RicelandMeadows

June 4, 2025

Summer is off to a good start. June is here and we wonder where the heck May went! Our colt Jaimee, son of Amee, continues to grow well. Here he is at 2 weeks old. Last night he learned to drink water like mom, well at least play in the water like most kids. They sure grow fast.

Last fall, during a long road trip, my wife and I were talking about how to make more room for the horses. When the babies and Hank’s visiting girlfriends are here, it gives us a space problem. My wife suggested renovating our old pig barn. I hadn’t even considered that as a possibility.

She was\is right. The pig barn is adjacent to the cement lot, near the manure storage area. It already has water and electricity in it. It is basically unused since we only raise a couple pigs a year now. We have plenty of room to widen it. We can use our woods to get our lumber. Yes, that was a great idea.

The old barn measures 12 feet X 40 feet. I would simply add another 12 feet to its width. This required tearing off the old roof and adding wider trusses. The trusses are homemade from our native white pine lumber. The siding too will be sourced from that. I selected a few trees and worked in two blow downs for the needed logs to be sawn.

The old back wall will be removed and some new cement will be poured. I think this will work out great. It will give us seven tie stalls and a big aisleway. There will be a walkway in front of the horse stalls and along the end by the big window. Kiln dried lumber was added to the mix so that the screws for the metal roof won’t pull away from the drying pine. The project is coming along nicely. The trusses are 5:12 pitch of scissor design for height and airflow.

There is a little bit more to deconstruct before the stalls can go in. The building is starting to take shape. The stall posts will be made from 3 inch by 3 inch box channel. The wood for the stalls will be native hardwood beech or oak. The horses only spend a small portion of their day in a tie stall. They are for feeding, pasture rotations and to get a close eye on all of them every day.

It is early June. We are still waiting on two more foals. Hank has been quite busy servicing ladies from out of town. Our girls will get their turn soon. It is going smooth. We are utilizing a couple portable box stalls to accommodate the visitors for now.

It is time to start cutting and making hay. The garden planting has been delayed due to wet cold weather, but the plan is to plant most of it today. I did manage to get the soil ready for planting. Working the garden, breeding mares and watching for newborn foals is keeping me busy along with my construction project. It’s early June but I’d say summer is off to a good start.