Strategies for reducing barn time

[goats-n-oats]

Hey all. This may sound like a remedial question, but would it make sense to get up at 3 or 4 am to get my construction projects done? I'm finding even with efficiency improvements, by the time I've done chores, put out veterinary fires, delivered eggs & errands, there's no time for project work like rebuilding the goat stalls. I imagine folks with kids and 9-5 jobs have the same problem of finding time to get ahead. Any ideas?

 

[NatJ]

Hey all. This may sound like a remedial question, but would it make sense to get up at 3 or 4 am to get my construction projects done?

If it works for you, then yes it makes sense.

The biggest issues I would see:
--amount of sleep (being too tired makes it hard to work, and can be downright dangerous in some cases.)
--light to see what you are building (electric lights might work, depending on what project.)

Definitely be careful as you work, because getting injured can make everything even harder to handle.

I'm finding even with efficiency improvements, by the time I've done chores, put out veterinary fires, delivered eggs & errands, there's no time for project work like rebuilding the goat stalls.

Can you do some of the chores earlier? For example, filling water containers before sunup is probably just as useful as doing it later.

Can you combine the egg-delivery and errands into fewer days of the week, to leave some other days more free to do projects? This might go for some kinds of chores too: if you clean a few pens each day it eats up time every day, but if you spend all of one day cleaning pens you may be able to skip them all the next day.

If the veterinary problems are this big in your day, either you're getting a lot of bad luck at once, or else you need to figure out what is causing them and do something to fix that. Of course, if the problems are things like injuries from stalls that need rebuilding, and you are so busy treating injuries that you don't have time to rebuild the stalls, then you are in a bit of a bind, but trying to make time to do that rebuilding is definitely worth tackling.

Can you save time on things like meals and dishes? Possibilities could include using disposable dishes for a week, or eating sandwiches for a few days instead of cooking better meals, or making a big pot of stew and eating it several days in a row, or ordering pizza rather than cooking dinner, or buying a pre-made meal when you are running errands one day and then eating it the next day to save cooking time when you are building stalls.

Is there any chance of hiring someone to do some of the work? That could be the chores, the errands, the rebuilding, or any other things that take your time, to free up your time to do other parts of it.

At one point you mentioned bottle feeding young goats: you can think about which things will stop at some point (like kids no longer needing bottles), and maybe time some projects for the times of the year when you have a few less chores (depending on how urgent the projects are.)

Other than that, maybe consider how important each project and each animal or kind of animal is, and see if you can cut back somewhere. When the total is "too much," sometimes you do have to get rid of something (like one kind of animal) or skip something (like one kind of project).

 

[SourRoses]

The only 2 things I can think of that would help further are:

Consider just feeding dogs commercial. We did homemade food for a long time when we had breeding dogs when I was young. Before raw was popular. Then my mom got busy and brought home a bag of dog food (grain free, high protein). The dogs were happy to eat it and we were surprised at how easy everything got. Never fed homemade again. I'm not saying it doesn't have a benefit... just that the benefit may not outweigh the hassle and the quality of life of the caregiver (you).


Are the goats helping the bottom line? My neighbors goats are super cute, but total pests. They are harder work than the horses or chickens. I kinda adore them, but know I would never ever get my own. lol

I know if we had the funds with our own chicken setup, everything would be automated, from waterers and gravity feeder, doors, and roll-away nest boxes. Someday...

 

[saysfaa]

...

What are methods or machines you've used to cut down on barn chores time?

Pastures. Plan out where to put the gates to make using them efficient.

Hydrants near the water tanks. (hoses are more efficient than buckets but hydrants in the right places can make nearly as much difference again).

Feed rooms near the feeders.

Let the animals walk to the feed rather than carry feed to the animals.

Invest in well-designed tools and equipment. This includes things like shovels, forks, brooms, squeegees that are the right size for the job and your size and strength. Also, things like latches, oil cans. Store them where you usually use them.

