The rewards of stonedusting

One of the most physically demanding jobs we have as keepers is the maintenance of our farmyard animal yards. The substrate in their yards is called stonedust, and as the months pass the stonedust in the donkey, goat, steer, pig, and even poultry yards gets packed down, raked up, and washed away. So every so often we have to re-stonedust the yards, which is back-breaking work and involves carrying heavy shovelfuls from a pile of stonedust and distributing a 1-2 inch layer over the whole yard, and even thicker layers to fill in ruts and holes. Re-stonedusting gives our animals a softer surface to live on, and they are less likely to get tripped up or twist or knock a leg or hoof.



But even the worst of jobs is fun when you get funny reactions from the animals. Here are some pics of our pig before we spread out his pile, doing what he does best– rooting around in it.

And Max the calf found his first fresh stonedust very exciting. Watch him check it out, and then tear around the yard. Of course, this is old hat to Chummix (pronounced Chummy) the goat, who you can glimpse here and there as Max does laps.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbwUh_9D_8k[/youtube]

4 responses to The rewards of stonedusting

  1. Leslie F. says:

    The videos are so great! It’s cool to see how the animals bahave at different times. Thanks for including them.

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