And Three To Go!

Stall Mats: On the To Do list from the very beginning, well over a year later and they are finally making a showing. Two sets installed, three more to go. This is slow going because it is a process, but the results are fabulous.

Each stall has been treated differently by its occupant. Lil Fred does tread lightly, but Sprite has made her mark in his stall. She's been much harder on her own stall; she does a crazy 'happy dance' when she's eating. She's created a ditch under her feed bin, displacing stone dust. She also likes to paw and then roll in the loose stone dust. This makes her not only dusty, but she smells like gun powder.

Skip does a spin and twist in his stall. The stone dust is hard as a rock in some areas, loose in others. Plus the two little ones steal into his stall looking for spilled grain every chance they get. Skip is sloppy with his grain - he gets a mouthful then spins and twists, spewing feed here and there. I like to think he's feeding his birds and mice. He has a hay net in his stall. He's good at extracting hay from it, one grass strand at a time. In the past he's wasted hay that was placed on the ground. It would look like a pillow fit in there, with his spin and twist on his flakes of hay. He wouldn't eat it after that, so into the spreader it would go.

While scavenging for bits of feed, the little guys end up eating stone dust, too. Periodically I have to give them 'Sand Colic Remedy.' With these mats in place that will become a rare event, too.

KC is the best behaved in his stall. He'd stand there all day and night, dreaming about sleeping. The little ones have gotten into his stall, too, from time to time. He isn't sloppy with feed, no spewing from him. Methodical eater, he eats hay in the same way. He doesn't waste any food given him. We had a hay net in his stall but he didn't like it. He sulked, wouldn't pull hay from it. We eventually hung it in the aisle for the little guys.

The mats will make stall clean up easier, no more stone dust being literally thrown away in the manure spreader. The shavings smell great and absorb urine. Well worth the money, time and effort.