Strategies for reducing barn time

[goats-n-oats]

Hi, I'm finding that taking care of my livestock is taking over my day. It takes me 3-4 hours in the morning and another 2-3 hours in the evening. I know one solution is to get rid of some or all of the livestock. The chores include: refilling water bottles and buckets, distributing grain, milking the goats, cooking for and feeding the dogs, watching them eat so they don't fight, veterinary care for injuries if needed, cleaning out litter boxes, collecting eggs, bottle feeding baby goats, taking out trash/poop/dead mice, turning solar power on and off, shoveling out manure, distributing hay flakes to goats. (I've bought and made feeders that hold entire squares but the goats destroy them each time.) I also take breaks.

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

 

[LaFleche]

At first I would try to determine your future goals regarding the animal species and their number.

Do you run some kind of a hobby farm or do you run it for a living?

Do you want to sell any of your products/animals? Alive or in form of meat?

 

[Mrs. K]

A water system would really help. Water is heavy, and hard to carry. But that would also be expensive.

Feed your dogs commercial dog food several times a week. That doesn't mean you can't or should not cook for them, but every day is very time consuming. Feed them in different places, so you don't stand there and watch them.

Fewer animals, while people do get attached, most animals will thrive perfectly well in another set up. This also reduces your feed bill.

As for the milking goats, staggering the births, will reduce the amount of milking you need to do.

If you are going to do something else with your day, put out feed the night before. Personally I don't take feed every day. I find they clean it up better and waste less.

I have kept animals and livestock all my life, and seldom treat them. If you are treating them you need to look at how they are being raised. Normal animal care tends to lean toward producing healthy animals. I am not saying I never treat animals, but not often.

Thing is - you really are going to have to do things different, and sometimes people don't really want to do that.

Mrs K

 

[goats-n-oats]

I

At first I would try to determine your future goals regarding the animal species and their number.

Do you run some kind of a hobby farm or do you run it for a living?

Do you want to sell any of your products/animals? Alive or in form of meat?

My goal is to make a modest living and feed myself. I've made and updated spreadsheets for sales of eggs, meat birds, goat milk, and now getting into microgreens and fruit. Theoretically they should be producing a certain revenue.

 

[LaFleche]

I

My goal is to make a modest living and feed myself. I've made and updated spreadsheets for sales of eggs, meat birds, goat milk, and now getting into microgreens and fruit. Theoretically they should be producing a certain revenue.

How many animals do you have at the moment including all different species?

And how much do they cost you in feed alone per species per month/year?
Additives, supplements, medication, vet etc.
All appliances, beddings etc.?
Insurance?
Electric bill?
You know where I am driving at.

Would you maybe even get a better ROI with less animals?
Maybe also consider other species that are easier and less costly to care for.

 

[NatJ]

refilling water bottles

For water bottles, if you take one bottle, dump out the old water, pour in the new water, put the filled bottle into place, and go on to the next one: that takes a long time.

Water dishes are much faster to dump and refill. For some animals, switching to dishes makes it much faster. (Example: rabbits can drink from a bottle or a dish. Rabbits tend to spill small water dishes, but dishes more than a certain amount big can be heavy enough they do not get spilled.)

Animals that drink from a water bottle can often drink from an automatic watering system as well. For example, with rabbits, you can fill one bucket that sits above several cages, and the water flows down through a tube to each cage, where the rabbit can drink through a special valve. Topping up the bucket would be much faster than dumping and refilling several individual water bottles.

If you need water bottles rather than any other water source, you may be able to save a little bit of time by doing them in batches. Unscrew the lid of one and sit it upside down to drain itself, then open the next one and put it upside down... Once the first one is empty, you can go along filling them up again and putting them back on the cages.

If you have to carry water bottles somewhere to dump out the old water, consider dumping them into a bucket and carrying the whole bucket somewhere at the end.

If you have to carry water to fill the bottles, consider having two bottles per cage. You could fill bottles at the faucet or hose, then go switch them out, then sit all the old ones upside down/open to drain themselves. This can be faster than running water into a jug or bucket, then pouring it into the bottles. If you were carrying each bottle from the cage to the faucet and back to the cage, having two bottles per cage will save time there too.

