Poop

I know, weird title, but since that is the basic subject matter it is appropriate.
I wasn't going to write about last week's adventure because part of it was semi traumatic, but since all turned out well, why not.

How much poop does a Razorback hog poop? and pee? in his house when a perfectly good yard is available???? Lots! that is how much. Homer has a new house, it was built this past Fall so he would have a nice place to chill before Winter started. It was filled with at least 6-8 bales of hay, all fluffed up. It was wonderful.
Yep, it was great until I realized that Homer was not making the trek outside for anything but eating, the rest of his business was done inside his house.
Last week I made sure I had enough time to clean his house, not an easy task.
The main issue was getting him out into his yard. Since it was a fairly decent day, the sun was shining and I had a pocket full of apples, it was easier than usual.
Once I had him out and the gate locked I went to work. I think it was 10 wheelbarrows of nasty, soggy, stinky hay later and it was finally cleared out. I put down a bag of shaving and then 6 bales of fluffed up hay. Homer was so excited as he watched me through the gate. I knew he was ready to check it out. I think I had turned my back to move something, no more than one minute. I was ready to let Homer in when I noticed his face was pushing through the gate, I laughed and teased him about being impatient. Then I realized his muzzle was stuck in the gate. I mean stuck, there is a small fence spoke and it was jammed into his muzzle. OMG! I tried to pull the fence away but it is that heavy duty stuff for a reason. I started yelling, hoping someone would hear me, but no one was in the upper compound. I told him to relax, that I would be right back and I took off on a mad dash through the mud to the tool shed hoping that I would find bolt cutters. The whole time thinking to myself "don't fall, don't fall" . The bolt cutters were hanging in easy sight, I grabbed them and raced back, same mantra. I quickly snapped the fence piece near his mouth and he was able to pull back. He was traumatized, but he was ok. He moved as far away from the fence as he could while dealing with his wound. I went to get more apples, the true test in checking his mouth wound. He ate them without a problem, whew. I decided to let him be for about 10 minutes. I felt he was embarrassed/put out and needed time. When I came back he was all settled into his clean house and he started chattering away, he was happy. He had clean hay, it was dry, warm and just plain "good". Oh and hey, a couple more apples is the icing on the cake.
What could have turned into a nightmare ended well for Homer.

So, onto to more poop stories....
It seems that I spend most of my Sundays picking up poop and hauling it out to what we call the bone pile. Honestly, I don't mind it at all which is surprising.
I guess because when I am done I get a big reward.
I always make sure I clean Chewie ( the camel) and Chunkie's ( the Llamas) home as well as RC & the donkeys (Monchie & Rainbow) every Sunday. This past Sunday also included Dusty the colt, who is in temporary residence in the pole barn.
I know I have written about Chewie before. It is near impossible to get him outside when it is cold, not too mention the stall door being frozen shut so even if he did go out I couldn't get the door open to clean from the barn side anyway. So I always made do, and Chewie would help by moving to the side or kicking his used hay towards me for clean up. This Sunday the weather was warm and Chewie went outside on his own and the door was finally free of ice- yahoo!
That meant a thorough stripping of the stall and scrubbing out his water trough.
Chewie loves to watch me clean his abode. Camels are actually very clean animals. Since I was able to strip, that meant extra shavings. It also meant a nice clean trough of clear, clean water. Chewie and Chunky were in camel & llama heaven. When I let them in Chewie almost did a nose dive into the shavings and proceeded to roll back & forth. Then he positioned himself next to the water tank and sipped happily at his clean water.

Next it was Dusty's turn. Dusty (a colt) has been in the fields so his being inside the barn is an adjustment. I tied him to the side and got to work. I then put down 12 bags of shavings and spread it out. Dusty couldn't wait and he tried to roll while he was tied, yikes. So I hurried up, closed the gate, raced around and unhooked him. OMG, he was a blast to watch, he rolled and rolled and ran around, just loving his clean quarters. I tried to get pictures on my cellphone but it is not fast enough to catch that kind of action. I finished up with RC & the donkeys. Everyone was happy.

I guess my point is that even though I have to haul a lot of poop and it is very hard, dirty work, that the end result makes it all worthwhile.
To see the sheer joy and excitement exhibited by the animals when they have a clean area makes it all worthwhile.

I love my job, I love the animals and life is good.