Wheels for anything heavy, bulky, or of many parts (what kind depends on what scale you have - small wagon to various carts to push by hand or pull with something with an engine (or draft animal someday, maybe. They can be better than engines when they know where to go and when to stop or will follow verbal cues but other things would be higher priority at this point), if your scale is big enough then conveyor systems - pipelines, augers, conveyor belts.

Sleds in the winter. They aren't hard to make. Wax the sliding surfaces.

 

[nao57]

The dogs can only eat so many raw eggs before one gets diarrhea. And I always cook chicken for them because I don't want them to develop a taste for raw chickens...

Is there a real chance that raw chicken will equate to a HIGHER chance of them going after one? I'm curious what the numbers would look like.

 

[saysfaa]

... no time for project..

It may work for you to do a Dave Ramsey style Snowball plan except use time instead of money.

Make a list of the projects from smallest (quickest to do) to largest. Do the smallest first. Invest the time that saved into the next smallest. Rinse and repeat.

 

[nao57]

So... sounds like you have chickens, possible dogs, or goats... is there anything else, like horses or whatever?

How big is the land piece your on for this, and how far is the barn area from the house? (Is there electric power in the barn?)

There are a number of strategies we can help with. One of them being, I try to always have 2 water sources per animal. This will save you some day. One day you'll come home and have sick animals and see the water fouled up. So I stick to that. (If you have to haul water you might want a mini-kei truck or small loader wagon or vehicle to save time rather than hauling it by hand.)

Is there a way to have a hose and faucet for water by the area where the animals are? OR a hose extension? This will save you some time.

The hard part and worst part is going to be in winter. For winter you want buckets that won't damage easily. Plastic buckets will be a chore if it freezes with the water, and often the plastic was so cheap that when I went to break the ice the buckets would shatter. So before winter you want heavy duty metal or rubber winter usable buckets. This will save you time also. Some people do those ones that can have warmers in them. Its actually going to be feeding and watering in winter that makes you miserable about your time out there more than anything. But heat can do that too.

You have to be careful of pre-arranging feed out there because some animals can get sick if they get too much at once. Automatic feeders still have to be checked because the animals can get them clogged once in awhile, or sh-t in them, or get stuff growing in there. You'll still want to check those but they can save you time.

You also have to watch out for fire hazards if you put a warming station for yourself in the barn or sheds. (If you are in a cold winter climate and going to be out there several hours a day this could come up.)(I don't trust animals to not bump into heat warmers and cause a fire hazard either. And I've seen chick heat lamps explode for no reason.)

If you don't like messing with the laying boxes for chickens you could do ducks instead. You don't need laying boxes for them. Kids love them. They are less maintenance and can be outside in winter more than chickens (except muscovies). They have a better winter survival rate than chickens also. And as long as you keep them feed they wander around less. (Although dogs like them more than chickens). But overall very little hassle. And ducks are a bit more low maintenance than chickens for this reason; other than they won't lay their eggs all in the same place but that can be controlled with decoy eggs and pens. You use less time with ducks than chickens. (but drake ducks shouldn't be with chicken hens.)

An added issue is that goats like to get out more than other animals... chasing those could be a sore spot for you. But some people think that goat milk would be good for people with digestion problems because goats have a sturdy digestion system already. And they aren't exposed to a lot of the chemicals that cows have.

We can post better comments after hearing about what your setup and the distance looks like. Also maybe having a people rest spot that's comfortable in the barn or near it might help also since the problem is you are trying to get away from it fast so maybe it needs to be more comfortable for you?

 

[goats-n-oats]

The only 2 things I can think of that would help further are:

Consider just feeding dogs commercial. We did homemade food for a long time when we had breeding dogs when I was young. Before raw was popular. Then my mom got busy and brought home a bag of dog food (grain free, high protein). The dogs were happy to eat it and we were surprised at how easy everything got. Never fed homemade again. I'm not saying it doesn't have a benefit... just that the benefit may not outweigh the hassle and the quality of life of the caregiver (you).


