Airy barn this week

Yesterday some of the students helped take the lower sides off the barn. This summer the canvas ripped up the center of the side the pens are on, and the piece on the other side has had problems since last summer, because it is the one that get rolled up in hot weather.

It seems the cows are enjoying the fresh air

students working on taking the bar off and folding it up

Maxim found a place in Zaporosia that will mend them at their factory and when they go back on, it will have an improved method of fastening them so that when they are rolled up it will prevent damage from strong winds.

It needed to be done before winter, or there would be some cold air blowing through the barn.

One of the ladies milking a cow in the pen

This morning the milker ladies told Garry that the cows gave less milk because of all the air coming through, but when he checked the milk tank they actually gave more. Truth is the ladies don't like all the air, Ukrainians are sure illness is caused by drafts and the temperature this morning was only 11 C! That's about 52 for Americans, Garry and I think it's wonderful, but the natives are wearing coats.

With more cows than stalls now the ladies are milking some of them in the pens. Since fall we have three milker ladies, but only two milk at a time, so Jenia goes home to her village for a week or ten days at a time. The new lady lives next door, where they have pigs, geese and chickens. She used to work seasonally at a greenhouse, and take the bus to work.