaw by the wood stove, we will take the water bottles back down to them after they thaw out later. We put the Halters on the Horses and let them out, Willow has to go first, then Badger. They get fresh hay thrown to them because there's no good grazing right now, everything is frozen.

We of course spend a little time loving the horses before we return to the warmth of the house.

In the evening we return to the barn to feed and water again, Brush the horses ( I have learned to do this in the evening because they usually like to roll during the day) We clean out their hooves and muck their stalls, then they go in the stalls and impatiently wait for us to bring them more grain and throw hay into the hay racks. We collect the eggs from the chickens and close them in the coop for the night. When it is really cold out the chickens and Turkeys get some scratch grains before roosting to help keep them warmer through the night. We give the rabbits each a little hay and say good night to all the animals.

Sometimes going to the barn feels like a drudgery to get myself motivated this time of the year ( I am not a cold weather type of girl)but, Once I get down there, I actually enjoy it, I love being with the animals, petting and holding the rabbits or hugging the horses and watching the antics of the chickens. The animals provide me with a sense of calm and help me forget the stresses of the day and they always do something that will amuse me and make me laugh, Its then that I forget, for a little while that its cold out side!