Hi all,
I’m almost 8 months pregnant and was hoping to get some advice on juggling/maintaining having a new baby and farmette work? A little background - We own 8 acres, but 4ish acres are cleared and fenced for my horse and 2 mini donks. This winter, I have done basically everything (feeding, watering, mucking, etc) and everything has been great but I know that will change when this baby comes in March. My husband is really involved and super helpful when it comes to the critters so I know I’ll be relying on him a lot but any advice from those that have been there done that? Obviously I have no idea how this labor will go but everything so far has been great and pretty easy so I’m hoping for the best and that I can bounce back pretty quickly. Thanks!
Throw them out, drop a round bale out there, have hubby check and top of the water every day. They’ll be fine. You’ll want to rest and snuggle with baby and give yourself time to heal. Get an ergo or a ring sling so you can carry baby with you when you go out to give cookies.
You might want to get some help for the first couple of weeks so you can heal but honestly, it’s easy when they are babies! Just stick them in stroller and park it near where you are working (not somewhere that the horses have access to, obviously). The hard part is when they become mobile…
I have a four year old and an 8 month old. Baby carriers are life savers! Invest in a good one with the waist belt to distribute the weight and that will grow with your baby. Start them young, both of mine love being in them. Not that I carry my 4 year old in one now but did up to a year old when he started walking. I think that started their love of the great outdoors as well. Let hubby watch baby when you are up and feeling better for a little me time with the horses. Even if it’s just brushing. Have a dedicated barn bouncy seat for the barn that will keep them entertained or a stroller, etc. Put the baby in a safe place where you can see them and you’ll be able to get some things done if the temperature is good. Otherwise hubby gets baby time. 
Enjoy, nothing better!
Simplify, simplify, simplify!!
Don’t overdo it! I thought I was ready to get back and do barn chores at around 4 weeks and ended up with mastitis. NO FUN!
You have enough time now to make a plan to make things as easy as possible and to put it into practice to see if there are anythings that don’t work for your herd.
I would also get the name and number of a farm sitter that could help in a pinch. It will give you a sense of relief to have a plan A, B and C.
An all-terrian stroller was my best friend when mine were small, made it easy to go around the farm and check on everyone and do chores with babies in tow. Fresh air is fabulous for babies.
I also relied heavily on a long range baby monitor. I would put the babies (I had twins) for a nap (or to bed at night) and head out to quickly do what I could while carrying the baby monitor so I would hear when they woke up, and then I’d head back inside.
It got a little harder when they were toddlers and more mobile. I would shut them in a stall for short bits for the vet or if there was something I HAD to deal with. You would think they would hate this, but they thought it was hilarious. You can set up a “play stall” with a matted floor and a few toys, just be sure you don’t put anything in there that they can throw out at you and the horse you are working with for entertainment.
This won’t work forever, soon the kid will need a pony of its own and barn time will be about kids and ponies.
ALWAYS keep the baby well away from the horses in case something goes wrong.
[QUOTE=Flash44;7973036]
ALWAYS keep the baby well away from the horses in case something goes wrong.[/QUOTE]
Absolutely! This is why I never used baby carriers (like the baby Bjorn, etc.) around the horses. (Though they are handy for other situations.)
I was out feeding the horses the minute I got out of the hospital, mostly because I needed the fresh air after two days of enforced isolation. Daddies need moments to bond with their babies too! I kept my horse management simple and easy and quick, but with an involved dad, feeding and cleaning up a bit, not a problem, those are the daddy moments! The all terrain stroller, definitely, with my son, I could stroll him for 5 minutes, he’d fall asleep, then I would park him in a safe spot and do a little barn work while he snoozed, worked very well! This is great for nice weather, but in winter he stayed inside with dad. I agree when they get mobile it IS harder for a while, then they finally hit the age where they can entertain themselves and know the barn rules of which I have three for my children: NO going in areas with horses, when I call your name, you ANSWER me immediately, and if I tell you to stay still or be quiet for a moment because you are spooking a horse, you OBEY me NOW! OH, wait, number 4, which I created for my daughter: There will be no crying in the barn! You want to cry and fuss, you go to the house, barns are for big girls, little girls stay inside. She is very proud to be a big girl and come to the barn with me.
Mine are now 3 and 5. 5 year old can actually be pretty helpful shoveling shavings, filling water troughs, sweeping the aisle, handing me things I need, tossing hay to horses with direction. 3 year old isn’t really helpful, but she tries really hard and loves to help me dump grain.
Big bit of advice, put a swingset/sandbox in a spot near the house that you can easily see from the barn…they can play where you can see them and they can see you, which buys you a lot more free time!
2foals - the ‘play stall’ idea is genius! ha!
Even better than a play stall is having a truck load of class I sand (small gravel) dumped in a pile near your barn. We always keep a pile on hand for various uses on the farm, and let me tell you a $250 pile of gravel will entertain a child perfectly for at least 11 years. Over the past 10.5 years my twins and their little brother have played in that pile, +/- an assortment of cheap plastic shovels, buckets and trucks, their latest project has been to shape it in a manner that gives them a bumpy track to ride their bikes over.
Re: taking the babies outside, many strollers have mesh sun/bug covers and plastic rain/wind covers, very useful for getting babies outside in all kinds of weather.
[QUOTE=2foals;7973559]
Even better than a play stall is having a truck load of class I sand (small gravel) dumped in a pile near your barn. We always keep a pile on hand for various uses on the farm, and let me tell you a $250 pile of gravel will entertain a child perfectly for at least 11 years. Over the past 10.5 years my twins and their little brother have played in that pile, +/- an assortment of cheap plastic shovels, buckets and trucks, their latest project has been to shape it in a manner that gives them a bumpy track to ride their bikes over.
