Frozen Ground Troubles

Nine's little round pen has been frozen for over a week now. The little poop piles are even rock solid, so I can't clean it out! Needless to say, the footing in there sucks now. I checked on Nine a few days a ago and noticed he seemed to have a pulled muscle in his chest. I moved him into the larger pen where Ashley, the donkeys, and the two cows are. It is barbed wire and the shelter isn't nearly as good, and certainly not big enough for so many, but the footing is a lot better. Nine has been turned out with everyone in there so I wasn't worried about fights. Nine has also seen barbed wire while turned out, because that's what our 10 acres is fenced in with. So I figured he would be okay in there. And sure enough, the pulled muscle has relaxed, and Nine and Ashley have been tearing up the ground playing.

Everything was going great until this morning, when the cow apparently (Fiance fed for me this morning so I didn't see it first hand) walked strait through the fence! There were only two wires up and those not very tight! Luckily the cow isn't very smart (obviously!) and the section of fence she took out leads to Hammar's pen, which is also fenced off. Fiance quickly ran a fresh wire up so no one tried anything sneaky, but we will need to do a proper job soon. Hammar's fence also only has two wire up (for some reason - Hammar doesn't push on the fence when I'm looking, and I don't know how the fence got that way) so if the animals, the donkeys especially, get in there, they can get out! And since Hammar's fence is right on the property line, the animals can get off the property entirely. Adding to that stress is the fact that some of the dirt roads on that side of our property do not have cattle guards so the animals can get on the main road! The donkeys have done that in the past.

Hammar has been loose for a few days now because 1) his fence is falling down and 2) his feed through - a 300+ pound cast iron bathtub - is surrounded by and filled with a couple inches of ice. I don't want him slipping or getting tangled in wire, so I turned him out. Luckily it's Hammar, who was turned out for a long time with our old horse Frosty. Both horses were trustworthy enough that I didn't shut the front gate. They would go out a little ways to graze, but stayed close for water and feed time. Our gate opens onto a square mile of State land, so that is technically illegal but no one really cares. (So don't report me, Karen! Hehe.) Nine was doing well tonight when I fed, and no one has escaped. Hammar was refusing to bow in front of my friend, but other that that everyone is fine, even the goats who are especially cute in their fluffy winter coats. Speaking of which, Hammar is hairy as all heck! He looks like a mini woolly mammoth! Maybe tomorrow I will measure his coat. It has be close to three inches long...