That’s a good question. We have chickens, horses, Sheep and dogs. Soon we’ll have a few feeder pigs to raise for slaughter and I’ll order 50 Cornish Cross chicks to raise for meat.
Pigs-twice a day. My set up is farmer friendly, there is a water barrel on the outside of the pen with a hog nipple that extends into their pen. I can fill it from the outside. Feed-I have a “window” whereby I can stand on the outside and pour pellets into a bin feeder, and a barrel feeder for wet feeds, soured corn.
Their pen is large and roomy, mostly shaded and I water them a wet hole in the shade for their comfort.
Horses- fed once a day, they have free access to a round bale of hay. Working on pasture for them and sheep. I love time spent with them, brushing, grooming and just hanging out. I don’t get to ride much, my knees hurt so darn much. Looking forward to my 65th birthday and Medicare, then the whole round of knee surgery/replacement and I’ll see where that takes me.
Sheep-twice a day. We’ve been in drought since early last spring and I had no graze for them. They have a round bale in the barn in a cow panel square. When they have eaten all they can reach, I have to pull hay from the bale for them. Plus any sheep in another pen that have no access to the bale, I have to carry hay to a feeder for them. When I get a new bale, I clean out all the reject and dropped hay and we spread it to add fertility and humus to the soil. For grazing I call them to a pasture and call them back to the barn at night.
Dogs-a pure joy that we interact with at various times during the day. Our sidekicks, guardians of our farm and animals. They are fed once a day, my husband mixes their kibble with meat (offal) that I can for them.
Which one gets the most attention? The most time? Probably the sheep due to the lack of pasture and time spent making sure there is plenty of hay and fresh water. I like to just sit with them and enjoy their company.
Then the dogs, followed by the horses, chickens and pigs bring up the rear.