Re: taking the babies outside, many strollers have mesh sun/bug covers and plastic rain/wind covers, very useful for getting babies outside in all kinds of weather.[/QUOTE]
The pile of sand is probably the MOST useful thing to have for kids. Mine love nothing more than playing in a pile of dirt/sand/shavings/poop.
Be sure to have someone on call to take care of your horses while you and your husband are in the hospital. We almost had a problem because everybody that we relied on for horse care was going to be at the hospital with us. After baby comes, I second the use of a baby carrier and a stroller with ‘mud tires’. My stroller also had a big storage space at the bottom. I used it to carry feed buckets and hay to the pastures. If your barn is close enough to your house (within about 600’) a video baby monitor is heaven sent. Having one allows me to feed the horses and keep an eye on my little one while he is sleeping. I can get tons of work done and know the precise moment that he wakes up. Sometimes it even goes further than 600’ depending on what is in between the house and monitor.
Now that our little one is a little bit older, our barn is littered with a collection of hot wheels, a little green tractor (with trailer), and a slide. These things would have made me cringe pre-baby, but now I just look at them and smile. Its so much fun to have a little one at the barn because there are so many new discoveries for them to make. Its great when they get excited about helping too! Congratulations on your new baby.
We have a baby swing for our grandaughter in the barn. Works like a charm. Baby can see us from a safe spot and snooze when she’s tired. She’s high enough off the ground that the dogs and cats leave her alone.
My wife and I have a 2 year old girl and a 2-week old boy.
We have a boarding business and 8 horses total.
Before baby was here, daughter and i did chores in the morning and loaded our polaris ranger with enough hay for my wife to do evening feedings so she wasnt lifting bales (only individual flakes into the feeders).
Now that baby is here, daughter and I do chores every morning and every evening. Luckily I have a flexible work schedule that is permitting.
I have a 3-point harness in the middle seat of the ranger that i strap my daughter into after dressing her in kiddo-sized Carharts and wrapping her in a fuzzy blanket. She has a sippie cup of juice, a bag of snacks, and a toy or two attached to the harness straps so she can’t throw it overboard.
We’ve been feeding horses and spending farm time outside since she was ~6 months old and she loves it. She knows the horses’ names and waves to them while talking to me when i’m in the paddock feeding.
I’m in the process of adding a full cab and heater to the ranger now so it’s more comfortable for her and so we can still do chores when it’s raining or super windy/cold.
Here’s a few pictures from before I had the 3-point harness. The regular seatbelt worked fine too just felt safer with 3pt.
It’s not easy, let me start out by saying that! I have a 7 month old son, 20 acres, 4 horses, 1 weanling and 3 foals due in April/May. Plus, my husband works 400km away Monday to Friday. Plus I am in a foreign country where I have absolutely no friends/family to help out. On top of all that, I have what is defined as a ‘High needs baby’ - http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/health-concerns/fussy-baby/high-need-baby/12-features-high-need-baby
So my example is probably the extreme of how difficult it can be!
I was mucking out right up until I gave birth. In fact, I was in the early stages of labour when I was doing boxes and bringing the horses in from the fields.
If at all possible, have your horses living outside 24/7. Not possible for me, so I have 5 boxes to muck out every day. As well as 5 horses to bring and out every day. Boxes get mucked out when the baby has his first sleep of the day. He gets bundled up in a snowsuit, put in his pram and once he falls asleep I can do the boxes.
Horses get taken out first thing in the morning when he wakes up. He has to stay in his bed and occupy himself for 10 minutes while I race outside and take the horses out into the fields. If he screams for the 10 minutes it takes, well there isn’t really anything I can do about it, so long as I know he is safe in his bed. Horses come in whenever he has his afternoon nap. I then do the evening check once he has gone to bed and I take my long range baby monitor with me.
I used to use a baby carrier for bringing the horses in and out as well and lunging, but after a foals hoof missed his head by half an inch, that never ever happened again. I think if you have horses that you can trust 100% then it’s fine - but when dealing with young and/or stupid horses then it’s not an option! Remember as well that your balance is severely compromised with the baby strapped to you on the front there - if a horse pulls back you have very little chance of being able to do anything.
At the moment I can only do things with the horses when my son is sleeping in his pram, he’s not one of these babies that you can park in the barn and he will happily entertain himself in his pram while you go and do stuff. That would be wonderful, but I forgot to select that option when I ordered him I guess. So all up I have 3 blocks of 30-60min each day when I can muck out, feed and bring the horses in. If I am super lucky then I can get the gelding lunged or some in-hand work with the mares. But that happens probably once in a blue moon.
My advice would be to get your baby’s napping routine established as soon as you can. Before bubs arrives, go in to your barn and decide what is essential to be done every day, what would be nice, and what just doesn’t need to happen at all. I deep litter, means I only need to remove the manure every day so I can get the 5 boxes done in 20 minutes or so. Sweeping happens probably 85% of the time. My horses have probably forgotten what it feels like to be brushed.
Schedule the farrier for when someone is there to look after the baby. Don’t count on his/her arriving when your baby is napping because it never happens - unless of course you have the only farrier in the world who arrives on time.
I have great plans for building an awesome play area next to my arena once my son is a bit older. Complete with sandpit, swing, blackboard etc. I ride for a living so I guess I have the benefit of being able to work from home, once I find the time to actually be able to take on client horses again that is! The horses will just have to get used to a kid playing directly next to where they are working
It’s not easy at all. Hopefully you have firstly an easier baby and secondly a husband who is home in the evenings! I still have no idea how I am supposed to do foal watch in a few months time when this kid isn’t sleeping through the night and wakes up the second I move away from him in bed… where there is a will there is a way though right?!
