Relaxed Farming - our farm in your classroom

We continue to be very wet and last night, for the first time this autumn, we had all the animals inside the barn overnight. We did this for one main reason: to stop the land getting really muddy with all those feet tramping around on it - and that includes human ones!! All our paddocks contain at least one shelter/house and so the animals will always have somewhere to go to keep warm and dry BUT, if they stay in their paddocks day and night, we then have to go out to give them their food and water and to muck them out and our feet can do as much damage as theirs.
As you probably know goats hate the rain and don't have thick, oily coats that keep them dry and so they stay in their shelters when it rains. Sheep and alpacas are quite happy to stay out in the wet but if the land is a bit soggy (as ours is now) their feet will start to make it muddy. Bringing sheep and goats into the barn needs to be carefully monitored mind you - this is because they can actually overheat if the barn gets too warm or, if their coats are really wet, being inside a barn with no wind means their coats don't dry off and so they are at risk of getting too cold.
At this time of year the pygmy goats always have access to their outside concrete apron but they seem very happy to stay indoors and spend their days (and nights) munching hay. Satin (last photo) is enjoying a particularly thick stalk of something (we are not sure what it is) and is doing so from our usual position - standing on top of the hay racks. This is why we put lids on them!! The other day we even caught her asleep on one: daft thing!!