Trying to Cool Down

Kit And Kaboodle Cooling Off With Their New Fan

It has been a very hot spring and summer.  The animals are doing okay, but they are not happy with the high temperatures.  Because the goats come from Africa and the pigs from Southeast Asia, they are dealing with the heat a lot better than the sheep, from Iceland.  My plan is to sheer the sheep again shortly to make sure they aren’t wearing any heavy wool coats in the middle of the summer.  But seeing them out there panting in the sweltering heat, I needed to do something.  My first thought was to wet them down, but this is a big no, no as it turns out.  Getting wool wet doesn’t cool them down, it just makes it so the wool doesn’t breath and then the sheep suffer even more. 

The solution is a fan.  I went out to the farm supply store and purchased a nice outdoor fan for them.  As I sat out in the 90+ degree temperatures setting the fan up, the goats and sheep sat on the other side of the fence watching me in anticipation.  I knew they didn’t know what I was putting together, but I think they sensed it was going to be something of worth to them.  Once finished, I turned it on.  The two sheep and two goats huddled around the fan feeling the cool breeze against their faces.  Kit realized that if she turned to the side, more of her would be cooled down.  The goats cooled down and then decided they were ready to take some more heat, so they went off playing.  Not the sheep, they have planted themselves in front of the fan wondering what life was like before such an invention.  Now they want central air conditioning for the barn.