What Makes This Country Gal Smile?

What can make this country gal smile, besides a trip to the opera?  I’ll tell you. To look in my food box in our stable and see it filled with straw , hay and grain. That’s what!

We had been giving great consideration as to whether to answer an ad for a special hay being sold by a sheep farmer. He had downsized his herd and had way too much hay. We already have a local  farmer who sells us hay , bundles of hay . My husband fills the trailer, which is usually 20 bales. Each bale has 5 or 6 individual sections. They don’t really last longer than 2 1/2 weeks. The reasons for this is our hay racks which were meant for horses, so a lot ends up on the box floor  and the goats eat a lot of hay when indoors during bad weather.

My husband has done what he can to fix the hay racks to make sure the hay stays put. They don’t look so beautiful, but for now, they work.

We started to discuss the new hay and decided we should get it. This was not the same hay we always get, it was meadow hay. It is full of grasses, flowers, and herbs. I said we could get it as long as we have a fresh supply of our regular hay to be able to mix with the new hay. Then it dawned on me that if this farmer was downsizing his herd, then he would no doubt have other items we might be interested in. I was right. He had fantastic fencing and gates and even hay racks that sit on top of a fence and can be used by animals on both sides. This was just great. We are going to have to separate our boxes off to make room for everyone quite soon. Our herd is growing and our boxes are large enough to section off into maybe 4 sections, still giving new mothers with their babies plenty of space to bond and stretch their legs, when kept inside.

The thought of having new fencing for our outdoor “baby play yard” and that we would have a real functioning gate, really makes me smile.

The thought of all those fence sections we could have to separate our boxes, really makes me smile.

The thought of those cute little hay racks that could fit over the new fencing and feed 2 goat families, really makes me smile.

The thought of all that beautiful new hay in those huge bales feeding all my goats, really makes me smile.

The thought of my husband saying ok to all those new purchases for our stable, really makes me smile.

Here are our new bales:

Our new bales of meadow hay on our trailer arrive home

Everyone has a trailer hitch on their vehicle and a trailer of some sort. Deliveries here in Sweden are ridiculously expensive,  so everyone does it themselves. Max  is wearing one of his winter coats, not because of the amount of snow but because of the temperature, it was -10 on this day.

Just look at our big beautiful bales!

We are very thankful that the sheep farmer , Roger helped put the bales on the trailer with his tractor, and then assisted my husband in securing them , since we had about 40 minutes drive back to Gullringstorp.

I was able to help my husband back the trailer in as close to the stable door as possible

I was really not that  much help since my husband has had plenty of practice, backing that trailer up. But it was nice of him to ask for my help.

There's my husband making way for the bales to go inside

Here is our 20 bales of hay that we always get, pretty aren't they?

We were able to get one bale off the trailer but that was as far as we were able to move it. thank goodness for out tractor to help push it through the door

One more push and it was in !!

Thank you husband and your fabulous tractor !

There it is, one of our bales. Now the fun starts, trying to move this 260 kg bale into our food box. Our tractor can't do that for us, darn it !

With a few good shoves, in it went. I helped too!

It's in !!!

This is a sight that makes this country gal smile !

What made me smile even wider was the fact that we had not only one bale but two!

Our second bale was placed under the shelter of one of our out buildings for the future

This time, with a push, the bale kind of rolled downhill into its resting place.

This hay is not only beautiful to look at, but the entire stable smells like a springtime meadow.

Welcome back to see photos of the meadow hay and our new fencing and hay racks.

If you are a country gal or even a city girl, won’t you share with us what makes you smile?