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There are always SO many chores around a small farm that sometimes it can feel overwhelming. Fences are in constant need of inspection and repair (remember my “oops” babies”?), water buckets and troughs need scrubbing on an almost daily basis, critters need vaccinations and treatments for parasites periodically, shearing must be done at the optimum times, and stalls and loafing areas must be mucked out regularly.
It’s imperative that a thorough barn cleaning be accomplished on a nice day so that the goats can be locked out of the barn. Now, mind you, I live in the Pacific NW where during the winter and early spring it can be difficult to match up a day off from my place of employment with a good day for cleaning the barn (means NO rain). It’s not that the rain bothers me overmuch, but goats HATE rain and therefore can’t be locked out of the barn on a rainy day. Oh no, there’d be too high of a price to pay! First, they would be very noisy and vocal about getting wet and 30 wailing goats is pitiful and annoying. But they would also run the risk of ruining our precious crop of fiber and we can’t have that happen!!
A couple of times, in desperation, I’ve tried to clean out the barn with the goats mingling about. You’d think that a person with a pitchfork and a huge wheelbarrow would be something to avoid if you were a goat. Hah! Apparently these tools are viewed as new goat toys and scratching tools! The wheelbarrow handles are just the right height for scratching one’s back, which usually results in the whole thing tipping over and a barrage of swear words from me about having to fork it all up again. Goats are climbers and jumpers so leaping into the wheelbarrow (whether it’s empty or not!) is viewed as great fun and also usually results in tipping it over. If one goat sees another in the wheelbarrow, it will try to get in as well because their next favorite game is “king of the hill”.
Trying to slip out the big gate with a full wheelbarrow is next to impossible, unless there is a second person around to shoo the goats away from the open gate as I slither out. A big fat goat can squeeze through the tiniest of openings in their zest to get out and, once again, when the rest of the herd sees what happening they try to do it as well. What would normally take several hours when the goats are locked out of the barn can become an all day affair.
In the past I’ve tried to hire some help but I’ve found that no one wants to work this hard and they never want to come back (that’s a whole ‘nother story!). Therefore, except for the occasional project where my husband grudgingly helps me, I do virtually all of it by myself. Believe me, although my little goat farm is nothing compared to other farms, I can fully appreciate the hard work and effort that goes into producing the food for our tables and the clothes for our backs. Farming is a 24-hour a day job and there are NO days off (even if one has to leave the farm five days a week for a job in the city – you’re still thinking about everything back on the farm!). Farmers are constantly looking at the sky and trying to gauge what the weather is going to do. Everything is viewed with an eye toward how much it will cost and how many hours or days it will take to accomplish it, all the while remembering that there’s another job to go to five days a week. In the end, everything must be done timely and efficiently to ensure that the herd health is maintained and that they are kept on premises that are safe and secure. You just can’t put some things off and hope for the best. A clogged gutter and down spout could mean a flooded barn if not tended to immediately!
All of this has given me a new appreciation for products produced “down on the farm” by hardworking American farmers and, as a result, Terry and I make every effort to buy from others just like us when it comes to the high quality of wool blending fibers and such. Items grown and/or produced on a small scale are likely to cost just a bit more for a variety of reasons including the fact that we can’t buy in huge bulk quantities. As small fiber farmers, we can’t often compete with imported fibers when it comes to price (and this little issue has some political overtones!). But I can tell you this – no one works harder than we do at trying to bring the best possible products we can to the market place. We take great pride in our critters and devote hours and hours to producing a quality product, and we’re always mindful of trying to keep costs as low as possible. All of this is fit in between the other tasks associated with caring for a home, property and family, and going off the farm to work each day.
When someone purchases a package of our homegrown, hand-dyed Pygora handspinning fibers and blends, they can be assured that we did the best we could and that each package contains the very essence of life on the farm – hard work, fresh air, beautiful color, the sweet personalities of our little goats, sweat, a little blood now and then, and definitely some tears shed along the way.
So next time you buy handspinning fibers from Rainbow Yarns NW, please know how very much we appreciate your business and your willingness to help out the small producer!