We totally re-strawed half of the cow shelter today. Back on the 4th we commented how the straw last year got wet due to soaking up water from underneath the mats. Well, despite better mats, it had begun to happen again this year and we realized that in one particular place there was quite a dip under the mats causing a bit of a potential collecting area for water simply to sit. The thing is there is just too much water on our fields. We have had way more rain than last year and despite all the better systems we have in place, there is little we can do about the fact that the actual land is now sodden AND that the field behind the cow woodchip area is higher than us and so water pours off it and down into ours! We lifted up the mats, buried the old straw underneath (taking the opportunity to ‘fill in’ the dip), put the mats back on top and then topped up with fresh dry straw. Our hope is that it will take a while for the bottom layer of straw to become wet again and that our ‘dry’ layer on top can simply be kept topped up. The cows have been inside now for about 2 months so optimistically we could start to think they might be coming up to the half way point of living in their winter quarters…hmmmm, that ‘wishful thinking’ may have a lot to answer for!!!
The woodchip is utterly sodden and there is not a lot we can do about that. Thank goodness the cows have their mats to stand on when they eat from the outside racks!! Plus sodden woodchip is still a lot kinder to their feet than mud!