Freezing weather changes things. Automatic systems need heat, bottles and dishes freeze and need to be thawed. For cold weather, the best time-saver I know is two dishes or two bottles per cage or pen. Bring out fresh ones, take the frozen ones into a heated place and let them thaw.

cooking for and feeding the dogs,

Can you cook enough for several meals at once, then refrigerate the other portions to feed on the next few days? Or do large batches at once and freeze them for later?

watching them eat so they don't fight

Feeding them in separate places can let you skip this bit. You could use individual crates, or shut them into separate rooms, or let one eat indoors while another eats outdoors, or tie each one to something (stair rail, doorknob, different sections of a fence).

Depending on how fast they eat, you could let one eat in the kitchen with the other(s) shut out, then change which one is in, and you do the dishes or cook your meal while they are eating (that means you are there to switch which one is getting to eat, but you don't need to actually watch them if the others are shut out.)

For some dogs, training can also solve the problem. It takes longer while it is happening, but eventually can make things easier. For example, feed each dog on a mat, and train them that they must stay on their own mat until you release them. I would probably do something else for now, and consider training when you have more time at a different season (for example, after the baby goats are weaned, so you don't have to do their bottles anymore.)

bottle feeding baby goats

If you don't already have a rack to hold the bottles, you might consider one.

I also take breaks.

I am not going to suggest that you cut down on breaks.

But do maybe consider whether you can time your breaks to save a bit of time. For example, if you give food to dogs, or bottles to baby goats, they may be able to eat while you are taking your break, and then you can go pick up the dishes and un-separate the dogs, or collect the bottles from the goat babies. It's the same logic as starting the laundry and the dishwasher, then taking a break while the machines are working, then being able to start another load after your break.

For any of the chores, sometimes it is worth thinking about how you can save time by doing them in a certain order (like if you can clean a stall faster while the animals are eating, because otherwise they try to "help" and slow you down.)

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

If you have to carry things back and forth, think about ways to take fewer trips.

For example:
If you carry jugs or buckets of water, can you run a hose instead? Or use a cart with wheels to carry more water at one time?

Try to store things close to where you need them (like chicken feed next to the chicken pen, or pitchfork and wheelbarrow next to either the area to be cleaned or the place you dump it.)

Remember to take what you need when you go (example: bring the egg basket when you are going to the chicken coop, rather than having to walk back for it later.) Sometimes it helps to carrying a pencil and paper to make notes, or use a cell phone for that purpose. A note like "chickens need more grit soon" can remind you to bring the grit the next time you walk that way, instead of making a special trip for it.

veterinary care for injuries if needed

If this happens very often, you may want to change things so there are less injuries. What you can do will depend on the kind of injuries-- fixing a sharp nail is always a good idea, but it won't change anything about animals that cause injuries by fighting.

For any injury that happens, you might consider how much care it will require, before you decide about treating it at all. There are times that dispatching the animal is the best choice (reduces suffering for the animal, reduces work for you.) There are other times when treating the injury is the obvious choice (small treatment, animal gets back to full health quite quickly, this saves you having to buy or raise a replacement animal.) And of course there are cases where the "best" choice is not obvious. You might also need to consider how busy you are at the time.

 

[goats-n-oats]

Thank you, @NatJ. This provides a lot of food for thought, particularly in combining tasks.

For water bottles, if you take one bottle, dump out the old water, pour in the new water, put the filled bottle into place, and go on to the next one: that takes a long time.

Water dishes are much faster to dump and refill. For some animals, switching to dishes makes it much faster. (Example: rabbits can drink from a bottle or a dish. Rabbits tend to spill small water dishes, but dishes more than a certain amount big can be heavy enough they do not get spilled.)

Animals that drink from a water bottle can often drink from an automatic watering system as well. For example, with rabbits, you can fill one bucket that sits above several cages, and the water flows down through a tube to each cage, where the rabbit can drink through a special valve. Topping up the bucket would be much faster than dumping and refilling several individual water bottles.

If you need water bottles rather than any other water source, you may be able to save a little bit of time by doing them in batches. Unscrew the lid of one and sit it upside down to drain itself, then open the next one and put it upside down... Once the first one is empty, you can go along filling them up again and putting them back on the cages.

If you have to carry water bottles somewhere to dump out the old water, consider dumping them into a bucket and carrying the whole bucket somewhere at the end.

If you have to carry water to fill the bottles, consider having two bottles per cage. You could fill bottles at the faucet or hose, then go switch them out, then sit all the old ones upside down/open to drain themselves. This can be faster than running water into a jug or bucket, then pouring it into the bottles. If you were carrying each bottle from the cage to the faucet and back to the cage, having two bottles per cage will save time there too.

