Welcome to my blog - a diary about living with donkeys, notes about care, my training sessions and the absolute pleasure of donkey companionship.


Leave a comment! Just click on Comments at the bottom of each post and a box will appear. If you have a question, I always respond!


Monday, October 15, 2012

Sudden weather change

Well we went from a gorgeous clear sunny September to being suddenly enveloped in fog, wind and rain!
I am so glad that Rose and Heather had a least a week to settle in before the sudden shift, but I wish it had been longer!

Everyone seems to be getting along and Dorrie is back to being her sweet self.  Siog occasionally chases Rose, like she used to do with Deenah but then she had started that with Dorica when it was just the 2 of them, so perhaps I'm reading her wrong.

My biggest challenge right now is feeding!  I can't wait for everybody to be eating the same hay and to be
comfortable with the slow feeder hay bags.  I am still slowly mixing the hay that Rose and Heather came with, with the local hay I have been feeding. Dorrie & Siog have figured out that there is something sweeter and richer on offer but I don't want them to eat this new hay, so I have to separate the two new donkeys from the 2 old donkeys and it's a bit awkward. But that will change soon, by the end of the week  I think I will have transitioned everybody over.

Heather is catching on to the hay bags really well but not so Rose - and she is the least dominant so easily gets dislodged.  I have to monitor each feeding time to make sure that Rose gets enough.

The type of hay that one puts inside a slow feeder hay net is important too.  You need something coarse that will poke out of the holes, not a soft hay that sits in a clump in the bag, especially as the bag empties.  So I notice that as I add more and more of our local hay, the easier the hay bags are becoming for Rose and Heather to manage!

Right now I have some roofing guys working on the new barn enclosure.  They are installing gutters and flashing so that the entry way won't be a waterfall like it was a few nights ago!

In the meantime, I am offering lots of hay and straw, as these sudden changes in weather can cause some upset.  I want everybody to have lots to eat and be content!

New addition to the barn's breezeway!

2 comments:

  1. Glad to hear everyone's getting on well, the barn breezeway looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sounds like everything is working out well for all your girls. The barn breezeway does look great!

    Mary Anna

    ReplyDelete