Are the goats helping the bottom line? My neighbors goats are super cute, but total pests. They are harder work than the horses or chickens. I kinda adore them, but know I would never ever get my own. lol

I know if we had the funds with our own chicken setup, everything would be automated, from waterers and gravity feeder, doors, and roll-away nest boxes. Someday...

I tried commercial but it didn't matter which brand they always got diarrhea or hot spots. Also one gets ear infections when he eats commercial food. They seem to do better on farm fresh milk, chicken etc.

 

[nao57]

I tried commercial but it didn't matter which brand they always got diarrhea or hot spots. Also one gets ear infections when he eats commercial food. They seem to do better on farm fresh milk, chicken etc.

If the animals are getting sick from processed commercial food... it makes you wonder about some of the people sicknesses now too.

 

[goats-n-oats]

So... sounds like you have chickens, possible dogs, or goats... is there anything else, like horses or whatever?

How big is the land piece your on for this, and how far is the barn area from the house?

There are a number of strategies we can help with. One of them being, I try to always have 2 water sources per animal. This will save you some day. One day you'll come home and have sick animals and see the water fouled up. So I stick to that. (If you have to haul water you might want a mini-kei truck or small loader wagon or vehicle to save time rather than hauling it by hand.)

Is there a way to have a hose and faucet for water by the area where the animals are? OR a hose extension? This will save you some time.

The hard part and worst part is going to be in winter. For winter you want buckets that won't damage easily. Plastic buckets will be a chore if it freezes with the water, and often the plastic was so cheap that when I went to break the ice the buckets would shatter. So before winter you want heavy duty metal or rubber winter usable buckets. This will save you time also. Some people do those ones that can have warmers in them. Its actually going to be feeding and watering in winter that makes you miserable about your time out there more than anything. But heat can do that too.

You have to be careful of pre-arranging feed out there because some animals can get sick if they get too much at once. Automatic feeders still have to be checked because the animals can get them clogged once in awhile, or sh-t in them, or get stuff growing in there. You'll still want to check those but they can save you time.

You also have to watch out for fire hazards if you put a warming station for yourself in the barn or sheds. (If you are in a cold winter climate and going to be out there several hours a day this could come up.)

If you don't like messing with the laying boxes for chickens you could do ducks instead. You don't need laying boxes for them. Kids love them. They are less maintenance and can be outside in winter more than chickens (except muscovies). They have a better winter survival rate than chickens also. And as long as you keep them feed they wander around less. (Although dogs like them more than chickens). But overall very little hassle. And ducks are a bit more low maintenance than chickens for this reason; other than they won't lay their eggs all in the same place but that can be controlled with decoy eggs and pens. You use less time with ducks than chickens. (but drake ducks shouldn't be with chicken hens.)

An added issue is that goats like to get out more than other animals... chasing those could be a sore spot for you. But some people think that goat milk would be good for people with digestion problems because goats have a sturdy digestion system already. And they aren't exposed to a lot of the chemicals that cows have.

We can post better comments after hearing about what your setup and the distance looks like.

Thanks. I have ducks, chickens (layers and meat birds), quail, microgreens, goats, young fruit orchard, and now turkey poults and goslings. There are customers for the eggs and goat milk and microgreens. There is a 1200 sw ft barn on 5 acres. 100 ft from the barn is a 1/3 acre pond and 500 ft from the barn is a fenced in dog run. The dogs and goats will walk there fine.

The main issue with the goats is that they persistently destroy their equipment. They smashed all their water buckets, hay feeders, and stall walls. Which is why it's so chaotic, wasteful unsafe, and time consuming with them. They also get sick and injured a lot so I am spending a lot of time and money with veterinary care.

The ducks and microgreens are the most profitable and easiest activities. However the ducks are indoors now due to predators and neighbors complaining about them roaming.
Quail are super easy and reasonably profitable once I got them all organized in a hutch.
The chickens are the least profitable simply because their eggs are a commodity, (I sell them for $4 but I'd really need $8/doz to cover time and expenses) and require moderate work.