Freezing weather changes things. Automatic systems need heat, bottles and dishes freeze and need to be thawed. For cold weather, the best time-saver I know is two dishes or two bottles per cage or pen. Bring out fresh ones, take the frozen ones into a heated place and let them thaw.


Can you cook enough for several meals at once, then refrigerate the other portions to feed on the next few days? Or do large batches at once and freeze them for later?


Feeding them in separate places can let you skip this bit. You could use individual crates, or shut them into separate rooms, or let one eat indoors while another eats outdoors, or tie each one to something (stair rail, doorknob, different sections of a fence).

Depending on how fast they eat, you could let one eat in the kitchen with the other(s) shut out, then change which one is in, and you do the dishes or cook your meal while they are eating (that means you are there to switch which one is getting to eat, but you don't need to actually watch them if the others are shut out.)

For some dogs, training can also solve the problem. It takes longer while it is happening, but eventually can make things easier. For example, feed each dog on a mat, and train them that they must stay on their own mat until you release them. I would probably do something else for now, and consider training when you have more time at a different season (for example, after the baby goats are weaned, so you don't have to do their bottles anymore.)


If you don't already have a rack to hold the bottles, you might consider one.


I am not going to suggest that you cut down on breaks.

But do maybe consider whether you can time your breaks to save a bit of time. For example, if you give food to dogs, or bottles to baby goats, they may be able to eat while you are taking your break, and then you can go pick up the dishes and un-separate the dogs, or collect the bottles from the goat babies. It's the same logic as starting the laundry and the dishwasher, then taking a break while the machines are working, then being able to start another load after your break.

For any of the chores, sometimes it is worth thinking about how you can save time by doing them in a certain order (like if you can clean a stall faster while the animals are eating, because otherwise they try to "help" and slow you down.)


If you have to carry things back and forth, think about ways to take fewer trips.

For example:
If you carry jugs or buckets of water, can you run a hose instead? Or use a cart with wheels to carry more water at one time?

Try to store things close to where you need them (like chicken feed next to the chicken pen, or pitchfork and wheelbarrow next to either the area to be cleaned or the place you dump it.)

Remember to take what you need when you go (example: bring the egg basket when you are going to the chicken coop, rather than having to walk back for it later.) Sometimes it helps to carrying a pencil and paper to make notes, or use a cell phone for that purpose. A note like "chickens need more grit soon" can remind you to bring the grit the next time you walk that way, instead of making a special trip for it.


If this happens very often, you may want to change things so there are less injuries. What you can do will depend on the kind of injuries-- fixing a sharp nail is always a good idea, but it won't change anything about animals that cause injuries by fighting.

For any injury that happens, you might consider how much care it will require, before you decide about treating it at all. There are times that dispatching the animal is the best choice (reduces suffering for the animal, reduces work for you.) There are other times when treating the injury is the obvious choice (small treatment, animal gets back to full health quite quickly, this saves you having to buy or raise a replacement animal.) And of course there are cases where the "best" choice is not obvious. You might also need to consider how busy you are at the time.

 

[NatJ]

Thank you, @NatJ. This provides a lot of food for thought, particularly in combining tasks.

I don't think you are going to find any one thing that will save enormous amounts of time, but if you can save a few minutes here and there, it does add up over time.

Of course it works the other direction too. Adding just a few more minutes because you got another kind of animal, or because you decided to do something differently, can increase to the point that you are spending all day tending animals.

 

[goats-n-oats]

Hi, thanks everyone for your input. I am trying new changes each day to improve efficiency. So far the most impactful have been buying a hose that reaches from the pond to the barn, and the orchary, so water can be pumped up to the barn. I think this saved me two hours total yesterday instead of hauling and filling 5 gallon jugs at the pond. Also I rehomed a goat and a dog, who were always getting into trouble and sidelining me. Also ordered supplies to replace all the water bottles with gravity fed nipples.

 

[CatInTheHenHouse]

This is a bit late, but would your setup allow for an automatic litterbox for the cat(s)? I have one for my furball, a Scoopfree, and I only have to clean it every two weeks.

I think they also make dog feeders that are triggered by their microchip (assuming each of your dogs have one) so only the chipped dog can get at the food, but I don’t have a dog myself so I can’t personally attest to how well those might work.

I gather the deep litter method for dealing with chicken waste saves time but cannot personally attest to that either. Hopefully someone with experience there can chime in.