February's Golden Sun

Finally remembered to take a camera up to the barn.  It was below freezing but I figured I could get a few photos before the camera shut down.

Today some notes on a few little things that have worked out well in our barn.

First of all, I love how much sun comes in.  The goat side is on the west and the light streams into their stalls and their run in area.
Here's the stall.  Notice the black rubber bumpy itching panels.  They still haven't really gotten the hang of them.  Notice Vera watching in the doorway keeping an eye on the does.  Do you think she's counting to make sure everyone is in?

Here's the other end of the same stall.

Here's the doe stall for when I separate the milkers from their kids overnight.  They can still see each other and often sleep near each other on opposite sides of the wire panel.

There's a goat and dog sized door into the run-in area.  Here's Stella peeking out.  She's due April 4 but it's her fist pregnancy and she's not big yet.  I hope she only has 1 or 2.

The run-in area is nice and large.  The does have half of it and the ewes have the other half.  I put a platform in the goat side and my brother built a dog house.

I chose the size of the doghouse to be big enough for both to fit in but small enough that they could build up some heat in there.  The opening faces the exit in case they need to leave and do livestock guardian duties quickly. The siting of the doghouse also provides a windbreak against west winds, something the goats appreciate.  They like to lounge on top of it in the afternoon sun when it's not windy.

Then there are those goat housekeeping problems....

So after a couple of years of grabbing a handful of waste hay to sweep off the goat "berries" I decided that maybe what I really needed was a windshield brush since it would do double duty; sweep off berries and the scraper could be used when they'd been stepped on and smooshed onto the surface!  It hangs nearby on a bit of framing.

Another idea I had was the piece of scrap 2X6 that I lay along the top of one of the hay mangers on the center aisle side of the stall.  It allowed me to balance feed bowls, flakes of hay and buckets of water up there so I didn't have to be holding stuff when sidling through the gates.  While that worked well the board did get in the way of filling the manger it was on so I had to move it and sometimes it would fall off into the aisle.  I decided it should be hinged so that it could be flipped up when the manger needed filling and down when I needed to balance stuff on it.  Feed pans and water bucket on it waiting to be taken away when I leave the stall.

Here it is flipped up for manger filling.

You  may notice that the goats are pretty pudgy.  (They only get 1/4 cup of grain so they are not being overfed, honest!)  Between all their fur and their full rumens they rather look like ottomans with heads and tails.  Because of this I've been considering myself to be royalty; Queen of the Ottoman Empire!

Here is the ewe stall.  They are expecting dinner.....

Chores are done and Vera is on watch duty.  Fergey is probably patrolling the perimeter already.

Handsome Rams Arrive!

The Boys are here!!!!

Handsome and sweet looking, isn't he?  He's not named yet.  I'm waiting for his breeders to name him.  Dick brought the rams down from Maine.  Having Dick deliver the rams was a boon given how busy I am with working on the barn.

Our two rams were born this spring and they have been here only a few days. Today was their first chance to leave their stall and go out into their pasture.  They sniffed and could clearly smell the herd of young ewes but they couldn't see them.  They tried flirting with my herd of Nigerian Dwarf Goats and got a couple of the goats kind of interested.  They ate a lot of grass, butted heads a few times and generally seemed to have a good time.  Tomorrow will be another day in and out.  In a few days we'll divide our ewes into 2 breeding flocks and let these boys get to work sparking next springs lamb crop!

November 9th! Beautiful Weather!!!

I've been enjoying working on the barn for several reasons.  First, I get to work with my brother and I really like that.  Second, I get to watch the animals and be more aware of herd health, herd dynamics and individual behaviors.  Third, I get to drink in all that beauty of the different flocks/herds in their pastures, the surrounding forest, the view through the bare trees to other mountains, etc.

I've really been enjoying our small flock of Cascade Farmstead ewes.  I think I finally know all six by name now.  I admit to having some favorites.

This is Lisette and I think she's very sweet.  She's the color of butterscotch, has no horns and is unfortunately the shyest but maybe someday she'll be tamer.

This is Lady of the Lake.  She's the friendliest and always ready to lead the herd after me.  They've eaten their pasture down quite a bit so it's time to move them onto another pasture I think.  This will be the first time they follow me down the center aisle of the pastures to get to another pasture.  I'm hoping it easily becomes part of our morning and evening routine.

This is the view down the road from the barn driveway to the house driveway and beyond.  The first half we have to plow because the town didn't have the funds to repair it after all the road fixing needed to get back to normal after Irene.

Okay.....this photo is from the late spring but I'm thinking about baby goats again because it's breeding season for next year's kid crop.  This is Leoneea with her twin babes Tao and Rasha looking out from behind a wall.   Leoneea has such a lovely look to her and like all the other goats was a great mother to her young. Tao still likes to climb into laps although he's a bit big and Rasha (the doeling) is a sweetie who likes nothing better than to get some patting.

Zetta gave birth to 4 babies; 3 doelings and a buckling.  This photo shows them only a few hours old.  I've been telling all the does this year to only give birth to 1 or 2 babies this year.  I don't want the herd to grow so quickly!!!

Hay Manger Design

Here is a photo of our hay manger created using a piece of hog panel and 2X4 edges. The 2X4 edges were cut on a table saw to create a place for the wire to get held securely. The 4X4 mesh of the hog panel is perfect in that no one can get their head stuck and it's all rigid enough to be very solid and, we hope, indestructible.