Our Goat Project - Lots of pics!
I have been sharing in the last few blogs about our goat building and fencing project.. so this evening I thought I would now post a few pics!
The area to be fenced was pretty much up a hillside, with a few flat areas. Tobin has trail for his tractor to drive on so he can drive up to our spring house and water reservoir. Our water comes from a natural spring that is then gravity fed to a 1000 gallon reservoir and then gravity fed down to our house. I guess this is one good advantage to living in such a wet area (lots of natural springs around here) and living on a hill!
Anyway, one of the projects that Tobin had was building a little goat shed for my bucks. The whole building began as an idea in my very talented husbands mind, and then he bought supplies:
Then he worked on it for one whole weekend and in the end it was a nice little goat shelter:
Actually the building would also make a good chicken coop or even a garden shed.
Then put in the T-posts and strung 6 rows of wire. If you want more info on how we hot wire our fences (not the traditional way using grounding rods) then you can read my article about that here: http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/electricfencing.htm
After the wire was up and he had strung electricity to the little barn we were finally able to bring the goats in to their new home.
They loved it! Lots of blackberry brambles and underbrush for them to eat. And I also brought a few of my other does. Breeding season is just starting and I have several does that need to be bred this year.
Here is a picture of my two newest bucks, Bill and Will (they are twin brothers that my sweet mother in law gave me):
Here is the main buck of my heard, Sgt. Pepper. He is a great guy… stinky but such a nice buck!!
Here is checking out his new house:
To maybe try and give a view of how hilly it is, in this picture you can see the little goat with the brown spot on her back (Dolly) at the bottom of the pic and then the main gate so that the tractor can still get up the hill and above that between the two trees is a white goat (Kloey my Nubian/Boer cross)…
And finally just for fun I took a picture of my nocturnal guard dog Daisy, who is up all night barking and protecting and sleeps all day!
That sums up the current project on our homestead!
This was so fun-thanks so much for taking the time to not only take the pics, but to post them as well!!
ReplyDeleteI rarely leave a comment but I check your blog everyday. :)
Thanks for sharing! I can't wait until we move and can have goats again. I miss mine!
ReplyDeleteCrystal,
ReplyDeleteI'm getting so many ideas from you! Doug and I can't wait to have a homestead of our own. We went to our local fair and took note of the goats we wanted as well as chickens.
I remember as a kid my cousin playing a joke on me with their hot wired fence. It was quite a jolt.Haha
Gotta love the names of the goats too! Is Ringo and Paul there yet? Haha
It looks great!!!
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Trixi
Crystal,
ReplyDeleteLoved reading about this as I do all the things on your homestead. That Tobin is one talented man...he did a GREAT job!!!!
My love to you and the family,
Cathy
This is off topic, but I am writing to let you know that there is a <a href='http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/DandelionSeeds/196587/'>48 hour prayer chain</a> started for Susan Godfrey (you are on her blog's list of friends). Please spread the word so we can cover this family in prayer.
ReplyDeleteIn Him,
Amy
Crystal -
ReplyDeleteI always love reading your blog - your life is my one-day dream!!!
I know it's not perfect, but I love the pics of your homestead -
thanks for startingme on a new way of life!!!!
Bless my dear friend, Lord....
Donna
I saw you were on Susan's friend's list and I also wanted to let you know that we are putting together a special encouragement box for the Godfreys. <a href="http://www.biblicalwomanhood.com/2006/09/opportunity-to-help-family-in-need.html">More information is here</a>
ReplyDeleteThank you for helping to uphold this dear family.
Crystal
http://www.BiblicalWomanhood.com
My comment might have sounded rude-didn't mean it that way-
ReplyDeleteI just know of someone whose goats chew at the walls of their shelter made of that stuff.
BTW, I finally canned 14 qts of goat's milk using your directions and it went great-thanks! I think I'll post a pic on my blog.