With nasty weather fast approaching, the pressure was on to finish siding the goat barn. A few years ago my father in-law and I built a wood shop for me to work in, and he had the insight to put a roofed storage area on the back. From the front of the shop it looked like it was a solid building but on the side it was open to store stuff . When we got the goats, we started by enclosing a 10' by 10' section of the roofed storage area, but as the herd started to grow we realized that they would need more room. We ended up making the roofed area around 25' by 10', and the outside pen where they run around in is about 16' by 36'. One of my neighbors just replaced some of his windows and was nice enough to let me have his old windows. I picked up some more siding from the local lumber store, and nailed up. Slapped in the windows and was done right before the wind and snow got here.
The goats seem a lot more comfortable since the walls and windows been installed and appreciate no wind blowing on them. I still need to put casing around the outside of the windows, but I think that can wait tell spring time.
A few weeks ago I saw a post on craigslist for nigerian dwarf goats for sale, and they were in the next town over. I went to go check them out to see what they had, and to meet another nigerian goat owner. When I got there, I was very impressed with their set up and the goats. I then found out that all their goats came from Old Mountain Farm , a breeder that puts out some of the best goats around, and she was selling them for pretty cheap. Did I ever say I appreciated a good deal, some might even call me cheap. I left the farm with my wheels spinning in my mind. Aspen was supposed to breed with Atreus while he was staying at our place, but we think she never cycled due to a copper deficiency. If we picked up a new goat we could introduce some different lines into the herd and get the new doe to breed with Atreus while he was still here. I talked to the wife, and after I explained everything to her she was on board. We all went to the farm and picked out a cute little fluff ball of goat who also had great conformation. We brought her home and within a couple of days she was part of the herd. The only problem we had was that Atreus had to go back sooner then we thought and the new goat, named Katy Lane, was only with him for ten days. We'll have to wait tell spring time to see if magic was in the air.
With nasty weather fast approaching, the pressure was on to finish siding the goat barn. A few years ago my father in-law and I built a wood shop for me to work in, and he had the insight to put a roofed storage area on the back. From the front of the shop it looked like it was a solid building but on the side it was open to store stuff . When we got the goats, we started by enclosing a 10' by 10' section of the roofed storage area, but as the herd started to grow we realized that they would need more room. We ended up making the roofed area around 25' by 10', and the outside pen where they run around in is about 16' by 36'. One of my neighbors just replaced some of his windows and was nice enough to let me have his old windows. I picked up some more siding from the local lumber store, and nailed up. Slapped in the windows and was done right before the wind and snow got here.
The goats seem a lot more comfortable since the walls and windows been installed and appreciate no wind blowing on them. I still need to put casing around the outside of the windows, but I think that can wait tell spring time.
A few weeks ago I saw a post on craigslist for nigerian dwarf goats for sale, and they were in the next town over. I went to go check them out to see what they had, and to meet another nigerian goat owner. When I got there, I was very impressed with their set up and the goats. I then found out that all their goats came from Old Mountain Farm , a breeder that puts out some of the best goats around, and she was selling them for pretty cheap. Did I ever say I appreciated a good deal, some might even call me cheap. I left the farm with my wheels spinning in my mind. Aspen was supposed to breed with Atreus while he was staying at our place, but we think she never cycled due to a copper deficiency. If we picked up a new goat we could introduce some different lines into the herd and get the new doe to breed with Atreus while he was still here. I talked to the wife, and after I explained everything to her she was on board. We all went to the farm and picked out a cute little fluff ball of goat who also had great conformation. We brought her home and within a couple of days she was part of the herd. The only problem we had was that Atreus had to go back sooner then we thought and the new goat, named Katy Lane, was only with him for ten days. We'll have to wait tell spring time to see if magic was in the air.
My wife wants goats on the place we're building next year in upstate NY. I'll be looking forward to hearing more about them.
ReplyDeleteThat is a beautiful barn! I love the natural wood look. I bet the goats like it :)
ReplyDeleteI totally want one of those cute little goats!!!
ReplyDeleteJust like potato chips, you can't have just one.
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