Keeping the donkeys’ barn dry

We have an ongoing problem with our run-in shed. It gets very wet during the rainy season, or really anytime it rains even a little bit, which risks abscesses in the donkeys hooves, bacterial infections, fungus and all the things. It’s just not good - with animals, water is only good for drinking. 

Mom and dad have dug swales, installed gutters, added amendments to try to strengthen the soil, moved it around to try to reduce the puddling. None of it has solved the problem! What it really needs is a lot of gravel and sand. It needs a proper foundation and good drainage which is difficult in our gumbo - but that also includes digging out all of the muck that is in there so that we can start fresh. (For many years, our run in shed was used for cattle.) And that requires equipment that we don’t happen to own. 

We have been noodling over this for some time. You see - it is one of those expenses that can snowball and it is difficult to weigh the importance, since a small corner of the shed does stay dry and there isn’t much ROI on Ellie and Luna - just love.

When they started to repave the roads in front of our house, Dad saw an opportunity. $20 and a six pack of beer later we had three piles of road base dumped in our side yard. Our neighbor noticed the piles and VERY generously offered to loan us us his skid steer loader.

Dad grading the area in front of the donkey shed.

Dad removed the muck, put in fresh road base and compacted the soil in a slope away from the run in shed. All that’s left is to get a good rain to see how successful it was!

How we love opportunistic improvements on the cheap! Patience is key.